Gotham season 4 debate: Should Cameron Monaghan return as Jerome?

There are a number of things that Gotham has excelled at over the years, but one of the big ones is simply assembling a great roster of recurring villains. Take, for example, Victor Fries, Firefly, or Hugo Strange. All of them are different, but all of them are also evil and more than capable of inflicting a little bit of damage. Then you have Cameron Monaghan as Jerome, you have arguably one of the greatest villains of all.

We know that there are extensive debates out there on the internet regarding whether or not the character is ultimately The Joker, but we’d argue that for the sake of this show it really doesn’t matter. The main push of Jerome is to be an unstable, evil element in the universe, someone capable of spreading influence and causing unspeakable pain. Maybe he inspires the Batman Joker, or maybe he becomes him years down the road in official capacity. He still doesn’t have the green hair, but the other similarities are clearly present.

What matters the most is that Cameron Monaghan packs so much power and terror into his episodes that they always feel like an event. He’s a busy guy thanks to his role on Shameless, but whenever Gotham gets him, they make a meal out of it. When they had Jerome for a few episodes early this year, they turned that into one of the best arcs of the entire series. That final showdown with Jerome was incredible given that A) established the lengths that he will go to destroy Bruce Wayne and B) helped to establish more Bruce’s eventual transformation into Batman. In a physical sense, he was more proactive within that story than ever before.

We do think that for the vast majority of Gotham fans, it’s a no-brainer as to whether or not they would want to see Jerome again. If you want excellent villains, you don’t have to look any further. There are really two questions that you do have to ask when considering the character’s return.

1. Is the right story in place? – With a character of this magnitude, it has to be right, especially given that the character had two tremendous arcs over the past two years already. His death episode was incredible, as was the showdown in the funhouse. He’s currently locked up in Arkham, so it’s not that hard to envision him coming back; you just have to find a way to top what you’ve done before, and that’s no easy feat.

2. Has it been enough time? – You want to miss Jerome when he hasn’t been around for a while! Given that he’s probably not returning in the first few episodes, we’d argue that enough time has transpired and Gotham is a little bit different than it was before. What we’d love for him now is to interact with more different characters, while still being obsessed with Bruce to the point that it causes his undoing.

Do you want more of Cameron Monaghan as Jerome on Gotham season 4, and how do you want to see the moment happen? Share in the comments right now!

Meanwhile, be sure to head over to the link here in the event you want to see the latest new teaser promo for the episodes ahead! (Photo: Fox.)