On TV
By Steve Herte
By Steve Herte
What’s
it like to witness the gunning down of both your parents and suddenly
find you’re the wealthiest orphan in the big city? Ask young Bruce
Wayne (David Mazouz). How do you play two powerful gangster Dons
against each other while trying to take over the night club belonging
to a deadly, power-hungry Harpy? Ask Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord
Taylor). When you’re the most brilliant mind in the entire corrupt
Gotham police department and the only girl you love thinks you’re
creepy, what do you do? Ask Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith). If
you’re a young girl surviving on her instincts in the street and
you’re the only witness to the Wayne murders, where do you go? Ask
Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova). And if you’re the only honest cop
in a lawless town run by mobsters and you have to buck the system
daily just to keep your ideals and perform your duty, how do you
maintain your optimism? Ask Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie).
Gotham is
one of the most innovative, creative and fascinating series ever.
It’s the prequel to end all prequels. Batman is decades in Wayne’s
future. Robin and Batgirl aren’t even born yet. Catwoman is a child
herself, as is “Poison” Ivy Pepper (Clare Foley). The Penguin is
a boot-kissing lackey honing his criminal skills, the Riddler is an
overlooked police department employee and Commissioner Gordon is a
zealous detective trying to clean up his beloved Gotham. There is so
much evil even the sky is never blue. Between Carmine Falcone (John
Doman) and Sal Maroni (David Zayas), the town is carved up into
territories and the mayor and police commissioner are both in their
pockets. Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) is just as ruthless as the
two Dons and thinks it’s her time to take over.
Meanwhile,
back at stately Wayne Manor, faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth (Sean
Pertwee) finds himself a single parent to a young boy obsessed with
solving his parents’ murders.
But
crime never rests in Gotham. An inmate at Arkham Sanitorium escapes
and uses electro-shock treatment to create a blindly loyal henchman
to help him on his evil spree. A member of a support group for people
with phobias starts murdering them one by one using their specific
fears against them. An unknown vigilante kills people he deems as
corrupt by attaching them to weather balloons. Even Gordon’s
partner, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) waivers between his love for
Fish Mooney and what’s left of his righteousness.
Not
only does Gotham hint at really being New York, it
uses New York landmarks and then adds buildings via computer to fool
the savvy viewer. It looks like New York, but it’s not. From moment
one you’re caught up in the dire situation of a big city gone
horribly wrong and line up behind Detective Gordon in his Sisyphean
task of righting it. The woman he loves, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards)
leaves him when he seriously neglects her for the pressures of his
job. When he tries to expose top level misdoings, he gets demoted to
security cop at Arkham Sanitorium where he meets his current
fascination, Doctor Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin). Where this
will go is anyone’s guess.
The
series is totally addictive. The acting is excellent – baddies are
believably nasty and the good are few and far between, but
recognizable. So far there have been 15 different directors and 24
writers creating engaging episodes that make you look forward to the
next Monday evening at 8:00 pm on Fox. I know I do.
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