‘Gotham’: Thomas and Martha Wayne Return, But With a Twist

As promised in last week’s Joker-inspired trailer, Thomas and Martha Wayne made their return to Gotham on Thursday night. Of course, the entire show hinges on them having been dead for years, so there had to be a twist involved, right?

Twisted doesn’t even do it justice.

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from the latest episode of Gotham! Continue reading at your own risk!

It was easy to guess that Jeremiah Valeska had a hand in this strange resurrection tale. Not only does he have a not-at-all secret obsession with Bruce, but he was also seen two weeks ago speaking with a doctor about two people whose faces had been surgically altered. Fans immediately believed that this duo was the Wayne parents, and they were right.

However, the twist didn’t come until later in the episode. Jeremiah essentially recreated the night Bruce’s parents were killed. After getting the faces of the Waynes put onto a couple of innocent people, Jeremiah took the family to the movie theater to see his own rendition of The Mark of Zorro. As we all know, Bruce wanted to leave during the movie and that bad timing caused them to run into a mugger in the alley, which of course led to Thomas and Martha’s death. Jeremiah wanted to give Bruce a second chance at the night that changed his life so that he could be a part of it. He thought if he was the one to kill Bruce’s parents, the two of them would be tied together forever.

The biggest surprise of all came when Bruce went into the alley. Jeremiah gave his whole speech about being connected to one another by hatred, and then said that he had already killed the random people who looked like Bruce’s parents. Instead, Jeremiah turned the couple around to reveal Jim Gordon and Lee Thompkins. Since he needed Bruce to feel the pain of this night all over again, he couldn’t just kill someone who had already been dead. He had to create a brand new wound that would haunt Bruce forever, and killing his new father figure and close ally would certainly do the trick.

What Jeremiah didn’t account for though, was Selina Kyle lurking in the shadows. She was there the night that Bruce’s real parents were killed and chose not to do anything. But this time was different, and she stepped up to save the day.

What did you think of Thomas and Martha Wayne’s twisted return? Is this the most villainous thing Jeremiah has done to this point? Let us know in the comments!

New episodes of Gotham air on Thursday nights at 8 pm ET on FOX.