Gotham Season 4 Episode 20: A Dark Knight: That Old Corpse Review

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

Synopsis: Chaos erupts at the GCPD, sending Gordon on a wild goose chase for the culprit behind the mass takeover. Meanwhile, a friend of Bruce’s becomes paranoid, resulting in rash and destructive behavior. (IMDB)

Writer: Charlie Huston

Director: Louis Shaw Milito

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 42mins

Airs: Thursdays at 8pm on CTV (Canada)/Fox (United States)

We’re back to Jerome as this episode started with his appropriately wacky funeral. A guest showed up to offer one last message from the grave. Gordon wasn’t sure how to deal with Lee. Bullock offered to let her go but Gordon wanted none of that. Gordon just wanted Ed but he had to contend with Lee’s principles. Meanwhile, the people of the Narrows wanted Lee back so The Riddler put a team together to break her out.

Gordon then received a gift from Jerome which was a video of him asking for a wake to be thrown for him at the GCPD. As soon as he watched it, his guests had already arrived. Gordon was also worried about Bruce who was meeting with Jeremiah. He knew that his followers were just creating a distraction while they hit another target. Gordon’s plan was to trap them in the precinct while they investigated the real target.

Jeremiah was still focused on Jerome. Just as Bruce tried to steer him away, news of his followers reaping havoc brought his fears back to life. Meanwhile, Alfred encountered resistance on his way to help Bruce. Jeremiah admitted to Bruce that he was sprayed with insanity gas which could have caused this anxiety. Bruce offered to take him to Jerome’s grave to prove to Jeremiah that his brother was dead. When Jeremiah saw Jerome’s empty grave, he ran away.

A tortured follower revealed that Jeremiah and Bruce were the real targets. Jeremiah was having trust issues with Bruce, thinking that he had alternative motives for him. Convinced that Jerome was still alive, he thought Bruce was just Jerome in disguise. When Gordon got to Jeremiah’s bunker, another video from Jerome played which was another distraction so the earlier guest could hold him at gunpoint. Meanwhile, Jeremiah and Bruce returned to Jerome’s grave where his body laid. Despite evidence proving otherwise, Jeremiah still wasn’t convinced.

Bruce and Gordon fought their attackers until Jeremiah showed his true colors and the Jerome in the video revealed himself as Jeremiah. Of course, he turned out even crazier than Jerome. Jeremiah’s plan was to outdo all the crazy things from Jerome’s diary but in a sane way and he wanted Bruce alive to see it. Meanwhile, Gordon was trapped with a generator that Jeremiah was using as a bomb. As they attempted to retake the GCPD, they watched an explosion in the distance.

In inconsequential subplots, The Riddler went looking for Lee who was still knocked out in the GCPD precinct while Jerome’s followers ran wild. He wore a disguise to enter the precinct. He found her but she accidentally knocked him out. They later escaped as the GCPD took back the precinct. Also, Butch was growing restless with Penguin. He saw the siege at the GCPD as an opportunity. They abducted one of Jerome’s followers to learn about their plan but he proved to be unhelpful.

Lucius discovered that the earlier explosion came from Jeremiah’s bunker. Jeremiah then went to Wayne Enterprises to take all his generators.

Overall, this was a good episode that finally introduced the best incarnation of Jerome by killing off Jerome and giving us his even more insane brother Jeremiah. He is a much more compelling villain who has more of a reigned in type of craziness that makes him more fun to watch. His big plan isn’t that much different from other villains so hopefully he won’t have the same fate. The episode would’ve been better if it just focused on Jeremiah as the other subplots were inconsequential at best and would be better served in another episode if at all. With only 2 episodes left, it will be interesting to see if it can finish strong.

Score: 8/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.