Gotham Series Preview: The Hype Is Real. Best New Show Of The Fall Season Starts Tonight
Tonight’s Gotham series premiere is breathtaking.
Generally speaking, the success and failure of a show cannot be simply measured by a single episode. In the case of the Batman prequel, this generalization carries no weight.
The show that tells the story of how a rookie James Gordon rose through the ranks to become Gotham’s Police Commissioner succeeds in every regard.
New Fall programs often live and die by their initial casting choices and Gotham has one of the best ensemble casts on network television today. Led by former O.C. badboy Ben McKenzie as the show’s lead character, every pilot performance is spot-on. Donal Logue (Sons of Anarchy) is brilliant as Gordon’s partner and mentor Detective Harvey Bullock. Logue mixes tough love with a troubling sense of hopelessness and the result is a layered character that is the perfect balance to Gordon’s goody two-shoes nature.
Robin Lord Taylor assumes the role of Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin and is the unquestionable star of the first episode. In addition to his strong physical resemblance to the heralded DC comics villain, Taylor captures the true essence of Batman’s biggest adversary. The pilot immediately offers us insight not only into how Cobblepot morphed into Penguin but also tells us why. If Ben McKenzie is the Walter White of the series, than Taylor is its Gustavo Fring.
The cinematography of Gotham is also on point. The show looks like it was directly ripped from the pages of the best comic never drawn. The picture is dark and rich and really does a nice job at making Gotham seem like the cesspool of crime that it is. The city needs cleaning up, both literally and figuratively and Gordon is just the man to do it.
The premiere doesn’t drag. Like not for a second. From the opening scene where a young Bruce Wayne witnesses the brutal shooting of his parents in front of him (with an adolescent Selena Kyle looking on from above) to a burlesque scene taking place at Fish Mooney’s crime syndicate to Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock being strung up to die… the show immediately takes a hold of you and never lets go.
Many shows are envious of the pre-premiere hype that Gotham has received. Rest assured, it is worth it.
You know those people that said that they wish they had started watching Breaking Bad from the beginning?
Don’t be one of those people for Gotham.
Here’s a clip of the cast talking about the show at the CTV Upfronts from earlier this year.
Gotham premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on FOX and CTV
