Gotham - Season 1

[Guy Gardener]

"I like it when people thank me for making them watch The Wire as if I helped make the show."

Okay, a limping, shuffling cripple just snuck away into the shadows and Gordon goes "Where is he? Where is he?"

Jim Gordon and Lois Lane's babies would be morons.

 

[Christopher]

Pretty good showing tonight. Some pretty violent deaths for the time slot....

I actually found the graphic gore rather inappropriate. Presumably both the time slot and the subject matter, not to mention the inclusion of young Bruce and young Selina as main characters, means there will be children watching. But the gore here was R-rated stuff, or would've been a decade or two ago. I did not enjoy seeing that and I don't think it was necessary for the story.

I found Barbara inconsistently written. Last week she was all "I trust you no matter what," which was refreshing because they didn't go for the lazy cliche of lovers mistrusting each other, but here they went right for that lazy cliche.

And have they wrapped up the "looming gang war" plotline already, just four weeks in?

 

[Icemizer]

^All the graphic deaths and then the three poisenings off screen at the end, kind of an odd choice. Would have been better to solidify Penguins psycho nature to have shown him sitting there smiling as the men coughed and sputtered to death.

 

[eyeresist]

^ I don't know if Cobblepot takes pleasure in killing. It seems to be something he does without thought as a means to an end.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Ozzie does not feel traditionally.

Instead, he eats.

He eats his feelings away.

He eats his weight in murder.

Good lord, he's a sineater!

 

[Borgminister]

For a show that's mostly style and little substance, it isn't bad: Good production values, handsome cast, and decent directing. Not sure that can carry it for 22 episodes though...

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Presumably both the time slot and the subject matter, not to mention the inclusion of young Bruce and young Selina as main characters, means there will be children watching.

Are kids really into Jim Gordon and police procedurals? I have a hard time thinking kids would be watching this show because of the Batman angle.

 

[eyeresist]

^ If I was a kid I would want to watch this, though I'd probably find the gangster angle boring. Don't know how I'd feel about the violence. I imagine today's kids are hardened against it from an earlier age. But it's not as if there's no violence in other iterations of Batman. Even in the cheesy 50s he was punching people pretty hard. SOCK!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Those guys are probably wishing they'd just taken their guns and left the cannoli.

 

[JoeZhang]

I've watched the first three episodes and there isn't enough here to keep me watching - my answer to 'why don't I give it three seasons' is that I am absolutely backed up with shows that I haven't had got around here to seeing - anything want to convince me I should carrying on using a hour a week to watch this than breaking bad or the sopranos ?

 

[Guy Gardener]

But if you have the dvds and you're still limiting yourself to one hour a week, when it's possible to watch an entire season in one day... There must be other more oblique factors encroaching on the wise time management of your waking hours.

How attached are you to your wife?

 

[Mach5]

The Sopranos, Mad Men, LOST, True Detective, The X-Files, and I could go on.

True Detective was great from the get go.

LOST was never good.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

And have they wrapped up the "looming gang war" plotline already, just four weeks in?

I doubt that. They said that if Falcone loses any part of Arkham, it'll be a sign of weakness. I doubt they're done just yet.

I've watched the first three episodes and there isn't enough here to keep me watching - my answer to 'why don't I give it three seasons' is that I am absolutely backed up with shows that I haven't had got around here to seeing - anything want to convince me I should carrying on using a hour a week to watch this than breaking bad or the sopranos ?

The good news these days is it's always possible to go back to a show after the season if it gets better.

 

[Trek Survivor]

Channel 5 here in the UK just showed the first episode... wasn't too impressed, sorry.

Had a few issues with it, but it seems to suffer from Star Wars Prequel "Small Universe/World syndrome". Little Ivy, little Selina, Penguin etc etc. All these characters were interacting in the same city years previous, then stay in the city (or return) and interact once again as super villains etc.

Whilst I acknowledge that judging on just one episode is a little quick, I don't think this is for me.

