9. Barnes' Confession
The Gotham Police Department is as crooked as a bag of snakes with scoliosis and Jim Gordon is usually fighting an uphill battle with those that outrank him. At the beginning of the second season, Gordon makes a deal with Cobblepot to have Commissioner Loeb replaced with Sarah Essen and things were looking up. That is, until the Maniax, led by Jerome, wipe out half the department in an intense, entertaining episode. After Gordon serves as a temporary replacement for an episode, a new Commissioner manifests himself as Michael Chiklis Nathaniel Barnes, a law-and-order zealot whose first act in command is to immediately and publicly fire the known dirty cops within the GCPD. Anyone who is a fan of The Shield will find it completely ironic that Vic Mackey is now the purveyor of rule and order within a police station and not the guy actively breaking every law and jaw that he comes across. Barnes is a complicated character who also serves as the fish out of water for comedic and expository purposes. When Gordon is debating whether or not he can truly stop himself from crossing the line, Barnes reveals to him that he, as a fellow jarhead, killed an unarmed POW in a fit of simultaneous rage and puzzling clarity. Barnes reassures his second-in-command, telling Gordon, At the right moment, a man might do anything. Any man. There is no line. Theres just the law. Thats what separates us from the animals. There is no line. With this soul-searing confession, Barnes allowed the show to shake off yet another tiresome cliche by providing a leader and confidant in Barnes that Gordon desperately needed. Its a thousand times more interesting to see the GCPD function as a unit while tackling the deadly absurdity of Gothams underworld. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eQyooNyZXE