The big theme this week was, obviously, fighting. We have the literal fight club operating out of one of Sionis’ abandoned office buildings, Jim Gordon is fighting for respect and for what he believes in (while being surrounded by the same cops who literally left him to die when Victor Zsasz invaded the GCPD last week), Harvey is fighting to stay on Gordon’s side, Fish and Oswald are engaging in a scuffle through guerilla warfare, and Bruce is literally fighting with a bully at school.
Bruce’s story was the one I had the biggest problem with this week, simply because of Alfred’s reaction to it. Alfred feels that it’s time for Bruce to go back to school, despite the young Wayne’s protestations to be home schooled instead. Bruce is bullied by Tommy Elliot, who comic book readers will recognize as future Batman adversary Hush (another of my favorite DC villains). Elliot teases Bruce about his parents’ deaths, and at one point Bruce snaps and slaps him. This, of course, leads to a bit of a beating from Tommy, and when Alfred finds out, he does what any responsible guardian would do and gives him an expensive watch to use as brass knuckles. He then drives Bruce to Tommy’s house so that he can beat him up.
Wait… what?! If Alfred is trying to teach Bruce a lesson here, it completely went over my head. Instead of giving him a pep talk, ensuring that Bruce take the high ground, and proactively stop the bullying, he teaches Bruce the satisfaction of good ol’ fashioned revenge. I understand that this is an obvious glimpse at the bond that Alfred and Bruce will forge in the future, and by condoning the behavior now, it shows that the butler is at least partly okay with Bruce’s future vigilantism. I just wonder if there were a better life lesson there that Alfred could have taught him.
