It took 27 episodes to finally break me, but two weeks ago I finally decided that Gotham was a waste of my time. I could probably list a couple dozen times that I should have called it quits, but the fifth episode of the second season, “Scarification,” contained a scene that was the last straw.
The first 1:30 of this video contains one of the stupidest things ever filmed for a crime drama:
https://youtu.be/peH3dF4pRhs
That was a criminal supermarket called The Merc. That’s right, Gotham City contains a massive store full of guns, bombs, acid (you’ll notice the jar was clearly labeled as such), and even a public address system letting Gotham’s scumbags and lowlifes know the latest deals going on at The Merc. And how did the GCPD find out about this Walmart of destruction? They knew about it, but finally decided raiding it might help the case they were working on that week. Great job, guys.
Gotham is a dark, campy, nonsensical, and ultra-violent piece of junk. It seems to be a lackluster attempt to mix the Batman universes of the 1960’s television show, Frank Miller’s comic books, and Tim Burton’s movies, but instead ended up as a ridiculous B-movie, so unwatchable that it doesn’t even make you laugh.
My expectations may have been a little too high when I first heard about Gotham. I was a fan of Southland, so the inclusion of Ben McKenzie as Jim Gordon seemed like a good fit, and Donal Logue, who portrays Harvey Bullock, has been one of my favorite actors since his turn as MTV’s Jimmy the Cab Driver in the 1990’s. While both have their moments, McKenzie’s Gordon is full of so much valor while still being slightly crooked that it makes you cringe, and Logue’s Bullock spends most of his time on-screen telling Gordon he’s trying too hard being a detective in a city completely full of crime.
I am also a huge fan of the DC Comics series Gotham Central created by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark. This fan favorite from about 10 years ago focuses on the GCPD, and their continuing issues working in a city full of superheroes and villains. Obviously, with the shift in time to an origin story for pretty much everyone in the Batman universe, the storylines in Gotham Central wouldn’t really have worked, but it could have been a nice guide for the producers. Based on what I’ve seen over the past year, it’s doubtful the showrunners for Gotham even know Gotham Central exists.
This is a show where not one, but two people have lost eyes, multiple others have had appendages cut off, a few were thrown off buildings, and that still doesn’t include the explosions, cheerleader bus fires, poisoned cannolis, and decapitations. I’m not squeamish, but the violence doesn’t make sense; it’s violence for the sake of being violent.
Outside of the violence, Gotham also contains so many characters that don’t seem to be fully realized, or have been forgotten entirely. Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, two detectives who could actually help Gordon on his quest to rid the GCPD of corruption, have apparently moved out of Gotham because they haven’t appeared since the middle of last season. Which seems kind of weird until you realize the mayor of Gotham City (Richard Kind) was kidnapped in the season two premiere, and no one seems to be looking for him. Seriously, it never gets brought up. I’m starting to think if the writers don’t know what to do with a character, they just continue leaving them out of scripts.
Last season, Gotham also contained one of the most unlikable characters on television, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards). Kean begins the first season as Gordon’s fiancee, and ends it in Arkham Asylum for killing her parents. Her journey to Arkham takes her on a mind-bending journey that involves drugs, an ex-flame, letting some kids live at her place so she can give them fashion tips, and a ton of longing looks out the window of her posh apartment that may be in a clock tower. The writers didn’t seem to know what to do with this character, so they made her insane, which is pretty much what they are doing with every character on Gotham.
For season two, the writers decided to ruin one of the few likable characters on the entire show, Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee). Through the first five episodes of this season we have seen Alfred destroy Thomas Wayne’s computer in front of Bruce for fear of what they might find on it, slap a tween Selina Kyle (yes, she killed his friend, but that guy stabbed Alfred!), hit on Gordon’s girlfriend Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) while telling Bruce to go fetch them a drink, and have a conversation with Lucius Fox (Chris Chalk) where he calls Fox a “young sausage.” Somewhere in this, we’re supposed to believe that Alfred will keep Bruce safe and also help him become Batman.
I will give the show credit for realizing that the season one “villain of the week” plan was faulty, and making adjustments in season two with an overarching storyline involving Theo Galavan (James Frain) which will lead to the Court of Owls, a recent addition to the Batman universe in the comic books. This change hasn’t helped ratings, which continue to drop, or uneven critical reactions which continue to be slightly positive from television critics, and mostly mixed from sites like io9 and The AV Club. While that change needed to be made, it wasn’t enough to pique my interest and look past the continued poor execution throughout by the creative team at Gotham.
Gotham will be adding the characters Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong) and Victor Fries (Nathan Darrow) at some point this season, but the show appears to be sinking. With better superhero shows on network television (The Flash, Agents of SHIELD), a better superhero show on Netflix that’s also dark and violent in Daredevil, and dwindling ratings, Gotham could be headed for cancellation.
Last week, I decided to read some issues of Kurt Busiek’s Astro City instead of watching Gotham, and this week I am writing this good-bye post to the show. Maybe next week, I’ll read a book, watch the new Aziz Ansari show on Netflix, or listen to music. Something, anything to help me forget that I wasted 27 hours with Gotham.
