So when the concept for this show was
first introduced I was really excited. A show following the pre
Batman days of Gotham, focussing on the crime families and a young
Jim Gordon sounded cool. As time went on the pitch and advertising
for the show became increasingly Batman like. The angle of the crime
families was pushed to one side and publicity pictures showing young
Catwoman, Penguin, The Riddler and Poison Ivy took their place. So
increasingly it seemed ‘Gotham’ was to become the new Smallville.
Now Smallville was pretty good, near the start at least but
eventually became a generic teenage drama that happened to feature
Superman.
Now unlike Clark Kent finding his
powers, Bruce’s journey to Batman is relatively boring. That being
said seeing what created his Arkham dwelling villains is fascinating.
Seeing how the mafia families lose control to them is also an
interesting story. So does ‘Gotham’ live up to its potential? Or
is it yet another teen drama with added Batman?
Within seconds of the episode starting
we are introduced to teenage Catwoman. She is seen prowling around
rooftops and pick pocketing people. She even does the Catwoman butt
shuffle when she walks, so we know for sure it’s her. While hiding
on a fire escape she witnesses the brutal gunning down of a couple,
with only their child being left alive. That’s right, within the
opening minutes the Wayne’s are dead and Catwoman was there to
witness them die. It’s actually refreshing for the show to make
such an immediate change from the established canon, it sends out a
very clear message. The actual shooting of the Wayne’s is pretty
brutal, very much like a scene from CSI.
Next we are taken to Gotham Police
Department and introduced to Jim Gordon and his detective partner
Harvey Bullock. Jim is immediately established as our typical white
knight detective. Harvey bullock is far less honourable however and
wants a quiet live and if justice is served or not doesn’t matter
to him. They are given the Wayne case and our story begins.
It’s easy to
see why they make such slow progress in the case; they can’t cross
the street without awkwardly running into a future villain. “If I
wanted riddles I’d read the funny pages” Bullock tells ‘Ed’
as he shows them evidence at the police station. Believe it not, this
is the most subtle introduction we get. Before the episode is out we also see a little girl playing with plants called Ivy and the beaked nosed
Oswald who hates being called ‘Penguin’.
These introductions are pretty clunky
and hopefully they’ll become more subtle. If not, I’m not looking
forward to the “You’re pretty two faced Dent!” or “Hey,
you’re good with dates. What are you, some kind of calendar man?
Now I’m not going to explain the
episode any more, as what it doesn’t fill with cameos it fills with
twists and turns. That being said I am going to comment on the final
one, as it’s really stupid. We see Gordon is being forced to march
a man down a pier at gunpoint. If he doesn’t kill him he will be
killed himself. The fact that the man in question is the young
penguin somewhat ruins the gunpoint suspense I feel.
Now the show’s original intent to be
a more traditional crime drama is at odds with the villain filled
version it became. We get traditional detective show conversations
intercut with weird comic book sequences. At one point an executioner
shows up, complete with medieval mask and I found it hard to not
laugh out loud at that ridiculous concept being part of this show.
The biggest issue with this opening
episode however is predictively enough Batman. Traditionally Bruce
Wayne crosses the line to becoming Batman the second his family is
killed. That is also the way ‘Gotham’ handles it. Bruce goes from
a laughing child to littlest Dark Knight instantly and everyone talks
to him as if he is now Batman. It’s hard to not think of this as a
conscious creative decision, but to decide to skip Batman’s origins
in a show about the origins of the Batman universe is rather odd.
That being said, his story has been told many times before and Bruce
Wayne’s enemies are far more interesting than he is, so I’m cool
with it being pushed to the side. I just hope they tone his Batman Jr
dialog down a tad.
Overall ‘Gotham’ has potential. The
opening episode is nicely paced, visually vibrant and the plot and
characters held my attention enough to watch the next episode. It has
some issues, particularly with the tone shifting abruptly but those
should be evened out as the show finds its own identity. That’s the
best thing about ‘Gotham’; it is trying something different,
ploughing its own furrow and ignoring the previous Batman
adaptations. Now if this new direction for the franchise will work
out or not is yet to be seen. That being said, I’m looking forward
to where it’s going.
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