Entertainment

Harvey Bullock Needs To Survive 'Gotham' Season 1

by Kayla Hawkins

Harvey Bullock has been given the short shift for the past few episodes of Gotham, showing up for just a few minutes each week to get overworked and exasperated, warn Gordon about getting in too deep, and then disappear on a very long lunch for the rest of the investigation. In "The Blind Fortune Teller," he was pushed aside in favor of Morena Baccarin's Dr. Leslie Thompkins, who's not just a worthy investigator, but also has the added bonus of making out with Jim. But is Gotham leading to Harvey's death? It would be a huge mistake. First of all, they'd be losing Donal Logue, who's giving a much more interesting performance than anyone else on the police force, which is seemingly populated only by boring rule followers or impossibly corrupt scumbags. And Logue is an old pro. While I love seeing newish actors getting their first really big roles, like Cory Michael Smith (as Edward Nygma) and Robin Lord Taylor (as the Penguin), there's something even more enjoyable about watching actors like Jada Pinkett Smith and Logue easily chew up the scenery in the borderline cheesy moments that Gotham gives them.

But I have to say, as the show heads towards the end of the first season, Gotham seems desperate to kill off a new character. And since Harvey's role seems to get a little smaller every week — though he will appear in "Red Hood" — it feels like they might be trying out what it would be like to have Gotham without one of its best characters. We can't let them wean us off Harvey Bullock! He is responsible for pretty much 100 percent of the intentional laughs!

But another check in the "Totally About to Die" column, Harvey just got two tragic love story plots. During the Scarecrow introduction, "The Fearsome Dr. Crane," he met a new girl he was taken with, Scottie Mullen (played by the very fall-in-lovable Maria Thayer, who managed to sell the two's chemistry in just a few scenes), only to see her get disappeared after Dr. Crane tried to surgically remove her adrenal glands to experiment with her fear hormones.

And we got the chance to learn about his romance with Fish Mooney that came up a few weeks ago, and now both of those characters' parts have been reduced recently, so there hasn't been a single second to spend finding out more about that, and the curiosity is killing me. Are they just old friends? Were they in a real relationship? How does cop Harvey know criminal Fish's real name??? These two are the Romeo & Juliet of Gotham City, and yes, I know that seems overstated, but how else would you describe the criminals and the cops on Gotham, who just seem to tolerate one another? Gotham, I'm begging you: don't get rid of Harvey Bullock. There are way too many important unanswered questions.

Image: Jessica Miglio/FOX; Giphy (2)