Can we take a minute to talk about and appreciate Gotham’s Jonathan?
When he was first introduced, it was stated that he was a teen, presumably 16. We didn’t get to know a lot about him, just that his mom died in a fire when he was 8 and his father viewed him as a terrified teenager. He knew what his father was doing to people and he was on the fence about it. I’m sure he understood why his father was doing it, but he most likely also viewed his father’s methods as being wrong.
Then his father injected him with too much fear serum which caused Jonathan to hallucinate and be in constant fear. After Gordon asking the doctors about Jonathan’s condition, we never see or hear about him again until season 4 where we learn he was sent to Arkham. It was never stated when he was sent, but considering his condition, I’m guessing it was only a few months at most after the whole incident.
So if he was 16 when he was injected and sent to Arkham, that means Jonathan probably never graduated from high school. He was maybe a sophomore when this all happened. And for the last bit of his teenage years, Jonathan was in an asylum getting zero treatment or therapy other than ice baths and electric shocks every once in while.
Then Jonathan, now around 19 or 20, was sold to a gang to make his father’s fear serum for them. And if we take into consideration that his highest education is some where in high school, than him replicating his father’s work is impressive. Yes he followed along his father’s notes, but chemistry is still difficult even when you have a set of instructions. One extra drop of some chemical and the whole batch could go to waste. So this means Jonathan was probably a chem student in high school and did well in class. And this is proved when he makes Jerome’s insanity toxin and he makes a certain insanity toxin for Jeremiah. Based off a timeline I found, in a matter weeks, Jonathan managed to figure out the formula for a toxin to drive someone to complete insanity. Oh and, while in Arkham the second time(which never got explain how he got there again since he escaped Gordon the end of episode 2), he made an explosive substance to break Jerome out. We don’t know if he had connections outside of Arkham(highly unlikely considering he was separated from society the last three years and didn’t seem to have many friends beforehand), so we have no idea if he used what he could find around the asylum or if someone sent him what he needed. Maybe Jerome had connections and got Jonathan the materials? We’ll never know the exact details. But either was, it just shows that Jonathan is a skillful chemist. It’s kinda mandatory for his character no matter the universe, but since this is the youngest version of him that we’ve seen and the fact that he probably doesn’t even have a high school diploma makes it very impressive.
Along with being a skilled chemist, Jonathan is also pretty good at hand to hand combat. He’s been in a physical fight(more or less in a way) with both Selina and Gordon. Yeah, he didn’t win either of them, but he still managed to put up a good fight. Maybe he took self defense classes growing up? We don’t know. And he has enough strength to behead someone with his scythe.
Another thing he is good at is stealth. He managed to sneak back into Arkham in his Scarecrow suit without being detected. There was probably some well hidden path he took, but its still hella impressive. And he kinda snuck up on that one cop. Yes his shadow was seen(or maybe that was one of his followers shadows?), but that was for the spooky effect and aesthetic he has going. He still managed to get up to the gate and the look out window on the gate unseen or unheard by either cop. So Jonathan is also a very stealthy person.
In conclusion, Gotham’s version of Jonathan is underappreciated despite being a very great and skillful character. He barely gets any screen time yet still manages to be a powerful villain. Not only is he a great chemist, but also great at stealth and hand to hand combat.
Anyways thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.
As a side note and not really a serious thing, but still as equally impressive to me: Jonathan is actually great a costume designing? And maybe sewing? We know the first Scarecrow outfit was from an actual scarecrow, but this new one? Where’d it come from? Did he have it made for him(highly unlikely unless one of his followers made it)? Or did he make it himself? Did Jonathan take sewing classes??? I would die for that.