So this week in ‘Gotham’ homeless
children are being snatched off the streets. They are being kidnapped
for someone calling themselves The Dollmaker. It’s up to Jim Gordon
and Harvey Bullock to solve the case, with a little help from
Catwoman. While this is going on, we see the ongoing adventures of
Edward Cobblepot as he tries to rebuild his life from scratch.
So Episode 2 of ‘Gotham’ is a lot
stronger than the opening episode. The tonal shift issues have been
fixed, as have the awkward introductions of future villains and
future parts of the Batman mythos. In this episode we are introduced
to the concept of Arkham Asylum, which we are told has been closed
for 15 years. We don’t see it however, but it has been set up for
when we eventually will. The subtle introduction of The Dollmaker is
also a nice touch, adding the beginnings of the insanity angle that
runs throughout the world of Batman.
Jim Gordon has been made more relatable
since the pilot episode. He now seems more willing to bend rules if
they allow him to solve cases. That being said the police force has
been made noticeably more corrupt in order to make him appear better
by comparison. Generally speaking more nuances has been added to all
the characters. Alfred seems more human and vulnerable as does the
villainess Fish Mooney. Edward Cobblepot has been made noticeably
more menacing; shades of the older penguin are being introduced in
him. It’s a real credit to the writing and performance of Robin
Lord Taylor that I am finding myself routing for his horrible depiction of the character.
The child kidnapping plot and general
increase of violence shows that ‘Gotham’ is very squarely aiming
for the older teen and up demographic. The violence is far more
sudden and unexpected in episode 2. The first episode seemed to be
using violence to try and shock the audience, episode 2 seems to want
you to think it’s a part of the everyday world. ‘Gotham’ in
general just seems to be more unpleasant this week, showing the world
as it is without Batman.
Episode 2 shows a distinct improvement
over the first as it seems more confident in itself. With the first
episode being the pilot it was very clear that they were putting in
as many Batman nods as possible to gain the full season. Now a
commissioned program, Episode 2 feels confident to dictate its own
pace. The emo Bruce Wayne stuff still isn’t working for me; neither
is his blossoming May-December friendship with Gordon which seems
like indulgent fan fiction. That being said the world outside of
Bruce Wayne is being extended nicely and ‘Gotham’ seems to have plenty
of interesting characters to fill it with.
No comments:
Post a comment