Yahoo News Gotham's mad take on The Joker explained
Warning: Contains spoilers for Gotham season 4.
Gotham has included endless classic Batman villains over its four seasons to date, but the one that remains tantalisingly out of reach is the Joker.
Ever since he was introduced in season one episode 'The Blind Fortune Teller', Cameron Monaghan's Jerome Valeska was earmarked by fans as being the prequel show's take on the iconic comic-book villain. Yet four seasons later, Jerome has died a couple of times and yet has never actually been called the Joker.
Season four has further complicated the matter with the introduction of Jerome's twin brother Jeremiah and even he hasn't been called the Joker, so what the hell is happening? We've looked back over the seasons to explain it.
Gotham season 2: The rise of Jerome
Following his one-off appearance in season one when he killed his mother, fans suspected that season two's Rise of the Villains arc would see Jerome finally become the Joker.
However, he would end up lasting only three episodes after escaping from Arkham Asylum and causing chaos by throwing some prisoners off a roof, before killing GCPD Commissioner Sarah Essen. Jerome then teamed up with Barbara Kean to take Bruce Wayne hostage, but Theo Galavan double-crossed him and stabbed him in the neck.
This was the first twist to the Joker saga in Gotham, as the end of 'The Last Laugh' hinted that the Joker would be an idea in Gotham and not an actual person.
Gotham season 3: Jerome is reborn
Death is often just a minor hiccup in Gotham, especially when Hugo Strange started his experiments at Indian Hill in season three.
Jerome wasn't one of the people revived by Strange, but his frozen corpse found its way to former Indian Hill employee Dwight Pollard, who just happened to be the leader of a cult worshipping Jerome and trying to bring him back to life. This didn't work so, naturally, Dwight cut off Jerome's face and 'became' Jerome.
This being Gotham, though, being dead and without a face doesn't stop you coming back to life, so Jerome suddenly woke up after being taken to the GCPD morgue, and hunted down Dwight to get his face back. With his face stapled back on, Jerome blew up Dwight at the power plant and plunged Gotham City into a blackout.
Jerome then used his cult members to take Bruce hostage again, this time at the Boardwalk Circus, which culminated in a showdown between Jerome and Bruce in the hall of mirrors – where Bruce spared Jerome's life to stop becoming like him.
In classic supervillain fashion, though, Jerome wasn't done and ran at Bruce and Alfred outside the hall of mirrors with a shard of glass, until Jim Gordon literally punched his face off and had him sent to Arkham again.
Gotham season 4: Say hi to Jeremiah
Arkham Asylym just can't keep a good villain down, though, as Jerome escaped with Jonathan Crane, AKA Scarecrow, and Jervis Tetch in the second half of season four and formed the Legion of Horribles.
Jerome's aim was to turn Gotham City into a large-scale asylum with the use of an adaptation of Scarecrow's fear gas, which included his twin brother Jeremiah and Bruce, who he captured AGAIN. Before Jerome could carry out his plan, Jim showed up to chase him on to a rooftop before shooting him, causing him to fall off. Despite Jim's attempt to save him, Jerome chose to fall to his death, laughing all the way.
But wait, that wasn't the end of the Joker saga, as before his death, Jerome sent Jeremiah a gift with a special mixture of the gas that turned him into the closest thing the show has had to a classic Joker look.
So Jeremiah is Gotham's Joker, right?
That'd be a no. Despite the final episodes of season four seeing Jeremiah following in Jerome's villainous footsteps (including shooting Selina Kyle and blowing up Gotham City's bridges), he is categorically NOT the Joker.
"The other characters are who they are – Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, etc – but no, he isn't the Joker," showrunner John Stephens explained, adding that the real Joker is out there following Jerome and Jeremiah's actions and "adopting them as inspirations as the person he'll one day become".
So why isn't either of them the actual Joker? Take it away Jerome/Jeremiah star Cameron Monaghan.
"Pure green [hair] was off-limits to us (as well as the name 'Joker'), a decision from high-up as they wanted to reserve these for films," he wrote on Twitter. "A decision which ultimately I respect. They did not want to dilute the very lucrative brand. It allowed for creativity on our end."
Various hair tests. Pure green was off-limits to us (as well as the name "Joker"), a decision from high-up as they wanted to reserve these for films. A decision which ultimately I respect. They did not want to dilute the very lucrative brand. It allowed for creativity on our end. pic.twitter.com/pSlacSUTjU
- Cameron Monaghan (@cameronmonaghan) May 12, 2018
Now with the show confirmed to be finishing after season five, don't expect to see the actual Joker by the show's end.
At least we have Monaghan's brilliant performance to keep us going and we can all just accept that he's basically the Joker anyway.
Gotham airs on FOX in the US and E4 in the UK, where seasons 1-3 are also available on demand via Netflix.
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