Gotham Season:01

Posted on by Bubbawheat

It feels like it’s been an exhausting first season for Gotham. It’s had its ups and downs for sure and from moment to moments I’m still not entirely sure where I fall on the season as a whole. It’s not Batman, but it throws in Batman references in spades. It’s not a police procedural, but there’s plenty of one-off cases for Bullock and Gordon to solve. It’s not a crime drama, but there’s intricate gang politics between four sub-factions plus the police. It’s dark and gritty, but there’s plenty of characters that are so over the top that it becomes full on camp. One episode has me thinking… well you get the picture. It has some great actors pulling out some great performances, and tosses in some gorgeous visuals, but if the show continues on this path I don’t see it continuing into a season three.
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Gotham S:01 E:22

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: All Happy Families Are Alike
Original Airdate: 5-4-15

We finally made it to the end of the first season of Gotham, and boy has it been a doozy. For all of its flaws and questionable choices, it is always entertaining and this week is no different. We have the return of Fish Mooney, the creation and practically the resolution of a city wide gang war which makes the city turn into Gotham: Beyond Thunderdome for some reason. There is plenty here to talk about, and not all of it is good. There were a few surprises including one death that I don’t think anyone anticipated, and another death that we all knew was coming, but enough hemming and hawing, it’s time to get right down to it.
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Gotham S:01 E:21

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Anvil or the Hammer
Original Airdate: 4-27-15

As Gotham gets closer to the season finale it gets busy ramping everyone up to the extreme as some characters move ever closer to the ones that we’re very familiar with in the Batman mythos, while others stray even farther away from the characters that we know and love (or love to hate). And another episode without hide nor hair of Fish Mooney. Not that that’s a bad thing, though I have a sneaking suspicion that she will end up coming back near the very end of the season. And through her actions she will end this gang war that’s started in full force after the events of this episode. We also get to finish up the saga of the Ogre which had a promising start, but a rather odd finish.
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Gotham S:01 E:20

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Under the Knife
Original Airdate: 4-20-15

When we last left our heroes, Gordon was tricked into a case involving a serial killer who goes after the loved ones of any cop who gets too close to solving his crimes, and even when he found this out he continued his investigation into Milo Ventimiglia’s Ogre. We also get a little bit further into the plots of the Penguin, the Bat and the Cat, and the Riddle Man. It’s one of the darker episodes on several fronts and I generally enjoyed it. There’s even the return of Barbara who gets to show a little bit more bite to her character that has been severely lacking in this show from the very beginning. Hopefully she either bites it, or comes into some serious character growth because that has been one of the many missteps this show has taken from the start. And sadly, we don’t get to find out the fate of poor, poor, Fish Mooney who was left with a possibly fatal injury while escaping from the island of Dr. Mor-err-Dollmaker.
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Gotham S:01 E:19

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Beasts of Prey
Original Airdate: 4-13-15

After another brief hiatus, Gotham is back to finish up the season with its last four episodes. And while it once again has some rather eye-rolling moments, I did quite enjoy much of this episode, especially the way it handed some nice parallels with its multiple storylines. It has quite a few things to juggle as it returns, but it doesn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things with Gordon playing boy scout detective and Little Bruce playing plain old boy scout. The biggest point of contention which it often is would be the entire Fish Mooney arc which plays up to ridiculous heights as it appears to be coming to some sort of conclusion. It was also unfortunate that the best part of the episode which involved the serial killer played by Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia was shown through a bit of an odd choice of flashback.
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Gotham S:01 E:18

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Everyone Has a Cobblepot
Original Airdate: 3-2-15

Throughout most of this season I have been complaining about how Gotham never seems to know any subtlety. Any reference it makes it has to hit the nail directly on the head as hard as it can, which is not what I really wanted from this show. Not only that, but it goes so far over the top that it comes all the way around the horn. But if you know that’s what you’re going to get, then you can just run with it and have a good time while it lasts. This episode is one of those times where it just went so far over the top that it came back around again. It’s the much touted about appearance of the Dollmaker, a couple of the worst moments of CGI, and also a moment of questionable morality once again on the head of Jim Gordon. Overall, it was another ridiculous episode, but it had its moments here and there.
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Gotham S:01 E:17

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: Red Hood
Original Airdate: 2-23-15

If my opinion of Gotham was like dating, then we would definitely be in a rollercoaster on-again-off-again relationship. One week it’s great and everything’s clicking, and the next week it feels like I got slapped in the face. But I think I’m starting to take this metaphor a little bit too far. What I’m trying to say is that while last week’s episode was one of the episodes that I liked the least, it turns right around and this week’s episode was one that I liked the most. Where I hated the way that they teased the introduction of the Joker as a little kid, I really loved the way they handled this Red Hood gang that is yet another possible hint at a future early Joker in more ways than one.
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Gotham S:01 E:16

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Blind Fortune Teller
Original Airdate: 2-16-15

It was bound to happen, I had started getting my hopes up about how Gotham had turned a corner and was churning out more episodes than I enjoyed with only minor things that irritated me. But from the very notion that they were going to be introducing the Joker in this episode I had my doubts, and as I watched the episode I knew I was completely right. It wasn’t entirely a hate watch for me, but there was very little throughout the episode that I truly got invested in, and most of that was Dr. Leslie Thompkins who has become my third favorite character on the show next to Alfred and Harvey Bullock. I always thought it was going to be a mistake to introduce so many well known characters in the Gotham universe so soon into the genesis of the show, and I preferred the episodes where they steered away from that. But this episode introduced Robin’s parents as well as a very young and already disturbed Joker in a way that was not very satisfying at all, and honestly felt like the entire episode was all one big joke, which would be fitting considering.
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Gotham S:01 E:15

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Scarecrow
Original Airdate: 2-9-15

After a string of episodes that I’ve really enjoyed, this episode goes right back down into more territory that I don’t quite find as appealing. While they had some good ideas with Jonathan Crane’s father, they turned it into a very not-subtle and ridiculous origin for Batman’s Scarecrow. Meanwhile Fish Mooney apparently lost that anime battle teased at the end of last week’s episode and is now in a weird prison, though apparently unharmed. There’s also the perils of an office romance, a new club owner, and a traditional hike in the woods that have various moments of their ups and downs.
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Gotham S:01 E:14

Posted on by Bubbawheat

Episode Title: The Fearsome Dr. Crane
Original Airdate: 2-2-15

One of the biggest complaints against Gotham seems to be how it has been taking too many of Batman’s villains lately and having them come into play long before Bruce Wayne even develops an irrational fear of bats. There’s a couple thought processes that go into this criticism. The biggest one against is the theory that it was the appearance of Batman himself that created the more eccentric supervillains of Gotham. If he hadn’t come around with his theatricality then the crime would still be there, but it would continue to be the stereotypical mob and street crime. The other theory is that the most interesting thing about the world of Batman, Gotham City, and Arkham Asylum are the villains and to have this show focusing on the city that beget Batman without using any of the rogues gallery would be a waste and be uninteresting. I find that the show is the best when it walks the fine line between those two sides, but it is a fine line and different for everyone.
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