Gotham (Series Premiere) Review

The mythology of Batman is so large at this point that to come at it with a new idea is almost impossible. Gotham isn't entirely original, but it does at least give us a perspective on the madcap world of The Caped Crusader that isn't usually given a lot of thought in comics, films or other storytelling mediums. It tells of a time before Batman, what was Gotham? What was the city and the people that lived in it like?

Well, as this episode shows, there was a good cop in the times before Batarangs and Anti-Shark Repellent named James Gordon. Ben McKenzie gets the honors of playing Gordon here, who is the audience surrogate in the introduction to all of the notable citizens of Gotham. McKenzie does alright in the role, though frankly much of why I like him is more in the writing than the performance. I love the idea of a good man standing in the midst of a corrupt city, working his hardest to clean it up.

I wish the way McKenzie played the part had some more nuance to match the script (sometimes in the episode he feels like one red uniform away from just being Dudley Do-Right), but he's otherwise fine. Gordon gets a buddy-cop dynamic courtesy of Harvey Bullock, played by Donal Logue who for some reason always seemed to have a hint of Woody Harrelson in his voice. Bullock actually gets very interesting as the episode progresses, and I hope that's a continuing trend for the rest of the season since there's some fascinating places they could take this guy. 

Prior to this episode, producers of the show were gloating about all the Batman villains they would incorporate into the show, even the likes of Mr. Freeze apparently will be getting a chance in the spotlight here. I like the idea in theory, but if this episode is any indication, it could be a hit-or-miss affair. Robin Taylor playing Oswald Cobblepot (who will become The Penguin) is an interesting enough character, combining tragedy and sociopath in all of his scenes, but other cameos from people like Selina Kyle and Edward Nigma feel gratuitous, not interesting. Stick with Fish Mooney in terms of bad guys for now guys, Jada Pinkett-Smith plays her well and she's actually pretty fun to watch.

I gotta applaud the shows visuals, which are just beautiful to look at. The set designs are great, really giving the impression of not only wear and tear but also scale. Plus, hey, wouldn't ya know it, they took a cue from fellow DC Comics TV show Arrow and made the action clear to watch and interesting! Actually, that's not a bad word for the show at this point: interesting. It's not perfect, but the potential is there for greatness and I have a hunch they can achieve that in due time.