When Ben McKenzie was first cast to portray the gravitas-heavy James Gordon on Fox's Gotham, fans bemoaned the absence of Jim's iconic mustache from the comics (and other forms of media). Well, Batman fans, it looks like Jim is going to have a stiff and hairy upper lip soon after Gotham Season 4 returns, as McKenzie is indeed rocking Gordon's key facial hair in a new batch of images from the upcoming episode "A Beautiful Darkness." But, like, this isn't the Jim mustache that Gotham City deserves. Or needs. Or should be comfortable with.
Is it just me, or does it look like David Mazouz's Bruce Wayne is suddenly hanging out with Fabien Lafitte, France's number one chin-holding detective, sommelier and cheesemaker? Or perhaps duty called while Jim Gordon was in the middle of trying out his "John Waters as Gomez Addams" cosplay. I'd almost prefer to believe that Jim had actually grown out a ZZ Top-esque beard and had shaved everything but the mustache when Bruce stopped by. The substitute options here aren't endless, but they're almost all better than the reality at hand.
I'm being hyperbolic, of course, since there are obviously lots of mustaches in the world that are more hideous than Jim Gordon's live-action fuzz on Gotham, but few have the kind of importance that Jim's does. Plus, when you've got Donal Logue right there rocking his own signature scruff as Harvey Bullocks, it was going to be a hard-fought battle for Jim's mustache no matter what.
You say you want another peek at it, and that you want everyone to be wearing bizarre costumes? Here ya go.
This shot here, which looks like it was birthed somewhere outside of reality, might well indeed be a figment of one character's imagination, meaning Jim's mustache would be a literal nightmare, and not just a figurative one. The episode, which will see Ivy kicking off her new plot, will feature Bruce being shaken up by an unsettling dream sequence. And since no one in the picture above is on the best of speaking terms with anyone else, it's hard to imagine why they would all head off together to a fancy gala (that might also serve as an unthemed costume party. Not to mention the fact that Penguin should be currently locked up in Arkham getting all buddy-buddy with Jerome. (Incidentally, check out what Mark Hamill thinks about Jerome.)
In the show's early days, Ben McKenzie had teased Jim Gordon's mustache by saying that instantly recognizable feature would show up only when Jim had actually earned the right to have it. So if this does happen to be a dream of Bruce's, I'm not exactly sure how Jim would have gone about justifying one of his comic counterpart's most memorable features. Who did you piss off, Jim?
Gotham Season 4 will finally return to Fox on Thursday, March 1, at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see what other shows are on the way in the near future, head to our midseason premiere schedule.
