Gotham The Official Gotham News and discussion thread - Part 2

[Kane52630]

Yeah I wanna see Rupert Thorne show up or even the rise of Tony Zucco.

 

[Sawyer]

I wouldn't shed many tears over losing either of them. In fact, I wouldn't mind if they offed Falcone, and sort of retconned him into being the show's version of Vincent Falcone, having Carmine Falcone Jr. (the comic Falcone) and Carla Viti show up in his absence. Junior fights to maintain his father's position and is, one day, the one whose face gets clawed at by Selina (as well as possibly [blackout]being her father[/blackout]).

 

[kguillou]

I hope they don't bring Jim back to the police force for a while. I feel like the Arkham Asylum security guard angle has some good story potential to mine before he returns to the GCPD.

 

[Sawyer]

I can't imagine he won't be back on the force by season's end, at the latest.

Speaking of, I'd like some extra faces in the GCPD. Namely Maggie Sawyer. Plus Slam Bradley as a P.I.

 

[Arrowshieldfan]

Jim will back with GCPD by end of next episode mostly likely.......

My question is how long do we wait until Jim will rise through the ranks of GCPD? will he be promoted at the end of season for his action against corruption and organized crime?

 

[Sawyer]

Kind of wonder whose rise to villainy will be the focus of S2. S1 was the year of the Penguin, I'm guessing season 2 is Nygma's year. Was sort of thinking Dent before, but I think it's much too soon.

 

[Sawyer]

 

[Victarion]

Just how well would this show have worked if it were told from the perspective of the guy that becomes the Joker?

 

[Kane52630]

Probably terrible.

 

[Sawyer]

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/gotham-spoilers-scarecrow-arkham-penguin-fish-1201408731/

'Gotham': Ben McKenzie and Robin Lord Taylor on Arkham’s Legacy, Penguin’s Power Play
Laura Prudom
News Editor
@lauinla

The last episode of Fox’s “Gotham” took viewers inside the hallowed halls of Arkham Asylum — one of the most iconic locales in the Batman mythos — but even Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) couldn’t keep the inmates from running amok, resulting in the escape of the sadistic Jack Gruber (Christopher Heyerdahl) and his henchman Aaron Helzinger (aka DC Comics villain Amygdala, played by Kevin McCormick).

Jack and Aaron’s breakout may be very bad news for Gotham, but according to McKenzie, it “presents Jim with an opportunity, because he’s able to pitch himself as the only man who can catch them, because he knows them.” In an effort to earn back his badge and his place at the GCPD, Jim will do whatever it takes, and McKenzie told Variety that the Jan. 19 episode, “What The Little Bird Told Him,” is “one of the best we’ve done” as a result. It will also bring Jim back into contact with Dr. Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin), who has a major role to play in upcoming episodes. The hour was written by Ben Edlund and directed by Eagle Egilsson.

For McKenzie, the introduction of Jack (who may go by another name that’s familiar to hardcore comic book fans) and the other Arkham inmates takes the show to a new level: “It’s big and fun and just very entertaining. To have this bizarre villain let loose on the streets of Gotham with his henchman is a fun little conceit and it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Arkham is eventually going to do to Gotham. All of these villains will eventually be committed there and get even worse while in close proximity to each other.”

And “Gotham” — which was just renewed for a second season — has plenty more rogues from Bat-canon to introduce in the coming weeks, including a precursor to the Scarecrow. “[Episodes] 14 and 15 are a tandem of Dr. Crane and his son. I haven’t seen them put together yet but it’s quite disturbing, actually, to encounter these villains before they become themselves,” McKenzie previewed. “[We] see that a lot of their eventual psychosis is rooted in trauma that’s perpetuated on them by their parents. It’s rough. I hope it allows the viewer to become sympathetic to these villains, to actually see them for the fragile human beings that they are. If we can do that, that’ll be a neat trick, and allow us to go in all sorts of different directions in future seasons.”

