Gotham Mad City “Better To Reign In Hell…” gave Jim Gordon a coolness upgrade by making him a bounty hunter. Gotham started out as a show exploring the titular city and its various villains long before Bruce Wayne dons the Batsuit. Early seasons mainly revolved around Ben McKenzie’s James Gordon, possibly the only honest cop left in Gotham City. While it started out as something of a gritty cop show, later seasons would lean increasingly toward crazy plot twists and goofiness.

While Gotham was never a critical darling, it also performed solidly in the ratings, and it could never be accused of being dull. It came to an end with season five, which adapted the famous “No Man’s Land” arc from the comics, and ended with the reveal of Bruce Wayne finally donning the suit. The show also featured some great performances, such as Sean Pertwee’s (Event Horizon) Alfred, Robin Lord Taylor’s Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin and Cameron Monaghan as twins Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska. Monaghan was basically playing the Joker, though the character was never dubbed as such.

The show had fully embraced its own wildness by the time Gotham Mad City “Better To Reign In Hell…” came around. It takes place six months on from the events of season 2 and opens with Jim Gordon taking down one of the monsters that escaped from Indian Hills as it attacks a pharmacy. He later attends a press conference where Mayor James (Richard Kind, Spin City) addresses efforts to catch the monsters, while Bullock tries - and fails - to convince Gordon to rejoin the GCPD. After the events of season 2 and breaking up with Leslie, Gordon isn’t in the frame of mind to fix Gotham’s many problems.

Cobblepot later bursts into the press conference, maligning the efforts of the GCPD and telling the press Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith, Magic Mike XXL) is leading the monsters. Gotman Mad City “Better To Reign In Hell…” later finds him offering a rich reward to capture Fish, which Gordon attempts to collect. He confronts Fish and her gang, though a fight with a monster delays him long enough so that she can escape. Other key subplots find Oswalt proposing a partnership between himself, Barbara and Tabita that will allow him to use their Sirens Nightclub for his own business.

Gotham Mad City “Better To Reign In Hell…” also sees Bruce and Alfred return to the city and confronting the Wayne Enterprise board about their connections to the Court Of Owls. A Talon is later sent to capture Bruce, which he does after a brutal fight with Alfred. Bruce’s doppelganger 514A is also skulking around Gotham and stalking Selina. Vicki Vale (Jamie Chung) later leads Gordon to Strange’s assistant Peabody, who is swiftly kidnapped by Fish after Gordon fights off another monster. After learning from Peabody only Strange can save her, Fish has her executed via rapid aging from henchman Marv.

Gotham Mad City “Better To Reign In Hell…” gave Jim Gordon an interesting makeover as a bounty hunter, but of course, it would only be a matter of time before he rejoined the force.

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