"This is War.."
The Hype
The Moment I heard about Gotham i couldn't help but picture disaster, a Batman show without Batman? Don't get me wrong Jim Gordon is a great character and i do believe he can be strong in a world without Batman but Gotham seems to have a fatal flaw, it wants to rely on Batman's impeccable rogue gallery to make up for The Dark Knights absence. The problem with this is that if Gotham is a long and viable show it is going to end up using all of the major and recognizable villains thus implying that every big bad that Batman's faces was developed while he was 11. Its going to be hard for a show like this to avoid these kinds of problems. Being a massive Batman fan its weird for me to say but to be honest I wasn't at all exited for Gotham, but it would be unfair to judge without giving it a a chance
The Review
The series opens with a young Selena Kyle roaming the streets parkouring and picking pockets, shes presented as a very believable version of what that character would be like at a young age but ultimately has a cameo size role in the episode. the first real event of the series is the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne (Bat Parents). You would think a show whose whole pitch is "Batman without Batman" would flesh this event out a little bit, the pivotal moment that transformed Young Brucie into the brooding vigilante we all know and love. I imagined this defining moment would have some build up over the season, or they would at least give us more than, "These are Bruce Wayne's parents, Oops now they're dead". However it is understandable, I can in no way blame Gotham for wanting to keep the ties to the Bats as strong as possible in the first episode.
The arc of the first episode is the search for the Wayne's killer, after an interrogation montage we are introduced to who will eventually become the Riddler surprisingly working for GCPD the character is utilized well and I appreciate them not spelling out that this is the Riddler and we should be exited about it. It is also very cool to see a rookie Jim Gordon as the underdog, being doubted and undermined by Harvey Bullock. Dynamics like this give me faith that this series is out to do something fresh and new.
Donal Logue does a serviceable job as Harvey Bullock, but hasnt proved himself to me yet, Ben Mckenzie However is a perfect fit as Jim Gordon and im very pleased with his performance, The young Oswald Cobble pot (Penguin) is also used well as Fish Mooney's (Jada Pinkett Smith) Lackey. Smith delivers a great performance as Gotham's new character this show is defiantly out to explore a lot of grey areas in the morals and law of Gotham City. So far everything is falling into place well and the villains are presented in a way that makes sense, Penguin is working his way up the organized crime latter and Riddler isn't the Riddler yet. That being said i almost physically rolled my eyes when a young Poison Ivy opened the door during the Wayne investigation, There is a fine line with references and cameos like this, if the story and characters don't stay strong the audience could easily stop worrying about "whats going to happen next?" and rather "whats the next batman reference". Bruce Wayne was used well throughout the episode and the young Batman wasn't shoved down our throats, I'm actually very interested in how they will utilize him if future episodes. Gotham was really a pleasant surprise and lets be honest what else am i doing Monday nights?
The Verdict
Gotham could of easily been a cash grab riding off Batman references, but due to some mature decisions and great performances they set a strong foundation to what can be a great series
7.2/10