I.R.W.Y.V. (I Review What You View) – Gotham Pilot

This week began the first of four DC shows coming to TV land and here are my impressions of the Gotham pilot. Given that this is the pilot I will be a lot more lenient with the episode’s flaws. The series follows the early days of the then detective James “Jim” Gordon (Ben McKenzie) as he made it his mission to clean up the crime ridden and corrupt city that is Gotham. He is paired with Harvey Bullock (Donal Louge) to solve the high profile murder case of Thomas and Martha Wayne. The murder left a young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) now under the care of Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee) grieving for his parents.

The series introduced many familiar Batman villains before they took up the names Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), Catwoman (Camren Bicondova) and Poison Ivy (Clare Foley). I felt that there were way too many villains in one episode but that was addressed by creator, writer and executive producer Bruno Heller and said that they wanted to introduce as many characters as possible in the pilot but promised the upcoming episodes to be more focused in terms of character building. Visually the show looks great. It combines the concrete jungle itself with the Gothic backdrop of Tim Burton’s take on the legendary fictional city. The city feels lived in and alive and it also feels dangerous and exciting. Whether they can replicate the stunning visuals they achieved is yet to be seen the rest of the season will be in a locked in budget.

The dialogue was something I had a bit of trouble with as it seemed to be at times cliché and predictable. There was n though providing exchanges it seemed to basically write itself since it so easy to write when on auto mode. Despite this I have faith in the narrative as I feel that the last twenty minutes of the show was showcase of what the previous thirty minutes could have been but once again this is a pilot and a show never quite reaches its potential until half way through a season. Many of my favorite shows took a while to get started so its normal if the pilot isn’t perfect. A real stand out scene was the meat locker scene as it had double crossing, faithful partner rescue and mob style executions. This was very reminiscent of old noire films as they strong shadow along with the bloody surroundings was a joy to watch. Jada Pinkett Smith’s character Fish Mooney was created for the show was an imposing figure as she set her sights on taking on Gotham’s underworld.

Perhaps the most intriguing character on the show was Oswald Cobblepot aka the Penguin as Robin Lord Taylor’s take was both intriguing and refreshing. You can feel the desperation in his beady eyes as he attempts to take out the completion so he can rise in the mob world. At first he comes across as a timid lap dog for Mooney but can be vicious and ruthless when backed into a corner. The last scene of the show was like a rebirth moment for Cobblepot as he seems to turn into a more sinister figure.

Overall the pilot was flawed as story was sacrificed to establish tone and atmosphere but it has great potential with a great cast. The dialogue can be improved but they might just be trying to find their voice as the characters get more defined as the show goes on.

This brings me to a score of: Comic book fans might be disappointed to some changes to the mythos of the source material but the show looks great and has a great to portray characters that they always wanted to see being played in live action. For the rest of the audience the show could be a great old school noire film packed into a TV show and seems to have a good appeal to most people.

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