Spoilers ahead for the penultimate episode of Gotham's fifth and final season on Fox.
The fifth and final season of Gotham is very nearly finished, and the penultimate episode was the end of an era that saw Jim Gordon become commissioner, Bruce Wayne head off for the next leg of his Bat-journey, two of his biggest future rogues recommitted to their villainous paths, and more. Even baby Barbara Gordon got to be decked out in her future Batgirl colors. Gotham as we knew it is done, and the series finale next week will be something brand new.
The finale flashes forward ten years, which allows Gotham to finally reveal its Batman without putting a teenager in the cape and the cowl. Prepare yourself for some of the last Gotham footage you'll ever get to see and check out the trailer:
The Gotham series finale, fittingly called "The Beginning...", will apparently see some kind of fancy party or gala, as many of the characters can be spotted in formalwear. The episode picks up ten years after the end of the penultimate episode that saw Bruce depart Gotham, with no sign of when he might want to return. He's finally coming home due to the opening of the new Wayne Tower, which only took a decade to rebuild after he and Selina blew it up to delay Bane.
Since this is Gotham, there will be some bonkers twists to guarantee that the opening doesn't go off without a hitch. A series of crimes leads Gordon to suspect that his old frenemies Penguin and Riddler are back in the crime game. Bullock will be framed for murder, and the episode description states that "Gordon begins to piece together an even more sinister plot targeting the city." Based on the trailer, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Jeremiah has something to do with it!
Fans still have several days to wait before getting to see the series finale; fortunately, the trailer combined with some episode photos have revealed the new looks of a bunch of characters following the flash-forward. Keep scrolling to see what has changed and what hasn't in the ten years between the end of the penultimate episode and the beginning of... well, "The Beginning..."
Some characters -- like Lucius, Lee, and Harvey -- actually basically look the same, but others get a seriously updated appearance. Let's start with the good guys.
Jim Gordon Gets A Mustache
In the trailer footage, Jim Gordon looks about the same as he always has. Kudos to him for aging well, but he loses points for not getting a little creative over the past decade. Still, one of the photos released for the finale reveals Jim with a good old-fashioned Commissioner Gordon mustache. He apparently won't have the mustache for all or perhaps even much of the finale, and it looks less creepy than the mustache from Bruce's dream sequence.
Will the mustache be part of Jim's look at the beginning of the episode, and he shaves it off, thus giving comics fans a nod to the iconic Commissioner Gordon facial hair? My money is definitely on him with the 'stache at the beginning rather than the end. Considering Ben McKenzie's tease of the final scene of Gotham and Gordon's lack of facial hair in what appears to be that scene in the trailer, I'm guessing he doesn't end with it.
Barbara Went Red
Barbara Kean has gone through many hairstyles throughout the years. The long blonde hair from her time as Jim's fiancee was chopped short in future seasons. Barbara's hair got crazier and bolder the longer that she spent working with the baddies of Gotham City. She was looking to spend her time on the right side of the law after she discovered she was pregnant in Season 5, so perhaps Sirens has a redhead running the joint without crossing any lines.
Honestly, for Barbara, I'm guessing that Gotham gave her a redheaded look for the grand finale to explain why her daughter presumably is a redhead. If Babs Gordon takes after the many Babs Gordons who have appeared on the pages of DC Comics and in most adaptations, then she'll have red hair. Could one of Gotham's finale twists be that Barbara has been a natural redhead all along, and only dyeing her hair red? Whatever the reason, Barbara is looking snazzy for the finale.
Alfred Is Up And At 'Em
After Alfred got his back broken by Bane in a twist on an iconic comics plot, fans had reason to wonder if he was going to be down for the count for the rest of the series. Bane wasn't exactly pulling his punches when he smacked Alfred's spine against a pole, and I can still hear the crunch. Still, Alfred was on his feet, although not looking his best by the end of the penultimate episode.
The finale proves that the ten years since his back was broken gave Alfred plenty of time to get back to his dapper old self, although he is still walking with a cane. Still, for a guy who spent a decade recovering from a horrific injury, dealing with the absence of the young man he considers the only son he'll ever have, and rebuilding both a mansion and a skyscraper into his 60s, he looks pretty great. Besides, he can probably do some serious damage with that cane.
Selina Kyle Gets Catty
Although the trailer for the series finale doesn't give any close looks at Selina's face, it's probably safe to assume that the cat burglar in all black is good old Selina Kyle. There's really no single image from the trailer that does justice to Selina's efforts to rob what appears to be a museum or store with serious security messages, but Selina in motion proves that she's upped her game in the years since Bruce bailed on her.
