Jim (Ben McKenzie) can't catch a break in the final season of Gotham. He tried to protect the innocent people who couldn't evacuate from being killed by the warring villains controlling the island, but he couldn't get any member of government outside of the city to send in him. At the end of Thursday's episode, after securing his people food and protection, he lost all of them in a giant explosion that took out their new living quarters.

It's a devastating loss for Jim, who's been working 24/7 for weeks to try and find a way to get the people out of the city, or at least to a place that is relatively safe for them to continue living their lives. Now, hundreds of innocent people are dead on his watch, and it will push him to become the version of Jim Gordon we know from the Batman comics.

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However, he won't be able to do that without help. TV Guide talked to executive producer John Stephens about Jim's next steps and how he'll move on from this. Spoiler alert: His old army buddy Eduardo Dorrance (Shane West) will be coming in to help find out who is responsible for the explosion — but that's going to turn into a Bane-sized problem for Jim down the line.

Ben McKenzie, Gotham Photo: Fox

What does this explosion mean for Jim going forward and what mind space will we find him in after this gigantic loss?

John Stephens: It increases Jim's sense of guilt obviously, that he promised safety to all these people, and it ended with them being caught in this explosion. It sets him on the warpath to find out who actually caused it, that then leads to him unraveling the mystery of what is actually going on in No Man's Land right now. Then that leads to the introduction of the Bane character going forward, which is a big motivator for the second half of the season.

How long is it going to take for us to find out who is responsible for this?

Stephens: We're gonna find out shortly. Very shortly... [We find out in] two episodes.

Is this explosion going to push the government to help in any sort of way? Are we going to see Eduardo Dorrance come in after this explosion?

Stephens: Eduardo's going to come in initially as part of the team that's going to help Jim to track down who caused the explosion. Then through a series of events it's gonna involve a transformation in Eduardo. He initially comes in as an old army buddy of Jim's who's there to help him out.

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So far this season Gordon and Babs have been at odds and reluctantly working together. Is this explosion gonna bring them closer together or continue to push them apart?

Stephens: It will continue to bring them close together, but their relationship is always gonna be a complicated and troubled one, both because of history and both because of their personalities. It does push them, keep pushing them together.

We've seen Jim bend the rules before when he's pushed into a corner. Are we going to see the return of a darker Jim Gordon or is he going keep his morals in check after this tragedy?

Stephens: I think that this is a period, this season, especially with Jim where we're actually gonna see a return really to the heroic Jim that we saw much more earlier in Season 1. I think he went through this dark path in previous seasons and now [is] the Jim Gordon who we know from the comic books, the one who is very heroic.

Gotham airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Fox.