Jerome and Barbara come face-to-face in Arkham Asylum in “Ginger and Gorgeous” clip!
There’s a new clip from GOTHAM Season 2 on the web and it’s got us asking some serious questions! In the clip, Jerome and Barbara meet for the first time in Arkham Asylum, where Barbara finds herself as she attempts to recover from her horrific encounter with The Ogre. He gives her some advice about surviving in Arkham. But it there more to this simple meeting than meets the eye?
First off, we still don’t know for sure that Jerome Valeska will someday become The Joker. Yes, he’s got all the mannerisms, but there’s still a lingering possibility that this character is one giant red herring. The fact that it seems so obvious that he’s emulating The Joker in this clip makes us even less sure.
But if Jerome is The Joker, who is Barbara to him? Fan theories suggest that Barbara may become Harley Quinn, but that’s a stretch even for Gotham. In the comics, Barbara eventually marries Jim, has a son, and adopts her niece, also named Barbara, who will eventually become Batgirl. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn is Harleen Quinzel, an employee at Arkham Asylum driven mad herself by The Joker’s antics. Those are two tough story lines to mesh together, even for a show that doesn’t follow a strict outline of the comics.
Perhaps Barbara is simply one more stringk that will eventually connect Jim Gordon to The (alleged!) Joker through some dramatics over a season or two? That seems more plausible than a full-on Harley Quinn makeover for the wife and mother from the original series.