Gotham The Official Gotham News and discussion thread - Part 1

[The Guard]

Fish Mooney is really a small part of the show. She's basically there to show how entrenched and narcissistic certain criminal elements are.

I don't think people who are going to murder children are "caricatures". In any sense. Unhinged, sure. Caricatures? No.

They should be searching out "Cooler" freaks?

Like a guy who models himself after a flightless bird? A guy who models himself after riddles? A clown? A device designed to scare away birds? A children's book character who holds tea parties? A cat? A poisonous plant? Clay?

The charm of Gotham's supervillains has always been that they twist the relatively harmless and mundane into something terrifying and dangerous.

With GOTHAM, we are seeing the beginnings of that "movement" and evolution.

I wouldn't describe Episode 3 to my friends as "This goofy Balloonman villain killed people". Because tonally, that's not what happened and not all that happened. I don't see a guy taking out white collar criminals and corrupt cops after getting fed up with the city's response to crime as ridiculous. I see it as a troubling commentary on the state of the city.

Nor is attaching someone to a balloon inherently ridiculous.

It's probably a horrible way to go, when you think about it. Probably not being able to breathe very well. Never knowing when you were coming down. Perhaps not realizing HOW you would come down.

And the guy's not running around calling himself "Balloonman". He's not calling himself anything. It's the media that dubbed him that. That's pretty telling in itself, and I suspect we'll see more of that as the show goes on, with Gotham's media sensationalizing the villains.

 

[Kane52630]

Stop it Guard, you're making too much sense!

 

[kguillou]

Fish Mooney is really a small part of the show. She's basically there to show how entrenched and narcissistic certain criminal elements are.

I don't think people who are going to murder children are "caricatures". In any sense. Unhinged, sure. Caricatures? No.

They should be searching out "Cooler" freaks?

Like a guy who models himself after a flightless bird? A guy who models himself after riddles? A clown? A device designed to scare away birds? A children's book character who holds tea parties? A cat? A poisonous plant? Clay?

The charm of Gotham's supervillains has always been that they twist the relatively harmless and mundane into something terrifying and dangerous.

With GOTHAM, we are seeing the beginnings of that "movement" and evolution.

I wouldn't describe Episode 3 to my friends as "This goofy Balloonman villain killed people". Because tonally, that's not what happened and not all that happened. I don't see a guy taking out white collar criminals and corrupt cops after getting fed up with the city's response to crime as ridiculous. I see it as a troubling commentary on the state of the city.

Nor is attaching someone to a balloon inherently ridiculous.

It's probably a horrible way to go, when you think about it. Probably not being able to breathe very well. Never knowing when you were coming down. Perhaps not realizing HOW you would come down.

And the guy's not running around calling himself "Balloonman". He's not calling himself anything. It's the media that dubbed him that. That's pretty telling in itself, and I suspect we'll see more of that as the show goes on, with Gotham's media sensationalizing the villains.

Ok. Fair point. I guess its just all in the execution, it just felt so....offbeat and silly. It seemed like such a jarring transition so early in the game.

Your right, poison ivy, the riddler the mad hatter, the ventriloquist, they are all ridiculous in their own way but they all have this deadly element to them which makes them all formidable foes for batman. I just didnt really feel balloonman was a real credible threat I guess.

 

[The Guard]

Then you weren't watching very closely. The man killed people. It took them a while to stop him. Credible threat. He's not supposed to be an ongoing supervillain who threatens the city, etc. He was a one shot antagonist.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Don't let Shauner hear you say that.

Despite my very mixed feelings on the show I liked the Balloonman too, thought he was amusing, loved it when the first victim came back down.

Balloonman felt like he fit well with the bizarreness that inhabits Gotham City, to me I could easily see the character being created in a comic book arc, so I had no issue with him and his quirky method of offing people.

 

[Herolee10]

BRUCE: What do you mean that I won't likely have to worry about wearing the bat suit by the end of the series? Do I look like Tom Welling to you?

 

[Lilbaz]

Balloonman will be back. You think prison can hold him? Muwahahahaha...

I thought it was funny. How high do you reckon they got before they kopped it?

 

[Herolee10]

You know, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that we keep hearing about the producers talking about how this show wants to focus on the origins of Gotham's super villains, whereas they mention very little about Bruce's own journey. I mean it's like they have the same take on the mythology as Burton did, where they only focus on the villains and little on the actual central character for the mythology itself.

 

[BattleCat]

One thing I've learned is penguin loves his sandwiches.

 

[super85]

Would be great if Fish Mooney would be an even smaller part of the show. She comes across like a cartoon.

I personally dont care necessary if concepts are silly or unrealistic. ITS all about how its presented&done. It doesnt mean a lot if characters have sinister plans etc if they dont come across as scary or intimidating.

