When we first met Gordon in Gotham season 1, Jim unquestionably held up the law. Now? Not so much.
When most people were struggling to make it through the first half of Gotham season 1, I was content to watch Jim Gordon refuse to budge from his moral high ground. He saw the corruption in the GCPD and he did everything he could to make sure it was stopped by any lawful means necessary.
Until he met Penguin.
Whether or not you like him, Penguin is charismatic. He’s a slimy fellow, to be sure, but the logic he uses to justify his actions is not unsound. He’s not a hero by any means, but he understands give-and-take, and he’s willing to help out his “friends.”
Of course, that usually comes with a condition or two, but he’s been far less ruthless than Fish or Galavan, and far less insane than Nygma.
It’s that sound logic that pulled Gordon in. He stepped over the line one time for the right reason. It is always the right reason for Jim — at least for now. But when will he do something that’s not for the right reason? The more he leaves his world behind and joins Penguin in his, the easier it will be for Gordon to make excuses for his questionable actions.
Don’t get me wrong — this is a fine storyline for Gordon. All heroes must fall before they can rise again, and Gordon is no different just because he wears a shield instead of a cape.
But I can’t help but feel that killing Galavan was the wrong move for Jim. Galavan probably would have escaped his sentencing once again, but is that a good enough excuse for a cop to shoot him instead? Bullock wouldn’t have hesitated pulling that trigger, but Gordon has always held himself to a different standard.
Besides, killing Galavan does not solve the bigger issue. Theo was a problem that had to be taken care of, but if the court system is corrupt, shouldn’t Gordon have worked on finding an upstanding judge? Lawyers who wear a white hat no matter how gray the world becomes?
Murdering Galavan was just a temporary fix. Somebody else will take his place, and Gordon will have to deal with the same issues all over again. Will he continue to cross the line to dispose of all of them? Is it his job to make that call?
I understand that Gordon’s character must change, adapt, and grow as the series continues, but I found him much more compelling when it was Jim against the world. The entire city was corrupt, and Gordon was a beacon of hope, the one determined to do the right thing no matter how much flack he got for it. And now he’s become what he abhorred about his colleagues.
Jim Gordon doesn’t need to have that kind of blemish on his character to make him interesting. Rather like Captain America, it’s more intriguing to see him face each challenge without sacrificing his moral integrity. When all the world is against him, how will Gordon react? How will he win when his enemies are not playing by the same set of rules?
Why must he become like everyone else, when his original arc set him apart from all the other characters on the show? Instead, we got a new Captain who took up the mantle of being the most morally ethical, just to give Jim a story so similar to ones we’ve seen before, both on Gotham and elsewhere.
Perhaps this was done with purpose to eventually elevate Bruce/Batman’s integrity, but right now I’m feeling a deep disappointment for a character that felt fresh and different in a city so full of unscrupulous people that a recently orphaned 12-year-old boy could only rely on himself, his butler, and a single officer of the law to solve the murder of his parents.