Gotham?

[brit]

So how many people on here are watching the FOX TV show Gotham?
It's one of my all-time favorites so far. I've been watching it on Monday's since season 1.
Season 1 Trailer

[Ardent Fox]

Really not a fan of the way they've been doing things.

[MaroonChan]

I haven't watched it really. Just bits here and there. Not enough to know what's happening. It seems like it would be cool though.

[brit]

The first episode of season one bored me. It wasn't till watching the second episode that I got hooked. I mostly watch to see what villian they bring in. :3

[Kaiya-Sky]

I just finished watching the first season, and personally I love the show, they did a great job with Gordon's character, and I love Enigma, also the actor who plays penguin is amazing at his role. The only thing I don't like is what they did to Barbra. I would defiantly recommend it to any Batman/DC fan, of course like any version of something they put there own twist on the characters and for the most part, I like their version of it.

[Ardent Fox]

Warning: Rage ahead.

So my old roommate decided to force me to watch the first season. It was to the point he'd hound me about the next episode being out and downloading it so we could watch it. These were dark days. I knew Gotham and I were going to have a problem when the guy playing Nigma was ten seconds away from doing a song and dance about being the Riddler and Gordon almost looked at the camera to give a surreptitious wink when he met Poison Ivy. The first episode really did not do much for me besides cement the fact that Donald Louge's Bullock is completely wasted on this show and that none of the writers actually know what nuance or character building actually is. I just imagine the writers room being all like:



Let's talk about an episode, shall we? One that made me sink into the chair slowly. It was the "Balloon Man" episode. I believe it was the third episode. I could check IMDB, but my mouse is all the way over there. In this episode, there is a man who is quite cross at many of Gotham's officials and decides to send them soaring into the air with balloons. Now, at first I gave this a pass. Seriously, if Gotham's villains can include Crazy Quilt then it can include some sort of psycho with a bunch of weather balloons. Now, I was sitting there, watching the episode, groaning and crying until the moment that broke me.

Gotham's finest have taken in, who Bullock considers, to be someone of lesser intelligence. He's a numpty, an idiot, someone who rolled so low in their intelligence they're just above sentience. They drag him into the interrogation room and start, well, interrogating. After a heated few moments in there, this lowly scum of villainy decides to remind two fully functioning and grown adults that balloons eventually come back down after being in the air for so long. They look genuinely surprised.



A few episodes or so later comes a story about Viper, which is like Venom but it makes you crave milk because calcium is...draining out of your...body? THAT'S NOT HOW YOU BODY, GOTHAM! There aren't flocks of oseoperosis sufferers in the middle of the night banging down shop doors because they need their milk fix like their shrivled vampires! This makes absolutely no sense. A few episodes later when we believe we might be treated to a great episode with Logue going all noir detective on us, it turns goes stupid thanks to some spirit of the goat. There was another episode that when it came back from the station break, I literally cried out "Oh Jesus, it's the same episode" as though I'd fallen through time and space. The main plot was so boring I had forgotten all about it.

It does so much wrong. Everyone in it just looks boring. Even in Season 2 where things are going crazy, I cannot get excited. They've given the Mooney character way too much screen time, they misused Jeffery Combs and every character just does not feel right. I can accept new things in comic franchises. I can accept things being done differently. Honestly, the MCU has been doing things differently, but it's been treated with respect. It's all been done in service of the story. Everything in Gotham that's been done to change it does not feel that way. Look at the Animated Series. It's timeless, respects the lore and the characters and even has some touching moments in which characters have arcs. Gotham is everything that's wrong with DC right now. Gritty for the sake of gritty and trying way too hard.

I wanted to like it. I honestly did. But I wanted to like it because they could do some small things to it to make it good. It could be more like Gotham Central (If you've read that, you're awesome) in which Jim is just trying to get through every day life. There can be a Nigma working in the police department, but make it his dad who complains about his son doing poorly in school because he's wasting time trying to outsmart everyone. You can do Victor Zsasz, but have him be an entire arc over a season instead of vomiting future Batman villains all over us. In fact, don't introduce them at all. Let Jim have to handle a few murderers here and there and let him be the focus instead of Bruce Wayne discovering that cave in his home.

I could go on, but I honestly don't. At this point I'd be here all day talking about everything wrong with the show. Maybe I'll go back through Season 1 and go more in depth if anyone would like to see that. Like an episode by episode review or something. If you're interested in my opinion, that is.

At the end of the day, I give this show a Long Halloween out of 10.

[Kizyr]

...it sounds a lot like the chief problem is too many villains, not enough time (sort of like why Spiderman 3 was so awful, and most subsequent superhero movies have been going downhill)? Or, is it the villains that are in the plot just end up turning the story into something absurd?

I haven't watched any of Gotham (generally, I'm just not interested in superhero shows anymore, doubly so if they're meant to tie into a movie -- Jessica Jones may be the only exception right now). So I can't say what the originator of problems here. But that sounds like what it could be based on most complaints I've heard lately.

BTW, it's possible to have more villains in a TV show, since you have more screen time and can devote entire episode(s) to only one person's arc. It just... needs to be done well, and with the propensity now for people to binge-watch, you can have someone's arc stretch across multiple episodes more easily, so that should be taken advantage of. KF

[Ardent Fox]

I haven't watched any of Gotham (generally, I'm just not interested in superhero shows anymore, doubly so if they're meant to tie into a movie -- Jessica Jones may be the only exception right now). So I can't say what the originator of problems here. But that sounds like what it could be based on most complaints I've heard lately.

Daredevil is super amazing, by the way. There's an episode that looks like it's basically a big homage to Oldboy which is phenomenal. Also, the originator of the problems here is the writers not seeming to understand the source material and overall mishandling it.

[ShugoHanasaki]

Looking forward to next season!

[brit]

Looking forward to next season!

Me too I can’t wait to see how they handle it this coming season! >D The finale was just absolutely amazing! *no spoilers*

[ShugoHanasaki]

I can't wait until new episodes return in a few months ^_^ What a way to leave things ^.~