One character who has already successfully achieved that balance of villainy and pathos is Robin Lord Taylor’s Oswald Cobblepot (aka Penguin), and the actor remains humbled by the “positive and supportive” reactions his performance as the “underdog psychopath” has received. “I set out from the beginning to make the character human, and I think in making him human he had to be sympathetic in a way. To see that people have responded to that… it’s rare that I ever feel like I’ve accomplished what I set out to do, but this is one of those rare times,” he told Variety at Fox’s Television Critics Association presentation on Saturday.

“What The Little Bird Told Him” is a game-changing episode for both Jim and Penguin, who has been playing a dangerous game of late: working for the head of one crime family, Don Maroni (David Zayas) while secretly spying on him for rival Don Falcone (John Doman).

“This is one of the first times where you see the pull between the two; he has to really scramble to maintain his integrity to one and also his integrity to his ultimate boss, Don Falcone, and at the same time maintain his own personal integrity, because he’s really in it just for himself. It’s all about self-preservation for him,” Taylor explained. “So from my character’s perspective, that’s the most exciting thing about the upcoming episode — seeing him torn between the two and also scrambling and trying to make it work. It adds to that humanness; if he was constantly successful and had everything plotted out, it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting or as fun to play.”

While Taylor admitted that Penguin’s ultimate goal is to unseat Don Falcone and run Gotham City in his stead, “I think he knows enough to know that he’s not ready yet, he’s not there yet. So then I would say his main obstacle would still probably be Fish Mooney [Jada Pinkett Smith], because she’s absolutely ruthless, and she knows more about him than anybody else does besides his mom. She taught him everything he knows about the underbelly of Gotham city, and she will use all of that information against him. She will stop at nothing, so I think she’s definitely still his number one [enemy].”

“Gotham” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.

 

[declan]

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/gotham-spoilers-scarecrow-arkham-penguin-fish-1201408731/

Sounds great!

 

[Herolee10]

I kind of wish we could get a episode that flash forward into the future (batman days) just to see on what kind of dynamics Gordon would have with Penguin and the Riddler given their history with each other, which is a first since no other medium has ever depicted them like this.

 

[EssayM]

I kind of wish we could get a episode that flash forward into the future (batman days) just to see on what kind of dynamics Gordon would have with Penguin and the Riddler given their history with each other, which is a first since no other medium has ever depicted them like this.

I could actually imagine each episode having a series of flash-forwards to something in the future that connects to the episode's plot. Sort of like Arrow or Once Upon a Time, but in reverse.

 

[Herolee10]

I could actually imagine each episode having a series of flash-forwards to something in the future that connects to the episode's plot. Sort of like Arrow or Once Upon a Time, but in reverse.

Indeed; plus, depending on what they want to cover, they wouldn't necessarily need to show Batman, just allude to the fact that he's out there.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

So I have had the show backing up my DVR, and after catching up on on the majority of my shows, I decided why not catch up here as well> I am about to finish the fifth episode.

The show definitely has problems, but I like it. I love Jim and Selina. Maroni is a big problem, and Fish is about as bad as it gets. But my big surprise is the Penguin. I thought I'd dislike him here, but so far I have found him incredibly entertaining. At this point even if everything else falls apart, I am going to watch the show just for him.

 

[antsman41]

If this show is rarely going to have Bruce in it, why didn't they just set it 3-5 years prior to Batman showing up?

Its just so confusing about it's self. One good thing (Leslie), and the show does 4 bad things...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

If this show is rarely going to have Bruce in it, why didn't they just set it 3-5 years prior to Batman showing up?

Its just so confusing about it's self. One good thing (Leslie), and the show does 4 bad things...

The Bruce thing seems so pointless, as does the selection for the time period.

 

[antsman41]

The Bruce thing seems so pointless, as does the selection for the time period.

Totally, which is sad how pointless it is since Bruce is pretty solid in this show.

Also, I can't get it out of my head that whenever Bruce shows up as Batman... he won't have to fight to hard since 3/4ths of his rouges gallery will be older than 50.

