So I have still not seen more than the first two episodes of Gotham. I know, I know, “It got so much better”, right? At least that’s what I kept being told by friends of mine who had stuck around pass the way too Batman fan service heavy nudge-nudge wink-wink fest that was the opening to ABC’s own take on the origins of the famous DC Comics characters. Too many forced links between characters who really should not know each yet, left a sour taste in my mouth despite the potential of the premise and some top notch acting (particularly Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin).
But – and you knew there was a “but” coming – I’ve just been hearing too many good things about how the show eventually turned out to keep ignoring it. Especially after checking out this trailer for the upcoming season 2 which focuses on the show’s villains, and in particular one cackling young man by the name of Jerome (played by Cameron Monaghan), who may just turn out to be a certain legendary clown faced arch nemesis of Batman one day.
If that’s not the Joker, then I’m a monkey’s uncle, and last time I checked I wasn’t related to Nick at all. Speaking about the season 1 finale and what’s to come in the new new season – also subsequently adding a metric ton more fuel to the Joker fire – showrunner Bruno Heller told Deadline earlier in the year that “there will be a very big villain arriving in Season 2, one who doesn’t want to run Gotham, but destroy it.”
“We’re going to answer a lot of questions about The Joker that were raised this [first] season.”
Although there have been several hints and ideas tossed out about the Joker’s origins in the comic books (Scott Snyder just did a massive critically acclaimed arc on it recently in the Batman comics), DC Comics have always made it so that there has never been a definitive origin for the Joker. Stories often contradict each other, or don’t fit the timelines or are even just plain ridiculous, and it’s all been written that way intentionally so as not to detract from the mystique and mythology behind the character. And despite the fact that this Jerome certainly appears to be the Joker for all intents and purposes, Heller is still trying to keep that air of mystery around him.
“There’s so much revealed in the first three episodes. Jerome contains the DNA of The Joker, but if he isn’t him then how does someone else appear to be the Joker? How does The Joker’s identity transfer into somebody else’s body?”
Hmmmmm…. Intriguing. And I’m guessin it would probably be even more intriguing if I had actually watched the first season. Gotham season two debuts on US television September 21, which gives me less than a month to catch up. To the TV-Cave!
Last Updated: August 25, 2015
