Gotham is more Dick Tracy than Batman, but it is a lot of fun
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Version 0 of 1. Gotham has been sending out some mixed Bat-Signals. Like Agents of SHIELD, it is a TV show trying to find and tell its own story while nested inside a larger superhero myth. (In this case, it’s: “how bad were things in Gotham City before Batman showed up?”, rather than: “I was just on the phone to Captain America, honest.”) It’s post-Dark Knight, which means horizontal tracking shots of a grim-looking city at dusk, lots of scuzzy location shooting and a dusting of Nolan-esque grit. But it’s also pre-Batman, in that Bruce Wayne is only 12, so it’s going to be years before he pulls on the cowl and starts perching on gargoyles. Like almost every other Batman story, Gotham started with the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in an alley. In this telling, violently removing the crusading Waynes unbalances Gotham’s vast ecosystem of corruption, triggering power-plays and vengeful gang wars. As the show approaches its mid-season finale in the UK, the shape of the narrative has become a little bit clearer – it’s a full-blown gangster tale. We’re still squarely in comicbook territory, but you might glean more enjoyment from Gotham if you think of it as a stealth adaptation of Dick Tracy rather than a Batman origin story. These baddies are primed for panto season. As Oswald Cobblepot, a low-rung racketeer with a distinctive waddle, Robin Lord Taylor went for broke in the early episodes, oscillating from ingratiating to pathetic to ruthless, as he cosied up to and plotted against three different crime bosses. Equally committed is Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, a smouldering club owner and relentless schemer who purrs her daffiest lines with such zeal you can imagine her effortlessly reeling in Adam West. Gotham isn’t above taking shortcuts in its casting – as withering, venal Deputy Commissioner Rawls, John Doman was one of the most hissable characters in The Wire. Here, he’s nominally on the other side of the law as Gotham capo Carmine Falcone, even if his goals and methods have a Baltimore familiarity. And in a show not short on oversized characters, Donal Logue seems to be having the most fun as Harvey Bulloch, a lazy, drunken, semi-corrupt cop who ignores sirens if he’s on his lunch break and talks like he’s in a disreputable noir. So there’s fun to be had, but it makes things hard for Detective Jim Gordon. As the lone good cop who vows to solve the Wayne murders, Ben McKenzie at first seemed to be doing a decade-later riff on his breakout role as Ryan from The OC – a troubled incomer to a heightened environment with its own invisible web of social norms and politics. McKenzie has matured since those surfer-bead days, and even has some plausible cop moves from his time in uniform on the underrated Southland. But, for the nominal star of Gotham, he sure does spend a lot of time getting hung upside down by lackeys and being outwitted by a tween Catwoman. Being the most hyped show of a new TV season often backfires, but Gotham has both survived and thrived. It’s now a proven ratings winner in an otherwise grim Fox schedule in the US, while hovering at 1m or so for Channel 5 in the UK (and doubling that figure in catchup). Fox has extended the initial season order from 16 episodes to 22, so there’s time for Gotham to find its groove, bring young Bruce (David Mazouz) and Alfred (the currently underused Sean Pertwee) into the mix and come up with more convincing villains-of-the-week than “the Balloonman”. (Actually, in retrospect, the Balloonman was kind of fun.) Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller co-created Rome for HBO a decade ago. Back then, he said his aim was to create a drama that the Romans themselves would enjoy – something lurid, backstabby and brisk. If Heller applies a similar formulation to Gotham, and makes a show that Fish Mooney or Harvey Bullock would series-link, it might just work. What do you think of Gotham so far? Let us know in the comments below |