Entertainment

Maroni Could Be Jack Gruber's Next 'Gotham' Target

by Kayla Hawkins

The Electrocutioner is terrorizing Gotham City to the point that even the intense Commissioner Loeb is willing to let Jim Gordon back into the GC police department for the moment. But in this week's episode of Gotham , "What the Little Bird Told Him," we might find out that Jack Gruber is targeting Sal Maroni. The official description of the episode from FOX includes that Maroni's headquarters will be attacked. Now, my first thought when I heard that was to assume that Falcone is going to tell Penguin to attack Maroni, or possibly even send Victor Zsasz after his rival crime boss. But now, given the information revealed in one of the new trailers for the episode, it seems like Falcone will be preoccupied with troubles on the home front as Fish tries to take over his empire. So Maroni's on his own, and could be facing Gotham's new major threat.

In the latest installment of their Arkham Asylum love story, Dr. Leslie Thompkins brings Jim and Harvey a pretty creepy looking voodoo doll that Gruber made in his cell, hoping to place a curse on his enemy, the mysterious "Mr. M." Because the inmates are allowed to use witch doctors, I guess?

(Sidenote: this witch doctor patient sure sounds a lot like minor Batman villain Pagan, who, like the Electrocutioner, was a vigilante, but one who fought against rapists in Gotham City, an issue that Batman never spends enough time addressing, given that basically every female character in the Bat-universe is subject to some form of sexual assault. Keep that in mind — if men who commit acts of sexual violence suddenly start going missing in future episodes of Gotham, we'll know who to blame.) Here's the preview for "What the Little Bird Told Him."

There's really only one major character who's name starts with "M" and is a man, and that's Sal Maroni, David Zayas' mobster character. He even looks like the voodoo doll a little bit, between his hairline and the suit he's wearing. Certainly more than Fish Mooney, or any other "M" characters on the show. The harder question is why Gruber would want to target Maroni. Gordon theorizes that Gruber may be a former criminal out for revenge after a deal went wrong and he ended up taking the fall.

That could be Maroni's fault. Maroni could even have been in cahoots with new character Irwin, conspiring to use Gruber for his electrical expertise and then screwing him over. Perhaps revenge is all the Electrocutioner needs. Or maybe Gruber's hard up for cash and he knows Maroni is a good person to steal from. Whatever Gruber's motivation, it seems likely that he'll be using his powers against one of Gotham's most influential mobsters. Falcone should be happy to hear that.

Images: Jessica Miglio/FOX; Giphy