'Gotham' Might Be Turning Barbara Into A Villain

Gotham villain Jason Lennon, or "The Ogre," is a known killer of women, but after watching the most recent episode, I began to wonder, will the Ogre and Barbara Kean become allies? Seeing this side of Barbara has been so much more interesting than her role in the rest of Season 1. So far, she's been the damsel in distress and not much more, but now she's finally coming into her own as a character — and her role is a little darker. She didn't give Jason the reaction I'm sure he's accustomed to after seeing his torture chamber, by screaming and trying to escape. Barbara broke away from the damsel stereotype and didn't act like she was terrified, even if we're going to find out that this is her worst nightmare and she's really scared. This proves that Barbara either has a way better poker face than we've been led to believe, or she has a darker side and is intrigued by Jason's secret life as a serial killer.

I'd be interested to see what Jason makes of Barbara now that she seems willing to adventure into his chamber. Maybe she didn't realize he actually kills women with the tools, but they did not seem to intimidate Miss Kean. Perhaps some of her conflict will be channeled through attraction mixed with fear for the Ogre. So far, the show hasn't really given us too much about Barbara other than her presence as Jim's girlfriend in the first half of the season and past with Renee Montoya.

And then there's Barbara's substance abuse issues, which I'm not sure were satisfactorily resolved. Once again, she could be getting the short end of the character stick if this is just treated as another opportunity to use her as a plot device, but never tie together all of the disparate things that she did throughout the season. Like how will Selina react to this, now that they've been living together for so long? Will Barbara realize that she needs to spend some time single, since she has a tendency to fall into relationships that take over her life, from the stresses of being pulled into Jim's cases to the addictions that both she and Renee Montoya struggled with while they were together?

But this arc with the Ogre could also be the first thing that will start to bring Jim and Barbara back together. Maybe they somehow have to work together to stop Jason, with Jim tracking her from the outside while Barbara tries to lead him into a trap where he can be caught by the cops. If it's done right, it could serve as character development for Barbara while taking Jason Lennon, the last big villain of Gotham Season 1, down.

Images: Jessica Miglio/FOX (2); Giphy