Gotham: A freshman show with a few problems

When Fox announced the Gotham, naturally I was curious.  I've never been a DC fan, but I've always  enjoyed watching Batman in media.  I grew up watching the 1960s Batman on reruns, I adored both of Tim Burton's Batman movies and finally Christopher Nolan's brilliant Dark Night trilogy.  I'm skipping over every Batman movie in between because I either didn't see it or hated it.  Anyway, I would not call myself a Batman expert, I've never read a comic, I don't obsess over it at random times (like I would with Doctor Who or something) but I enjoy the character and his villains.  So I knew I would watch.  I am now 5 episodes and and I am struggling to keep watching, but I have a rule to give everything one season.  Initially, I wasn't a fan of Sleepy Hollow, I was going to cut it loose and then got slammed with a brilliant season finale.  I would now count myself a fan of the show.  So, I decided to boil down my unease with Gotham into what I would consider three glaring issues.  If some of them are resolved end of season, I would be happy to come back as a season 2 viewer.

Are you Campy or are you Serious?

Gotham seems to be unsure of whether it wants to go 1960s camp or super serious Christopher Nolan.  There seems to be a huge disparity between the violence and the goofy almost slapstick moments.  We get very silly comedy with over the top brawl scenes at the GCPD station, the bumbling cop moments (well performed by Donal Logue), the cartoonish-ly villainous villains (I'm look at you Jada trying to channel Eartha Kitt and failing) mixed with some serious gang drama, over the top scenes of violence and a very stoic James Gordon who seems to be the only close to real life character on the show.  So what are you?  Am I supposed to take you super seriously as a prime time drama or am I supposed to roll my eyes and go "oh you" as people are murdered via weather balloon?  Seriously, I'm not sure, I am a very confused viewer.

I think the biggest issue here may be the Gotham's time slot.  You can't get away with things at 8pm that you can at 10 pm.  Actually, Gotham may have been better suited on something like HBO that would allow the optimal amount of sex and violence the show feels like it needs to be taken seriously.  I was actually shocked when Fox announced the 8pm slot.  Kids watch TV at 8 pm.  Maybe that's the reason for the camp-factor on the show, but it doesn't appeal to me as a viewer.  I want all or nothing, if you want to be campy, that's fine just immerse the show in it.  Otherwise, cut the camp and give me gritty drama, but this weird mixture leaves me feeling torn on how I felt each episode.

Too may characters and teases

If your a writer on a show, you should write knowing that you could have many seasons ahead of you!  Heck, if you do well on network, you can expect early renewals and hopefully the promising life of hitting at least the 100 episode mark.  Yet in the pilot alone, the show has introduced and teased SO many of the villains in the Batman universe it almost got frustrating.  Especially since we have seen so little of anybody but the Penguin (which is fine with me he is brilliant but I will get back to that).  In the pilot alone we met:

• The Wayne's murderer 
• Catwoman
• The Pengiun
• Poison Ivy (who got a name change)
• Fish Mooney
• The Riddler
• Carmine Falcone

On top of that, it looks like they will be teasing Scarecrow next week.  Gotham, clam your tits.  I know you are trying to show the beginning of a universe, but there is no reason to dangle juicy bits in front of us only to take them away.  There are a LOT of Batman villains, plus the ones you've added that don't originate in the world of the comics.  Lets stick to one history lesson at a time.  I am happy to watch the story arc of the Penguin and the gangs of Gotham without the little peppered in moments with Nigma and Kyle.  And where the hell did Poison Ivy go?  She was in the pilot, she even got her own poster!  This is what happens when you bombard nerds with things.  We ruminate.  Meanwhile, we are getting this huge young Bruce Wayne plot, but I never expected to see that.  Not to mention the 10 year old is way too smart for a kid who doesn't seem to go to school or receive any sort of schooling at all.  All I ask is that you pare it back a bit.  To be honest, all anybody wants to see is the Joker, but I think that's a character that can really wait.  Let us have some time to munch on these other characters first.

Seemingly unnecessary plot lines

Also, why does Gordon live behind a clock face?  

Gotham is has some extremely heavy handed, complicated plot lines in place.  The show really doesn't need anything more than the episodic plots, layered with the serialized "the mob runs Gotham" plot.  But adding in extraneous plots have made the show feel choppy.  The story arc I have the biggest problem with is the Barbara Kean/Detective Montoya plot.  It is such a thin story it feels like the writers are struggling to keep it interesting.  Montoya's character is cartoonish-ly hateful of Gordon, though she has no actual proof of anything.  It seems they are trying to chalk it up to her past relationship with Barbara, but seriously?  That's like, stalker territory.  Thankfully that plot was missing from last night's episode, but I am sure it will come back.  Lucky us.

The other plot I'm finding irksome is the Fish Mooney/Liza plot.  I like the idea of that story, but we spent a LOT of time focusing on Fish teaching Liza.  The scenes were awkward, and Liza's motives are utterly unclear as she doesn't seem to give a shit about anything.  I'm interested to see where it goes, but I really hope they speed it up because it felt like it was rolling along at a snails pace.

