TV Series: Gotham S01 (2014-2015) – Not bad for a Bruce Wayne backstory

Although it felt incredibly long and slightly unhinged at points, overall Gotham was a pretty solid show in the superhero genre. I will admit to a bit of frustration in that Bruce Wayne is too young to be Batman and so the focus shifts to Inspector Gordon and the up-and-coming Gotham badguys: Penguin, Nygma, Fish, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy to name a few. However, the super powers and such as pretty much on the down-low, this show is more of  a cops and robbers / bad-guy-a-week episodic adventure but with the underpinning and interwoven arcs of various characters in the Batman universe. It does produce a believable grit to this downtrodden and crime-ridden Gotham and the pathos does seep into most of the characters despite the hopeful optimism of Gordon. His love interest is the incredibly beautiful Morena Baccarin (soon to be in the Deadpool feature as well since her Homeland career is apparently finished) and she is painted in a complex and interesting light as well. It was satisfying to see Harvey Bullock (expertly played by Donal Logue) come around from the run of the mill corrupt Gotham cop to having Gordon’s back. I am not sure the whole Fish storyline was completely necessary at points but I guess it served to have the two Italian mafioso bosses face off and annihilate each other to the Penguin’s advantage. Oops, that was a spolier albeit a predictable one. That’s why I rate this lower than Daredevil. OK, it was network TV but still, they did not take as many risks as say Hannibal and they kept may common tropes in the character arcs. But still overall it was good entertainment.