The Nights Before the Dark Knight
As part of the new fall season, Fox launched the show Gotham. The expectations of the show were pretty low. With the knowledge that the show was about a young Bruce Wayne. Most people I talked to about it all figured it would be about an angsty young rich kid. It looks like we were all wrong. We’re 2 episodes in so far so let’s see what we’ve got.
We were right about one thing. The show starts off with the killing of Thomas and Martha Wayne. While the story includes Bruce, he’s actually not a major part of it. More than anything, it revolves around James Gordon who has recently become a detective. We see him as he learns more about the inner workings of the police force and Gotham in general. He’s the detective on duty for the Wayne’s murder so he has a connection with young Bruce from the start. Gordon is the naive and good hearted member of a very corrupt Gotham police force. Only time will tell where all this will lead.
But James is not the only character known from Batman’s circle.
Harvey Bullock – Harvey is one of the corrupt cops on Gotham’s force. He’s got the bad attitude that he has in the comics. When James becomes a detective, he becomes his new partner, something Harvey is very much not fond of. Harvey tries to pull him to the dark side with the other corrupt cops.
Selina Kyle – The future Catwoman is the first one to appear. She is a street kid who steals milk from a shopper and uses it to feed a stray cat. In fact, the other street kids know her as “Cat”. She happens to be around when Bruce’s parents get killed and is the only other person who witnessed the event. She’s had a pretty decent role so far and has a look that really seems to fit the character.
Alfred Pennyworth – Of course you’d expect Alfred to be here. I’d have expected him to be a lot less of an ass hole though. With all Bruce is going through, I’d expect him to be a lot more sympathetic, but he’s nothing like the Alfred we know from the comics.
Edward Nigma – It’s the man who would become the Riddler. For now, though, he works for the Gotham police as a scientific examiner. He’s socially awkward and sometimes comments on things in questions almost like riddles. He’s made appearances in both episodes so far but only played a minor role.
Oswald Cobblepot – This Oswald is not the chubby guy we’re used to seeing. He does have the nose though. He starts off as a minion of Fish Mooney. The others in the group nick name him Penguin which he hates. So far, he’s had 2 different groups refer to him in a way regarding a penguin and he get very violent in reaction to it. Right now, he’s not in Gotham as Det. Gordon had to fake his death to both save Cobblepot’s life and protect his own life and seem like he’s on the in with the other cops.
Renee Montoya – In interesting that, after missing from the New 52 universe (or at the least the early part), Renee makes an appearance in this show. One thing they haven’t shied away from thankfully is the fact that she’s a lesbian. The interesting part is where she alludes to a prior relationship with Barbara Kean, James Gordon’s girlfriend
There are a lot of other supporting characters and new characters like Fish Mooney (whose demeanor and temper I’m really enjoying). Despite early predictions and speculations, I think this show had a lot going for it and has some real potential. We’re only a couple episodes in though and time will tell. I’ll definitely continue to watch it.
