Review: Gotham City Comes To Life In Fox's New Series 'Gotham'
Robert Tiemstra ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
However, if you managed to wade through that verbose list of reasons for why this show wouldn’t work, here is a surprise for you: The show works. At least for now. The genius of Bruno Heller’s vision for the show is not necessarily in the writing (which goes over several tired old procedural clichés) but in the aesthetics. While early teasers and promotional art may have looked like a generic CSI ripoff, the pilot itself proves far from generic by conjuring a version of Gotham City right out of a Film Noir.
The cast acquits themselves decently throughout the course of this one hour pilot – Standouts come in the form of Robin Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot (a toady later destined to become The Penguin) and Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, a sadistic crime boss created for the series. This character, played with fiendish glee by Smith, would feel right at home in Frank Miller’s gritty comic Batman: Year One (if Frank Miller knew how to write complex female characters, that is). The arc of this episode belongs to Oswald, who manages to survive both the extremely clunky forshadowing and relative lack of screen time to become the most genuinely promising aspect of this series.
And yet, for all their efforts to stay clear of the Batman films, a re-enactment of the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne is necessary. The scene strikes one of only a handful of false notes in this pilot, reminding the viewer of the superior (and much less sterile) sequence in Batman Begins. At the center of this story is a young detective by the name of James Gordon. This character has historically been played by everyone from Gary Oldman to Bryan Cranston, which doesn’t bode well for Ben McKenzie, who adds very little to the character – aside from a sense of innocence and a young face notably devoid of facial hair.
That sentiment sums up the overall quality of the Gotham pilot quite nicely – “Only time will tell.” Only time will tell if the dynamic between Bruce Wayne & James Gordon becomes compelling (and not, say, a piece of fanservice disguised as a character arc), and only time will tell if introducing Batman Villains before the presence of Batman undermines the narrative or not. For now, with its delicious Noir aesthetic and colorful supporting cast, Gotham works.
Gotham airs Mondays 8/9pm.
Overall Grade: B+