Warning: spoilers ahead for the winter finale of Gotham Season 3.
The winter finale of Gotham hit the airwaves last night, and it pulled out all the stops. Jerome Valeska was back in fine villainous form, looking to complete the mission to kill Bruce Wayne that had ended with his own death back in Season 2. Sadly for Jerome, he once again failed to kill Bruce, and the episode on heading back to Arkham with his face literally punched off by Jim Gordon. Actor Cameron Monaghan has this to say about what's next for his character:
I'm not exactly sure where they're gonna go with it, but character-wise what's great about Jerome is that a sane person, when they do something extreme, will try to wind it back; but every time he takes a step forward, he never takes a step back, he just pushes it further, he goes bigger, he goes more violent, more mean, and so obviously the next time he comes back he's gonna be trying to top himself in any way he can.
Jerome was already pretty bonkers way back in his first episode, and it's clear that death, resurrection, and face-stapling has not exactly made him any saner. The winter finale was a showcase of his willingness to escalate any scenario to the point of utter lunacy if it means an especially violent and spectacular outcome. Cameron Monaghan doesn't seem to have any idea of when Jerome might be back to wreak fresh havoc on the people of Gotham City, but he clearly knows that Jerome will just keep getting bigger and bloodier each time he returns.
Honestly, given how quickly Jerome continuously improvised his scheme to kill Bruce (and unintentionally push him toward his destiny to become Batman) at the circus in the winter finale, the villain could probably hire out his services as a party planner for bad guys if he's ever strapped for cash. Sure, he was caught and incarcerated by the end, but he managed to put the carnival horror show together seemingly on the fly.
Jerome's unpredictable level of crazy often means that the authorities have a hard time tracking him down before he starts killing, and the other villains of the city could probably learn a few lessons from him. Then again, none of the others seem to be quite as off their rockers as Jerome. Even Penguin and Nygma at their most unbalanced might not have tied a teenager to a post in front of a cannon filled with knives as shrapnel.
Hopefully we don't have to wait until Season 4 find out what's on the way for Jerome in Gotham. Cameron Monaghan's tease to ComicBook.com about Jerome's future at least indicates that he will be back at some point and won't just spend the rest of the series rotting at Arkham. He won't even need to be resurrected for his next appearance.
Unfortunately, Gotham is currently heading into a long hiatus, and the series won't be back until Monday, April 24. Check out our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what you can watch in the meantime.
