‘Gotham’ Season 4 Spoilers: Jerome Valeska To ‘Torture’ Oswald Cobblepot

Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) has been brought down low after he was betrayed by his henchman, Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) and ex-friend, Sofia Falcone (Crystal Reed).

When “Gotham” Season 4 returns, the former ruler of Gotham City’s criminal system is stuck in Arkham Asylum. The chaotic place is no fit for Oswald, who thrives on order. In contrast, Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) simply thrives inside the asylum.

In order to get Oswald on his side, Jerome is going to put him to the test. “For all intents and purposes, he tortures him. He creates a public spectacle out of Oswald’s humiliation,” Monaghan told Comic Book Resources. “Oswald has this newfound timidness about him as he’s been beaten over the course of the last few episodes. However, Oswald can’t possibly take it any more and snaps and he has to gain real aggression and think creatively to find some way out of this situation. As soon as he can find a greater way to deal with it, and to embrace the strangeness of the situation, then Jerome is happy with him. He’s going to torture Oswald until he gets to that point.”

As to why Jerome needs Oswald, Monaghan also has an answer. Since the Penguin managed to make crime acceptable in public, Jerome is quite impressed. He wants to use Oswald’s savvy for his own gain after breaking out of Arkham Asylum.

“He wants to see if he can rebuild Oswald in his own image of insanity. He also wants Oswald to embrace his insanity or chaos, because he is forming a team of villains,” he said. “Jerome wants to cause an uprising of chaos and destruction within Gotham City itself, with a whole legion of villains behind him. Oswald is his first domination, but certainly not his last, in this plan that he has.”

During a live Tumblr Q&A, Taylor told Inverse that his character is facing a “terrifying” ordeal because of Jerome. “It’s emotional too, because for once he didn’t do anything bad. To find himself at the whims of a madman that is Jerome, it’s one of the most challenging things he has to deal with,” he said.

“Gotham” Season 4 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST on Fox.