Gotham - The Failure of Jim Gordon

Here is something I've been thinking about since FOX has afforded us a look at the early Gotham City days and the time before Batman.

Doesn't Jim Gordon's dream of a better Gotham City end up in failure?

We all know how the story plays out.  Gordon becomes Commissioner and his young protege, Bruce Wayne, becomes Batman.

As this series started we see Gordon consoling the young Wayne and he tells him there will be light.  He tells Bruce he will find the man who killed his parents.  Gordon also goes on to tell anyone that will listen, notably Harvey Bullock, Barbara Kean, Fish Mooney etc, that he is going to make it his personal mission to clean up the Gotham PD and by extension Gotham itself.

I guess not. 

If Gordon does find the man who kills the Waynes why would there be any need for Batman?  His prime motivation would be gone. 

Gordon's failure will be of such a magnitude that the vacuum it creates will actually allow Batman to come into being.

Here is a damning quote for the man himself from the last episode, "Balloonman."

"Yesterday, the first victim, Ronald Danzer, was a con man. Nobody cared. Now that a cop’s been targeted, the investigation will get all the support it needs. It’s not right. Everybody has to matter, or nobody matters. Otherwise people lose faith, and that’s how you get vigilantes."

Is their a greater vigilante than Batman?

You've failed Jim Gordon.  Your vision of the future is dust.  And by virtue of your failure doesn't the very presence of Batman lead to greater more dangerous villains that Gotham itself has no hope in fighting?  A city that at one time only had to worry about organized mobsters will one day be overrun with some of the greatest evil ever known.

Now before everyone starts beating a path to my door with pitchforks and torches let me add a little qualifier.

Yes, you could argue that the goodness in Jim Gordon will forge the superhero that will become Batman.  Batman will come to believe in justice and he will turn over the bad guys to the police instead of sentencing them to death like the Balloonman did.

Timing is everything also.  Depending on which storyline you follow, Batman either enters the scene before Gordon becomes Commissioner or soon after.  If it's the former, then a partnership is formed that allows Batman to function outside the law and thrive.  Batman's success will lead to Gordon's promotion.  Sort of an ill gotten gain actually.

If its the latter, then Gordon's vision of the future was lost somewhere along the way and Cobblepott, Nygma, Poison Ivy and the Joker himself will be allowed to succeed and flourish.

What went wrong?

Not everything is Jim Gordon's fault.  He is only one man.  We all know Gotham's future is dim but how will the people behind this series spin this tale?

They can't make Gordon look like a failure.  

It will be interesting to watch.