Article originally published as GOTHAM Review "The Last Laugh" on Seat42F.
On
this week’s GOTHAM, who has “The Last Laugh?” Well, no one yet, though
we can say for certain a few people that do not. With the city getting
darker and more dangerous by the minute, a hero steps up to save the
day, but it’s not the person that the public thinks it is.
The hero is Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz).
Still just a kid, he shows remarkable bravery when Alfred’s (Sean
Pertwee) life is on the line. In past installments, Bruce cowers while
Alfred protects him. In “The Laugh Laugh,” Bruce does allow Alfred to be
the one to act, but he puts himself in the line of fire in order to
give Alfred the opportunity to save everyone else. It may still be
awhile before he’s Batman, but Bruce is strongly heading in that
direction.
The citizens of Gotham,
however, are likely to believe that Theo Galavan (James Frain) is the
hero they’ve been waiting for, with Bruce overlooked as he almost always
will be. That’s because no one knows that Theo sets himself up to
rescue the hostages, and is pulling the strings of the villain, too. I’m
not sure what Theo’s game is yet, but he’s playing it beautifully,
fooling everyone that matters.
Barbara (Erin Richards) has certainly
noticed. I do not know if she’s telling Lee (Morena Baccarin) the truth
when she says she’ll soon be back with Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), but
Barbara has to extract herself from a love triangle before she’s free
for anyone else. At the start of “The Last Laugh,” she seems to be with
Tabitha (Jessica Lucas), but after Theo’s big play, she switches which
sibling she’s cozying up to. Is Barbara attracted to evil power? Or is
she just enjoying herself and caught up in the moment?
Speaking of attraction, there is a great
scene this week in which Alfred hits on Lee. I expected her to speak up
and warn him off, but instead, she seems to enjoy the attention, at
least to a point. But the fact that this flirtation gets Jim to mark his
territory and results in a fun interchange where Alfred accuses Bruce
of knowing Lee was taken makes the moment well worth it.
The only scene better than that is the
one in which Harvey (Donal Logue) threatens Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor).
Harvey is Jim’s friend, we know that, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen
him act quite as selfless as he does here. Clearly, Jim has rubbed off
on Harvey even more than appears obvious. That might be because Jim has
been blurring the lines between good and bad himself, tossing people out
windows to find Jerome, giving Harvey the clue that Jim might be tough
enough to win after all. Whatever the reason, though, it’s nice to see
the loyalty of the veteran detective.
The biggest thing to happen this week,
though, is the death of Jerome (Cameron Monaghan). Both in the moment
and upon reflection after, this seems a mistake. Sure, it allows for
some fun puns and references in the dialogue of several players, but
Jerome was such a great potential joker, it’s a shame to lose him! He
resembles the legendary Batman villain enough that I’d taken to calling
him The Joker in past reviews. To see him snuffed out so quickly is sad.
The explanation the episode gives, that his behavior will spawn
copycats, one of whom will actually be The Joker, feels cheap. I usually
applaud the twists GOTHAM brings to the Batman legacy, but GOTHAM will
be hard pressed to find a Joker as good as Monaghan. And if the one they
do bring in ends up being inferior, it won’t be acceptable.
Still, even with the death of Jerome,
“The Laugh Laugh” is a great, action-packed, enjoyable hour of
television. There are plenty of things to keep fans engaged, and the
performances continue to only get better. I look forward very much to
what the series has in store next.
GOTHAM airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
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