Gotham – Mad City: Smile Like You Mean It

By starrymag | January 27, 2017

By: MaryBeth McMahon

 

 

 

Two security guards (Reggie Beneche and Mark McKinnon) are playing cards when Dwight (David Dastmalchian) and a small cohort of crooks approach. With a smile on his face, Dwight walks closer to the guards, one of whom is pointing a gun in his direction. The armed guard takes down one of the crooks and soon meets a similar fate when his fellow guard stabs him. The second guard lets Dwight and his group into the warehouse and leaves a joker card behind at his desk. They pass through the door and Dwight maniacally laughs upon seeing Jerome Valeska’s (Cameron Monaghan) frozen corpse.

 

Jim (Ben McKenzie) and Harvey (Donal Logue) investigate the scene and realize that the deceased woman from the morgue last week was Dwight’s “trial run” in preparation for bringing Jerome back to life. Lucius (Chris Chalk) tells Jim that the next step in Dwight’s plan is to thaw the body out, taking roughly three hours to do. Jim finds Dwight’s injured minion and instead of taking him directly to the hospital, he takes him to the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD).

 

Cole (P.J. Marshall) meets with Bruce (David Mazouz) and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) at Wayne Manor. He informs them that Maria (Ivana Milicevic) owes him two hundred thousand dollars as a result of a broken contract. He threatens to offer compromising evidence to the police that would put Maria behind bars and away from Selina (Camren Bicondova).

 

Lee (Morena Baccarin) is not surprised to find Jim bending the rules when he skips the hospital and brings the detained criminal to the GCPD. He thanks her for getting Carmine (John Doman) to call off Zsasz’s (Anthony Carrigan) hit on him. She shrugs it off and tells Jim that when he finds Dwight she would like him to bring Mario (James Carpinello) back from the dead. Jim returns to questioning the crook and is shocked to hear how widespread Jerome and Dwight’s supporters are.

 

Barbara (Erin Richards) surprises Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor) with a visit and wakes him up to read excerpts from the Gotham Gazette. The front page of the paper reads “Mayor Crumblepot” and quotes his statement, “To Hell with the people of Gotham.” Barbara convinces the once favored Mayor that not only is his political job on the fences, but his role amongst the criminals of Gotham is fragile.

 

Bruce gives Maria the cash. Selina would prefer that Maria call the cops and have Cole arrested because if they just give him what he wants, he will come back again for more. Alfred pleads that if they don’t comply with what Cole wants, they risk putting Maria in jail. Bruce chimes in and says that the money can buy them more time to find a way to clear her mother’s name of any wrongdoings. Maria silences the discussion by saying that she could just leave, as much as she doesn’t want to.

 

While Jim and Harvey try to track down Dwight, Lucius tells them that the large amount of electricity Dwight needs for the experiment would cause a “power surge in the electric grid.” They pursue a location that experienced multiple power surges, but while on their way out Officer Dove (James Mount) makes a suspicious phone call and says, “It’s me.”

 

The plan to bring Jerome back to life has failed, as the electricity was powerless in giving energy to his corpse. Dwight grows increasingly frustrated until he realizes that Jerome’s followers care solely about seeing his face. He considers alternative options to the electricity and begins to cut Jerome’s face off with a scalpel. Jim and Harvey are too late in finding Dwight’s hideout and find nothing, but Jerome’s now-faceless body.

 

Harvey’s question, “Why did he take his face?” is answered immediately when Dwight holds a meeting with his group of crooks. This time; however, he is wearing Jerome’s face as a mask. At first they reject this poser, but soon take a liking to their new leader. They call out for Jerome, but Dwight tells them that he is there in spirit, alive in each of them. In unison, they all yell, “We are Jerome!”

 

Meanwhile at Barbara’s bar, Oswald arrives to speak with her and his allies; however, Barbara is the only one there. He calls this a “rebellion” and addresses her as a friend when he asks for advice. She tells him that he should pick one of his men and teach them a lesson, going so far as to kill one of them. Laughing, he calls her bluff and his accusation of her inciting war so “she could pick up the pieces” was a dead ringer for her true motives. Even though he is very intuitive, she manages to prove that she is not “out of her depth” and makes Oswald’s man, Tommy Bones (James Andrew O’Connor), say that he is no longer working for him and has taken Ed (Cory Michael Smith) hostage. Oswald frantically leaves and is back to falling for Ed and Barbara’s plan. Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) kills Tommy Bones after this leg of the plan proves successful.