Her new look is pretty sleek, and she seems to favor a helmet or a cowl of her own to contain her hair. It looks like she still has the whip, and the clawed gloves are coming in handy in her criminal exploits. Honestly, the young woman deserves some credit for pulling off that backflip in those heels. Would it be too much to ask for a sequence of Batman trying to chase after Catwoman before the final credits roll?
The Dark Knight Rises
Yes, the long-awaited debut of the Dark Knight is on the way. Bruce's journey from scared orphan who watched his parents gunned down in an alleyway to young man willing to sacrifice anything if it means saving lives will finally result in him donning the cape and the cowl. Whatever happens during his ten years away from Gotham, he'll be ready to seize his destiny.
Unfortunately, the ten-year jump that will allow Bruce Wayne to be ready for Batman doesn't also mean actor David Mazouz gets ten years older. Still, Gotham found a way for Mazouz to play Batman despite not being quite big enough just yet to fill the Bat-suit, so the man behind the mask won't be a stranger. Batman's origin story will really, truly, finally produce a Batman! Here's a closer look at the cowl:
Is it too soon for me to say that I'm excited for this scene? We'll have Batman, a kinda sorta Bat-Signal, and the trio of Jim Gordon, Alfred, and Harvey Bullock looking on. I fully expect it to be one of the most memorable scenes of the series, and possibly give us our closest look at Gotham's Batman. It's too dark to see many Bat details just yet, so we can only hope that it's as great as we've had five seasons to count on.
Baby Batgirl Is No Longer A Baby
Once upon a time, it seemed all but impossible that Jim and his crazy ex Barbara could get together to make the future Batgirl, but Season 5 really found a way to make the wild idea of a baby Barbara Gordon come true. Born in the final episodes before the flash-forward, the closest look at baby Babs so far came from the ceremony where Jim was named commissioner, when she was wearing her little purple and black dress with the yellow bow.
Not-so-baby Babs in the trailer is still wearing at least one of the signature Batgirl colors, but the footage doesn't show her face or much of her hair to reveal if my redhead theory is correct. All we can really say about 10-year-old Barbara Lee Gordon is that she wears her hair in pigtails, chose a purple sweater that day, and likes to hug her dad. That's enough for now!
Now, on to the bad guys!
Penguin Gets An Eye
Poor Penguin lost an eye in the penultimate episode of the series, after a grenade thrown by Bane shot some shrapnel into his face. The trailer shows that he does get his right eye back -- or at least, a right eye -- somehow, and that's not the only thing he'll add to his face. Penguin is finally getting the monocle that most iconic versions of the character wear at some point or other.
His whole look is practically straight from the pages of the comics, aside from the fact that Gotham's Penguin didn't gain a whole lot of weight in the ten-year flash-forward. Robin Lord Taylor didn't have to spend his final episodes as Penguin in a fat suit! He does have the top hat in at least part of the episode, but he loses it at some point. Hat or not hat, he looks like the perfect Penguin.
Riddler Gets His Question Marks
Ed got a green suit shortly after he made his turn into The Riddler, and he certainly looked spiffy in his green jacket... when he wasn't waking up confused after being used to do dastardly things by the mind control chip in his brain. After his grand speech about no longer being a common criminal in the second-to-last episode of Gotham, Ed has upgraded his villain look. The Riddler has his question marks!
And also a sweet pair of glasses with a green tint that probably isn't too functional but adds a certain flair. His glasses are green, his shoes are shiny silver, his tie has question marks, and the result is that we have a classic Riddler look who strikes quite a villainous figure. Honestly, seeing the new looks for Riddler and Penguin just makes me want a spinoff all about their exploits together all the more.
Jeremiah's New Look Is Super Creepy
Well, Gotham made us wait all the way until the series finale to see Cameron Monaghan's final new look as Jeremiah Valeska, but it looks like the wait will be worth it. Although this trailer doesn't actually show much of him, another preview showed him in all his creepy, Joker-esque glory. His delightfully unnerving cackle is heard, however, and the footage is enough to reveal that he breaks out of Arkham, presumably with the help of none other than Ecco.
Honestly, Jeremiah doesn't look that bad considering he was dumped in mysterious acid, and it didn't look like anybody was exactly rushing to fish him out. All signs pointed toward him never recovering. Good for him, I guess? As for Ecco, she's looking much spiffier than Jeremiah, although no less bonkers.
Ecco Still Looks Like Harley Quinn
Gotham may never have delivered Harley Quinn herself, but Ecco definitely fit the bill just as much as Jeremiah fit the bill for the Joker, and she'll get one more episode to show off why she's such a dangerous ally for the madman.
The trailer shows her having infiltrated Arkham, presumably to spring Jeremiah from the clink and unleash him on the city again. Ecco will apparently pay a visit to Sirens on top of Arkham, and it should be fun to see what she gets up to before the final credits roll.
Tune in to Fox on Thursday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET to catch the series finale of Gotham.
