By Jess Wind (Cascade Alum) – Email
Print Edition: October 1, 2014
Bringing comic book characters to life on the small screen is anything but a new concept. And with the novelty of television long worn-off, these days Marvel and DC are duking it out for blockbuster ratings rather than TV ratings. Consequently, TV comic dramas seemed to be on the back burner — that was, until Marvel unleashed Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D last year.
But DC isn’t far behind. This new season of television brings us Gotham, the story of young Jim Gordon’s rise through the crooked ranks of Gotham City’s police force. The trailer summed it up — this story comes before the rise of the villains we recognize, and most importantly, it’s before Batman. (Though adolescent Bruce Wayne is shown, arms outstretched, atop his mansion attempting to conquer fear.)
If there is one thing Gotham is not, it’s ground-breaking scriptwriting. Critics (meaning those people dragging the show through the mud on IMDB) complain about cheesy one-liners and stiff delivery. Sure, Gordon stares intensely at a recently orphaned Wayne and assures him there will be light. No one can forget the Ben McKenzie stare from his O.C. days, but if Christian Bale can growl, “I am Batman” without detriment to the film, why can’t Gotham be granted the same leniency? At least let the show stumble through its pilot before writing it off.
And let’s all remember — this is a Fox production. It’s not HBO or AMC; it will never be Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead.
But that’s the point: Gotham never claims to be anything other than what it is. It’s meant to be a prequel, a back-story, a spinoff from the big star’s storyline. And though spinoffs on television don’t always find success (who remembers Joey?), they tend to do well in the comic industry.
Gotham may not be the Emmy-winning script fans were hoping for, but it does look cool. The work has a distinctly comic feel, taking the dark imagery from Nolan’s work and layering it with moments of crisp colour and brightness that Tim Burton would approve of.
The groundwork for origin stories is layered into the introduction of characters. Will we see Ivy’s character develop? When will the Riddler snap? Unlike the way we are led to reimagine Uncle Ben’s killer in Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, Gotham tells the story of its future star villains’ mental degeneration.
And even if you can’t get past McKenzie’s acting, the real gems are the show’s secondary characters. Fish Mooney, played by Jada Pinkett Smith, is poised and slithery at the same time, which is a wonderful juxtaposition to the cowardly, manipulative Oswald (Robin Lord Taylor), whose number-one goal is self-preservation. And Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock reminds us that the lines between villainy and heroism in Gotham are consistently fuzzy.
In its infancy, Gotham never attempts to be anything more than the origin story of the universe’s more loved characters, but it could turn into much more. Considering the increasingly shrinking market of appointment programming, it’s going to have to carve out its own identity if it wants to succeed — but for now we’ll let it stand, cheesy lines and all.
