After all the yearlong hype, Gotham has finally arrived and is bringing us Batman’s beginnings on a weekly basis.
The pilot introduced us to a LOT of characters and has now set the tone of the series going forward.
Revolving around the partnership of Detectives James Gordon and Harvey Bullock, we follow their investigation into the (SPOILER ALERT) murder of the Waynes, leaving young Bruce an orphan.
But that wasn’t really a spoiler was it?
Even your grandmother knows by now how Batman came to be Batman. But this isn’t his show. While Batman continues to rule the silver screen, this series takes a decidedly different direction, focusing on Gotham’s police and criminal underworld, showcasing the origins of some of Batman’s most notorious villains.
So did Gotham live up to the hype?
Let’s break it down.
Gotham looks great. It feels lived in and gritty like a real city, as it’s shot in NYC so from the opening scene in Crime Alley, Gotham feels like a character worthy of the show’s title. By depicting the iconic, character defining tragedy that altered Bruce Wayne’s path forever, they hook in the viewer right off the bat (no pun intended), pulling us into Batman’s world from the very start of his origin.
For the most part, the cast all suit their parts with Donal Logue (Bullock) and Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin) being the standouts.
The pilot throws a lot of characters at you in one big helping so it’s too early to say how each of them will develop as the series progresses but as far as the initial selection of Gotham’s heroes and villains go, they’ve chosen pretty well. If Penguin had been introduced during Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, this is how I imagine he would have been tackled.
The episode ends on a strong note and sets up future events nicely. If you weren’t onboard from the start, the conclusion should intrigue you to tune in the following week.
THE BAD
After a great start that unfolds flawlessly, the pacing is a little clunky throughout, taking time to pause and introduce every major player along the way, in an unnatural flow.
It’s almost as if to say, “Hey, I know there’s no Batman, but we’ve got Catwoman! Not enough? How about Riddler?! Still not enough? Hey, is that Poison Ivy behind that plant?” It felt desperate and pandering, which is not a great first impression going into a new series.
Hopefully each of these characters will get their moment to shine in due time, but as we’ve learned from previous installments in the Bat movie franchise, piling up the villains onscreen does not usually make for a better outcome. If you’re going to drop in a subtle Easter egg, fine, but let’s knock if off with the *wink wink* nods that hit you over the head and focus on telling good stories.
None of the performances in particular stuck out as being “bad,” but it might take at least another episode or two before I’m convinced that Ben McKenzie was the perfect actor to portray a young James Gordon.
I’m still going to give him a chance to impress me but with seasoned pros such as Gary Oldman and Bryan Cranston having previously taken on this role (Cranston having voiced Gordon opposite Ben McKenzie’s Batman in the animated Year One), he’s got some big shoes to fill.
I found it odd that while the series does a reasonable job of keeping the time period ambiguous, they overlay a couple scenes with tracks from The Dead Weather. Ordinarily this wouldn’t bother me one bit as I’m a Dead Weather fan, but it in the context of the show, it took me out of the scene for a minute, but that’s a very minor issue.
THE BAT
So how does this compare to the source material? Obviously with any adaptation, change is necessary, and any fan going into a show like this with such a rich history to pull from is foolish to think it will stick to the comic book canon 100% faithfully.
With the new 52 reboot, what is even canon at this point anymore, anyway? But just for fun, let’s examine how it pulls from the mythos.
Like I mentioned before, the robbery gone wrong with the Waynes is spot on and one of the best cinematic representations of that scene ever filmed.
Alfred seems to be more in line with the Earth One version of his character, as was the version from the short-lived Beware the Batman animated series.
I appreciated the addition of Detectives Allen and Montoya to the ensemble as I really dug their partnership in the Gotham Central comic series, and it will be interesting to see how it works with them being roughly the same age as Gordon. Equally the role reversal of Gordon as the idealistic rookie and Bullock as the grizzled veteran who’s seen it all is a nice twist on their comic book relationship. Bullock is already shady on the surface, so it will be interesting to see just how much deeper his corruption goes as the series progresses.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A common complaint I’ve come across is that how can you do this show without Batman, but I find this to be an unfair write off.
Part of the reason Batman is one of the best superheroes ever created is because of his supporting cast, not to mention he has the greatest rogues gallery out of any superhero bar none.
As long as you go into this show accepting that, it’s worth giving Gotham a fair shot to explore corners of the city that are rarely brought to a wide audience.
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