GOTHAM: SERIES 2

The rise and wrath of the villains.

Gotham’s first season had a big problem. It took too long in figuring out what it was, a cop show or a batman origin story. By the time it had managed to blend both together, it was pretty much too late. Thankfully, season 2 doesn’t struggle with that. It knows what it is, and doesn’t waste time trying to figure things out.

One of the better things about season 2 is that it doesn’t go down the whole villain of the week thing. It focuses on one big bad in the first half, and one big bad in the second half, with well-known villains getting their origins along the way, spread out over a few episodes to help make their story as sound as possible. The first half of the season, Rise of the villains, focuses on Theo Galavan as the main villain, as he releases Arkham’s most insane convicts into Gotham to cause havoc, whilst he runs for Mayor. It’s revealed he is a descendent of the order of Saint Dumas, and is in Gotham to kill Bruce Wayne. The second half, Wrath of the Villains, focuses on Hugo Strange and the monstrous experiments going on under Arkham. It’s in Wrath that a number of famous DC faces make their Gotham debut.

At the centre of it all we of course have Jim Gordon as he tries to make Gotham a better place. Good luck with that. This season his story is one of betrayal, redemption and crossing the line between good and evil. And something about a love interest but that shit is boring. We also have Bruce Wayne taking his first steps towards donning the cape and cowl after he discovers his father’s secret cave and hunting down those behind his parents’ deaths.

Sure, the story telling is slow, and there are filler episodes and fairly unnecessary plot lines, but that happens when you have a 22 episode season. It could probably have been bought down to around 16 or 17 without causing too much damage, and might have even done the series some good, especially towards the middle of the season.

The highlight episodes of the season are definitely the first three, as they are the (Spoilers ahead) only ones to feature Cameron Monaghan’s Jerome Valeska, believed by pretty much everyone to be the Joker.

His twisted and brutal portrayal perfectly embodies the Joker and never lets the show down. After that, the only episodes that really stand out from the crowd are those that feature either Mr Freeze or Firefly.

Throughout season 2 we also are shown Nygma’s turn to the darkside. As a Riddler fan, I was really happy to see this, because season 1 worked towards it so well. Cory Michael Smith does a great job of Golluming between Nygma’s good and bad personalities, and does the character some justice. While Robin Taylor’s Penguin may have been a highlight of the first season, his character is somewhat out-done is season 2. I’m not saying he’s not great, he really is, but other characters are given more time to shine. That being said, Penguin’s roles at the start and end of the season are things to look forward too. Sean Pertwee’s Alfred continues to be the series’ best character for witty one liners.

Other than slow pacing, season 2’s biggest problem is the fact it changes a number of origin stories for the villains. I’m not saying change isn’t necessarily bad, but the changes don’t add much depth to the characters, instead they sometimes take some away. That’s never good.

On the whole, Gotham Season 2 was definitely a better attempt at the first. Better known villains and more character development made sure of that. While it’s biggest problem was it’s episode count, this did allow for the introductions of new characters such as Hugo Strange, played very well by Jurassic Park/World’s B.D Wong. A better focus on central story lines and less of the ‘is Gordon good or bad’ nonsense would’ve also made the series better, but didn’t take away from it too much. While it did gives some good stepping stones for season three to use, season 1’s cliff-hanger was definitely better.

“You... will be a curse upon Gotham. Children will wake from sleeps screaming at the thought of you. Your legacy will be death and madness.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.”