Gotham episode 8 introduced us to Bruce’s school yard bully, Tommy Elliot. And although he may just seem like another little shit with a horrible comb-over, he’s actually a very famous Batman villain. So now that we have been introduced to him, will his capacity purely be as an easter-egg, or is this a set up for a much larger story?
The character of Hush originated in the Hush story arc from the Batman comics, writtin by Jeph Loeb. Basically Dr Thomas ‘Tommy’ Elliot was a childhood friend of Bruce. He was basically Bruce’s only friend, and the only other child he met that matched his intellectual capability. One night while the two of them are playing in Bruce’s mansion, it’s revealed that Tommy’s parents had been in a car accident. Bruce’s father was their doctor, but only managed to save one of his parents. Bruce made the promise to Tommy that his dad could save both of his parents, but obviously that didn’t happen. The two soon drifted apart, until they meet each other again in present day.
In present day Batman gets in a horrible injury, and suggests that the only doctor who could help him, was his old friend Tommy, who was now a very successful doctor. Tommy of course saves Bruce (under the impression he was in some random accident) and the two start hanging out together.
But this is Batman we’re talking about, the guy has pretty bad luck, and Batman finds himself the target to a really good bad guy. This mystery person, who calls himself Hush, manages a way to manipulate villains and friends (including Superman) into hurting Batman. Basically a bunch of stuff goes down and Batman, being the great detective he is, figures out who Hush is. It’s his good old friend Tommy of course! Tommy had laid out the groundwork for his plan for a long time, and even tricked Bruce’s subconscious into thinking about him, so he would suggest Tommy to be his doctor. Yeah it was a whole thing, you should check out the comic. And at first you would think that maybe Tommy hated Bruce for promising him that his parents would live, but no!
Major plot twist incoming, because it turns out Tommy wanted his parents dead! Yep, he planned the whole accident, and wanted them to die so he could get their inheritance. And naturally he wanted to get revenge of Bruce, because his father saved their lives, and because ultimately Bruce was a reflection of his better self, which he hated, but really because Bruce ruined his psychotic plan! Poor Brucie boy, the one true friend he had growing up turns out to be a psycho, classic.
Anyways that all being said, it makes sense for them to introduce his character in Gotham episode 8. However the arc of Hush would be pretty limited, considering we’re never going to see Batman on Gotham (well not until the very final episode at least). So if they were going to use Tommy’s character on a larger scale, it is possible, and here’s how they could do it:
We already saw in Gotham episode 8 Tommy was kind of a jerk. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t end up being friends. Bruce and Tommy could become friends, and bond over chess or something, with hints being given throughout the season of his craziness. Bruce of course may choose to initially ignore it because he’s finally found himself a friend. Next thing you know someone close to Tommy dies in a perhaps suspicious manner. Bruce being the great boy detective he is starts his own little investigation. With the help of Alfred, kid Bruce could uncover the truth about Tommy.
But why do this? Because once Bruce realises that his only friend in the world was a psycho, that will really start pushing him into pursuing his Batman path. Right now he isn’t the dark, broody Bruce we know, as he is still experiencing new things and growing. He needs a really intense experience like this, to make him really see the evil that has completely infected Gotham. So much corruption and evil in Gotham, that a child becomes a murderer for money. It could be a really important story arc, that further develops the Bruce character, and will give him a different arc, other than just trying to find his parents’ murderer.
Right now we don’t really know how far they are going to use the Tommy Elliot character, and this may have been the only episode we see him in. But I think it’s a missed opportunity to not use his character, and it would be good to see Bruce interact with people that aren’t Alfred or Gordon.
Anyways, what do you think? Do you want to see more of Tommy Elliot on Gotham? Let me know!
Categories: Comic book tv shows
Girl-On-Comic-Book-World 
I would totally love to see the show keep going and gradually turn into a Batman show in real-time. 😀
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Haha that would be pretty awesome!
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