‘Gotham’ Season 3 Episode 13 Recap: Smile Like You Mean It

Gotham Season 3 Episode 13 Erin Richards
Erin Richards in the “Mad City: Smile Like You Mean It” episode of ‘Gotham’ (Photo by Jessica Miglio / FOX)

Fox’s Gotham season three episode 12 teased the return of Jerome (guest star Cameron Monaghan) in the episode’s final scene, and episode 13 immediately dives into the resurrection of Jerome storyline. Titled ‘Smile Like You Mean It’ and airing on January 23, 2017, episode 13 begins with Dwight (David Dastmalchian) and his gang entering the secure facility where Jerome’s smiling – and lifeless – body is being kept. Dwight laughs hysterically as he comes face to (dead) face with his hero.

Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) explains Indian Hill used this Wayne Enterprises building as a storage facility as he and Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) investigate the disappearance of Jerome’s body. They realize Dwight stole Jerome’s body so he could try and bring him back to life, and Harvey says that’s just what the city doesn’t need. Lucius (Chris Chalk) explains Dwight’s next step in resurrecting Jerome will be to thaw his body before reanimation. That should take, at the most, three hours. As they’re talking, they hear one of Jerome’s injured followers who’s been left behind.

Cole Clemens (P.J. Marshall), the man who’s after Selina’s mom for a debt she owes, pays a visit to Wayne Manor. Cole tells Bruce (David Mazouz) and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) Maria Kyle owes him $200,000 (the figure is really $100k) and says if he doesn’t get the money, he’ll turn Maria in to the police.

Back at the police station, Jim thanks Lee (Morena Baccarin) for convincing Carmine Falcone to call off Victor Zsasz. She may have saved him, but she hasn’t forgiven Jim for killing her husband. Lee tells Jim to have Dwight bring back Mario from the dead, leaving before Jim can respond.

Jim and Harvey turn their attention to the injured gang member, asking where Dwight took Jerome. The guy says Jerome is just the first step and that they are everywhere. Jim puts out a citywide alert to look for anything with the crazy smiling face symbol.

Dwight hooks up Jerome to a machine and then zaps him with electricity.

Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) wakes up to the devastating news the people of Gotham think he’s crazy and want him out of office. Oswald doesn’t care and just wants to find Edward Nygma, but Barbara (Erin Richards) tells him he better care because rival gangs will seize control of Gotham. She tells him to pull himself together and she’ll set up a meeting with all of the heads of the crime families so he can put the rumors to rest.

Over at Wayne Manor, Bruce gives Maria (Ivana Milicevic) the money while Selina suggests they just call the cops on Cole. Selina believes Cole will just come back for more money, but Bruce thinks this will give them time to clear Maria’s record. Maria volunteers to leave and Selina gives in and says Bruce can pay, but she’s obviously not happy about it and leaves the room upset.

The cops have discovered smiling face symbols all over the city, and Harvey figures out most are concentrated in the rough parts of town. Jim and Harvey argue over the possibility Jerome has thousands of disciples across the city, something Harvey thinks is crazy. Lucius interrupts to tell them the thousand volts of electricity needed to bring back a corpse, like the woman Dwight brought back as a test subject, would show as a surge of electricity. The power company reported surges at 9th and Henry and there was another surge at that location just 15 minutes ago. As Jim and Harvey head out, a nearby cop calls Dwight’s associate to warn him the police are on their way.

Dwight’s attempt at bringing Jerome back to life doesn’t work, and he begs Jerome’s lifeless corpse to wake up. Dwight’s assistant reminds him all of Jerome’s people expect to have their leader back from the dead. Dwight gets tired of the guy yelling at him and zaps him right after he says, “They expect to see his face.” That gives Dwight an idea and he picks up a knife and bends over Jerome while saying, “They want to see your face.”

Jim and Harvey lead the cops into the warehouse where they find the machines but not Dwight. They do, however, find Jerome’s body…minus his face.

