This is such an interesting moment on like different levels though because I think this is one of like Jim and Broose’s best parallels is that they’re good in the service of greater good but they lose sight of it in their own life. And I do think James is a hella complicated kid but Jim is such a hard man of the law that this is definitely something that he feels could break him, having to put down his kid so to speak. Because to some degree, you can’t ignore that this is his blood son and his first baby boy if you think about the whole Babs being adopted later. And there’s a whole lot of feeling of failure there because Jim is the baby that almost got killed because of his kind of hubris during Year One and the baby that had to kind of suffer his absence the most when Barbara left and took off with him. And just at the peak of their relationship they weren’t the healthiest couple so like he was also clearly deeply affected by that . And there’s just definitely a lot of blame on Jim’s shoulders that he’s failed his boy without the absolute certainty in one way cause like at the end of the day its the whole nurture versus nature debate on James ASPD. I think its really just one of those big ironies of him being celebrated as this great hero cop meanwhile his family life is in shambles.
But also this is such a good moment for not only Bat!Dick but Dick and jim as well. Because it could be argued that Jim trusts him as Dick more because he knows DIck’s history. Jim is a person that would treat other cops as his brothers through and through, especially if they’d earned it and to some degree Dick has. Because the level of their comraderie as Batman and Gordon isn’t quite the same as his camaraderie with Dick’s dad. Although I definitely prefer reading this now as Jim again knowing who Batman is under the cowl but ultimately not caring cause its kinda one of those things where the lie again is in a bigger service of the greater good.
