Gotham Episode 2 Review: Knock, Knock

Review by Daniel Schwartz

Contributing Guest Reviewer

(Victor Valley)– Jerome, Jerome, Jerome.

Following his escape from Arkham, Jerome and his gang of “Maniaxx” wreaked havoc on Gotham City and the Police Department in last night’s unforgettable episode of Gotham.

With some smaller subplots such as Bruce Wayne’s temper tantrum and Bullock’s return to the force taking second billing, Jerome and his pack of psychopaths stole the show. Committing a series of murders culminating in a massacre at the Police Station, The Maniaxx brought meaning to the theme “Rise of the Villains”.

Cameron Monaghan chews all of the available scenery as the possible future crown prince of crime. Giving chilling looks and eerily familiar cackles, Monaghan’s Jerome became the face of villainy in Gotham for the foreseeable future. While he plays an excellent Joker-esque character, it is hard to imagine that DC would allow him to be the true Joker. They have protected The Joker’s secret past for decades and it is doubtful that they would showcase his beginnings on television (my theory is that the true Joker will shoot Jerome at some point and utter the word “amateur”, and then let out a big laugh).

With the brand new Commissioner murdered in the massacre, the table is then set for Jim Gordon to take the reins of what remains of the Gotham Police Department. While he was not named Commissioner in the episode, it is a safe bet that he will be recruited to be Gotham’s top cop. It would also appear that Penguin and Barbara both want him alive and well to serve the department and their needs in a new and more powerful position.

After Bruce and Alfred fought about Thomas Wayne’s computer records, Lucius Fox was brought into the Batcave (not officially named yet) to salvage the destroyed files, thus beginning his long affiliation with The Dark Knight.

Overall, this was the best episode of the series to date. It seems like the show has finally found its comfort zone and is ready to give fans what they were hoping for. The villains were allowed to be villains, and all of the heroes were helpless to stop them, possibly setting the stage for a masked vigilante to emerge.

Rating: 5 out of 5. This show may be renewed for another season based solely on this episode.