 

[Christopher]

^ I don't know if Cobblepot takes pleasure in killing. It seems to be something he does without thought as a means to an end.

In the pilot, he took great sadistic pleasure in beating that guy in the alley, getting so brutal that even his fellow gangsters were shocked. I'd say he takes pleasure in anything that gives him a sense of power over others. He's used to being a subordinate and has learned to be deferential to survive, but he chafes against it and wants to be the one in control. So he relishes the exercise of power, and violence gives him a sense of power.

Are kids really into Jim Gordon and police procedurals? I have a hard time thinking kids would be watching this show because of the Batman angle.

I'm sure a lot of kids would watch anything connected to Batman, although they might have lost interest by now. That's one of the things that's so confused about the show. In some ways it seems to be trying to embrace the broad, colorful stuff that would draw in younger viewers, but in others it's trying to be as adults-only and HBO-ish as it can.

There are some things that kids will want to see no matter how clearly they're promoted as adults-only, and that some parents will let their kids see because they don't bother to check whether they're appropriate. I still remember when I went to see RoboCop 2 in the theater and this mother brought her 3- or 4-year-old son to see this ultraviolent, R-rated movie.

And have they wrapped up the "looming gang war" plotline already, just four weeks in?

I doubt that. They said that if Falcone loses any part of Arkham, it'll be a sign of weakness. I doubt they're done just yet.

With the gang tensions, sure. But Oswald seemed to be saying that the open, bloody war he's been predicting was specifically over Arkham, and that's been resolved. Which suggests we'll be moving into more of a "cold war" phase for the mob storyline.

 

[eyeresist]

^ I don't know if Cobblepot takes pleasure in killing. It seems to be something he does without thought as a means to an end.

In the pilot, he took great sadistic pleasure in beating that guy in the alley, getting so brutal that even his fellow gangsters were shocked. I'd say he takes pleasure in anything that gives him a sense of power over others.

I admit I was making dinner during that part of the show. I had in mind the way he killed the fisherman and the kid in the car, the first kill being both gratuitous and banal (I mean in a good way), and second a matter of retribution (there's a novel title if you want it).

Bear in mind I haven't seen ep 3 yet. I can't imagine how they'd believably tie Ivy into the plot so soon, unless she's orphaned and ends up hanging out with Cat. I'd hope her appearance was just fanbait, and we won't see her again at least till end of season.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I actually found the graphic gore rather inappropriate. Presumably both the time slot and the subject matter, not to mention the inclusion of young Bruce and young Selina as main characters, means there will be children watching. But the gore here was R-rated stuff, or would've been a decade or two ago. I did not enjoy seeing that and I don't think it was necessary for the story.

Your criticism reminds me of the stories of people who took small children to see The Dark Knight, thinking that because it was a Batman film it was appropriate for them. It wasn't, and if the parents had done a modicum of research -- or even read the bloody poster and its MPAA descriptor -- they'd have known that. Gotham is a TV-14 show. I'm not sure it really belongs in an 8 pm slot, but they do have a content announcement before it starts, so audiences can't say they didn't know what they were getting into.

 

[Kelthaz]

For a show that's mostly style and little substance, it isn't bad: Good production values, handsome cast, and decent directing. Not sure that can carry it for 22 episodes though...

Mostly style and little substance. That's the perfect way to describe this show.

I'm greatly enjoying Gotham, but if I were to make an ordered list of my favourite things about the show Bullock's hat would be near the top of the list. That's not an good indicator of quality.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I hope Nolan is watching. He said he couldn't do the Penguin.

"I'd be more excited to have Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film than to have the Penguin. There are certain characters that are easier to mesh with the more real take on Batman we're doing. The Penguin would be tricky."

 

[sojourner]

I thought it was odd that they put Cobblepot in a really nice suit at the beginning of the episode only to have him be given the money to buy a suit later. It actually made me wonder if the episode had been recut. Later scenes made it clear that this wasn't the case.