Directed by Eagle Egilsson
Written by John Stephens & Megan Mostyn Brown
Gordon deals with the fallout of the Maniax! attack on the GCPD while Jerome prepares for another public spectacle at a charity event.
- Anyone Can Die: Jerome is apparently killed by Galavan when everything seemed to be setting him up as the Joker.
- Apologetic Attacker: Galavan, killing Jerome, apologizes for going off book.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Jerome's list of demands once he takes hostages — $47 million, a helicopter, his dry cleaning, and a pony.
- Bait-and-Switch: Obviously, how Jerome seemed set up in every way to become the Joker only to die at Galavan's hands.
- Ballroom Blitz: Jerome and Barbara hold a fancy charity event hostage full of wealthy guests by pretending to be the entertainment.
- Battle Butler: Alfred goes hand to hand with one of the gunmen attacking the charity event and later takes down Jerome's armed mooks in a gunfight alongside Gordon.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Implied when Tabitha makes a comment about her brother being "a monster in the sack". There's no direct evidence of it, though; it's possible that she was simply going for shock value.
- Depraved Bisexual: Barbara starts the episode making out with Tabitha and ends it making out with her brother.
- Destination Defenestration: Gordon and Bullock throw a mook out a window to threaten the remainder in the room (to a Trash Landing)...and then throw one of the mooks who agreed to help spread the word of his search for Jerome out another window.
- Disposable Vagrant: Two of the young men laughing at Jerome's antics on TV then stab a homeless man to death.
- Eye Scream: To kill him, Jerome knifes his dad through the eye.
- Evil Laugh:
- Jerome's is shown to be copied by the other lunatics he inspires.
- Cobblepot considers getting one of his own.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Galavan portrays himself as a heroic figure willing to stand up to Jerome.
- Frame-Up: Jerome plans on framing his father as being responsible for the Arkham breakout. Gordon doesn't buy it.
- Freudian Excuse: Jerome has a story about his mother and one of her lovers abusing him that at least sounds genuine.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Barbara has taken up with Tabitha and they have an extended make-out session at the start of the episode.
- Groin Attack: How Lee, tied to a wheel of doom, gets a hit in on Barbara.
- Insult Backfire:
- Jerome's father's last words to his son were that he'd be a curse upon Gotham and that his legacy would be of death and madness. Jerome seems to be delighted by the prospect.
- When Gordon is on the phone with Jerome:
Gordon: You son of a bitch.
Jerome: True, but that's not the point. - Large Ham: Galavan's "heroic" speech standing up to Jerome is hilariously over-the top, including speaking directly into the television camera making a live broadcast of the event.
- Minor Major Character: Despite only appearing in four episodes total before being Killed Off for Real, Jerome's legacy is that he serves as the inspiration for the future Joker, whoever he may be.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Jerome has this posthumously as his antics set up many laughing-killers who find his nihilism and violence funny.
- Mythology Gag:
- Barbara dresses in a costume to act as Jerome's assistant and then knocks Galavan over the head with a mallet.
- Jerome threatens someone with a realistic gun that turns out to be a water pistol, much as the Joker sometimes does.
- Cobblepot expresses his dislike of Jerome's chaotic actions, mirroring how the Penguin and the Joker are frequently at odds.
- Bruce mentions how he, Alfred, and Gordon make an unbeatable team, just as they will in the future.
- Jerome's face in the morgue is a rictus grin with (bloody) red lips. Same as the Joker in the 1989 Batman film.
- Alfred tries to hit on Lee, only to discover that Jim & Lee are an item. In the comics Leslie Thompkins is older and sometimes an item with Alfred.
- "The Last Laugh" is also the name of an episode (which also features the Joker) in Batman: The Animated Series.
- The man who appears to be Drowning His Sorrows in a bar comes to mind of the pre-Joker upon learning his wife is dead in The Killing Joke.
- The boy, watching Jerome on the news, has parents that are fighting each other. One of the Joker's Multiple-Choice Pasts involved abusive parents.
- Two guys, inspired by Jerome's actions, kill a person in an alley and then one of them kills the other. Likely mirroring the beginning of The Dark Knight where the robbers end up killing each other, manipulated by the Joker.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Barbara claims that she and Jim are the same, both having "a dark side", and that because of it, they'll get back together.
- Oh, Crap!: Selina's reaction when Gordon spots her sneaking out of the charity event.
- Orgy of Evidence: Gordon is suspicious of the sheer number of clues found at Cicero's place.
- Prophecy Twist: Jerome's father says Jerome's destiny will be to bring madness and death to Gotham. The implication to the audience is that he will be the Joker, but that seems to be ruined when he's killed by Galavan. However, his actions have inspired others to madness and casual murder.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Jerome, Barbara and their Mooks start shooting up the benefit and taking hostages, Selina slips out a rear entrance.
- Self-Made Orphan: Jerome kills his father to add patricide to his existing count of matricide.
- Trash Landing: How the men Gordon and Bullock throw out the window survive their falls unharmed.
- Troll: After Alfred's hopes about hitting on Lee are obliterated when he sees Gordon kissing her, he accuses Bruce of knowing about their relationship and not telling him For the Lulz. Bruce, not very convincingly, denies it.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After Jerome is killed, Barbara escapes via a trapdoor.
- Villainous Incest: Tabitha makes a quick comment suggesting she and her brother have slept together.
- Villainous Legacy: Jerome is killed at the end of the episode, but his actions are shown to have inspired numerous other lunatics throughout the city, one of whom may yet go on to become the real Joker. The producers went on record after the episode aired to state that they consider the Joker to be less a person, and more of an "ideology"; the implication seems to be that there'll never be one Joker, but many who take up the mantle.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Galavan's plan is to become a hero by "saving" hostages from Jerome.
- William Telling: Jerome shoots an apple off a man's head with a revolver.
- Woman Scorned: Tabitha does not take well to seeing her brother and Barbara kiss. Though because of a comment she made earlier, it's hard to tell who she is scorned at.
