WHAT GOTHAM IS DOING RIGHT - FROM A BATMAN FAN'S PERSPECTIVE

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Batman fan. Whether you can tell from my Batman tattoo, the Batman T shirt I'm probably wearing, or listening to me when I quote Batman lines when I think no one is listening, Batman has always been a big part of my life. I've stated this many times during this blog so this is obviously not news. My personal opinion of Batman was formed when I was a little kid, scared to death of Michael Keaton saying "I'm Batman!" Since then, I've absorbed almost any and all Bat related items I could get my hands on in my 29 years on this planet.

So there's Gotham. Like Smallville before it, Gotham chooses to be the origin of the Dark Knight, his enemies, his allies, and everyone in between. Smallville was a very different beast though. It was able to be a "coming of age" story for a young man learning his place in the world. The show was able to have a slow burn of Clark's powers, his understanding of where he came from, his enemies, his allies, his disguise, and ultimately, his destiny. A show like that simply wouldn't fly anymore (pun intended). Audiences are spoiled with binge watching, spoilers, and so called "shared universes." It's important nowadays that the stories get to the point and kick ass along the way. If there's going to be a slow burn of something, it better damn well be worth it.

How does Gotham fit in? Well . . . it's a little bit of both. There is the slow burn of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. But then again, it seems like a good portion of Batman's rogues gallery is already starting to become well established in Gotham City. Wait . . . what? Yepp. We've seen the Penguin, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, Firefly, among a few others. In the first season, the mantra seemed to be that they would hint at these different people and how they all had darkness inside them. In season 2, it was pretty much all bets are off. If there's a villain that will fit into our show somehow then let's do it! Surprisingly, it worked. And it worked really well.

Before season 2 premiered, I argued that there were certain characters I didn't want to see during Gotham's run. Post-season 2, and given how much I truly loved some of the new wrinkles that they added to the Batman mythos I'm willing to change my tune a little bit. Seeing as how the Joker's mythology and mystery is still (for now) somewhat preserved, Bruce is slowly but surely learning who killed his parents and his role in the city, Gordon is clearly being corrupted by Gotham, and this all started because the Waynes were murdered is really, really great. I mean . . . That's a Batman story!

True we're getting vastly different versions of certain characters like Matches Malone, Poison Ivy, Firefly, and even, arguably the Penguin, but these new versions still maintain the spirit of the original characters. In the Penguin's case, he is much more fleshed out then he ever has been in the comic books. Edward Nygma is another character that has been fleshed out much more in this series and, in my opinion, has become a much more rich and exciting character then he has been in years. In addition, Nathan Darrow gave us a Mr. Freeze to help us forget the awful Mr. Freeze from the live action film series.

There he is . . . 

A lot of comic book writers that have worked on Batman over the past almost 80 years will tell you that the villains are arguably much more interesting than Batman himself. They each have some sort of quirky personality, a goal that they are trying to reach, and an unwavering determination to accomplish their goals. In a strange way, they are probably more relatable than Bruce Wayne. That's hard to deny, isn't it? We all would like to think that when the going gets tough we would stand strong like Batman and fight back. However, as much as we would like to deny it, it's kind of fun giving into the dark side of our personalities once in a while. On Gotham, it hasn't taken much for these characters to become the villains. Like the man said, "All it takes is one bad day . . . "

Personally, I can't wait to see what they do with season 3. I was impressed with season 1 but 2 absolutely blew me away. While it's kind of strange seeing some of these villains rise up without a Batman to stop them, it still works. I like the idea that the story is reversed - instead of Batman inspiring all these freaks and weirdos it seems like they will end up inspiring him to take drastic measures to fight crime in Gotham City. Or maybe they will surprise us and Batman will show up sooner than expected . . .

Till Next Time!



JJ - the Comic Junkie!