And so Gotham finally explodes back onto our screens.
The series 1 recap caught my attention instantly with the recollection of Jerome, the character who fans believe will turn into The Joker. The show continued to confirm this theory with him constantly smiling while conversing with the now institutionalised Barbara. Seeing as this series has been called ‘The Rise of The Villains’ it wouldn’t surprise me if he says various famous Joker quotes throughout leading up to one bad day…
This series takes place exactly one month after the end of S1 and much has changed, Gordon is now a traffic cop after being demoted by Loeb in an attempt to make him quit. Bullock actually did quit and is now a sober bartender (I know, bit of an oxymoron but whatcha gonna do). Penguin is the undisputed king of Gotham however many don’t respect or recognise him as such still citing Falcone as the true leader, Selina is basically his pet and was there for about 10 seconds (can the show shut up about the fact that she becomes Catwoman, it’s getting really annoying when characters turn up for no reason and go ‘huh, it’s like having a cat around the house’ ha freakin’ ha.).
However, we took a massive step in the direction of Bruce (SPOILER WARNING).
After blowing up the door at the bottom of the staircase found at the end of S1 Bruce and Alfred discover a letter in a secret room written by Thomas Wayne telling Bruce to either choose a happy clueless life or to be burdened with the truth but only do so ‘if you feel a true calling’. There are only so many Gotham stories before the arrival of Batman so Gotham S3/4 could turn into the Batman version of Smallville and I think we as fans would be fine with that.
New characters:
The Riddler: Okay, technically not a new character as Nygma was there last season but The Riddler made his first appearance as Nygma talks to him in the mirror. I like the Jekyll and Hyde aspect they could explore and Cory Michael Smith’s hyper-intelligence will most likely draw the Sherlock crowd in (those who weren’t already).
Theo and Tabitha Galavan: These two are being trailed as this season’s big bad and from the looks of it there arc will go something like this. Start strong, builds team of villians, villians terrorise city, Gordon stops one of them, Joker/Barbara takes control by killing both in finale.
Gotham has the potential to be the definitive superhero TV show and the villains play a vital role in the Batman mythology. Gotham has shown it’s chops in visual style, we can all agree it was beautifully psychotic at times, and storytelling with serial killers and minor supers. Now it’s time to prove itself and become the TV show Gotham deserves and the one it needs right now.
