'Gotham' Begins Jeremiah's Final Joker Evolution

After taking on the roles of both Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska, Gotham star Cameron Monaghan made it clear heading into the show's final season that he had one more evolution to go through before his third and final character arrived. Each has taken on a different part of The Joker, and this third iteration would go even further into the iconic character's mythos. Finally, after weeks of teasing this next step in the creation of Batman's arch-nemesis, Gotham delivered on its promises. Make way for the rise of Joker.

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

In Thursday night's new episode of Gotham, "Ace Chemicals," the series went to the unofficial birthplace of the Joker. After trying to recreate the death of Bruce's parents, Jeremiah and the future Dark Knight got into a fight on the catwalk of the chemical plant right above an enormous vat of glowing green ooze. Every Batman fan knew exactly where this scene was going as soon as it started.

As expected, Jeremiah fell into the vat of chemicals when all was said and done. Also as expected, the fall and chemicals didn't kill him. At the very end of the episode, Jeremiah was shown in a hospital bed, face wrapped in bandages, and his skin burned from head to toe. Bruce and Selina both stood over him, wondering how he was still alive.

"They've been doing scans and he's got no brain activity," Bruce told Selina. "He's no longer a threat."

Bruce is obviously going to be wrong about that one, and Jeremiah is somehow going to find his way back to the fold at some point before the series is over. He's got some serious Joker antics still up his sleeve.

We can hardly wait.

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