Warbler said:
I'll have to go back and watch that scene.
Yeah, I actually find Alfred's thing entirely plausible here, based mostly on Begins. There was the scene Tobar mentioned as well as that exchange about, "When you came back and told me about this, the only thing that kept me from calling the men in the white coats was when you said this was not about thrill seeking." And, of course, the scene in this film where Alfred freaks out is another Batman leads the police on a merry chase scene. Also, Alfred's desire for Bruce not to come back was before he even knew anything about a Batman or a mission. All he knew was that Bruce disappeared one day and never came back. So, yeah, he is certainly supportive of Batman and even strongly believes in Batman, but his primary goal is to see Bruce happy. And for him to do the Batman thing for a few years, followed by eight years of depressed seclusion, I can definitely see Alfred going, "Yeah, you've done your share. It's time for you to think about you now," especially given that he believes that Bruce is only going back into the fight to die in a blaze of glory.
I can see where you're coming from on the ending, and the logistics of it you bring up are spot on. This movie certainly took a lot more liberties with the mythos than we probably expected when Begins came out, and that was a bit jarring. But like I said in my above thoughts, I'm okay with there being a Batman who can actually end. Who can complete his mission in his own mind. I guess that has a lot to do with my feelings of comic books, where Batman has been doing his same Batman thing unceasingly for over 70 years, with only the partial reboot ever 25 years or so to almost shake things up. So I was excited to see some closure. Also, it makes sense in this continuity because it had been set up since at least The Dark Knight. That was all about the fact that he didn't want to be Batman anymore, he wanted to settle down with Rachel, and that he was hoping Harvey Dent would become his successor.
And, yeah, I agree with you about the Catwoman thing. Also like I'd said, I wish her character had been explored more. Because there's really no reason given that Bruce would respect her and not any other talented criminal besides, "Dur hur, you're purty!" But then again, there's the Golden Age continuity that eventually has them settling down together, so I guess it's not entirely without precedent. I suppose that's one of those things where an emotional payoff is more important than a logical one.