Gotham’s Barbara Kean easily explains her ‘resurrection’

In one throwaway line on Gotham’s episode 402, “The Fear Reaper,” Barbara Kean cements the show’s philosophy on the permanence of death.

We’re only two episodes into Gotham’s fourth season and we’ve already seen the return of an old friend who is making a rather unlikely return: Barbara Kean. Barbara has been through a lot over the years, going from perfectly sane to insane, and then back to “certifiably” sane by the good folks at Arkham. She has also died and come back to life and she manages to clear up how that seems to be possible in the Gotham universe in a brief sentence in episode 402, “The Fear Reaper.”

As it was with Fish Mooney and Penguin (among many others), death on Gotham isn’t permanent. Barbara’s case is yet another example of death not being the end of the line, but she offers a very simple explanation to the very confused Tabitha and Selina: “Next time, check for a pulse.”

It’s no secret that Gotham City’s colorful criminals will do whatever it takes to make sure that they are at the top of the underworld food chain. Getting there means stepping on some toes, and the triangle between Barbara, Tabitha and Butch was the biggest triangle of all coming out of season 3. Tabitha came out on top when she electrocuted Barbara after Butch took a bullet to the head. Shockingly, though, Barbara didn’t die and she made a startling reappearance in “The Fear Reaper” as a weapons dealer.

What this means is that we can’t trust what we see when we watch Gotham. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Death isn’t always the end on the show; for some characters they return alive and well while others, like Alice Tetch, remain dead but continue to impact everyone left behind. If your favorite character dies, you don’t have to worry too much, and that’s a good feeling to still have hope even when things look bleak.

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As we move through Gotham’s fourth season it’s important to keep in mind that death doesn’t mean much, but moving forward it’s important to “check for a pulse” before assuming the worst.

Gotham airs Thursdays at 8pm on Fox.