Welcome to Gotham: Fox’s New Batman-based Cop Drama

By Mike LaPorte

Marketing/Advertising Director

 

There are plenty of comic adaptations on TV (Smallville, Arrow, Flash, etc.) but few attempt to forge a new path into the comic book unknown. Fox’s new show “Gotham” premiered on September 22, and has attempted to explain what happened to Bruce Wayne and Gotham in the years between his parents’ death and his return as Batman. The show has significantly surpassed expectations since its premier. Gotham focuses on storied police commissioner James Gordon (Ben McKenzie), who at this time is a rookie detective in the Gotham City Police Department. Gordon is morally straight while others in his department are corrupt, and is dedicated to being a good cop. Gordon’s partner, Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), is a seemingly dirty cop who takes advantage of Gotham’s crime networks to solve cases to the extent that Captain Sarah Essen (Zabryna Guevara), their commanding officer, wants them to.

The show opens up with a young woman named Selina Kyle, a young Catwoman (Camren Bicondova), jumping across roofs and into a market in downtown. She pickpockets one person and steals a half gallon of milk for a stray cat she takes care of in an alley. As the cat laps up the milk, we are introduced to a little Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and his parents, Thomas and Martha. Suddenly a masked robber steals their cash and jewelry at gunpoint, then shoots both of Bruce’s parents and leaves the young boy alive. From here the show delves into the unknown as Gordon and Bullock attempt to solve the murder, introducing us to many well known comic book characters before they have gained their infamy.

The show’s suspense and action is incredible as they introduce more and more of the other Batman characters that DC fans already know about. The evolution of the characters into what they will become is one of the best parts of the show. For example, Oswald Cobblepot starts off as a lowly white-collar thug, who hates his pet name, Penguin, and has even killed people over calling him that name. He is known to be merciless and having a ton of potential for success in the crime world, but that potential is being filled as the show moves forward. He does not become a major kingpin in the city as of now, but he is quickly rising through the criminal ranks and is on his way to being the next puppet-master of Gotham.

Gordon also undergoes a metamorphosis from being the idealist rookie, filled with energy and raring to get started, to being much more timid and closed off as the show continues. He starts to come home later than usual, his girlfriend, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards), begins to lose her trust in him, and his morality is even questioned by his dirty-cop partner, Harvey Bullock. Detective Gordon will continue to grow as a character, and while his story may not be as much fun to watch as Cobblepot, Nygma or Maroni, but his character is still incredibly intriguing to watch.

Rotten Tomatoes, a review-aggregation website, has labeled the show as “certified fresh,” scoring over 90% in positive reviews and receiving an average score of 7.3/10. Metacritic has given Gotham an average review score of 71% out of 34 reviews, and IMDb has a score of 8.2/10, coming out of 24,664 votes. The show plays itself out like a movie, with a lot of action, beautiful videography, and great acting. The actors fit into their roles very well, although the choice of Jada Pinkett Smith for Fish Mooney is still an interesting one that continues to resonate in my mind. David Masouz does an excellent job playing the young Bruce Wayne, and while he may not be Batman yet, he is still just as relevant to the story as James Gordon.

Definitely expect “Gotham” to return next season. The show airs Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. on Fox TV. If you miss it on a Monday night and don’t have a DVR, previous episodes can be watched on Fox.com, and also by downloading the Fox Now app for your iPhone, Android, Windows Phone or Xbox. All previously released episodes are also available on Hulu.