Now, to talk about the one thing Gotham has absolutely gotten right.  Casting Robin Lord Taylor as the Penguin was a stroke of PURE GENIUS.  I nearly gave up on the show after episode 2, but I just knew I would miss the Penguin.  They could do whole episodes around this Professor Quirrell type character and I would be fine.  The show could be called "The Penguin" for all I cared.  I love everything about him, the wobbly way he walks, the oddly formal way he talks, give me all Penguin all the time.  Honostly, he really is the one anchor holding me to the show, I just want to watch Taylor perform because whatever he is doing he is doing RIGHT.

So those are my thoughts, feel free to comment especially if you disagree!

Sleepy Hollow Premiere (spoilers)

Filled with unnecessarily melodramatic camera angles and tricks, a kind of "I feel like I've seen this before" plot and music that sounds like it was ripped strait out of Sherlock... and the Headless Horseman with a semi-automatic.... Really?! Sleepy Hollow has one thing going for it though... a really engaging cast.  I was able to get past all of the flaws in the plot and filming, just because I wanted to see more of Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie... and I will watch Orlando Jones and John Cho in anything.  I'm kinda glad I watched through, because the episode did have its creepy moments.  I may have had one of two touches of the willies.  Oh get your mind out of the gutter.  

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane was not a casting choice I understood.  Yes of course, Johnny Depp is sexy, but Johnny plays a great fool.  I didn't see handsome Mison playing kind of awkward scholarly Crane... but he pulls it off.  There is a charming innocence in his performance, combined with his rugged good looks and his lovely lovely accent I fell more and more in love with this portrayal of Crane...  Even if his brush with concrete was a bit Hocus Pocus-y.

Nicole Beharie scored her biggest break in this years Jackie Robinson biopic 42.  I feel like she really is the head and shoulders of this show (man I am just FULL of puns).  She gives a solid performance in a kind of weirdly written show.  I think this a great breakout TV role for her and she seemed to have INSTANT chemistry with Mison.  Since Fringe ended there hasn't really been a super kick ass, no shit taking, no tears woman on network TV and I think Beharie fills the role that Anna Torv left perfectly.

John Cho seemed to be the budding Renfeild of the show and BOOM dead.  At first I was sad to see him killed off so quickly, but from the preview it seems that he may not be as dead as... as well having your head pretty much torn off by a demon.  I hope to see more of Cho, I think he is a brilliant and all too underutilized actor.  The real eye catcher for me though was Orlando Jones.  I just love him, he can do no wrong in my eyes.  I don't know what it is but I find him so engaging... And though he didn't exactly fit the character description, he was a kick ASS Ford Prefect.  They seem to be spinning his character towards something sinister which I find all too exciting!

All and all I will give the show a few more episodes before I really decide.  It could go either way, the plot was engaging enough to keep me on, but it felt like they ripped a bunch of other shows apart and glued them into prime time.  I kept thinking, this reminds me of something Supernatural did or, this feels a bit American Horror Story.  I guess we shall just have to wait and see.

Fringe- Comin' to the End (Season spoilers)

So Like a bit of an idiot I assumed Fringe was new tonight.  Secretly, I'm glad it wasn't because there are only three episodes left.  Can you hear my heart breaking?  One of the few American (non-HBO series) I had left!  Last year I lost House and now Fringe!  At least they had the decency to give Fringe a final year to wrap up, unlike most of my favorite shows which just abruptly get cancelled.  God I'm gonna miss Fringe.

Unfortunately, I haven't been totally in love with the season.  Every other season had my drooling over each episode, screaming as William Bell took over Olivia's body and trying to slap Peter for sleeping with Faux-Livia.  This seasons been a bit, well, blah, for me.  They already re-wrote the whole time line of the show when September made Peter die, again, twice, in the same universe... yeah, but their sudden jump to the future seemed kind of abrupt.  Last season was all about the reset timeline, then they suddenly in the middle of the season we are in a dystopian future where bald is the new black.  The episode literally came out of no where, the episode before we're talking about trying to close the universes then BAM! Future.

This whole future thing has felt kind of forced, like the creators new they had to end the show and made a sharp left to be interesting. Okay so we've been given snapshots of how Walter can stop the Observers with the help of the mysterious Donald throughout this whole season. We even got an LSD educed Monty Python cartoon sequence which was pretty cool, but the warped tape video adventures were beginning to get tedious. I even called from nearly minute 1 that Etta was gonna die. And then we found out....

DONALD IS SEPTEMBER! 

  

Oh Fringe!  I'm so SO SORRY!  How could I ever, EVER have doubted you!?  PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I know the next three episodes are going to be mind blowing and while I cannot wait, I'm going to be sad to see you go :(  

With that I leave you with my favorite Fringe Gif: