‘Gotham’ season 2, episode 2 spoilers: Erin Richards on Barbara’s dark motives

The second season of “Gotham” is starting to get in full swing, and there is one thing that we will immediately praise the Fox series for right now: Finding a way to implement the Barbara Kean character in a way that is infinitely more exciting than what we had for her at this point a year ago. Back then, she and Jim Gordon were in a functional, somewhat-normal relationship and there were no signs of her becoming this unhinged.

Now? She’s ruthless, psychotic, and working with the Maniax, a group led by Theo Galavan after he staged a breakout from Arkham Asylum. Is it her endgame now to just be a killer or can she still have some sort of redemption story? It’s a fair question, but as Erin Richards (who is more than likely having a field day playing this character) tells TVLine it is a little more complicated than that, and much of ties back to her history with Jim:

“She definitely loves Jim, and she definitely wants him back. But I think it’s more like she wants to bring him into the darkness of where she is … She sees who he really is, so she’s kind of angered that he’s playing this ‘role’ [of do-right lawman], like, ‘No, I know who you really are, so I’m going to get you back and we’ll go into this dark place together.”

In a warped sort of way, Barbara has this sort of Bonnie & Clyde dream for herself and Jim, one that he is not entirely willing to follow up on. This does create a little bit of distinction between her and Harley Quinn, the Batman character she has been compared to often since her transformation. Heck, we don’t think the show is doing much to calm those comparisons with a certain ensemble of Barbara’s you can see in the sneak peek over here.

We’ll be back later tonight with a review of the latest “Gotham” episode. For now, head over here to get some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)