“The Balloonman” Heroic Analysis (3 of 100) of James Gordon & Young Bruce Wayne from "Gotham"

Spoilers Ahead:

In the third installment of “Gotham,” we get more development of Bruce Wayne and Oswald Cobblepot than we do Jim Gordon, but I’m okay with that. The show has already begun to reveal familiarities that have cropped up in every episode, which is starting to make the Gordon aspect of the show seem a little dry and stilted. Everything else is really entertaining though. If the show is going to succeed, the writers will need to do more with Gordon and Harvey to switch up the monotonous good-cop, bad-cop routine, and quickly, not just repeat what is done over and over again in past episode of the show, or that is constantly done in other cop dramas such as "CSI" or "Law and Order". Harvey and Gordon have a montage where they search for a criminal and question random street thugs - done it. They both make a house call and end up in a cop chase with potential suspects - done it. And even the ending where Harvey almost allows the “vigilante” to be pulled away by the balloon was to be expected because Harvey is morally incomparable and does not care about justice, just personal vendettas, safety, and revenge (See him punching the criminal who had already surrendered because she beat him up) - done it.

The most interesting development of Gordon’s character are his interactions with the cop duo Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. I think these interactions are really intriguing because we have good cops butting heads in a clever way. I hate that Allen and Montoya don’t see the good in Gordon, or that Gordon does not trust them in certain ways, but I look forward to seeing the climactic confrontation between them. I really hope to see a good outcome, but in Gotham I don’t suspect that things will end up well for Allen and Montoya (I know a little bit about their comic origins, but I know for certain that Gordon becomes a commissioner so it goes well for him, at least). In this way, Allen and Montoya serve as Threshold Guardians and occasionally herald figures for Gordon. They are not shadows because they want the same thing that Gordon wants – Gotham to be as crime free as possible.

Briefly, to touch on Bruce Wayne’s development, it has a subtle treatment. Wayne is doing his own investigative research on his parents’ murderer (and seems to be pretty good at it). He is testing himself again by not eating meals regularly, and we even see him have an awesome sword fight with Alfred.

   

We get a great scene with Barbara and Montoya, and a lot is revealed. Barbara smokes weed – nothing surprising there. The two had a relationship in the past, which I can’t wait to learn more about. In the way the show has been channeling its own pilot with the Harvey-Gordon development, Montoya tells Barbara more “information” about Gordon that Barbara should be “wary” of – just like the pilot. Then, the stunner - Montoya tries to kiss Barbara, and Barbara pulls away. I am glad that Barbara trusts Gordon so much, he deserves someone like her in his corner as an ally and possible hero of her own episodes down the line.

In the shadow camp we get some good, not great, scenes with Fish, Falcone, and Cobblepot. The struggle to rise up in ranks is tightening the tension as Fish and Falcone play their chess match – and while Oswald Cobblepot kills and lies his way through, though there isn't really anything new brought to the table by the episodes - the actors still bring great things to the table, but are doing the most with what they have been give to work with. Next week’s episode should hopefully shake things up a lot with the interaction between Cobblepot and Gordon. Now, Gordon is not safe (he never was, really) and the crime struggle can be disturb very quickly with Cobblepot's return to Gotham.

This episode is very hefty in the way it discusses vigilantism and the struggle of justice – who deserves it and who should give it. Gordon is a straight laced cop who plays by every rule and is completely against vigilantes. Harvey is for them if it makes his life easier, and against them if it threatens his safety. Allen and Montoya are more grey, and I’d bet that they’d be willing to go around certain laws to make a lawful society.  The Balloonman, a shadow character for Gordon in the episode (or threshold guardian when considering the potential overall diegetic time frame) represents a vigilante that will murder to be a hero, but the most subtle and successful reveal was young Bruce Wayne’s "interest" in becoming a vigilante. Wayne does not outright say it, but it is strongly hinted with the way he responds when Alfred talks about how the Balloon man kills people. From what many people know of Batman, he is vigilante that does not kill, because (to use Gordon’s words from this episode) “Everybody has to matter or nobody matters. Otherwise people lose faith. That’s when you get vigilantes.” Wayne says, “He killed people, and that made him a criminal too,” so we can suspect that the Batman to be will  be against killing people.

Sadly the episode did not really move further in terms of characterization on a larger scale. Selina ran away, and the shadows are still in the same place they were at the beginning of the episode, save for Fish making a major play against Falcone and Oswald returning to Gotham. Allen and Montoya are still grasping at straws trying to bring down Gordon, and the Gordon-Barbara relationship is still not broken, even with efforts from Montoya. Overall, the episode could have been tighter and maybe not have done so much that it has already done in the previous two episodes. I think the show can tighten it's pace and move a little faster, but most new shows have the same issue. Still, it is engaging and exciting to see Gotham "without" a Batman