Season long Joker story arc

[Grissom]

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/gotham/36103/gotham-season-2-bruno-heller-on-brilliant-season-long-joker-arc


It'll definitely be interesting to see how this progresses. I'm wondering if they are introducing him too early. The show has gotten good ratings for Fox and if it continues we may see a few seasons. I personally enjoy the show alot and looking forward to see how the really handle Batman's arch nemesis.

[BatmAngelus]

***Spoilers from the episode The Last Laugh***

I'm leaning more on the negative side with this latest twist.

On the one hand, a "circus kid who killed his parents for abusing him and got groomed in how to be a criminal showman by a mysterious billionaire" isn't really a great backstory for the character. He also rose so quickly in the last couple episodes (already killing off GCPD members and the deputy mayor and appearing on TV twice) that it made it seem extremely unlikely that no one in the future would connect Joker with Jerome Valeska.

The twist also preserves the idea that the Joker's backstory is a mystery, which a lot of fans seem to be enamored with (Not me. I think the character works either way).

On the other hand, this pretty much turns Joker into a "legacy" character. Someone who takes on Jerome's persona and mannerisms. The real Joker is, essentially, a copycat and now, Gordon and Bullock will probably think the real Joker is "like that Jerome kid from way back when." And casting-wise, Cameron Monaghan embodied a young Joker so much that it's tough to picture another young actor taking on the role now and doing any better.

We will see how this turns out, but so far, I feel this choice is a victim of pandering to the "Joker shouldn't have a backstory" crowd rather than sticking to their guns on what they had.

[Slash Man]

Yeah... what a twist that was indeed. I agree with that, though.

Everything about bringing the Joker in this early and at full-strength seemed wrong, but yet Cameron Monaghan acted him so well. I could have accepted that Joker, but now it turns out that the real Joker is a copycat villain. I'm a bit happy because I want to see the normal man turned insane depiction of the character that's become so closely associated with the Joker.

Wow, this article actually called it.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/114847-jerome-cant-be-the-joker-on-gotham-for-7-simple-reasons-including-an-obvious-episode-title

[The Joker]

I was a bit disappointed to see Jerome make his exit from Gotham, especially so since I found his character, and the actor's portrayal, to be one of the more captivating aspects of the show, but .. decisions. Decisions.

Like the majority of people watching the show, the whole "Legacy" thing rubs me the wrong way as well. Going by what we've seen, I get the idea that we are now to believe that Jerome's public actions, and subsequent death, resulted in leading towards some sort of mass homicidal influence of certain Gothamites that, as the story goes, ends up with THE Joker surfacing one day. Unfortunately, that just comes across as lackluster for a number of reasons, many of which have been talked about, and to be perfectly honest, I would have taken what little we got with Jerome's backstory for Gotham's take as the Joker over the Joker having the "Jerome influence" we, evidently, ended up with. The multiple choice origin of the Joker works, and is probably the best overall, but with the Joker, his backstory, if it were to be explored, can literally change from film-to-film, as it can tv show-to-tv show. Gotham, as a show, would have just had a origin for their version of the Joker. Which would have been fine. 

[Edd Grayson]

I was a bit disappointed to see Jerome make his exit from Gotham, especially so since I found his character, and the actor's portrayal, to be one of the more captivating aspects of the show, but .. decisions. Decisions.

Like the majority of people watching the show, the whole "Legacy" thing rubs me the wrong way as well. Going by what we've seen, I get the idea that we are now to believe that Jerome's public actions, and subsequent death, resulted in leading towards some sort of mass homicidal influence of certain Gothamites that, as the story goes, ends up with THE Joker surfacing one day. Unfortunately, that just comes across as lackluster for a number of reasons, many of which have been talked about, and to be perfectly honest, I would have taken what little we got with Jerome's backstory for Gotham's take as the Joker over the Joker having the "Jerome influence" we, evidently, ended up with. The multiple choice origin of the Joker works, and is probably the best overall, but with the Joker, his backstory, if it were to be explored, can literally change from film-to-film, as it can tv show-to-tv show. Gotham, as a show, would have just had a origin for their version of the Joker. Which would have been fine.

That reminds me of how in "Batman Beyond", the Jokerz took on the real Joker's legacy, but they were just street punks and nowhere near the real thing.