'Gotham' season 3 episode 12 spoilers: Jerome cackles his way back to Gotham as Selina deals with mommy issues
Insanity literally breaks loose when "Gotham" season 3 returns next year for the back half of its third season. On top of everything else that happened in the midseason finale, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) will also have to contend with a previously dead adversary, who now wields twice the influential laughter he did the last time.
Since it was teased that Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) was among the test subjects at the Indian Hill research facility, fans have been eagerly waiting for the charismatic villain's return. He finally does when the show airs its first episode in 2017.
It seems that nothing much has changed with the fan-favorite character, who is widely regarded as a prototype of Batman's most popular foe, Joker. But since he came from Indian Hill, it is safe to assume that Jerome now possesses a supernatural power of some kind. The episode promo shows him appearing on a projector screen with his trademark cackle serving as a preamble to a seemingly innocent pep talk he delivers to the people of Gotham.
"Sanity is just a prison in your minds," Jerome says. "Wake up! Be free," he adds.
What kind of chaos will these words lead to? How will Jim solve the city's problem when he has his own personal problems to deal with after he shot Carmine Falcone's (John Doman) son? Will Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) ever know the reason why did what he did, or has he put himself in her bad graces for good?
Additionally, Selina Kyle's (Camren Bicondova) mother, Maria (Ivana Milosevic) is back in her life and it's bound to affect her drastically. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actress Bicondova teased that Maria's return may eventually bring Selina down a dark path.
"It will be a darkness that we haven't seen before," Bicondova said.
"Gotham" season 3 episode 12 is scheduled to air on Monday, Jan. 16, at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.