 

Lucius informs Jim and Harvey that a phone recovered at Dwight’s “lab” showed a recent call that came directly from the precinct. They find out that the mole is Officer Dove and immediately take him in for questioning. Jim and Harvey take to desperate measures in questioning Dove; the both of them begin punching the dirty cop, ignoring protocol. Dove laughs ferociously, just as the Joker does; however, he loses his amusement when Lee barges in and gives him a dose of truth serum. Jim tells Lee that she shouldn’t be one of the ones to “bend the rules” because she’s better than that. He also tells her that she shouldn’t let her hatred of him turn her into something she is not. She coldly responds, “Or what Jim? If I change too much are you going to put two in my heart just like you did to Mario?” Jim tells her she’s not ready to be back at work, but she threatens to report Jim punching a suspect if he tells anyone. Harvey interrupts and says that Dove revealed Dwight’s planned announcement on the six o’clock news.

 

With bloody bandages on his face, Jerome is surprisingly awake from the dead and subtly takes an unimpressed Lee hostage in the precinct. He remembers that Lee was Jim’s girlfriend at the time he was alive and says, “I really liked you guys.” He takes great joy out of hearing that Jim killed her husband and says, “I can see why you dumped him… You miss a lot being dead.” He is surprised to hear that Galavan (James Frain) came back to life before him and lost the opportunity to kill the man himself.

 

At the hotel, Maria delivers the money to Cole, who says, “We did it baby.” Selina walks in on the thieves and finds out that her mother didn’t come back to Gotham to see her “abandoned daughter,” but to take money from Bruce. She used Selina as access to Bruce upon hearing her involvement with him. “I don’t care about the money. I care that my mother who left me as a kid only came back to use me,” says Selina. Although Maria planned this from the beginning, she appears a bit conflicted and disappointed in herself, but doesn’t reveal that to anyone. Tearfully, Selina tells her mom to never come back.

 

Dwight and his crooks commandeer the Channel 9 station. Jim calls Dwight and orders him to release the hostages. When he fails to do so, Jim tells him that he a bore and a “fraud” compared to his predecessor, Jerome. Jerome even comments on Dwight’s lack of “charisma” and “stage presence” when he observes his copycat on the news. Dwight’s plans come to a halt when Jim and the GCPD storm the building.

 

Tabitha and Barbara discuss their plans to bring Oswald down. Tabitha reminds Barbara that when “this is over and we’re in charge,” they will kill Ed just as Barbara promised. They proceed with “Option B” and murder the rest of Oswald’s men; Ed is informed that Oswald is officially his to handle.

 

At Wayne Manor, an angry Selina gets Bruce to admit that he knew Maria was scamming them just for the money. He decided to give her the money anyways so she would stick around and be a mom to Selina. Bruce didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth; had he, Selina might not be equally angry with him and Maria. Overcome with anger from his lies and her mother’s betrayal, Selina attempts to fight Bruce, whose reflexes have drastically improved from training. Bruce doesn’t want to fight and Selina, hurting over the fact that her mother only returned because of Bruce, leaves.

 

Oswald feels a sense of relief when he receives a phone call from Ed. Ed makes him believe that he got away from his captors with just enough time to call and tell him where he is: Kane Chemicals. With the number of his allies dwindling after being killed by Tabitha, Oswald pursues Ed anyways…at all costs.

 

Before Jim and Harvey can bring Dwight in for questioning, the GCPD uniform-clad Jerome takes him. At first, Jerome leads Dwight to believe that he is forgiven for taking his face; however, things change abruptly. Jerome takes over the television once more and tells the city how glorious it was to be reborn, as it gave him a “whole new perspective on life.” He encourages the people of Gotham to “do what you want, kill who you want” on this “Night of the Awakening.” He emphasizes that after a night of these terrible acts, they will all be reborn. Before the GCPD can get to the power plant where Jerome is, the plant explodes, killing Dwight and the entire power in Gotham. The lights go out and Jim knows the danger that awaits the city in the next twelve hours.