#BUT. this adds infinite more layers to Alfred and Bruce's fun fun spiral in season 3

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Reginald Payne × Alfred Pennyworth VS. Jeremiah Valeska × Bruce Wayne: A Saga.

Hello and good evening, in tonight's episode of "Gotham TV is an insane show for insane people" we're talking about Regional Pain. I mean, Reginald Payne. He is Alfred Pennyworth's "best friend", which in the context of the show's wordplays can fall anywhere on the spectrum of "actual dear friend" to "starcrossed lover", but perhaps most importantly he is a Jeremiah Valeska mirror used to establish a dynamic with Alfred that portrays exactly where does Bruce Wayne get his uhh, interesting habits in regards to his "best friends". you see;

Reggie is introduced as a raging alcoholic and mean druggie, and through him Alfred is revealed as a post-raging alcoholic with drug problems who's barely hanging on and trying not to relapse, kept afloat almost strictly by his immense love for Bruce.

In season 4, Jeremiah Valeska is introduced as a raging alcoholic and most likely a druggie, and Bruce has only slightly started to recover from his fun alcoholism, barely keeping his head above water with an iron grip on his love for Alfred.

When Reggie shows up at the Wayne Manor's door, he lies to Alfred, he is there to ruin his and bruce's lives, uses Alfred for his soft heart, capitalises on their friendship for sympathy and offers a false story, "lost a loved one and i went insane, couldn't do it".

Post-InsanityGas Jeremiah lies to Bruce, he is there to ruin his life, uses Bruce for his soft heart and capitalises on their friendship, keeping face with a false story, "lost the other half of me and i'm not dealing with it well, i can't do this," and Bruce holds his hand through it.

Reggie provokes Bruce so thoroughly, he is willing to go through with their make-believe combat practice too, "You hit me, you draw all the blood you can, i'm giving you a pass and you'll take it, violence is true and real, it's effective." Only Alfred puts a stop to it.

in the "Ace Chemicals" episode, Jeremiah provokes Bruce to hit him, to draw blood, he wants everything Bruce has in him. The only thing keeping Bruce from packing his punches is the knowledge that he has someone to come back to; he has Alfred, and he has Selina.

Reginald and Alfred get drunk together and Reginald tells Bruce about the night the SAS team cought a snake and put the goddamn thing in Alfred's bag. He tells Bruce about how Alfred cooked and made them all eat the snake.

Jeremiah's mother was a snake dancer, he grew up around snakes, he intimately knows how to handle one. He's viper colored and he's basically a snake sleeping in Bruce's bag throughtout season 4.

Reggie is a harsh truth caller, "Why dont you tell Bruce the truth, why are you afraid of him knowing the real you?" Reggie tells Alfred two wine bottles in. "You're a dog Alfred, a vicious well trained dog is what you are."

Jeremiah Valeska sees right through Bruce and becomes his truth caller, "You're so mean Bruce, there's darkness in you, so dark, we're so alike," he tells him.

Alfred tells Reggie that he's "willing to be better than he actually is because he has loved ones to care for, he will not give in to his own violence,"

Bruce tells Jeremiah that he "wants to be better than he actually is because he has loved ones to care for, he will not give in to his own darkness."

Reggie almost kills Alfred, someone very dear to Bruce, and then stays in town, knowing full well Alfred would know where to find him and have his revenge if he survived.

Jeremiah shoots Selina, someone very dear to Bruce, and then allows himself to get cought very easily, staying near and in reachable distance.

5 years later and Jeremiah leaves Bruce half insane and completely shattered, clawing into Alfred's arms in an abandoned warehouse outside Gotham, and noone has ever loved Bruce as much as Jeremiah loves him.

Reggie tears up after Bruce finally corners him, "I didn't mean any harm. Is he okay? He is okay, isn't he?" he trembles as he asks Bruce. Bruce's voice is venom as he reminds him, "You stabbed him; why do you care?" to which Reggie answers, screaming "I care! I damn care!!" because people love each other even in the ways they hurt each other.

Bruce is the one who hunts down both Reginald and Jeremiah for a chance at explanations; Selina is the one who kills Reggie.

Selina is also the one who kills Jeremiah.

And still, throughout all this Alfred is so posessive of Reggie— he actively dissuades detective Gordon from finding out about Reggie and shoos Gordon away. When Bruce asks him why he wont tell the truth about who stabbed him, Alfred says "Believe it or not, Reggie is a mate, and you do not set coppers on your mate now, do you?"

"But he almost killed you."

"we were a team together, he's my friend, if anyone can figure him out it's going to be me, noone else can do it; it wouldn't be right."

Alfred is immediately so protective of his connection to Reggie, "noone else can catch him, i know him, only i can do it right, we know each other like the backs of our hands," he intimately personalises his connection to him.

Jeremiah Valeska hurts Bruce more than perhaps anyone had ever hurt him, but when he calls to him, Bruce determinedly goes alone; Jeremiah is his fight and his only, he's the only person who knows him, the only person who can leash him in, noone else; it wouldn't be right.

Every bit of possessiveness Bruce has Over Jeremiah is a blueprint copy of how Alfred frames his friendships and his love for the people closest to him; ALFRED is where Bruce learnt the ways and whys of human connection and friendship. Really, in the Wayne Manor everyone is just 55 strings of generational patterns in a trenchcoat.