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‘Gotham’s’ twisted Jim & Barbara love story isn’t over yet
When “Gotham” Season 2 came to an end, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) left the city to track down his lost love Lee (Morena Baccarin). He’s returning empty-handed in Season 3 though, which may signal the rekindling of another of the future police commissioner’s relationships.
Is Jim actually getting back together with Barbara (Erin Richards) — his former fiancee who lost her mind, killed a bunch of people and became a big deal in the criminal underworld? Anything is possible in Gotham City and that romance may be exactly what Barbara is craving.
“I think it’s such a wonderful reflection on what happens in real life,” Richards tells Zap2it. “You know, the one person where you’re like ‘I’m totally over it. I’m completely fine.’ And you tell your friends how you’re over it then he walks in the room and everything goes to shit again.”
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She adds, “I think that’s exactly what’s happening with Barbara, which is so wonderful because we’re living in this comic book world but the core of all of these characters is so real and reflective of life.”
For Barbara, Jim is the idea of what her life could have been before she snapped and gave into evil. However, Gordon himself isn’t exactly living in the light at this point.
“It’s a real battle within her, the light and the dark. And she sees that going on inside him,” Richards explains. “In Season 3, Jim is so much darker and she’s excited by the fact that he’s losing the battle and going to the dark side. But there’s a part of her inside that really wants him to win so he can pull her out of her darkness.”
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So will Jim be able to save not only himself but Barbara as well? It’s important to remember that while traditionally Barbara and Jim get married and have kids, “Gotham” is putting its own spin on the “Batman” story. With that in mind, McKenzie isn’t holding out much hope for a romantic reunion between the two.
“I don’t know if the relationship between the two could be healed,” he says. “I think there has to be some chance of personal redemption of all of these characters no matter how villainous they become.”
So while there is a chance at Barbara digging herself out of the life she’s become embedded in, McKenzie doesn’t “think she’s going to suddenly become this beacon of light. She’s not going to suddenly become Michelle Obama or something like that.”
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So those holding out hope for a Jim and Babs reunion of some sort may simply be out of luck. You shouldn’t give up all hope yet, though. After all, stranger things have happened in “Gotham” — just ask Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith).
“Gotham” returns Monday, Sept. 19, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.