The last time Fish Mooney was seen on Gotham, she made quite a splash. After another failed bid to seize power in the Season 1 finale, she found herself fighting her former protege, Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, on a rooftop. It ended with Penguin tossing her off the building, her body landing in the waters below. Believing her dead, Penguin triumphantly declared himself the king of Gotham. Well, in traditional comic book story fashion, things aren’t what they seemed, as Fish will be resurfacing this season.
Fox confirmed that Jada Pinkett Smith will reprise Fish for multiple episodes in Gotham Season 2. However, the network did not provide any details to TV Line about the circumstances of her return. Smith was a series regular during Season 1, but shortly before that season ended, she announced her departure from the show, though she never said her absence would be permanent. Executive producer Bruno Heller later hinted we might see her again, and sure enough, now she’s back.
As one of the few original characters in Gotham, it was difficult to determine where the show would be taking Fish in Season 1. She started out as one of Carmine Falcone’s top underbosses, but she was plotting the whole time to overthrow the old man. While she did gain ground briefly, eventually her plans were discovered, and she was forced to flee Gotham City. She then ended up on a secluded island where captured travelers were having their organs harvested by Francis Dulmacher, a.k.a. the Dollmaker. There she did whatever it took to survive, including scooping her own eye out, and eventually she was able to escape with some of the other prisoners. This led to her return in the Season 1 finale, and, soon after, her presumed death.
While the first assumption might be that Fish survived her fall and is finally back to carry out her revenge on Penguin, it might not be that simple. In last November’s midseason finale, one of the bodies being kept at Indian Hill looked like Fish from the back, the distinctive hair color catching many eyes. Although it was later confirmed that the actress inside that body tank wasn’t Jada Pinkett Smith, that doesn’t mean the show wasn’t laying the groundwork for her return.
Indian Hill will play a big role in the latter half of Season 2. Headed by Dr. Hugo Strange, the black ops program has been experimenting on both the heavily injured and straight-up dead to create the ultimate super human…or super villain. Even worse, it’s being funded by Wayne Enterprises. The program’s other notable occupants include Jerome Valeska, Bridget Pike (a.k.a. Firefly, who’s just barely alive) and Theo Galavan. So even though we’ll see Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish again, that doesn’t mean she’ll be acting the same way as she did in Season 1.
Gotham returns with new episodes Monday, February 29 at 8 p.m. EST on Fox.
