Gotham does just what it comic book counterpart does; it makes you wonder why anyone lives there. Seriously, what a dump. I do not know about you, but I would be hightailing it to some where less horrible — like anywhere. Even Star City. Yikes.
The dark feel is, of course, the whole point of the show. We are supposed to see how Bruce’s madness truly takes hold. How could he grow up any different? He is surrounded by villains. His whole life hinges on tragedy. The juxtaposition to that is the person who is truly Gotham’s white knight, James Gordon. It is hard not to like him in the comics and it is certainly impossible not to like him in this show. Gordon is everything we want to be. Sure, he walks a line, but he has to. He makes compromises, because he wants what is best for the most people.
The thing about this show is that, much like Smallville before it, familiar characters are given origins that are not “true” to their counterparts in the comics. Sure, that can be disconcerting for the hardcore nerds, but remember: Harley Quinn was created for Batman: The Animated Series and Diggle was created for Arrow. Sometimes, fans need to understand that in the 70+ years of the Caped Crusader, origins have changed. Costumes have changed. Hell, entire timelines have been removed.
As stated earlier, Gotham is a dump. By the time Bruce dons the tights, things are out of control. This show aims to show the viewer why. Consider this: an entire world war started because one man and his wife were shot while crossing the borders of two countries. Have you stopped to consider that Thomas and Martha Wayne might just be Franz Ferdinand and Sophie? They were billionaires sure, but they were good and decent people. Their deaths are not just the catalyst for Bruce, but for a city that is on the verge of exploding anyway. If the most influential people in town can get gunned down on the street, why not do whatever you want?
Gotham is not going to be for everyone. There are a lot of characters. The plot is complex. That is the reason it is a TV show instead of a movie. Each season yields 22 hours to let stories play out. If done well, that is rarely a bad thing.
With 22 new hours to view on the horizon, we must think about what lies in store for the white knight and his band of misfits.
What we know so far is that Bruce will finally get some gadgets. It will be really interesting to see him try those things out. Remember, in the comic, he goes out into the night in a ski-mask and gets his butt kicked. Let’s hope for that here. It should be good watching.
We also know that there will be even more villains. Mad Hatter will be hammering his way into down along with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and Solomon Grundy. Holy Crap! Jim Gordon battling Solomon Grundy? That could be messy.  Just to make it more interesting, Poison Ivy will be all grown up (mostly).
Oh yeah, in case all of that wasn’t enough…I have four words for you:
The Court of Owls!
Wow. That is pretty bold. The risk is, of course, that this show already has too much going on, but since the Court of the Owls are a secret society who use blue bloods of Gotham to secretly run things, there is a good chance we will get to see some hardcore villain-on-villain action. One can not imagine the Court looks kindly on Dr. Strange, Mr. Freeze, Fish Mooney or any other psychopath trying to take over the town they own. If Talon is as formidable in the show as he is in the comics, look out Gotham — things are going to get even more bumpy.
Check out this playlist chock full of goodies of Season 3, episode 1 “It’s a Mad, Mad City.” Gotham returns to FOX Mondays on September 19 at 8pm EST.