Jerome’s followers are gathered in a building and Dwight slowly walks down the stairs toward the crowd, telling them Jerome has returned. He’s wearing Jerome’s face like a mask and they all stop cheering. They scream, “Where’s Jerome?” while Dwight continues to say, “Jerome is here.” He declares each of them is Jerome and one by one they seem to accept it, saying, “I’m Jerome!” They begin chanting, “We are Jerome!”

Over at the Gotham City Police Department, Lee is about to perform Jerome’s autopsy and turns away to get something. When her back is turned, Jerome’s finger moves.

Lucius has discovered someone from the precinct called Dwight to let him know about the raid. Harvey gets upset, shatters a lamp, and wants Lucius to try and track down the mole. Unfortunately, the call was made through the station’s main line. Jim grabs the cell phone recovered at the scene and makes an announcement, telling everyone they have a mole. He shows them the phone that received the call and says, “Let’s find out who the traitor is, shall we?” He starts dialing and before he can finish, the guilty cop tries to flee the room. He’s tackled and arrested, and Lucius congratulates Jim for pulling off the bluff.

Oswald shows up at Barbara’s club for the meeting with the heads of the crime families but none of them have shown up. Angry, Oswald calls it a rebellion against his rule, but he thanks Barbara for being a friend. She offers up some advice: clean house by killing Tommy Bones and The Duke. Oswald starts chuckling and Barbara’s surprised. Turns out he knew she was manipulating him.

He asks for her plan, knowing she wanted to take over Gotham. He tells her she’s out of her depth and wonders if he should call the other families to find out if they were really invited to the meeting. Just then the phone rings and it’s Tommy Bones declaring they no longer work for Oswald anymore. If Oswald doesn’t walk away quietly, Tommy Bones will kill Edward Nygma. Oswald leaves, muttering that he has to gather his men.

After Oswald leaves, Barbara calls Tommy Bones and talks to Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) who’s holding the mobster at gunpoint. He asks if they’re good now that he’s played his part and Tabitha says yes and then kills him.

Harvey and Jim interrogate Officer Andrew Dove (James Mount), going through his work history to find out what made him flip. Dove says the night Jerome attacked the station was the same night he changed. Jim threatens him and Dove starts laughing hysterically. Jim slugs him in the face and Dove keeps on laughing while bleeding. Harvey takes over the beating and punches Dove repeatedly. Lee interrupts to inject Dove with Sodium Pentothal (truth serum). Jim runs after her and tells her she shouldn’t have done that. Lee’s pissed they keep bending the rules and Jim tells her she shouldn’t follow their example. Jim threatens to tell Harvey she came back too soon, but she reminds him she just saw the acting captain punch a suspect. “Don’t ever touch me again or tell me what to do,” she snarls before turning her back on Jim.

Harvey says Dove told him Dwight’s going to make an announcement on Channel 9 on the 6pm news.

At Channel 9, the boss tells everyone they’ve been instructed by the GCPD to evacuate the building. However, the warning comes too late as Dwight and the gang take over the station.

Gotham season 3 episode 13 Morena Baccarin
Morena Baccarin in ‘Gotham’ (Photo by Jessica Miglio / FOX)

Lee enters her office and finds a dead cop and she’s surprised to find a very much alive but bandaged Jerome also in her office. He grabs her before she can scream.

We return from a commercial break to discover Lee’s filled Jerome in on what went down in Gotham following his death. He’s impressed by having a group of lunatic followers and says the last year was nothing but darkness. He figures out Lee was Jim Gordon’s girlfriend and asks about their relationship. He seems disappointed they aren’t together and she tells him Jim killed Mario on her wedding night. Lee’s not happy when Jerome laughs. He remembers he was about to kill Bruce Wayne (and isn’t shocked to learn Bruce is still alive) and recalls being killed by Theo Galavan. Jerome’s disappointed to learn Theo was killed twice and says, “That son of a bitch is always upstaging me.” Finally, Jerome asks about the whereabouts of his face.

A massive squad of officers shows up at the Channel 9 news station only to discover the gang beat them to it and now there’s a hostage situation.

