Valerie Vale

Valerie Vale
Family	Unnamed (father) Unnamed (brothers) Vicki Vale (niece)
Affiliation	Gotham Gazette
Occupation	Journalist
Status	Alive
First	"Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell..."
Appeared in	6 episodes (see below)
Portrayed by	Jamie Chung

Valerie Vale is a journalist working for the Gotham Gazette, and is the ex-girlfriend of Jim Gordon.

Biography

Valerie Vale previously resided in another city, and her father and brothers were police officers.

Taking an interest in Jim Gordon

Valerie arrives in Gotham City to uncover the activities of the Indian Hill facility after it transpired they were experimenting on human subjects and turning them into 'monsters', with the experiments themselves ending up escaping into the city. She is present at a press conference held at the Gotham City Police Department where she tries to grill captain Nathaniel Barnes on information and why only lead research Professor Hugo Strange was arrested and charged. Crime boss Oswald Cobblepot makes his entrance and accuses the GCPD of being liars and keeping the truth from the people of Gotham, and tells them to find Fish Mooney who he says are leading the monsters and urges them to find her. Valerie received a tip from Selina Kyle on Fish's whereabouts. She comes to Jim Gordon with the information, proposing that they work together. Jim accepts, but he quickly betrays her after they make it to the location by handcuffing her to a car. Later, Valerie looked at a picture of Jim bringing down an Indian Hill escapee.

Valerie showed up at Jim's doorstep, wanting to work with him once again to find Fish Mooney. They stop by Barbara Kean's club, The Sirens to see if she knew anything. Barbara informed them of Fish's group being held up in an abandoned bank. After receiving the information, Valerie left Jim to pursue it on her own with the GCPD as payback for him leaving without her the night before. Later, Valerie showed up at Jim's apartment again and flirted with him, leading to the two of them sharing a kiss before it turned to something more.

After sleeping together, Valerie showed her distaste with Jim's apartment though it was in good fun. She leaves him after sharing a kiss and promising to see him again.

Jim confronts Valerie about separating their work from their relationship, especially since she is so intent on getting to the bottom of the rumors surrounding Alice's poisonous blood. Jim refused to give her any information on the blood, so she decided to find it on her own by going on a date with a hematologist who could give her answers. Later, Jim finds the location where Valerie is having dinner and makes her date leave. Jim realized that he wouldn't be able to separate the woman from the reporter and decided to tell her whatever she needed to know about the Alice investigation.

After receiving the information from Jim about Alice's blood, Valerie told him that she needed a sit down interview with Lee, as she is in charge of the case. Later, Jervis kidnapped both Valerie and Lee, leading to Jim frantically investigating to see where he took them. Eventually, Jim figured out that Jervis was keeping them at Lee’s apartment, and he partnered up with Mario in an attempt to save them. However, Jervis predicted that Jim would find him, leading to a failed rescue attempt. Jervis then demanded that Jim choose which woman he would kill. Jim told Jervis to shoot Lee, but Jervis did the opposite and shot Valerie instead. Jim and Lee rushed Valerie to the hospital, where Mario operated on her.

Jim visited Valerie in the emergency room and broke down at her state. Valerie awoke and made fun of Jim's crying and they shared a laugh before he left. He returned and she told Jim she knew what he did - Gordon told Jervis to kill Lee because he knew that Valerie would get shot instead. She knew that Jim still loved Lee, which meant that her relationship with Jim was over.

Appearances

Season 3

• "Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell..."
• "Mad City: Burn the Witch..."
• "Mad City: Look Into My Eyes"
• "Mad City: Anything for You"
• "Mad City: Follow the White Rabbit"
• "Mad City: Red Queen"
• "Mad City: Blood Rush" (mentioned)
• "Heroes Rise: All Will Be Judged" (mentioned)

Notes

• Although Valerie is an original character from the show, in DC comics, Vicki Vale, whose surname Valerie shares, is also a journalist. Producer Ken Woodruff confirmed that Valerie is the aunt of Vicki Vale in the series and that she was a big influence on Vicki.