Circus acrobats. Sideshow performers. Criminal clowns. An axe murder. A giggling psychopath. A big-top score torn straight from the Danny Elfman songbook. Is it any wonder that the most Batman-esque episode of Gotham so far is also its best?
Written by showrunner Bruno Heller and directed by Jeffrey Hunt, tonights episode The Blind Fortune Teller is a blast from the Tim Burton past. Unafraid to embrace the Bat-milieu at its most comic-book outlandish, this stellar installment backs up the bombast with deft, witty writing. And, of course, it reveals the Joker in the deck.
Or does it? Heller has beencagey about Jerome, the gibbering ginger played by Shameless star Cameron Monaghan, refusing to outright label him the Caped Crusaders future archnemesis. On the one hand, thats good mythos management: The Joker has no official origin, a fact Heath Ledgers interpretation of the character got a lot of murderous mileage out of in Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight. (You wanna know how I got these scars?) He could be anyone and no one a big part of his terrifying allure.
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On the other hand, Gothams reluctance to call Jerome the J-word could just be another example of genre televisions post-Lost fixation on mystery over meaning. Raise a bunch of questions, promise the answers, throw the audience a bunch of red herrings (or in this case a redhead), rinse, repeat. And if the series is teasing their Joker-to-be only to eventually reveal otherwise, itd hardly be the first time a superhero show faked out its audience.
So whats the best strategy for enjoying the character, in all his villainous potential? Ignore Jack Nicholsons advice and dont think about the future. Just appreciate Jerome for what he is: a little jolt of Joker-esque mirth and mayhem. Hes surrounded by the Cirque du Insanity trappings that have come with the character ever since creators Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, and Bob Kane thought him up. Does Monaghan lay it on a little thick? You bet. So what? This is (maybe) the most famously gleeful, gloriously over-the-top supervillain were talking about here. Restraint is not his strong suit. If you cant camp it up as the Clown Prince of Crime, what has this society come to?
At any rate, his performance prior to slipping off the mask of sanity was unnerving enough as it is. Witness his exchange with Detective Jim Gordon about his moms promiscuity: How did you feel about your mothers love life? I feel fine about it. If not for my mothers love life, I wouldnt be here, would I? He goes on to describe sex as a natural part of life in terms Maude Lebowski would appreciate, but you cant shake the sensation that this kids open-mindedness conceals a black hole in his brain. As Dr. Leslie Thompkins describes the boys mindset later, It was ugly, but it was also kind of thrilling. Thrilling and scary. Like looking down a deep, dark tunnel.
Jerome is not the only noteworthy newcomer in the episode. The Flying Graysons, the trapeze-artist side of the family feud that gave Jerome cover for the murder of his mom, are the family of future Robin Dick Grayson; chances are hes the son that John Grayson offered to name after Gordon. Ever since Burton had the Joker pull the trigger on Bruce Waynes parents, live-action superhero adaptations have had a tendency to combine the origins of its heroes and villains; tying the two major circus-themed characters in Batmans cast together in this way makes perfect sense.
Then theres Cicero, the sideshow psychic of the episodes title, played by Mark Margolis. (Thats Tio Salamanca from Breaking Bad, in case the name rang a bell for you. Ding ding ding!) This dudes a delight. His dialogue is articulate and unpredictable: Responding to Gordons snarky dismissal of his message from beyond the grave, he deadpans I dont think sarcasm is your mtier, James. Hes the third corner of an Oedipal triangle between a dead snake charmer and the sociopathic son who killed her. Even his handler, a kid in a coonskin cap, looks like some minorTwin Peaks character. Lynchian is not a term to be used lightly, but no character on the show so far has captured the deranged exuberance of the Eraserhead directors TV weirdos the way this one did.
Even Fish Mooney manages to swim her way into something interesting this week. Usually, the now-imprisoned crime bosss scenes flop around lifelessly, all the oxygen sucked out of them by Jada Pinkett-Smiths overacting. But while she still chews enough scenery to feed all her fellow inmates for a week, the physical context changes everything. When she gives her big rally-the-troops speech to the other prisoners, Mooney makes herself visible to the back of the crowd by delivering the address from the back of a muscular man on all fours a funny, quasi-kinky bit of business that reinforces Fishs fem-dom bona fides and backs up her Im in charge now words with action.
Her plan to get one over on the guards is even more savagely impressive. When she warned her new followers that some of them would die in her attempt to secure their freedom, it sounded like she was simply talking about the inevitable casualties of any war. But deaths arent a side effect of her scheme theyre the centerpiece of it. Realizing theyre being held captive by an organ harvesting ring, Fish orders the dungeons biggest goons to beat to death anyone the guards come looking for, depriving them of their stock in trade. If the people running the prison cough up some concessions, shell call off the dogs. Never mind the next-level realpolitik; its the rare case of network-TV brutality thats clever as well as gruesome. Thats no laughing matter.
Previously: Something to Crow About