Maria delivers the $200k to Cole and he calls her “baby.” They’re working together (as if we hadn’t already figured that out) and she just wants to leave town. He says they won and that’s when Selina walks in. Maria knows she’s been caught and Selina runs through how the whole thing went down. Selina doesn’t care about the money they’re stealing from Bruce; she only cares about the fact that Maria came back to use her. Selina warns Maria never to visit her again.

Jim calls Dwight and demands he release the hostages. The gang begins laughing and Jim taunts Dwight, calling him just an “understudy pretending to be the star.” Dwight keeps insisting he’s Jerome and Jim hangs up on him, telling him he’s bored. The cops think they have figured out a way in.

Barbara and Tabitha celebrate outwitting Oswald as the crime family representatives gather at her club. Oswald’s out looking for Tommy Bones and everything’s going as planned. Tabitha reminds Barbara they are going to kill Ed when it’s all over, and Barbara leans over and seals the deal with a kiss. Now it’s time to figure out how to handle the crime families. Option A is reasoning with them. They go with option B as Tabitha mows them down. Barbara calls Ed and tells him Penguin is all his.

The live broadcast on Channel 9 begins and Dwight introduces himself as Jerome. The real Jerome watches from Lee’s office where Lee is now bound and gagged. Jerome critiques Dwight’s performance and then, wearing the dead cop’s uniform, takes off.

Jerome runs over a pedestrian with his stolen squad car on his way to Channel 9.

Jim, Harvey, and the cops break in and knock out the bad guy holding a hostage in the station’s front window. Dwight continues, promising they are about to rise up. His speech is cut short as Jim, Harvey, and the GCPD come in, guns blazing. Jim tackles Dwight and the gang members who aren’t killed are captured.

Selina barges in on Bruce while he’s working out, demanding to know if he knew Maria was only after the money. Bruce admits it was obvious and that he didn’t have any options. He thought she would skip town if he didn’t, and Selina is upset he lied to her. Bruce explains that calling her mother a con artist who just wanted his money didn’t seem like the right thing to do. Selina hits him as he tries to get her to understand he lied for a very different reason than what motivated her mother. Bruce refuses to fight back but does dodge all of her punches, even though she keeps yelling at him to fight her. Selina tells him her mother only came back because of him and the Wayne money and then runs out of the room.

Outside of Channel 9, Jim says they need to put some cops out on the streets since Dwight got part of his message out. Just then Jim gets a call from Lee telling him Jerome is alive and coming after Dwight. Harvey says he saw an officer walking Jerome away, and they discover an officer dead where Dwight was last seen.

Jerome’s in the driver’s seat of the news van and Dwight’s in the back as they leave the scene. Jerome holds up his face, which is now in an evidence bag, and calls him (the face) hilarious.

They make it to a building where Jerome staples his face on as Dwight watches. Dwight says it looks good and asks if Jerome is mad he cut off his face. Jerome asks, “What’s a cut-off face between friends?”

Meanwhile, Oswald’s angry he can’t find Ed. His goons tell him Tommy Bones did not have Ed at any of his hideouts. Ed calls then, whispering that he snuck away to the phone. He says he’s being held at Kane Chemicals and off Oswald goes to rescue his BFF.

At the GCPD, Jim tells Harvey there haven’t been any sightings of Jerome or Dwight, but there are lots of reports of violence and fires. Harvey can’t believe Dwight’s message worked. Lucius arrives, telling them to watch the news. A reporter says video from Channel 9’s van is coming in and she hopes it leads to the thief’s arrest. It’s Jerome – and Harvey wants Channel 9 to immediately cut off the broadcast.

Jerome reminds people he died and it was boring but now he’s back. He’s got a new perspective on life. He urges the citizens of Gotham to do what they want, and kill who they want. “In the darkness, there are no rules.” He adds, “When the morning comes, you too shall be reborn.” He then lights a stick of dynamite, tells a tied-up Dwight he doesn’t forgive him for his face, and leaves before the power plant full of explosives detonates.

Jim runs to the roof of the police station as across town the power plant explodes. The lights of Gotham are extinguished.