Harvey Bullock (Gotham)

"You tell yourself, "I'll just do this one bad thing. All the good things I'll do later will make up for it." But they don't."

- Bullock confessing his guilty conscience

Harvey Bullock is a main character in the DC TV Show Gotham and the partner of Detective James Gordon. He is played by Donal Logue.

Early years
Ten years ago, when Harvey was partnered with Dix, he had a case involving the Spirit of the Goat. The case lead to an abandoned theater, where Harvey and Dix find the limp body of a young woman, hanging by the wrists atop a set. When they encounter Randall Milkie, both men pursue him, however, Dix falls down a trap-door set by Milkie, and is paralyzed from the waist-down. Harvey catches up with Milkie and shoots him in the chest, killing him before tending to his partner. A decade later, the case would come back to haunt Harvey when the Spirit of the Goat found a new "host".

Partners with Jim Gordon
Bullock and his new partner Jim Gordon were assigned to investigate a double homicide, though he originally tried backing out of the case when he realized that the victims were Thomas and Martha Wayne, he decided against it when Major Crime Detectives Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen arrogantly offered to take it off his hands. After Mario Pepper attempted to escape from him and Jim when they went to visit him, Bullock shot and killed Pepper in defense of Gordon. Afterwards they were awarded attention from the press for being "heroes". Bullock later attempts to rescue Gordon from Fish Mooney's men from Mooney's plant, but ends up getting himself in the same situation. Shortly after the pair were saved by Carmine Falcone. Bullock later tells Gordon when they arrive at the docks, that the latter has orders to kill Oswald Cobblepot or he would be forced to kill both Cobble and Gordon himself.

Bullock relaxes somewhat once his partner is "with the program", able to accept Gordon as 'a lighter shade of gray' in a way he wasn't as a white knight. He tries to mend fences with Fish Mooney, and appears to accept her sort of apology that her temper got the better of her when she ordered the pair to be killed.

When Allen and Montoya find a witness who saw Gordon "kill" Cobblepot they get warrants for both he and Bullock's arrest. But as Bullock and Gordon are about to be taken into custody, a very much alive Cobblepot turns up at the precinct, much to Bullock's anger.

Bullock confronts Gordon in the locker room and reveals his plan to kill him, in the hope that Falcone will be merciful towards him. But when Bullock is distracted by two officers entering the room, Gordon knocks him to the ground and asks for Bullock's help. Bullock refuses, however he later has a change of heart after a few drinks when he turns up at Gordon's home and says that he will have nothing to lose either way so will help him. The pair team up, and the next morning arrest Mayor Aubrey James for conspiracy to frame Mario Pepper. They drive him to Falcone Manor to arrest the crime boss, but Falcone reveals he has Barbara, as she had turned up to his home to beg for Gordon's life. Despite Bullock's pleas that Falcone is lying, Gordon surrenders and it is discovered Falcone was telling the truth when she is brought into the room by his enforcer Victor Zsasz. All Falcone says that by all rights they will have to die, he decides to let them go as Gordon believed him, which was a step in the right direction.

Falcone-Maroni gang war
Bullock along with the rest of the G.C.P.D. are involved in the all out war between the Falcone crime family and Maroni crime family when Salvatore Maroni wants Falcone dead for apparently trying to put a hit on him (which in reality was actually Cobblepot, as part of his scheme to take over Gotham City's underworld).

Bullock saves Gordon and Falcone from Maroni's men at a hospital, and escape alongside Cobblepot and Butch Gilzean. They head to a warehouse, where they end up being captured by Fish - who has returned to Gotham after fleeing weeks previously after being exposed for trying to kill Falcone, along with her new gang. Bullock along with Falcone, Gordon and Cobblepot are restrained, although Fish decides to spare Bullock. It is revealed she is in alliance with Maroni, who has promised to give back all her territories. But a conflict brews between the pair, which is mostly down to sexist behaviour from Maroni who keeps referring to Fish as "babes" in a mocking manner. Fish shoots Maroni dead, which causes a shootout between her gang and Maroni's. Bullock unties Gordon and Falcone and they escape, only to be recaptured by Selina Kyle. Before Fish can do anything to them, Cobblepot appears and fires a machine gun, killing Fish's crew. Bullock, Gordon and Falcone escape, allowing Cobblepot to confront Fish and kill her, ending the mob war. Falcone then retires from a life of crime and leaves Gotham City.

