The first episode of “Gotham” is now in the books. What have we learned?
Well, I think we’ve learned that the “Gotham” creative team is lucky that they got a series order before the pilot was filmed. I realize that this was only the first episode, and that most pilots are garbage (David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman anyone?). That said, “Gotham” has some very distressing problems that will need to be dealt with if the show is going to succeed. So, without further ado, here are my ideas on 10 Red Flags That “Gotham” Needs To Deal With.
I want this show to work, but if it continues down the road of the pilot, then Fox will end Gotham faster than The Joker ever could.
10 Red Flags That Gotham Needs To Avoid
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10. Too Much Connectivity
In the opening scene of "Gotham," Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered and a young Selina Kyle witnessed it from the shadows. Later, when James Gordon and Harvey Bullock think they have found the Wayne’s killer, it turns out to be the father of Poison Ivy.
I’m all for re-envisioning the characters that make up "Gotham," but the writers needs to be wary of connecting too many dots. What makes Gotham City so memorable is the random insanity. If the show becomes too preoccupied with making sure everybody knows everybody, the overall character of the city itself will suffer.
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9. Saint James Gordon
After the pilot episode, I’m hoping that Benjamin McKenzie can tone down his do-gooder shtick. James Gordon is a good man, but he’s flawed, and his passion for justice sometimes goes overboard.
That needs to be reflected in Gordon's character on the show. The pilot felt as if the writers were looking to show a squeaky clean Gordon, in order that his character become more jaded as the show goes on, which is fine.
The red flag here is Gordon’s over-reaching promise to Bruce Wayne, and his sudden decision to take on the GCPD. Gordon wasn’t that type of guy, so this comes across as a cop cliché. In the comics, Gordon worked within a corrupt system to protect the innocent.
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8. Waiting Around For Batman
One of the big problems that "Gotham" is facing is keeping the audience’s attention. I refer to this as the “Batman Issue”, in that they don’t want people saying, “This would be so much better if Batman was actually in it”.
The pilot was entirely too Bruce Wayne heavy, which does nothing but remind us that Batman isn’t here and won’t be here. The writers need to position the show as a gripping crime series, and allow Bruce Wayne to pop up momentarily to goose the audience with a bit of the bat.
"Gotham" needs more focus on the city of Gotham and the people. We need to love the city as a character, not as a backdrop.
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7. Bruce Wayne Training Himself To Be Batman
One thing that the Batman comics always had going for them was the vague mystery of Bruce Wayne’s youth. We as fans never questioned this; we just accepted that Bruce Wayne saw his parents murdered and then one day left for Europe to become a badass.
Watching "Gotham," I can understand why. In the show, Bruce is walking out on ledges, holding his hand over open flames, and generally trying to injure himself under the guise of “conquering fear”. The show needs to dance around this very carefully.
Bruce Wayne is a child under a media microscope, especially once his family has been killed. If he becomes too eccentric he’ll be locked up, and the Batman mythos ends before it begins. It ties in with my idea that "Gotham" needs to not be about Bruce Wayne.
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6. Gordon’s Promise To Bruce Wayne
Bruce Wayne should not like cops. James Gordon should have never promised to find the man who killed Bruce’s parents, much less showed up at Wayne Manor spouting off about a crooked police department and a frame job.
Bruce Wayne should be waiting around frustrated that nothing is being done by the cops and become distrustful of them. He should realize that sometimes justice does not come from the law. If he doesn’t learn that, then why would he become Batman and not just a really great cop like James Gordon?
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5. Fish Mooney
Kill her off quickly! Fish Mooney is a terrible character played horribly by Jada Pinkett Smith. It’s like watching every lame cliché of a “gangster” crushed into one failed performance.
If the writer’s are not going to kill of Fish, then they should at least re-cast her.
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4. Overacting
This brings me to another red flag. Overacting. Everyone on the show is guilty of it and that made the pilot hard to watch. Benjamin McKenzie (Gordon) was being too overly heroic. Donal Logue (Bullock) was cracking way too many jokes. Everything Jada Pinkett Smith does on camera. And Corey Michael Smith (Edward Nigma) was trying too hard to be nutty.
The only character that ramped it up and made it work was Robin Lord Taylor as the Penguin. Seriously "Gotham," get your characters under control before it becomes too much like Community Theater to bare.
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3. Dragging Out The Mystery of Who Shot The Waynes
Seriously? Really? Seventy-five years of cannon and the "Gotham" creative team decides to turn the death of the Wayne Family into some kind of conspiracy?
That kind of crushes the entire point of The Dark Knight. A random street thug destroyed his life and so he descends over the innocent to protect them from the scum of Gotham. If this Wayne murder conspiracy theory plays out, then Batman would be going after high-end criminals only, or he’d just become a lawyer.
Some might say that Christopher Nolan did this in Batman Begins, but remember, The League Of Shadows attempted to destroy Gotham City through economic decline and the Wayne murder, which was still random, galvanized the city. Turning this into some grand story-arc plays against the source material in a bad way.
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2. Villain Overload
"Gotham" the TV show, will only succeed if it establishes Gotham the city. Relying too much on villains fans know and love, will only lead to the aforementioned “Where’s Batman?” idea.
Gotham needs to be a show about one good cop in a dark city trying to take out the criminal element as best he can. It should be a surreal "Law And Order: Criminal Intent."
This show should be focused on Gotham as a city, not all of the cool ways that it can introduce established bad guys. There should be a wide variety of villains that Batman never deals with because Gordon did it long before he came into the picture. It would work to establish the show and Gordon.
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1. Indecision
At the end of the day, if "Gotham" is to truly succeed, it needs to know what it wants to be. Is it a Dark noir crime drama about a brutal city? Or is it comic book show?
it can’t be both.
Either Gordon is the focus and crime is the drama, or the origin stories of the villains and Batman eventual rise are the focus.. There is no either or here.
The creative team behind "Gotham" needs to figure this out ASAP and start pushing the show in that direction. The pilot episode seemed to switch between two things, ending up with a show that never entirely clicked.
