Ben McKenzie: James Gordon

Mad City: New Day Rising

James Gordon

[Captain Barnes tells Jim Gordon to stay away from the Mad Hatter]
Nathaniel Barnes: This is an active investigation. You go anywhere near him, I'll have you arrested.
James Gordon: For what? No law against two private citizens having a chat. I'll come by later to pick up my check.
Harvey Bullock: [as Gordon walks out of Barnes' office] I bet I'd make a kick-ass P.I.
Nathaniel Barnes: Get out.

Nathaniel Barnes: Why is it that every time something hits the fan around here, I inevitably find you at the center of it?
James Gordon: I was just working a job. Her brother asked me to find her.
Nathaniel Barnes: Yeah. You're some sort of P.I. now? Is that it?
James Gordon: I'm whatever pays the bills.

James Gordon: I need to find Jervis Tetch.
Barbara Kean: Oh, you mean 'The Great Jervis Tetch, Hypnotist Extraordinaire'? You believe it actually says that on his business card?
James Gordon: Number's been disconnected. Where is he?
Barbara Kean: I don't know. Magic shop, bunny farm... someplace where everyone wears top hats and drinks tea?

Barbara Kean: You know, I'm not sure I like this new thing of you storming in here every time you need something. It's almost like we're married. Scary thought.
James Gordon: [grabbing her wrist] I need a favor.
Barbara Kean: Oh... Then you must be monumentally screwed. What happened? Did he hypnotize you? Make you bark like a dog?

[Barbara Kean tells Jim Gordon that the Mad Hatter was looking for some flair]
James Gordon: What'd you tell him?
Barbara Kean: [Barb smiles] It's Gotham, baby. We've all got flair.
James Gordon: [Barb laughs] Thanks. Always a help.

Nathaniel Barnes: Look... you've caught some bad breaks. Blackgate. Lee. I don't know what happened when you went to see her, but I can take a pretty good guess. But at some point, you're gonna have to make peace with the decisions you've made.
James Gordon: And what if I can't?
Nathaniel Barnes: Take it from me, you don't want to wake up one day and realize that twenty years has gone by.

Alice Tetch: There's usually a trigger that brings on the hypnotic state. What's the last thing you remember?
James Gordon: He pulled out his watch. Asked if I could hear it ticking.
Alice Tetch: That's it, then. His watch. Anything resembling the ticking will trigger the impulse. He's made you a prisoner in your own skin.

Leslie Thompkins: I don't know what I would do if something happened to you.
James Gordon: You'd be fine.
Leslie Thompkins: Do you really believe that?
James Gordon: You seemed to have moved on okay.
Leslie Thompkins: Yes, I moved on, Jim. What choice did I have? I went through the most painful period of my life alone. I cried myself to sleep every night. And like an idiot, I would wake up thinking, hoping that the next day, you would show up at my door. But you never did.

Leslie Thompkins: After everything that's happened, you really have nothing to say to me?
James Gordon: The past is the past. There's nothing I can do to change that.
Leslie Thompkins: Alice told me that her brother preys on anger and regret. I really don't want that to be all that's left of us.
James Gordon: You mean all that's left of me.
Leslie Thompkins: Barnes asked me to put you on a 48-hour suicide watch. I've already signed off on it. I know that we can't change the past, but there's a difference between moving on and letting go.

[Harvey Bullock relays a message to Jim Gordon from Leslie Thompkins]
Harvey Bullock: Yeah. She also told me if you check out on my watch, it's my head.
James Gordon: Guess you're gonna have to trust me.
Harvey Bullock: Remember to chisel that into my tombstone.

Mad Hatter: We both know what you really want. I saw it in your eyes the first time we met.
[the Hatter's voice echoes]
Mad Hatter: You want to be free. Free from the pain. And you can be. Stop fighting and let go.
James Gordon: [flashback] The past is the past. There's nothing I can do to change that.
Leslie Thompkins: [in the flashback] There's a difference between moving on and letting go.
James Gordon: [breaking the spelll] No!

Leslie Thompkins: Tweeds really did a number on this place. Guess I'm medical examiner slash medic.
James Gordon: Slash resident therapist.

James Gordon: Lee. There's something I... need to tell you. Something I should have told you the moment I saw you back in Gotham. Everything you said today...
Leslie Thompkins: I'm sorry about that.
James Gordon: Don't... You were right. And after everything that happened today... This is harder than I thought.
Leslie Thompkins: What is it, Jim?
James Gordon: I'm happy for you.
Leslie Thompkins: You are?
James Gordon: Trying to be. Maybe we can start there.
Leslie Thompkins: Yeah. I think we can do that.