Oh, Jim. Jim Gordon, Gotham’s protagonist, is one of the most recognizable characters in the Batman mythos – supposedly, he’s the one good man in the GCPD that will go on to become the famed Commissioner Gordon, but Gotham being what it is…well, no one really has the protection of canon. Here is a partial list of the stuff he’s done and that’s happened around him:

• Pretended to kill Penguin, launching an arc of a pair of detectives from the Major Crimes Unit (Including Renee Montoya!) thinking he’s a murderer and trying to find the evidence.
• Jumped on a rising balloon with the Balloonman to force Bullock to shoot it down.
• Got arrested for killing Penguin. When he insisted he didn’t do it, Bullock backed him up, only to be surprised and angry when a very much alive Penguin walks in.
• Bullock threatened to shoot him.
• Found Butch holding Barbara hostage, rescued Barbara, and told her to get out of Gotham for a while. That’s just common sense, Gotham is a horror movie, no one should live there.
• Tried to get an arrest warrant for Falcone and the mayor (Mayor James, the first mayor, Gotham goes through mayors disturbingly quickly.)
• Had a shootout with Victor Zsasz right in the middle of the police station. In a city like this, is it really any wonder that someone decides, ah, yes, I should make this better by dressing up as a giant bat and fighting crime?
• Got rescued by Allen and Montoya! I miss those guys, remember when they were actually around? And their department  did stuff?
• Used Major James as a hostage to get into Falcone’s estate, but Falcone had Barbara. Nobody dies!
• Got reassigned to guard duty at Arkham Asylum, where he met Leslie Thompkins. That only lasted a couple episodes before he wound up back at the GCPD.
• Broke up a fight between Dick Grayson’s future parents when he went to the circus with Lee.
• Blah, blah, solved some crimes, did some stuff, dated Lee, found out his former fiancée had started killing people, the season ended.

Okay, here’s the thing about season two: an absurd amount happened. What may be considered either a strength or a flaw about Gotham is the number of subplots. That’s been the case in all the seasons. There’s always a huge amount going on, which can make the show feel overstuffed, but also means that there’ll probably be at least one storyline that interests you. Season two…well, it’s a ride. To keep this a reasonable length, I limited this list to t he weirdest events.

• Started the season as a patrol officer and not a detective, does a favour for Penguin to get his old job back.
• A bunch of Arkham escapees killed a bunch of people in the police station. I’m starting to think this is the least safe place in the worst city in the world.
• Complained about Lee saying yes when Ed asks them to go on a double date with him and Kristen.
• Decided to support Theo Galavan’s mayoral candidacy, demonstrating why he’s a terrible judge of character.
• Got taken hostage by Barbara, along with a bunch of other people, a priest, and Lee. Oh, a wedding! And a further demonstration of how Jim is a terrible judge of character. He nearly married this woman.
• Got arrested once or twice for the whole Galavan subplot, I don’t even know.
• Got framed by Nygma for killing what’s-his-face the police officer and sent to Blackgate.
• Shot Galavan-resurrected-as-Azrael a couple of times. Didn’t work.
• Got replaced by Clayface impersonating him.
• Bullock accepted it when he said he was acting strange because he had the flu. It took Barbara realizing he wasn’t Jim and hitting him in the face, causing it to deform, that made it register for everyone else. The GCPD, everyone: the most incompetent group of people imaginable. No wonder this city needs Batman.
• Interpreted Ethyl Peabody’s plea for water as her suggesting he use water to defuse a bomb. He’s not that bright, but he does his best.
• Quits his job and uses Bullock’s car to leave town and find Lee, who had a miscarriage and left Gotham a few episodes before.

Yeah. This show is weird.

• Spent some time as a bounty hunter.
• Started dating Valerie Vale.
• Jervis Tetch tried to hypnotize him into killing himself.
• Got Valerie shot. Wow, Jim. That’s a dick move.
• Got infected by some kind of hallucinogen, and guided through all his guilts and fears by Barbara.
• Got punched by Mario.
• Shot Mario, who was infected with the Alice Tetch virus. Just to reiterate, that’s his ex-fiancée’s new husband. (The ex-fiancée being Lee, not Barbara.)
• Zsasz warned him that Carmine was going to order him to kill him, but that it wasn’t personal. After all, he didn’t even like Mario.
• Carmine called off the hit that he himself had ordered. Make up your damn mind, dude.
• Saved Alfred from Jerome’s goons, then later punched off Jerome’s face.
• Joined the Court of Owls for the brief period of about two days.
• Lee thought he killed his uncle and made it look like a suicide. It was the other way around.
• Got buried alive and injected himself with the Tetch virus to get  out.
• Shoots off Barnes’s hand when Barnes gets sent to kill him. Stabbed Fish while under the influence. Jeez, Jim.
• Ends the series determined to be a good cop.

Okay, so season three could well have been a series finale. It wasn’t, but it left everyone in a place where we could see them getting to where we know they’ll be in the future, including Jim. Season four? It kind of threw that out the window and got weirder.

• Went to Carmine Falcone for help dealing with Penguin and his licensed crime. You know, Jim, it’s really not that smart to ask the father of the guy you shot for help.
• Met Ra’s al Ghul, and later arrests, Ra’s al Ghul. Wait, what?
• Slept with Sofia Falcone, his ex-fiancée’s sister in law. You know, the sister of the guy he shot. Jim. Jim, please. Make better choices.
• Warned Alfred that Ra’s is going to be released because he has diplomatic immunity.
• Didn’t report Bruce for killing Ra’s, which, fair enough, Ra’s is an assassin, but you know, that’s probably taking Gordon a step further away from being the token good guy he’s supposed to be.
• Started investigating a serial killer that’s hunting down corrupt cops. Hi, Professor Pyg!
• Found out Bullock is on Penguin’s payroll. Oh, come on! Wasn’t his “become a better person and start caring about helping people again” arc way back in season one?
• Got offered the captain job.
• Got framed by Sofia for shooting Pyg, which apparently forced him to lie about it to prevent Gotham from descending into chaos, but I don’t exactly buy that as plausible – Gotham is always in chaos.
• Shot a masked Bruce. Well, that’s just rude.
• Got shot repeatedly by Sofia before Lee showed up and shot her. So dramatic.

I’m starting to think this series of posts was a terrible idea. There’s too much nonsense that happens in this show.