GOTHAM Season 3 Episode 12 Review: Ghosts


Even before the episode started, the amount of the Jerome in the recap gave me so much hope. But first, we must address the aftermath of the cliffhanger in the last episode. 

Jim rolls up to Mario’s funeral, as if ruining their wedding wasn’t enough, but luckily Harvey convinces him to leave before he gets to anyone (why did Harvey know he was there? I’d like to think that he tracks Gordon in his free time). 

Falcone is pissed that his son is dead (as he should be), and Lee is pissed that her husband is dead (as she should be), but Gordon feeling sorry is enough to prevent him from being arrested for murder (of course). Falcone takes things into his own hands as a former king pin to put out a hit on Gordon, but even Victor Zsasz (I always forget what his name is, I just refer to him as scary bald guy in my head) doesn’t scare me as much as Lee does. After demanding for his arrest, Lee calls him “the real virus,” and perhaps being near a murderous former crime boss is not the best influence on her in this state. Yet, her aggressive hatred is enough to support Falcone’s decision to kill him, so apparently Gordon has a great skill of driving women to become insane killers. I wonder if Lee and Barbara would get along right now. 

Meanwhile, this is Gotham, so of course there is a murder to solve. Well, two deaths, but just one body. It seems that she came back to life just to die again. People coming back to life? Now where have we heard that before? I’m surprised that Gordon and Harvey didn’t just go immediately to Indian Hill. Instead, they go to the morgue she was at before, and meet the suspicious man in charge (I really think the beanie was what made him look so creepy, I’m not sure why). 

They follow the mysterious beanie man after work and stumble upon a Jerome fan club. Finally. Harvey and Gordon break up the event after witnessing Jerome’s old video, and after fighting a few fanatics, Gordon must also dodge bullet fire from Zsasz. He really can’t catch a break. To be fair, Zsasz really was not as sneaky as he made himself out to be. The bald head just glows in the sunlight. Maybe he needs a beanie. 

Before Zsasz gets the chance to kill either Gordon or Harvey (collateral damage), Falcone comes in to call it off. If were up to Falcone, he would have killed Gordon, but Lee asked him to call off the manhunt, and Falcone deduces that she still loves Jim (HOW). Also, why is he leaving this decision up to Lee? Why does she get more of a say as his wife of one day as opposed to his father? 

Speaking of fathers and heartbreak, Penguin has a replacement Nygma and has started seeing his father’s ghost around the apartment. On the plus side, his numbers as major are great. So great in fact that he is going to be interviewed live by a very influential woman on a very important show. Normally, this would be great press, but turns out seeing your dead father tell you “don’t trust the birthday boy” at all hours of the night really stresses you out. The fact that his father’s remains were actually stolen are also not helping matters. So when Penguin finds out that it is his replacement Nygma’s birthday (his name is Tarquin, but I feel like Penguin probably just refers to him as Ed’s replacement in his head), Penguin goes through his things to find his father’s remains just casually in his bag. Why would he be carrying his father’s remains in his bag and bring it to work? Penguin doesn’t take the time to think about the logistics of this as he grabs a trophy and beats Tarquin to death. Been awhile since we have seen Penguin personally murder someone. He is going back to his roots. 

He rushes to his interview and doesn’t even have time to check if there is any blood on his clothes (he got real lucky with just a droplet on his sleeve) let alone hide the murder. Who is going to clean it up? Who even works for him anymore since Nygma and Butch left? Even Zsasz is busy trying to kill Gordon. It seems Penguin has a serious lack of criminal staff. 

The interview goes well for a little while before the ghost is reminding him of the murder he just committed. Just the sight of his father holding the bloody trophy is enough to get him to flip out, and he quickly rushes out of the interview. But not before he says “to Hell with the people” and Margaret has got this look on her face like she knows she just got the best episode ever. Remember how much Penguin’s election mirrored the US presidential election? Can this happen to Trump too? 

Penguin finds that Tarquin’s body and his father’s remains are gone. However, they are just in the back of Nygma’s car, since they were just part of Nygma’s plan to make Penguin lose his mind on national television. Barbara is very eager for the next part of the plan to start, when they take over Penguin’s empire, but Nygma seems to be enjoying his slow suffering. Granted, he is not his happy, riddle-telling self, even when he is harming someone, but he really hasn’t been for a while anyway. 

Selina is joining in all on the misery as she is faced with her mother. Her mom has been gone for 11 years (which lead me to doing some quick math in my head trying to figure out how old Selina is) since she left Selina when she was 5 years old (ah, 16 years old). She makes excuses that she was on the run from the law, and couldn’t run with a toddler. Selina still refuses to forgive her, and considering that she has lived most her life without her mother, I don’t really think she needs her back in her life. I’m surprised she even recognized her after that long. And her mother’s comment of “are you really dating that kid?” probably didn’t help her mother’s case (really? You are going to judge her for dating BRUCE WAYNE when you had a baby on the streets). 

Bruce and Alfred are trying to figure out what the point of the owl they stole is. For the time being, they are just going to hide it and use it as leverage. Apparently this means that Alfred is now just going to answer the door while holding a gun, no matter how polite the knock on the door is. Selina’s mother is just dropping off a gift for Selina before she goes, but Bruce convinces her to stay for a little longer and essentially leads to them making amends (maybe she will approve of Bruce now). Also, we get to watch Alfred get tongue-tied around her more, and even Selina is rolling her eyes at him. 

However, her moment of looking like a good mother shatters the moment she goes back to her hotel with Selina. Of course, there is a guy with a gun waiting for her and demanding money. He certainly does not have a good opinion of her either as he calls her a “lying cheat.” Ah, what great mother-daughter bonding. Selina says that Bruce Wayne can give him the money, and he eagerly goes to get money from the rich guy. So, who is this guy? What do we know about him? What did Selina’s mom need to pay him for? At the moment, all we know is that his name is Cole (and after hearing names like Tarquin and Zsasz this episode, Cole does not sound very intimidating). 

Overall, this episode was just tying up loose ends and setting the ground work for the rest of this season. Gordon is in the clear, and Bruce is in danger (and it’s always one or the other, isn’t it?). But wait, what about that case that Gordon and Harvey were pursuing before they got distracted by Zsasz? Oh, well it turns out that they are perfecting bringing people back to life in order to bring back Jerome. Now this is what I am here for.

Written by Nicole Teeters, GOTHAM Beat Writer -- Click to read Nicole's posts


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