by Cookie N Screen
I can feel your eye roll from here. Yes, I'm going to spend the introduction speaking about why Gotham had issues, continues to have issues and will never stop having issues. The biggest glaring problem we have at the moment, except the continuous story lines and character traits, is that it so nearly becomes excellent. The infiltrated DC characters, the twisting dance of Gordon's conscience and the alluring sub-villains all smatter of something entirely new and good. What we have an issue with is just how they pull back into repetition. We get to touch the sky with the show, only to fall away from it like our balloon has popped and we've slammed against the side walk. Last week’s episode was genuinely a step in the right direction but still smacked of the same recycled plots that induces so many yawns. This week’s episode did no different and as we edge closer to that end - we feel further away from that great television show we were all promised.
I can feel your eye roll from here. Yes, I'm going to spend the introduction speaking about why Gotham had issues, continues to have issues and will never stop having issues. The biggest glaring problem we have at the moment, except the continuous story lines and character traits, is that it so nearly becomes excellent. The infiltrated DC characters, the twisting dance of Gordon's conscience and the alluring sub-villains all smatter of something entirely new and good. What we have an issue with is just how they pull back into repetition. We get to touch the sky with the show, only to fall away from it like our balloon has popped and we've slammed against the side walk. Last week’s episode was genuinely a step in the right direction but still smacked of the same recycled plots that induces so many yawns. This week’s episode did no different and as we edge closer to that end - we feel further away from that great television show we were all promised.
It doesn’t help that Gotham stretched the promising Scarecrow premise so thinly here. The idea had depth and intrigued and ended up like some sort of hammy Hannibal rip-off which is extremely rude. Gerald Crane has been hopping over Gotham stealing adrenal glands and escaped the grasps of Bullock and Gordon. However, he is battling his own psychosis that is driving him to kill and the sooner he helps people and himself overcome their fears, the sooner he can be absolved.
The visuals in The Scarecrow were actually really good if you ignore the fact it is channelling the first series of Hannibal. The burning wife that haunts Gerald Crane, overcome with an overwhelming sense of dread is actually terrifying which injects this vein of interest to the episode. Over all, the grimy and bleak Gotham (as opposed to the ultra-violet Joel Schumacher debacle in the cinema) is genuinely very good. The murky underbelly is highlighted by the tones of green and brown. Here the fiery episodes really fill you with terror, as a villain or dementia should.
The visuals in The Scarecrow were actually really good if you ignore the fact it is channelling the first series of Hannibal. The burning wife that haunts Gerald Crane, overcome with an overwhelming sense of dread is actually terrifying which injects this vein of interest to the episode. Over all, the grimy and bleak Gotham (as opposed to the ultra-violet Joel Schumacher debacle in the cinema) is genuinely very good. The murky underbelly is highlighted by the tones of green and brown. Here the fiery episodes really fill you with terror, as a villain or dementia should.
And what is frustrating is that this isn’t just a weakly threaded mess of other Gotham elements, but the story-lines have been done before in shows such as Criminal Minds (removing fear and making his victims face the fear). The writers behind Gotham have just diluted a solid villain that titillated in the first half and was overcome by shoddy writing in the second. By now, all antagonists are either at a continuing and boring gang war with each other or are there as a plot device for Gordon’s boring self-righteousness to overcome. Yawn.
Gotham needs to bow out, take a break and figure out exactly how they’ll tackle season two. No wait, it needs to figure out how it’s going to tackle the rest of series one because frankly, the audience have clued in to its faults and are still battered by the repetition. Only Batman could save Gotham now and unfortunately he is on a tough, albeit tender, hike with his rough cockney butler Alfred for some male bonding. Oh and he’s also about ten.
Limp and lifeless, Gotham needs a miracle now.
Gotham needs to bow out, take a break and figure out exactly how they’ll tackle season two. No wait, it needs to figure out how it’s going to tackle the rest of series one because frankly, the audience have clued in to its faults and are still battered by the repetition. Only Batman could save Gotham now and unfortunately he is on a tough, albeit tender, hike with his rough cockney butler Alfred for some male bonding. Oh and he’s also about ten.
Limp and lifeless, Gotham needs a miracle now.
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