Gotham (Fox) [** Spoilers **]

ShaneU wrote: »

She called Falcone "Mr.F"

That's a pretty tenuous link; it's just a tic of dialogue, I'd scarecely hang my hat on it being a clue. Though I'm struggling to remember what the girl's name really is: I know she's supposed to be a Trojan Horse, but still.

I imagine if she appears it'll be as a doctor in the re-opened Arkham asylum. More likely an intern, given she'd be younger in this show than in previous appearances.

The show's getting better, and bar the dreadful storyline with Barbara, the plots are beginning to simmer quite nicely - but it's still only ever hitting levels of 'passable' at best.

And the more I've thought of and watched this show, the more I think its creators massively misjudged the shape and direction of its world. I don't mean the tone necessarily, I could just about live with the splashy comicbook styling, but the insistence of DC (and I presume it was pressure from them) to write all the characters at their eventual 'Batman' selves is a hugely missed opportunity to score some easy narrative wins.

For instance, and I think I've said it before, the roles of the two cops really should have been reversed: Bullock being the clean idealist and Gordon the dirty cop; then, similar to the Nolan films charting Gotham's redemption through Bruce Wayne, the TV series could have been about a dirty cop finding redemption through good deeds and slowly fighting the system (for a good example of this, look to Lt. Fusco in Person of Interest; at first the dirtiest of dirty cops, then slowly grows a spine). IMO, that's a far more compelling arc, with better dramatic pay-offs, than this generic, good-guy routine he does, all with absolutely no depth. Oh no, his rich girlfriend has left him. poor Jim. Spare me.


Hell, they shouldn't have killed the Waynes off either; I'm sick of everyone talking of how good and noble they were, how their death triggered something blah blah ... they died within the first 60 seconds of this show: some context to the tragedy would have been nice. Sure, everyone knows the Batman story but it doesn't mean Gotham had to start there. There could have been a dramatic sense of a sword dangling over Thomas Wayne's head as he fought for the city, constantly dodging trouble, only to be cruelly struck down by season's end. Nope, we gotta have the Batman, so kill 'em off.

Oh but hey, look, Harvey Dent's obsessed with betting and likes flipping a coin - what do you think of that Selina, oops, I mean Cat?!!?

I watched the mid-season finale: started off pretty good, and the show works much better when it has a little steam and momentum up its backside, but it all fizzled out by the end. Alfred's ass-kicking made the episode watchable throughout mind you. Hard to decide whether I'll bother coming back for the latter half though, there'd want to considerable improvement in the writing alone to tempt me back. I do wonder how the show is doing though, whether it's considered a 'hit'