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Smile Like You Mean It is a tale of people who have no reason to smile. Penguin is facing overthrow from the gangs. Selina has been duped by her own mother. Dwight has raised Jerome from the dead, but Jerome has plans for him. Only Jerome has a Joker’s smile on his face.
Smile For Momma:
Cole Clemens (P.J. Marshall) shows up at Wayne Manor and ask Bruce & Alfred for $200,000. If they don’t come through then he will pass incriminating evidence on Maria Kyle (Ivana Milicevic) over to the police. Later Bruce has the money for Maria to pass on to Cole. Selina is not happy. She says that Cole will keep coming back for money and leaves frustrated.
Maria takes the money to Cole and much to all of our hopes, Maria and Cole are in it together. Selina has tailed her mom and confronts the two. Cole doesn’t get a smile from Selina he gets a knife to the throat. Selina tells her mom it was not about the money for Bruce or her. It was about her mother coming back after 11 years just to use Selina to scam Bruce. She tells Maria never to come back.
Later, Selina confronts Bruce about lying to her. She throws punches and kicks at Bruce but he blocks each one and will not fight back. He tells her, yes he figured it out. But it was worth it if it meant Selina got more time with her mother. So no smile but, at least Bruce has earned some respect in Selina’s book.
Smile At The Birdie:
Penguin is woken from sleeping on the couch by Babs. She is reading the paper article recounting the fall out from his failed TV interview last week. Mayor Crumblepot, however is not her concern. She came to talk to him about how he is loosing control of his REAL job as king of the underworld. In classic Babs style, she tells him to do his hair in the disco vampire style and get to the Sirens Club for a gang leader meeting.
He shows up to find no one there. She implies that he needs to kill Tommy Bones and the Duke for disobedience. He laughs and sees through her scam to cause him to crumble. But Tommy calls saying that if he doesn’t give up control of the underworld they will kill Ed. He leaves bound to get Ed back and he rounds up his crew to strike back after a call from Ed.
Babs and Tabs have forced Tommy to speak and then kill him off. They then collect all the nervous leaders together and pull Option B. They kill all of them off. They call Ed and tell him Penguin is all his since all the gangs are in shambles.
The Smile Is Plastered er Stapled All Over Your Face:
Dwight Pollard and the Cult of Joker break into a Wayne Enterprise warehouse and steal the body of Jerome (Cameron Monaghan). Back at his workshop, Dwight plays Dr. Frankenstein. But it is not working. The cult members want to see Jerome’s face. So Dwight cuts off Jerome’s face. Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) has traced the energy use Dwight has been using. Jim and Harvey head over but Dwight has headed to talk to the cult members. He hypes the crowd telling them that Jerome is inside them and they are all Jerome.
Jim & Harvey are looking into things. Lee meanwhile bristles against Jim. But she has a surprise when Jerome comes back to life in the morgue. He gets filled in on the year he missed. Dwight and the cult have taken over Channel 9. Jerome is not impressed with Dwight’s presence and he heads over to get him.
The GCPD sneak into Channel 9 and take out the cult and Dwight. But Jerome has stolen a cop car and kidnaps Dwight. He broadcasts to Gotham telling everyone to do wha they want in the night even kill. Then he blows up Dwight and the city power station. Gotham descends into darkness and madness. Only our proto-Joker is left with a smile on his face.
Closing Thoughts:
I was blown away by this episode. Cameron Monaghan plays homage to Ledger’s Joker in one scene and Nicholson’s in another. He acting presence is great. You see him building the Joker character bit by bit. I cannot wait to see more. Camren Bicondova also does a great job portraying the betrayal and pain felt when Selina’s mother betrayed her and Bruce lied. Overall the acting and pacing of this episode were great. I am so looking forward to next week to see where we go. But also sad that it is the last Gotham until late Spring. But we have a plan to help. Take a look below!
News:
Next Week: With Jerome (guest star Cameron Monaghan) on the loose with one target in mind, Bruce and Alfred’s safety is compromised. Meanwhile, Gordon’s uncle Frank (guest star James Remar) pays him a visit, and Nygma and Penguin are forced to confront their issues face-to-face, with possible deadly consequences in the all-new “Mad City: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” winter finale episode of GOTHAM airing Monday, Jan. 30 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX
After The Break: Thanks to Ep Guides, we know when Gotham returns we have a new title for the arc of episodes they will be called Fallen City. The episode titles known so far are:
Ep 15: How the Riddler Got His Name
Ep 16: How the Penguin Lost His Power
Ep 20: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
Ep 21: From the Ashes
Ep 22: A Fish Out of the Sea
Gotham Undercover Extras:
Gotham may be off the air in February, March and most of April. But Gotham Undercover is not going to leave you Gotham-less. Fellow Undercover Agent Phenix made a suggestion and we liked it. So during the break you will get and get to participate in 3 Gotham Undercover Extras. We will take a look at three Batman related films and discuss how they may tie into Gotham. We’ll discuss the characters and more. But we need you to help and make this a full discussion. Karen (Scarlet Cougar), John (the Substitute), and Geoff (xforce11) will do a round table discussion, but we need your help! Watch the movies along with us, send in your feedback (audio or written), and be a part of the discussion.
Here is the schedule:
Gotham Extra 1: Batman Returns, to discuss the Burton era. Feedback deadline is Feb. 16th at 6pm.
Gotham Extra 2: Batman: The Dark Knight, to discuss the Nolan era. Feedback deadline is March 2nd at 6pm.
Gotham Extra 3: Flashpoint: Paradox, to discuss the animated movies. Feedback deadline is March 16th at 6pm.
Sound Off:
What did you think of “Smile Like You Mean It?” What was your favorite moment from this episode?
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Catch Karen on Maid of Steel and Remaking History and Geoff on Stuff I Learned Yesterday.