The Tragedy of John Doe and Riddler (Ep4 Spoilers)
Season 2 continues to astound me with characters that I absolutely love, and as much as I'm looking forward to Ep 5 -- I'm also dreading it. I'm subscribing to the fan theory :: While Bruce Wayne does have an opportunity to mold John Doe this Season, the true tragedy of the situation is that it was too late to save John before we ever met him.
From the pieces that have been given to us thus far, many have already suspected that John Doe was given the same serum that dissolved Riddler into a madman, and that it was prior to our 'coincidental' meeting in Arkham Asylum. It's just as likely John Doe was the Agency's first attempt to create someone who could track the renegade Riddler down and return him or destroy him.
John's trigger obsessions are all a part of the Agency's brain washing. His obsession with Harley Quinn was to help him infiltrate the Pact. John's grooming began as a method to get close to Riddler without suspicion or dismissal. She was the key to putting John in the position to learn of Riddler's plans, and execute the Agency's directives.
The Agency always had plans for Bruce Wayne. Whether Waller intended for John to gather intel for blackmail purposes, wanted leverage to have access to Wayne tech that wasn't available for Agency use, the other imprint John has is Bruce Wayne. It's the reason he instantly seeks Bruce out in Arkham in Season 1 and befriends him, and the reason he's unreasonably attached.
The reason Waller originally sent her agents to Bruce Wayne in search of John Doe is because she knew he'd contact him eventually once he'd infiltrated the Pact. She'd planned on using that connection to track John Doe to Riddler up until the point that she learned invaluable information from Agent Avesta -- Bruce Wayne is Batman.
That information might have ultimately been Riddler's death warrant -- it depends on whether you believe John Doe killed him or the Agency -- either way once he was dead, Waller used Bruce Wayne to do what John Doe couldn't accomplish, and whether John Doe became a villain or a vigilante the Agency already ensured that he would be the Joker as his brain continued to become further chemically imbalanced.
Comments
I like your theories and agree for the most part. But I'm not sure Waller was that invested in Bruce Wayne. Mainly because she had no way of knowing that Bruce would end up in Arkham, so why would she add that obsession in John since he's stuck there? But I like the idea of John Doe having things imprinted or however it was you described. Mostly because I still want a connection between season 1 Joker and season 2. He just seems so vastly different. Season 1 was definitely more calculating and cold and devious and season 2 was more chaotic and naive and conflicted.
I think john is like that in season 1 because in arkham he flourished, he felt at home there ( Depending on your decsions he will tell u this ) on the outside theres all this preasure and axeity cause by harley and even potentially society cause he doesn't know who he is outside arkham cause its all he remembers like hes said. Now i dont think hes under cover BUT i could buy that hes a "failed" patient from sactus they dumped or he escaped or something . His obsession with bruce is what its always been...."two peas in a pod"