How ‘Gotham’ Is Putting Its Own Spin On The Devious DC Sirens

The fourth season of Gotham is off to a very comic book-influenced start, with Bruce Wayne taking to the streets as a tiny, super-suited vigilante, and a new alliance between Gotham's female villains, Selina, Tabitha, and Barbara, newly revived. Before the Sept. 28 episode, Erin Richards confirmed at the show's Tribeca TV Festival panel that Barbara is still alive with the help of Ra's al Ghul, but for now, she's forming a new business that hopes to both take advantage of and compete with Penguin. What's Barbara planning? In her sales pitch to Tabitha and Selina, she explains that with the new criminal licensing system, she wants to collaborate on a one-stop shop for all types of weapons needed to commit the crimes that criminals have purchased licenses for.

Barbara was wealthy before she transformed into Gotham's most entertaining villain, but post-resurrection, it certainly looks like she's had a new infusion of cash too. Because everything from the displays of guns in her elegant headquarters to her new haircut looks incredibly expensive. Even Penguin points out that she lost her personal wealth on her attempt to open the Sirens' Club, so it certainly seems like Ra's al Ghul, who has the full support of the Court of Owls, is the one who is paying for the new business. And speaking of their attempt to open a club together, it seems that this all-female trio has finally become Gotham's take on the Gotham City Sirens, the comics trio of Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy that are somewhere between villains and heroes.

While the Sirens operate outside of the law, they also are forced to fight off criminals who want to take advantage of them. And though Ivy is rebuffed by the group at first, she hunts down chemicals that can give her superhuman strength, so perhaps she'll be able to convince them to reconsider and therefore bring two of the three original comic Sirens together.

It's also worth noting that in the comics, the Sirens aren't beholden to anyone, because Selina Kyle stole the money they use to bankroll their alliance from Thomas Elliot, the villainous Hush, who ripped out her heart in the "Heart of Hush" comic storyline. Having a wealthy benefactor means capitulating to that benefactor's demands, so whatever the Court of Owls or Ra's al Ghul wants for Barbara's new weapons business will be of the utmost importance to the group.

There are still a few remaining questions that Gotham will need to answer about this new, pseudo-Sirens alliance. It's curious how and why this is the new business that Barbara and Ra's are collaborating on, and why they want Tabitha and Selina on board. Clearly, the goal is to compete with Oswald in some way, but what that will be is still unclear. It sounds like they support the license system, because it gives them the opportunity to find out what every criminal in Gotham City is thinking and planning, but remember, Ra's al Ghul was also behind Bruce Wayne's transformation into a costumed hero.

But most of all, it's a little hard to tell why Barbara's personality has totally changed from manic to controlled and even a little stiff, but she now seems devoted to forming a unified front with the other women of the underworld, even willing to lose her hand in order to convince her now-allies that she's trustworthy. (Tabitha folds at the last second, of course.) She's gone from a schemer willing to do anything at any moment to undermine someone else in the quest for more power to willingly working together with two people who have very good reason not to trust her.

For the sake of this exciting adaptation of one of DC comics' most enjoyable trios, let's hope Babs' personality really has changed, so the Gotham TV Sirens have some staying power.