Gotham Season 3 Episode 13 Mad City: Smile Like You Mean It Review

If you would like to read my recap of the last episode, click here.

Keith NoakesJanuary 24, 2017n/a8 min

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: On the run from Gordon and Bullock, Dwight tries to revive Jerome and, in turn, activates his acolytes around Gotham City. Meanwhile, Selina’s mom’s intentions in Gotham are revealed, and the power play between Penguin and Nygma escalates as Barbara’s plans are set in place. (IMDB)

Writers: Steven Lilien, and Bryan Wynbrandt.

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 42mins

Like the show has done in the past, when it’s stuck, it just brings back something from the past. It should have never brought back Fish Mooney, but it did, and now Jerome is back. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering the foreshadowing, the promos, and the episode title.

He’s developed quite the large following since dying. Dwight, wanting all the attention, has been their de facto leader. He and the gang managed to get Jerome’s body so now Dwight just had to shock him back to life. Right when they were shocking him, the GCPD came and interrupted the revival process. The rest of the gang got impatient because they wanted to see his face so Dwight took that literally and took Jerome’s face and pretty much pretended to be him but it just wasn’t the same. They still wanted Jerome but he reiterated that they were all Jerome.

Maria’s boss, Cole Clemens (P.J. Marshall), approached Bruce and Alfred about the money she owed him and Bruce was on the fence but he agreed to pay it despite Selina’s objection because he would have just kept coming back. Bruce believed that they could help clean her record so Clemens wouldn’t have any leverage on her. Ultimately, it was all a con since they were both in on it and Bruce had a feeling that it was the case but he gave the money anyway. Selina is obviously mad that she was lied to.

Penguin was a little on edge after how the last episode ended with him walking out from the interview after all the pressure on him. Barbara and Tabitha decided to take advantage of that by manipulating him against the other gangs by convincing him that they were dissenting against him. They were going to start a war between them and just wait to pick up the pieces. It worked for the most part or at least until they figure out what is going on.

Despite calling off the hit on Gordon, Lee still hates him for whatever reason. This still doesn’t work for whatever reason. It’s unclear whether it’s the writing or Morena Baccarin’s performance but something is off. Her attitude towards him was drastically different. Her hate for him is starting to change her into a different person and we saw the start of that here.

Dwight took his gang and his new face to a television studio where he wanted to make a special announcement, announcing Jerome’s return to Gotham and calling out others to rise up. That’s what Jerome did, the real one, he took a while but he woke back up. He had a fun scene with Lee where she would tell him what happened while he was dead. After watching Dwight’s speech as him, he had to go over there and do something about it.

Gordon, Bullock, and the rest of the GCPD were able to stop Dwight and his gang but Jerome still managed to get his face back and get revenge on Dwight for taking it in the first place and also taking out all the power with him. Luckily for them, Dwight’s speech got the attention of more crazies who were raising hell as a result.

Overall, I haven’t liked it when they brought back dead characters but the Jerome storyline worked here, solely on Cameron Monaghan’s performance. He was fun to watch and probably will be for the next little while. The Maria twist was pretty obvious and they were obviously setting Penguin up to collapse and this was just the start of that

Score: 7.5/10

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