Gotham season 5, episode 12 ending explained: What happened at the end?

Batman prequel series Gotham aired its last-ever episode yesterday (Thursday, April 25) in America on FOX as the origin story and the formation of the Dark Knight came to its natural conclusion. Gotham season five, episode 12 set up the story for the Batman we recognise and a city full of villains ready to be taken on.

What happened at the end of Gotham season 5, episode 12?

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from Gotham season 5, episode 12

Gotham season five, episode 12 was called The Beginning in reference to the end of the prequel and the start of the Batman narrative of the DC comics and films.

The show ended things with a 10-year time-jump as Gotham. Shortly before this, Bruce Wayne (played by David Mazouz) gave a letter to his faithful butler Alfred (Sean Pertwee) as he bid farewell to Gotham.

Episode 12 cut to a decade later with Gotham overrun with some very bad guys after Edward Nygma (Corey Michael Smith) was broken out of Arkham Asylum.

Oswald has been mocking Jeremiah Valeska (Cameron Monaghan), who was in an apparently vegetative state, which later turned out to be a ruse on the part of the villain.

Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) was released from prison as Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) was forced to take the rap for killing a guard, which he denied.

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Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) was busy following up leads and trying to find out what was going on when he was taken to a pier by Cobblepot to be executed but managed to escape at the last moment.

Throughout the episode, there were flashes of the Caped Crusader but he very much stayed in the shadows.

As the episode continued, we met a now adult Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Lili Simmons) who was angry art Bruce for just leaving her with a letter before disappearing for 10 years.

Nygma and Cobblepot were reunited but this did not last long after the mysterious Bat-like figure tied them both from a lamp post only to be found by Alfred, who realised Bruce was back in town and ready to take on crime.

The episode also saw a bomb threat which was eventually diffused with Gotham saved for another day.

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Gotham climaxed with a showdown between Jeremiah and Jim at Ace Chemicals after the villain dangled the police officer’s daughter over a vat of acid in true Batman style.

Jeremiah explained he was pretending to be braindead and awaiting the return of Bruce, so the chaos could begin again.

He then stabbed Jim but before there could be a further tragedy, the bat figure emerged from the shadows and took out Jeremiah.

The vigilante saved Jim and left Jeremiah unconscious before leaving to reunite with Selina as the pair had a heart-to-heart.

Following their public humiliation, both Nygma and Cobblepot put off their plans until “tomorrow”.

As the finale closed, Jim and Harvey looked up to see the vigilante figure looking out over Gotham with the former describing the mystery man as “a friend”.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the finale, showrunner John Stephens said: “From very early going we knew that the series would end with Gordon looking up and seeing Batman above him.

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“We were telling the story about the city that created Batman, and we were telling it primarily through the eyes of Jim Gordon, the man who was there at the beginning, and without whom, in our eyes, Batman would not have existed.

“So it felt narratively right that the series would end with Jim looking up and seeing Batman.”

He went on to say: “The idea to place almost the whole episode 10 years in the future actually came pretty late.”

Stephens said he realised that the show couldn’t wrap up the season five arc and see the return of Bruce in one episode, so most of the finale had to be a 10-year time jump.

“So we split them apart. Then once we started looking at the arrival of Batman as a story by itself, we realized how much we required to get us there — how to tell the story that this was the time the Batman had to show up, so that it felt like a necessary part of the story and not just punctuation. So we needed a full episode,” he explained.

The executive added: “And then there was the fact of the rest of these characters with whom we had spent five years.

“We wanted to see where Penguin, Nygma, Barbara, Harvey, Alfred, Jim and Lee [Morena Baccarin] all were 10 years on. It took time.”

Gotham season 5 will be airing on E4 in 2019

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