Only one more Monday left in season three of Gotham. It is sure to be a doozy as well, as fans will be treated to a two-part finale, spanning two hours as opposed to the usual one. That is probably for the best, as there is currently a lot going on in the world of Jim Gordon.
In what has been arguably the best season of the Fox show, there are plenty of interesting storylines going on at the moment. Jim has recently injected himself with the virus. This is following Lee doing the same and burying him alive. Penguin and Riddler want to kill one another. Barbara, Tabitha, Butch, Ivy and Selina have all been involved in that spat. Fish Mooney showed up and took Penguin away last week. Bruce has been brainwashed and trying to destroy Gotham. Oh, and there has been a virus spread out across the city!
Got all of that? Well, prepare yourself, because things are about to heat up even more. The two-hour season finale is set to introduce a few major characters from the world of Batman comics are set to make an appearance. The first of those characters is the Demon Head himself, Ra’s Al Ghul.
Now, as awesome as that is, there is another character that I am, and a number of Gotham fans are, more excited about to see debut. While it was long rumored, it was recently confirmed by Bruce Wayne himself. According to David Mazouz, Harley Quinn will be appearing on the season three finale!
Finally, we have confirmation! Now the question becomes, how will she factor in. The answer actually seems fairly logical.
Given all that is going on as we enter the episode, dropping her right into the middle of a current storyline would seem very strange. So, it is very likely that she gets introduced at the very end of the episode. Very possibly in the last scene of the episode. This would be done for one reason: To set up season four.
So now, let’s factor in a few more things. For starters, the most likely candidate, especially since there has been no announcement on a casting, is that Erin Richards, who plays Barbara, will become Harley. Several members of the Gotham community have teased a transformation for Babs at the end of the season, including Richards herself.
Next, let’s look at where Barbara stands going into the finale. They have been teasing a split between Babs and Tabitha for a while now. My gut tells me she ends up killing both Tabitha and Butch. This could certainly be the moment that sends Babs off the deep end. It would also mean she could be going solo, and not necessarily transformed into Harley.
However, it could certainly put her one step closer, with only one more scene to help cement the transformation. With that, let’s also factor in the season finale’s description.
Towards the end of the description, it mentions alliances being broken. Barbara killing off her two partners would certainly qualify there. But it also mentioned new ones forming. And that is where the Joker could come into play.
We have not seen Cameron Monaghan‘s crazed Jerome, who is the show’s amazing version of the Joker, since episode 14, which was titled “Mad City: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”. That episode was the close of the season’s second arc, which centered around Jerome’s return and rise to the role of the Clown Prince of Gotham. It also happened to end with him being sent off to Arkham Asylum.
So that means, the crazed lunatic is still sitting there. In order for him to wreak some more havoc on Gotham, someone is likely going to have to break him out. Who better to do that than the Queen of the underworld at the moment?
If Babs does in fact kill off her partners, she could very well be on the hunt for a new one. It just so happens that she has worked with Jerome before, back at the start of season two. So she is very aware of what he is capable of. She is also certainly in the know about what he did during the events of this season.
So after killing off Butch and Tabitha, she heads off to Arkham, officially unhinged. After killing a guard or two, she arrives at the padded cell they are holding one Mr. Jerome Valeska. They do not even need to show Jerome (if Monaghan was unable to film an extra scene). Barbara would walk up to the cell door and utter the words, “How’s it going Puddin/Mr. J?”.
Now obviously, it would be even cooler to see Jerome’s crazy face one more time before we close out the season. But the line from Barbara alone would accomplish multiple things.
First, it would cement her as Gotham‘s take on Harley Quinn. She would use one of the nicknames that Harley has for the Joker. That alone, paired with all of the rumors and signs that have pointed to her eventual transformation, would get the job done.
More importantly, it would give fans one hell of a teaser leading into season four. A tease of those two characters joining forces would have me wanting the show to return as soon as possible. The introduction of Harley alone would get people buzzing. But to pair her with Mr. J right from the start would just be down right awesome.
So what do you think? Do you think Gotham could give us a Harley Quinn-Joker tease leading into season four? Tell us what you think in the comments!