(Spoilers Abound)
“Gotham” can be really goofy; almost “Smallville” goofy. And it seems to be revising the Batman lore again for a new audience that may not be familiar with the Batman mythology. The first twenty minutes of the pilot are brutally cheesy with a lot of clunky exposition, plays on morality, corruption, and immense focus on how hard boiled Harvey Bullock and James Gordon are. They’re tough men that have seen the worst life can offer, and dagnabit, they’re at odds like Murtaugh and Riggs from “Lethal Weapon” when we first see them. Well really they’re kind of an after thought. The focus of the first five minutes of the premiere is on a prepubescent street thief who walks Gotham, stealing to survive, and galloping along fire escapes. Almost like a cat of some kind. Get it, yet?
Yes, for odd reasons, Catwoman is not only seen in Gotham, but she’s been there for years, and if you can believe it, she bears witness to the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents. I’m sure this is seeds being planted for future episodes of the arc where Selina Kyle will be the key to solving the crime of who murdered Bruce’s parents, but right now the large focus on her is baffling. She’s seen climbing tombstones at the funeral for Bruce’s parents, and even climbs his stone gate to look in on Bruce’s mansion. For what reasons and why has yet to be explained, but right now it’s just an immensely goofy means of injecting familiar imagery in to a show that (for now) is more crime series than superhero show. I still say that if the series lasts long enough, I give it to season three until we meet a precursor vigilante reminiscent of Batman.
In either case, by the second half of the pilot, “Gotham” seems to have great potential. And when it’s not nodding to the fans with a lot of Easter Eggs, it can be a decent crime thriller about a young detective working an uphill battle to end corruption in Gotham. The corruption is so bad, he can’t even trust his partner. The familiar players for Batman’s world are intricately placed, sometimes with sly motive, and other times goofy coincidence. One of the main suspects of the murder of Bruce’s parents is a man whose daughter Ivy dotes over her plants almost obsessively. But then there are some neat introductions, including CSI investigator Edward Nygma who’s not only brilliant, but gets a real kick out of speaking in cryptic metaphors.
One minute we’re watching the “Harley” dancers at villainess Fish Mooney’s club, and then we’re watching Jon Beavers (of “Fresh Beat Band” fame, no less) portray a nameless stand up comedian struggling to deliver punch lines during a club audition. One of the more interesting sources of friction introduced is a love triangle between Jim Gordon, his future wife Barbara, and Lieutenant Montoya who hints that she had an affair (or relationship) with Barbara before she met Jim. This definitely introduces the idea of motives behind the rivalry between Montoya’s unit and Gordon’s unit, and how they will be working against one another to solve crimes. Montoya preaches about Gordon being corrupt and a possible criminal, and yet seems intent on revealing him to be a thug, out of spite for romancing one of her past lovers. One she’s likely not over.
So far Robin Taylor and Ben McKenzie are the stand outs in the large cast, successfully injecting the neo-noir pulp atmosphere that the show desperately needs, by playing two characters on opposite sides of the coin. Gordon is a man who will constantly struggle to maintain his soul, while Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot, (given his signature waddle in the finale thanks to a vicious beating) is more than willing to submit to his lust for violence, as he begins rising to the ranks as crime boss the Penguin. “Gotham” has a lot of room for improvement. If it spends more time on the crime and Gordon’s rise, and less on the adventures of Prepubescent Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, it might just be a decent revisionist tale of the Dark Knight. I’ll give it three more episodes before I decide to stick with it or move on to something with promise.