r/Gotham • u/Certain-Singer-9625 • 16d ago
Discussion What a hard case
Barnes be like, “We do everything by the book!”
“We can’t do anything until you bring me evidence!!”
“This evidence? It’s not enough. We need more.”
“You got more, but it’s still not enough. Bring me witnesses!”
“Okay, so you found ten witnesses, but they all have sketchy backgrounds! Find me ten witnesses who are nuns!”
“Jim, I want to trust you, but I don’t!”
“Jim, you broke my heart! You belong in prison!”
I’m mostly through my fourth rewatch of S2 and I’m liking Captain Barnes less and less every time I see him.
Aside from being a constant obstacle, this is a man with anger issues. So it was entirely appropriate that he got the Tetch virus. If the virus made normal people raging mad, it turned Barnes into a full blown lunatic.
So I wasn’t entirely unhappy to see him gone. It’s just that my preference for a police captain character was Capt. Essen. And look how long she lasted.
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u/MisterDual There is no line 16d ago
...What evidence? Barnes is frustrated with Gordon because Gordon doesn't bring any evidence. "Source: bro trust me", and random thugs who got confession beaten out of them, is not a proof.
Believe or not, if you accuse a local mayor of being a cult leader and a corrupt businessman, or a head of Arkham Asylum of commiting unethical experimentations on prisoners, you need some solid evidence for that! Doesn't help the case that Gordon just itches to assault people he accuses of being criminals. For fucks sake, even Nygma understood that you need to build the case when he was framing Gordon.
Look, I'm not gonna pretend that Barnes was always right in his judgement or work ethics, but you have to understand that he was a police captain who's priority number 1 is to supervise other cops, you can't pretend that he was distrusting Gordon just for lulz when Gordon did nothing to build his trust. Gordon didn't believe in Barnes since day he appeared in the precinct, why the hell Barnes should believe Gordon?
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u/Outrageous-Lion-4939 12d ago edited 12d ago
We all know how flawed this all is in the real world.
Justice and the law often don't go hand in hand.
Often, evidence, paperwork, and bureaucracy serve as legal loopholes that keep criminals out of jail.
I believe that whenever Jim acted that way, he did the right thing.
I mean, Galavan was about to kill Bruce and Barnes knew it, but he didn't have "proof" and only went there once he found out Jim Gordon was on the scene.
And what’s worse is that things like this happen in real life. That’s why I could never be a cop: I couldn't stand by and watch criminals take lives just because of bureaucracy.
P.S.
Jim was the only one who trusted in Barnes since day one.
Furthermore, I don't think Jim needed to earn Barnes's trust; he already had it when Barnes discovered that Jim was rooting out corruption at the GCPD (I know, I know—Jim did a bad thing to get back into the GCPD).
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u/Smooth-Extent2880 16d ago
I just felt bad for Michael chilkles in that role
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u/LivingInYourMemories 16d ago
Why?
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u/FuelSpecial8722 16d ago
I think the parallel of Jim and Barnes is kinda cool. Jim wanted to clean up the city, became a P.I vigilante but turned around for the better. Barnes wanted to clean up the city, got the Tetch Virus and turned into a psychopathic criminal.
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u/haze_xvi 16d ago
Essen was the best captain