Gotham, Episode 1: "Pilot"
I was talking with a friend of mine about "Gotham" yesterday and my friend wasn't sold on another re-telling of the Batman origin story or an origin of the villains that populate the most infamous city in the DC Universe. Is there anything new here for die hard Bat fans? Will this bring something fresh to the Batman mythos? After watching the pilot for the much anticipated FOX show, I can say the answer is tentatively yes. "Gotham" tells a familiar story, but by shifting focus away from Bruce Wayne and onto new cop in town, Detective James Gordon and the shifty characters that he encounters, the show helps turn something old into something new.
We open on a face that is familiar to us. A young Selina Kyle makes her way through a Gotham City outdoor market. She has her signature swagger, but she is still working on her burglary skills. She successfully swipes milk from someone by cutting a hole in a paper grocery bag, but is almost caught when she steals a wallet. I was a little confused with this scene. So, was it just that stealing milk wasn't that a big of a deal? Did the person just think this was an example of kids being kids. That scamp stole my milk. Oh well, I have another half gallon.
We follow Selina into a familiar alley and are introduced to a familiar family. Thomas and Martha Wayne are on their way home from a movie. They are a picture perfect family. Loving. Genuinely enjoying each other's company until they are confronted by a man with a gun. He demands Thomas' wallet who quickly complies. He takes Martha's pearls. He seems to have everything he wants, but he shoots them both anyway. His eyes linger on Bruce, but he leaves the youngest Wayne kneeling between his slaughtered parents, wailing in pain.
The first officers on the scene are new in town Detective James Gordon and his partner, rumpled, seasoned, cynical Harvey Bullock. Gordon is a war hero whose father was a famous Gotham D.A. Bullock initially wants to dump the case, but Gordon quickly bonds with young Bruce, so they are stuck with it.
What follows is a jam packed 50 minutes, that introduces a lot of story threads and a lot of characters. That is one of "Gotham"s biggest strengths and one of it's biggest weaknesses. It seems like every character who was mentioned even tangentially is introduced in the pilot and some of them suffer for it. Did we really need to meet GCPD coroner, Edward Nygma, especially when he comes off as a caricature of the Riddler's worst character traits? It's clear that the writer of the episode didn't trust the audience to pick up on who Nygma was so they felt they needed to make it glaringly obvious. Or young Ivy Pepper, daughter of Mario Pepper, who is framed and then killed for the Wayne's murder? The future Poison Ivy barely speaks, spending most of her scenes over watering the same plant. See! Plants! Poison Ivy! Foreshadowing!
The pilot becomes infinitely more interesting when it focuses on it's most intriguing characters, newcomer Robin Lord Taylor's, Oswald Cobblepot aka Penguin and Jada Pinkett Smith's mob boss, Fish Mooney. Fish is a new character introduced specifically for the series and you can tell that Pinkett-Smith is relishing playing this unhinged femme fatale. Fish can go from charming to sadistic in the blink of an eye, but she is motivated to take over from reigning mob boss, Carmine Falcone. Taylor easily brings to life all the facets of Cobblepot's personality. He is cunning and cowardly. An ambitious bootlicker. The look of sadistic glee that Cobblepot gets on his face when he is offered the chance to beat one of Fish's lackey with a baseball bat is the most chilling moment in the entire premiere. It'll be great watching Fish and Cobblepot maneuver and battle for Gotham's mob once Oswald gets back to Gotham.
The heroes of "Gotham" aren't as strong as the villains. Ben Mckenzie's Gordon is the only light on the show right now. He is forthright and wants to do the right thing. He wants to fight against the corruption that seems to have permeated into every nook and cranny in Gotham. This is all very serious business, but Mckenzie is almost too stoic. He also talks in a gravelly Batman voice, it's like when he was researching the role, he studied Christian Bale rather than Gary Oldman. Logue acquits himself well in the Bullock role. He is acceptable rumpled and "lackadaisical," as Gordon points out in one of the pilot's only lighthearted moments. And you know that Bullock will be on a redemption arc this season, but that's ok.
The other characters aren't nearly fleshed out enough. There are moral and seemingly non-corrupt, Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. Montoya seems to have had some sort of past romantic relationship with Gordon's art dealer girlfriend, Barbara, but again, it's far, far too early for anyone to care about that and they probably could have waited a few episodes to introduce it.
I know a lot of fanboys are probably nerd rage-ing about the tweaks to the Dark Knight's origin, but I'm on board with it. I think making Gordon and Bullock first detectives on the scene and Gordon's final scene admission and promise to young Bruce is a good way to keep him connected without focusing too much on him. It's cool to see the future Batman and future Commissioner's partnership/friendship in it's early, early, early, early stages.
"Gotham" has loads of potential and while the pilot was spinning a lot of plates (not all successfully), it still presented compelling characters and reasons to visit it again next week. I think once it settles into a rhythm of focusing on smaller villains week to week and the larger story of Cobblepot's and Fish's rivalry, this could develop into one of the best shows of the fall, for not just Bat fans, but television fans.
Grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment