Entertainment

Jim Made A Tough Call About Barnes On 'Gotham'

by Kayla Hawkins

Despite some impressive episodic storytelling, many of Gotham Season 3's overarching plotlines have come to a crossroads. One such story is Alice's blood-borne virus, which has had some devastating consequences on the series. In the Nov. 14 episode of Gotham, Barnes was sent to Arkham Asylum after a tense struggle with Jim over the captain's newly found zeal for extralegal executions. In the end, Jim took Barnes down with a gunshot, so presumably, there was some of his blood at the crime scene. Could Jim's gunshot be responsible for spreading the virus around the city? It's still unclear how exactly the virus works, but hopefully, this showdown will lead to some answers.

At this point, Barnes definitely belonged in Arkham, since his justifications for "guilt" or "innocence" seem to have totally devolved to meaningless violence. He blows a huge shotgun blast into a man who isn't even a suspect of anything (because, of course, Barnes already knows who killed Dr. Simon). And in the final image of the episode, he's yelling "guilty!" at his empty cell, still no closer to a cure.

Another major milestone was the removal of Barnes from the GCPD, which means that his job is now up for grabs. In DC Comics, Jim Gordon is, of course, the Commissioner of the GCPD, but on Gotham he's just recently returned to the force after a long absence, making an immediate promotion unlikely. I suppose the most logical choice for successor would be Harvey Bullock, but who knows — the position has often been used as a place for a new antagonist for Jim and Harvey.

Meanwhile, there's also the ongoing question of what's going on with the organized crime ring, which Carmine Falcone controls. He's back in Gotham City after leaving at the end of Season 1, proving that there are other powers on Gotham outside of the police and even outside of the mayor's office. And without Barnes, those powers have an even better chance of rising up and taking over the city.

Images: Jeff Neumann/FOX; Giphy