Jack Gruber Has Comic Book Ties After All

Comic book purists can officially take a calming breath. As it turns out, the popular Batman prequel show Gotham isn't straying as far from DC Comics canon as we thought. On Monday's episode of Gotham , it was revealed that Jack Gruber — currently known as the Electrocutioner — has a third alias that we all need to worry about. Except by alias, I mean real name. It turns out that Jack Gruber is a name that he picked for himself. His birth name? Jack Buchinsky, the career criminal. For those of you who have been paying attention, the first and third Electrocutioner of DC Comics fame both had the last name Buchinsky.

So, where does that leave Gotham's take on this familiar villain? Is Jack Buchinsky the older brother, the cousin, or, perhaps considering the prequel format of the show, the father of the Electrocutioners of the comics? Is he the original Electrocutioner, whose first name was never given? On the show, he has history with Don Marconi, who robbed four banks with him in the past and then sold him up the river to go down for the crime, but we're not offered much beyond that in terms of backstory. Gruber spends most of "What The Little Bird Told Him" trying to get to Marconi come hell or high water, culminating in a large-scale electrical attack on the Gotham City Police Department when they take the Don under protective custody.

However, considering Gruber was taken down almost embarrassingly easy when he got there by the ever-tenacious Jim Gordon, it seems like we aren't going to be getting any insights into his background — at least not any time soon. Receiving two episodes worth of build-up, only to be taken out in a second and before the final act of his second episode, makes it almost a guarantee that Gruber will be back. He has to be. Surely Gotham wouldn't mess with with our minds like this? Surely Gotham has to have a back up plan when it comes to Jack Guber Buchinsky?

Or maybe not. After being arrested by Jim Gordon, Gruber isn't seen again for the rest of the episode. That's either a good thing or a bad thing. If it's a good thing, it means that he's using this peaceful time to himself to plot his revenge for a later episode. If it's a bad thing, it means Gotham is hoping that we'll forget Jack Gruber as quickly as we fell in love with him. And I don't know about you, but I refuse.

Image: Jessica Miglio/FOX