Mad City: Smile Like You Mean It

"Tonight Gotham, in the darkness, there are no rules. So tonight Gotham, do what you want, kill who you want... And when morning comes, you too shall be reborn!"

—Jerome Valeska

"Mad City: Smile Like You Mean It" is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Gotham. It aired on January 23, 2017.

Synopsis

On the run from Gordon and Bullock, Dwight tries to revive Jerome, in turn, activates his acolytes around Gotham City. Meanwhile, Selina's mom's intentions in Gotham are revealed, and the power play between Penguin and Nygma escalates as Barbara's plans are set in place.^[2]

Plot

Dwight and members of the cult enter a warehouse with the help of a fellow co-worker and retrieve Jerome's corpse. The GCPD investigates the break-in and Gordon and Bullock find that the warehouse belongs to Wayne Enterprises, which retrieved the corpses from Indian Hill and deduce that the woman in the morgue was a resurrection test. They then find an injured cult member in the warehouse and arrest him.

Cole arrives at Wayne Manor and tells Bruce e payment for Maria's debt is $200,000 and if he does not pay it, he will make sure she goes to jail. Despite Selina's insistence not to give the money, Bruce gives the money to Maria. In the GCPD, Gordon interrogates the cultist and finds that Jerome's cryrogenic pod was stolen and discovers that they're planning to resurrect him. Meanwhile, Dwight and another cultist begin a process to bring Jerome's corpse back to life.

After Cobblepot's disastrous interview along with the missing whereabouts of his staff, the people question his authority and demand his resignation. Barbara also informs him that Tommy Bones is questioning his leadership and turned against him and tells him to prepare for a meeting she'll arrange with the heads of the mob. Fox tells Gordon and Bullock that because of the energy used to revive the girl in the morgue, that would cause a power surge in the electric grid and suspect a power plant to be the center of the resurrections. They decide to go raid the place but one of the cultists is revealed to be working in the GCPD and informs Dwight of the raid. Dwight fails to revive Jerome and upon being reminded by his assistant that the cultists were promised by Dwight that they'd see Jerome's smiling face again, Dwight kills the assistant in frustration, cuts off Jerome's face from the corpse and flees before the police arrive, leaving the corpse behind.

Dwight appears at the cult's meeting, wearing Jerome's face and convinces the others that they are "all Jerome". At Sirens, Cobblepot confronts Barbara, suspecting her of conspiring against him when he is called by Tommy Bones, who claims that they will end their partnership and says he has Nygma captive. After Cobblepot leaves to gather his henchmen, Tommy is revealed to be threatened by Tabitha, who then kills him. Gordon and Bullock interrogate the mole but fail to convince him until Lee doses him with a truth serum and Dove reveals that Dwight and the cultists are planning on broadcasting a message at a TV station. Lee returns to her office where Jerome is revealed to be resurrected and takes her prisoner.

Maria and Cole are revealed to be working together in a scam to get Bruce's money when they're discovered by Selina, who leaves angry that Maria used her. Selina then confronts Bruce about it, who reveals that he suspected it to be a scam all along, but decided to pay anyway, hoping it might lead to a reconciliation between Selina and Maria. Selina is mad that Maria never made an effort to reconnect until Bruce came into her life, and tries to take it out on him, but Bruce's training is starting to bear fruit, and he prevents her from doing any damage. Dwight and the cultists invade the station and take over the news broadcast with Dwight acting as Jerome while Gordon and the police enter through the ventilation system to save a hostage. Jerome sees the broadcast and leaves the precinct in uniform, leaving Lee bound and gagged. Gordon, Bullock and the GCPD invade the station just as Dwight broadcasts the message, killing many cultists and arresting Dwight. Meanwhile, Cobblepot receives a call from Nygma, who says that he is held captive at Kane Chemicals.

In the scene, Jerome steals a station van and kidnaps Dwight. Jerome takes him to a power plant and has Dwight strapped with explosives. He then broadcasts a live message, telling the people that "in the darkness, there are no rules" and encourages everyone to kill anyone and do whatever they want, as in the morning, they will be "reborn". He then ignites the explosives and leaves Dwight behind with the explosives. Gordon demands a chopper to make it in time for the plant but as he goes outside, he sees as the power plant explodes and the city suffers a wide power outage, leaving it in darkness.

Notes

• Jerome's face being cut off and later stapled back on is based off The Joker's New 52 counterpart, in which his face was sliced off by the Dollmaker, and was later reattached.
• David Dastmalchian had also played one of Joker's followers in the hit movie "The Dark Knight".
• The title of this episode references The Killers song of the same name.

References

1. ↑ Final Adjusted TV Ratings for Monday 23rd January 2017 - SpoilerTV
2. ↑ Gotham - Episode 3.13 - Smile Like You Mean It - Promotional Photos & Press Release - SpoilerTV