5 Things to Expect From the Gotham Finale (And 1 Thing You Won't Get)

David Mazouz, Gotham | Photo Credits: Jessica Miglio/FOX

After an up-and-down first season, Fox's Gotham is going out in action-packed style.

Monday's finale (8/7c, Fox) puts Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) smack-dab in the middle of the long-developing gang war between rival mafia bosses Faclone (John Doman) and Maroni (David Zayas), and it isn't long before Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) and Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) also get wrapped up in the violence.

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Who will survive the bloody showdown? Plus: What will forever change the course of Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) on their respective journeys? TVGuide.com turned to executive producer Bruno Heller to get a few teases on the finale.

1. Bruce turns Wayne Manor upside-down! After receiving a cryptic warning from Lucious Fox (Chris Chalk) in the penultimate episode, Bruce is convinced his father's secret(s) lie in his old office. And he and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) may find more than they anticipated. "Like many people do, Bruce discovers secrets about his parents he was not at all prepared for and make him doubt the foundation of his belief system and how he's been living his life," Heller says. "That leads to a stunning, life-changing discovery. He begins to understand that everyone has an inner shadow life, and that's the psychic trigger for his long journey forward."

2. Penguin's plans are foiled... again: While Oswald may have been the mastermind who set off the Falcone-Maroni war with plans to be the last man standing, things spin out of control when Jim vows to keep Falcone alive at all costs. (Look for those two men to share an emotional scene that sheds new light on Jim's past as well.) But don't expect Oswald to be easily thwarted. "He's a striver. He keeps getting knocked down and he keeps getting back up," Heller says. "That's kind of the secret to all kinds of successes, even as a supervillain. He's an underdog who's never going to back down." Plus: Jim does owe Penguin a favor...

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3. Fish is back... and more brutal than ever. As if an all-out gang war isn't deadly enough, Fish makes her return to Gotham and quickly assembles a gang to help her climb back to the top of the food chain. (One of her new allies may come as bit of a shock.) Ultimately, Fish, Peguin, Falcone and Maroni are on a collision course that will be deadly. "It wouldn't be a real showdown if everybody walked away from it, would it?" Heller says with a laugh. "Someone is not going to walk away from that."

4. Girl talk: While Jim is out trying to save the city, his current girlfriend Leslie (Morena Baccarin) takes some time to offer trauma counseling to Jim's ex Barbara (Erin Richards) in the wake of her run-in with serial killer The Ogre. You'll be able to cut the tension in those scenes with knife, especially after Leslie learns that Barbara isn't in the dark about her relationship with Jim.

5. Riddle me this: After committing his first murder in the name of Christina Kringle, we've seen Edward Nygma slide closer and closer to his puzzle-loving alter ego. In one of the finale's coolest scenes, the transformation will be complete. So, should we expect him to be the marquee villain of Season 2? Not exactly. "He's certainly going to be a much bigger and obviously more villainous figure in Season 2, but I wouldn't say he's the main villain," Heller says. "When you really know someone's soul, it's hard to think of him as a supervillain. He's more of a flawed human being with serious anger issues. He will be a major villain, but there will be other even more major villains in Season 2."

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6. The joke's on you: Speaking of major villains, one thing you won't see in the finale is any mention of the Joker. However, Heller wants you to know that the show will pick up that story again in full force when the show returns. "The beginning of Season 2 is going to be all about that," he says. "The genesis of the Joker is going to be explained very explicitly in the first few episodes of Season 2." So, we should expect the return of Cameron Monaghan's Jerome? "Yep, you might see him," Heller teases.

What do you think will happen in the Gotham finale?

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