‘Gotham’ season 3, episode 14 (winter finale) spoilers: It all comes to a head with Jerome

Jerome’s story on “Gotham” has been building to a crescendo through the past two episodes of the show, so as we move forward into the upcoming winter finale, it feels as though you better prepare for one of the loudest cacophonies imaginable. He’s about to be at the full height of his power, and he’s going to be looking to destroy one person more than any other. For Jerome to be so singularly motivated is a shocking twist for the character in itself, mostly because we associate him more with chaos and just piling up the problems in any way that he can.

Then again, Bruce Wayne is the name that so evades him. He may not have him to blame specifically for his death the first time around, but when you see the metaphorical golden goose, sometimes you just want to grab one of the eggs. (For the record, we didn’t think that we were going to be entering this article making any sort of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” puns — sometimes things kind of happen that way.)

Synopsis – “With Jerome (guest star Cameron Monaghan) on the loose with one target in mind, Bruce and Alfred’s safety is compromised. Meanwhile, Gordon’s uncle Frank (guest star James Remar) pays him a visit, and Nygma and Penguin are forced to confront their issues face-to-face, with possible deadly consequences.”

When we spoke to Cory Michael Smith last week, he told us that this episode is going to be all sorts of insane, mostly from the vantage point of just about every story from the season culminating with a series of flourishes. While things have been fairly isolated to date, many of them are going to come together in some shape or form. Unfortunately, following this episode there won’t be any more episodes until April, and we feel like that’s going to be a tough pill for all of us to swallow.

Promo – It’s Bruce versus Jerome, and it’s at a creepy carnival, no less. If you weren’t afraid of Jerome before, this could be when you start to have that chill in your spine. Also, we do want to take a moment to specifically credit Monaghan here for his performance. While there is some of that manic energy of many of the other men that we’ve seen play the Joker, his version of the character still has his own unique sense of darkness. It’s different enough to make it exciting. (Granted, we still don’t know if it is the Joker per se.)

What do you want to see come your way next when it comes to “Gotham”? Share some of your thoughts with a comment.