They should have taken one of two routes;

1. 20 years early, Bruce is main character and barely any 'Batman characters' outside of Alfred, Tommy, Alberto Falcone, et cetera.

2. 5 years early, Gordon is main character, we gets lots of the mob growth, few and far between rouges, and maybe flash sideways of Bruce training.

This miss-mash just doesn't work. And, that isn't even bringing up the terrible genre flip flopping and mood this show takes minute to minute.

I can't not watch it because I'm a Batman fan, but please give me something worth my while, a little entertaining, and somewhat engaging. Brave & The Bold, and hell even The Batman pulled that off most of the time. Bruno Heller makes this show feel like the only research they did was read Wikipedia...

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Totally, which is sad how pointless it is since Bruce is pretty solid in this show.

Also, I can't get it out of my head that whenever Bruce shows up as Batman... he won't have to fight to hard since 3/4ths of his rouges gallery will be older than 50.

They should have taken one of two routes;

1. 20 years early, Bruce is main character and barely any 'Batman characters' outside of Alfred, Tommy, Alberto Falcone, et cetera.

2. 5 years early, Gordon is main character, we gets lots of the mob growth, few and far between rouges, and maybe flash sideways of Bruce training.

This miss-mash just doesn't work. And, that isn't even bringing up the terrible genre flip flopping and mood this show takes minute to minute.

I can't not watch it because I'm a Batman fan, but please give me something worth my while, a little entertaining, and somewhat engaging. Brave & The Bold, and hell even The Batman pulled that off most of the time. Bruno Heller makes this show feel like the only research they did was read Wikipedia...

I agree with you 100% on this. While I am enjoying the show it clearly has problems that I can only see getting worse. Bruce's presence shouldn't slow the show down to a crawl, and he does.

The age thing doesn't work one bit. Characters who should clearly be contemporaries for Bruce won't be. Honestly, it feels like they wanted to make a Batman show, but couldn't, so they made it without Batman. That being said, I am enjoying some the performances a lot.

 

[Victarion]

Maybe everyone is League of Assassins.

 

[Herolee10]

Well, although the show has issues.... I don't think the age thing is quite a issue (as of yet).

1. Hasn't penguin always been a lot older than Batman in the comics? I mean the impression that I got from seeing Penguin the comics was that when Bruce was in his late 20's, Penguin was in his mid to late 40's. Penguin, in this show, doesn't seem like he's 30 years old yet. If anything, he looks like he's in his mid to late 20's and Bruce is only 12 year's old. Harvey Dent looks like he's only in his early to mid 20's at the very latest.

2. We already know that the "Scarecrow" the show plans on introducing won't be the same one that Bruce ends up encountering in the future.

3. It's just really Falcone, Maroni, and even Bullock's current ages that are the issues here, imho. I don't expect Falcone to live till the series finale and Bullock is currently at the age where I would have preferred him to be at when Bruce is finally Batman.

 

[Paradox1]

Anyway I liked tonight's episode mostly because they gave me the best Electrocutioner I'v ever seen.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I think Penguin is supposed to be early 20s. Just the way he's written and how other characters talk to/about him. That would put him about 10 years older than Bruce.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Anyway I liked tonight's episode mostly because they gave me the best Electrocutioner I'v ever seen.

Oh definitely.

 

[flickchick85]

I could actually imagine each episode having a series of flash-forwards to something in the future that connects to the episode's plot. Sort of like Arrow or Once Upon a Time, but in reverse.

The show Damages did that every season, but with a future that was less far out. Every season premiere would have scenes from 6 months or so in the future (in which someone usually turned up dead, among other things), and each following episode would reveal more scenes of that future as the present got closer and closer to reaching it. Kind of like a Memento-ish "how did we get here?" kind of thing. If Gotham started doing that with a future that was 8-10 years or so out, that could be all sorts of amazing, imo. It would be a bold change though that I doubt the showrunners would ever attempt.