Resignation and later reassignment to the G.C.P.D.
After the conclusion of the mob war, Bullock and Gordon were demoted to traffic duty as punishment by Commissioner Gillian Loeb for helping Falcone (as he had switched alliances with Maroni). Having had enough, Bullock resigned and started working as a bartender. Civilian life proved to be much positive for Bullock, as he stopped drinking heavily, got better sleep and was now engaged to Scottie Mullen (a surviving victim of serial killer Gerald Crane). After Gordon ended up being sacked by Loeb, he contemplated doing a "favor" for Cobblepot but decided against it, and Bullock told him he made the right decision. But in the end Gordon did the debt for Cobblepot, who later forced Loeb to give Gordon his job back and resign as commissioner.

When Gotham City began to get terrorised by a group of criminals known as The Maniax, Gordon turned up at Bullock's bar for help. Bullock didn't return with him, but gave him some advice on leads on the case. After Essen was killed along with other police officers during a massacre at the precinct, Bullock returned to duty in order to help Gordon.

Bullock and Gordon began working to track down Maniax leader Jerome Valeska. They headed to the home of his father Paul Cicero who had worked at the same circus Jerome did and previously covered up for him when Jerome murdered his mother. When knocking at his door, they hear Cicero cry out in pain and after entering, see he has been stabbed in the eye and killed. When Bullock goes to check him, he accidentally moves his hand causing a mysterious gas to be released which causes Bullock to start passing out. Gordon manages to drag Bullock into the corridor, where he has a brief confrontation with Jerome before being knocked unconscious by an assailant of his. Bullock and Gordon are later taken to the GCPD and recover in the locker room. Whilst Gordon goes to deal with Jerome who takes hostages at a children's gala, Bullock visits Cobblepot to warn him to stay away from Gordon. That same night Jerome's reign of terror ends when he is stabbed in the neck and killed by Theo Galavan.

Strike Force
A few days after Jerome's death, a new captain named Nathaniel Barnes makes a big entrance at the police precinct in which he fires a few corrupt officers and arrests one, making it clear he wouldn't stand for corruption. After Gordon has a talk with him, Bullock isn't too convinced that it will work as he has seen guys like Barnes in the past trying to put right and it hasn't worked.

Bullock becomes a part of Barnes' new Strike Force team which consists of new non-corrupted recruits to fight against the corruption in Gotham, with their primary goal in being building a case against Cobblepot. Gordon acts as Barnes' second-in-command in the team.

When a searching warrant was put out for Cobblepot after he attacked the newly elected mayor Theo Galavan, Bullock and Gordon staked out a bar where Butch Gilzean was operating along with his new gang after betraying Cobblepot. Whilst waiting for Butch to show up, Gordon deduced that Galavan was not all he seemed due to the bad things that have happened after his arrival in Gotham. Bullock and Gordon enter the bar to question Butch, but are disrupted when Victor Zsasz shows up outside with his underlings demanding everyone to leave. Although Butch's gang abandons him, Bullock and Gordon stand their ground until backup shows up. When sirens are heard in the background, Zsasz and his crew flee the scene. Bullock and Gordon then notice Bullock made his escape during the chaos, leaving behind his fake hand which they had handcuffed to a pipe.

Galavan was later arrested for the kidnapping of Mayor Aubrey James, but was acquitted as James retracted his statement and blamed a now missing Cobblepot instead. After punching out Galavan in the courtroom Gordon was dragged off, and unknown to others was kidnapped by two officers working for Galavan. After the officers turned up dead, Barnes put out a search for Gordon.

