Gotham - The Gentle Art of Making Enemies - Advance Preview

Things get dark (literally) on “Gotham” this week as winter finale “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” wraps up both the Jerome arc and the show until spring.

Picking up from last week’s cliffhanger, Jerome knocking out the power has plunged Gotham City into chaos, with his acolytes and ordinary citizens alike running amok and no chance of getting the lights back on until morning. Gordon is focused on finding Jerome, reasoning that cutting the head off the snake will quell the violence. He quickly figures out that Jerome wants to finish what he started before he died by killing Bruce. Jerome captures Bruce and drags him to the boardwalk circus, a creepy setpiece with a bunch of macabre touches. There’s lot of good proto-Batman and proto-Joker stuff in these scenes as the two spar philosophically and physically, and the performances from David Mazouz and Cameron Monaghan are great. Also look out for a memorable moment when Gordon and Jerome come face-to-stapled-on-face.

Meanwhile, the blackout is the least of Penguin’s problems as he’s stunned to learn that Nygma is behind his recent miseries and misfortunes. Oswald tries to prove to Ed how much he cares about him, but with Nygma determined to avenge Isabella’s death, is there no going back for the former best friends? And with the Barbara/Tabitha/Butch triad wanting to take them both off the board so they can seize power, who will come out on top? I haven’t been that enamored with this storyline, but Robin Lord Taylor and especially Cory Michael Smith are dynamite in their scenes together. And it ends in a somewhat surprising place; curious to see what the status quo is with this group of characters when the show comes back in the spring.

Finally, the Court of Owls is keeping their eagle eyes on the Jerome situation, but they have other schemes up their sleeve – one involving Gordon and a new face, one involving Bruce and an old face – that seem poised to become major plot threads.

You can learn “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” this Monday on FOX. Until then, come share your thoughts about “Gotham” among friends in the comments section.