I didnt mind Balloonman. Compared to the villians on the second episode,Balloonman was like a combo of Lex Luthor and The Joker.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

I agree on fish mooney being silly. I was watching ep. 2 the other day and the part where she says she'll kill falcone with her "bare hands and teeth", I cringed at how bad that sounded and how terribly JPS delivered the line.

 

[BestGirl]

You know, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that we keep hearing about the producers talking about how this show wants to focus on the origins of Gotham's super villains, whereas they mention very little about Bruce's own journey. I mean it's like they have the same take on the mythology as Burton did, where they only focus on the villains and little on the actual central character for the mythology itself.

We've seen Bruce in literally every episode so far, and I don't predict that changing soon. We'll see supervillain origins periodically in order to lure in viewers but I wouldn't worry about a lack of Bruce. I'll bet his reactions to all the insanity around him will be a recurring motif in the show.

 

[Bathead]

Has anyone else caught the Riddler easter egg in the Gotham title shot of the City?

 

[Mindreaper21]

I did. I wonder if it's a clue to something in his future.

 

[Orb]

I think that forensics guy might be The Riddler since he kept saying all those riddles. What do you guys think???

 

[Rodrigo90]

Are you insinuating that nice man, Edward Nygma, suffers from OCD, and it may one day lead him to becoming a green spandex villain called the Riddler?

Don't be ridiculous

 

[Orb]

You're right. He's clearly Bane.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Nah you mean Ben.

 

[Rodrigo90]

He better not confuse us and not be from South America or something

 

[Dark Raven]

Why is it Barbara shows off her legs and feet every episode? Not that I'm complaining as I hope she'll keep this up every week and will be disappointed now if it doesn't happen next time. ;p

 

[Bathead]

I did. I wonder if it's a clue to something in his future.

Who knows? But I have to wonder why they would place a huge green question mark on top of a building in the center of the city for no reason.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

I actually thought it was a green "Q" guess I was thinking queen consolidated.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Why is it Barbara shows off her legs and feet every episode? Not that I'm complaining as I hope she'll keep this up every week and will be disappointed now if it doesn't happen next time. ;p

 

[Frodo]

I don't really understand the gripes of inconsistent tone either. It's been pretty consistent in terms of playing everything pretty straight. The content and characters, like guard mentioned, does venture into a bit wacky, but that's classic Gotham for ya. Maybe people are just misusing the term 'tone' in their criticism.

I don't think the tone is so inconstant as much as maybe the characters, such as the kidnappers ,in episode 2 seemed a bit cartoony and burtonesque while the other actors in that episode played it alot more grounded, even Penguin and Riddler. I think the Fish Mooney stuff in episode two had more to do with bad dialog and making her react a bit too over the top for her character. In the next episode they returned her to the cool calculating Mooney of the pilot. To me that's more a sign of the producers and writers still getting their sea legs. I don't think that its so much that they're trying to shift from wacky elements to serious gritty elements as a purposeful style choice. I think they're still experimenting at finding their own style.

Its only 3 episodes in , and I think the fans who are either pro or con the show are reading a bit too much into the what is probably a show still going through its growing pains. I'd expect the whole season to be a bit uneven. Sometimes you have shows like The Mentalist or Sleepy Hollow which hit the ground running and sort of know what they're doing and know where the chemistry is right off in the first season. Other shows like Grimm take a while to really find themselves . So while I may feel that Gotham has room from improvement , I'm giving them a shot because I know that the show is still in its very early stages.

 

[DC_Dark Magneto]

Given up on this show. Rant to vent my fanboy frustrations:

Fish Mooney is awful, cringe-inducing, I can't anymore. Why is Will Smith's anorexic wife playing a non-cannon character who is controlling Gotham and bossing around everyone? It's clear Mrs. Smith has no idea the tone of a comic book adaptation and thinks the audience are a bunch of 12 year olds who require OTT scene chewing villains. Her character is not needed. No one asked for it. I'm pretty sure the BATMAN UNIVERSE is not short of villains. Why create this role just for her? Star power?

Ivy Pepper? Fox genius exec$ thinking ''Pamela Isley'' is not a cool enough name for the kids of 2014 so have to change 50 YEARS of cannon to make it more obvious who her alter-ego is.

Why is Mr. Freeze replaced by Fish Mooney? Because he is not ''GROUNDEDREALNOLAN''?
They're pretending he doesn't exist and that pisses me off. He's a major villain and has a great Shakespearean story ideal to explore in this kind of dark, gritty setting.

These moron producers burying Killer Croc in an interview calling him ''a big crocodile guy'' or whatever. You can tell they wish they were doing Season 47 of CSI instead.

I don't care about any of the characters except Penguin. All of them are horribly portrayed.
Alfred is not Alfred. He's some Cockney geezer thug. Riddler is a parody and sounds so uncomfortable and out of place. Catwoman has such an annoying, grating voice. Barbara is a swimsuit supermodel for some reason (classic Fox $).