Shortly after Gordon's disappearance, Bruce Wayne himself went missing, which was the work of the Order of St. Dumas. At the precinct Alfred Pennyworth was let out of his cell after he had barely survived being killed by Tabitha Galavan and members of the Order, and along with Bullock and Lucius Fox knew they needed Gordon to help launch a rescue mission for Bruce. Nearby Edward Nygma sniggers, causing the three to probe him for information on Gordon's whereabouts. In typical Nygma style he gives a riddle, which Fox successfully solves in a second, deducing that Gordon is holed up safe at Nygma's apartment. Finding Gordon there along with Oswald Cobblepot, they team up in order to launch an attack at Galavan's apartment. Selina Kyle helps them gain entrance, and they climb the stairs to prevent the sacrifice of Bruce. Bullock holds back due to being out of energy, and the others head on and shoot down and kill many members of the cult. Just as Order member Father Creel attempts to lunge at Gordon with a knife, Bullock appears and shoots him dead. Bruce is rescued unharmed, and Galavan - who is betrayed his Tabitha and his niece Silver St. Cloud who make their escape - is taken away by Gordon and Cobblepot and executed to stop any chance of him escaping justice.

Cobblepot goes fugitive after the killing of Galavan. After being chased down by a mysterious figure, he turns to Bullock and Gordon for their help. The pair of them warn Cobblepot that he is wanted by Barnes, and take him outside of Gotham in which Gordon warns him to stay away for good. However after they leave Cobblepot, he returns to the city anyway.

A month after Galavan's murder, Gordon is cleared of his part in the crime and returns to the G.C.P.D. Bullock and Gordon get back to work and start working on another case after a cop was found the night before frozen to death. Later on the same assailant robs a pharmacy and freezes both the pharmacist and the guard. The criminal makes his escape and Bullock tries to drive after him, only to crash into the frozen guard, shattering him into bits. The frozen pharmacist is taken to the precinct morgue. They identify the assailant as Victor Fries due to him leaving a pill bottle behind by accident, which has his wife Nora's name on it. Nora is arrested and taken into police custody, where it is revealed she is sick and Victor has been doing the abductions to find a way to save her.

Barnes and Gordon come up with a plan to lure Victor by taking a sickly Nora to the medical wing at Arkham Asylum. Bullock comes along as do other police officers, but Victor proves too strong for them and freezes his way through the asylum. Bullock and a few cops find themselves trapped as security doors keep them imprisoned in a corridor, although Gordon manages to narrowly escape. Over the intercom chief psychiatrist Hugo Strange claims there is a problem with the system. This setback allows Victor to successfully escape with Nora, along with Leslie Thompkins who came along to watch over her. After Victor's escape, Bullock and the officers are set free. The police head to Victor's home and tell him to come out. At this moment Nora killed herself by switching cartridges in his freeze gun, so the formula that was meant to freeze her and bring her back later was in place of the more deadly substance. This caused Victor to freeze her, only for her to die and break apart. Victor let Leslie go, and then froze himself with his suit. His body was taken to the morgue at Arkham, where he was declared dead (although in reality a mutated Victor survived and was being held in Indian Hill.

Supporting Gordon
Gordon was arrested for the murder of Strike Force recruit Carl Pinkney and imprisoned at Blackgate Penitentiary, which he declared was a setup. Bullock supported Gordon, especially after he decided to break off from Leslie as he felt she shouldn't be burdened by him and bring up their yet-unborn child without him. But Bullock later broke the heartbreaking news to Gordon that Leslie lost the child, and had moved away. Realising Gordon wouldn't survive, Bullock turned to former don Carmine Falcone to help break Gordon out of prison. Falcone agreed to the plan, and used his contacts to fake Gordon's death and get him away to safety. Bullock and Gordon met Falcone on a bridge outside Gotham, and when Falcone gave the ultimatim for Gordon to either leave the country or return to Gotham, Gordon chose the latter so he could clear his name and find Leslie.

Bullock kept tight lipped about Gordon's location in Gotham and refused to say he knew anything about where he was, regardless of Barnes' threats. Gordon managed to successfully clear his name after exposing Nygma as the culprit who killed Pinkney in order to frame him. But Gordon chose not to return to the police force yet, as he still wanted to track down the people responsible for hiring out Matches Malone to kill Bruce's parents.

Acting Captain
Gordon found himself hunted down by an individual calling himself Azrael, an apparent warrior who wanted Gordon dead. When Gordon was about to be attacked by Azrael, Bullock and other officers showed up and shot at Azrael, who managed to make his escape. Later that evening, Azrael attacked the precinct and fatally wounded Barnes by stabbing him in the stomach. Azrael fell from the roof and was unmasked and revealed to be a very-much-alive Theo Galavan, who then ran off into the night after being spotted by news crews.

Barnes reluctantly took over as captain as Barnes was still making a recovery in hospital. Bullock and Gordon tracked down Tabitha at Butch's mansion in order to get her help in finding Theo. She gave them some insight into Azrael, and claimed the man Theo was now wasn't himself and that someone has done something to her brother. She leads them to a Dumas crypt at Gotham Cemetery where her and Theo's grandfather is buried along with an ancient knife he claimed to belong to Azrael. Whilst there Theo himself shows up and beats Jim up and tries to kill him. Tabitha tries to reason with Theo and get through to him, but the memory jog proves to be a huge disadvantage as he recalls his mission to kill Bruce, and fatally stabs Tabitha for betraying him. Theo fails again to kill Bruce, and is instead blown apart by Butch Gilzean outside Wayne Manor.

Bullock covers up for Butch and doesn't confirm to the press that Azrael is a revived Theo Galavan. Bullock gets a search warrant to search Hugo Strange's office at Arkham Asylum, as the apparent dead subjects taken to him (such as Victor Fries) have been spotted alive and well. But upon arriving at the office they discover he has shredded documents, and Bullock decides to get another warrant to search the whole asylum, feeling Strange is hiding something.

After Bullock lost communication with Gordon, he sent a team to the asylum, but they found themselves greeted by what appeared to be Gordon. They returned with him to the precinct, where he claimed there was nothing wrong or suspicious at the asylum, which confused Bullock as it contradicted his earlier statements. Gordon continued to act weird and not bothered by the current predicaments, even when Alfred enquired about what happened to Bruce and Lucius as they themselves went missing after visiting the asylum. The "Gordon" before them was exposed as a fraud, which came about after Barbara Kean knew something was up as the fake Gordon tried to hit on her, and after slapping him exposed him as a shapeshifter named Basil - another experiment of Strange's. Bullock again dispatched the squad to the asylum, although Gordon, Lucius and Selina Kyle turned up safe at the gates. Strange was then brought into custody, although he warned about a bus full of the monsters he created being transported through Gotham City, and it would be disastrous if they escaped. Bullock put out a search for the bus. At this time Gordon made the decision to leave Gotham City instead of helping with finding the monsters, as he wanted to search for Lee. After saying goodbye to Bullock, he took his car and departed into the night. Despite Bullock's adamance that the bus must be found, it crashed and the monstrous passengers were released upon Gotham.

Personality
Harvey is a hardened enforcer of justice. Jaded by his time and experiences in Gotham, he knows that justice in a place like that isn't always ethical; as such, he has no qualms doing the morally gray. But he wasn't always like that. In fact when Harvey's former partner Dix told Jim what Harvey was like when he was working with him, Jim could barely believe what he was being told. Nonetheless, he is loyal and dedicated, and even willing on occasion to put his life on the line for others.

Trivia

 * This is the first live action incarnation of Harvey Bullock.