Jim Gordon Should Return To The 'Gotham' PD Soon

As much as it's appreciated that Gotham took the time to develop Arkham Asylum as a new location, we are still waiting for Jim Gordon to rejoin Gotham's police department as a detective. This show isn't about a down-on-his-luck small-time night watchman, it's about a detective in a corrupt, dying city. So we shouldn't have to wait for long. This week, we'll see him back in a suit as he's temporarily reinstated to search for Jack Gruber, the Electrocutioner, after he escaped from Arkham Asylum with Danzig, his sidekick. It won't be easy for Gordon to convince the GCPD to trust him again, but if Jim is able to solve this case, he should be back on the force at the end of the episode.

And how do I know? It's just a guess, but the next episode of Gotham, which will air on Jan. 26, is called "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon." I don't know if that qualifies as a spoiler, but it's definitely a pretty big clue that he won't be sent off to Arkham forever. That, and 75 years of Commissioner Gordon in Batman comics suggest that Jim probably won't give up on being a cop and go into personal security.

In a preview video released by FOX for "What the Little Bird Told Him," police Commissioner Loeb challenges Jim and Harvey Bullock to find and capture Jack Gruber in the next 24 hours... or both of them will be stripped of their rank and forced to work at Arkham. Not sure why the customary punishment in the world of Gotham for cops failing to do their job is to make them prison security guards, but clearly the city isn't immune to the problems of high-level police corruption. In the comics, Loeb is traditionally a foe of Gordon's and I don't see why they'd waste the chance for character conflict like that in favor of sending Gordon and Bullock to Arkham.

And Gotham is introducing Andrew Flass as well, who in the comics was Gordon's partner. Between the addition of Flass and Loeb — and Harvey Dent, who's still around even though we haven't seen him since the winter hiatus — the show is pivoting towards a few storylines that seem focused on police corruption. Now that the crazy vigilante of the week format is getting tweaked, there's less of a use for a weekly look into the inner workings of Arkham, which is in the steady hands of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, and more of a reason to refocus on the police station. It seems that the writers are making moves to get Jim back into the middle of everything at the GCPD, and right now that's the best way to move forward.

Image: Jessica Miglio/FOX