DC does TV right.
This summer, Hypable caught a showing of Gotham’s anticipated new pilot at San Diego Comic-Con, and we’ve been twiddling our thumbs in restless anticipation as we waited for this unique yet familiar television delight to be unleashed on the primetime world. But finally, the wait is over! Here are seven reasons why you need to check out television’s hottest new show tonight.
A classic world reimagined
The city streets. Wayne manor. Everything is as we’ve come to expect Gotham’s classic world to be, and yet, the feeling of unease swallows us as we watch this corrupt world try and survive in a time before it was defended by its vigilante hero.
We start the series off where all Batman tales must begin: the classic scene of the Wayne family’s murder. But right from the beginning, we’re set up to know this show will always have its own spin on Gotham’s history. Which classic DC character becomes a firsthand witness to this life altering moment in Bruce Wayne’s life? The twist will surprise, but not shock you, because all of the details that have been changed from the classic comics still stay true to the characters that we’ve grown to know through the decades of following the Dark Knight’s adventures.
This specific change, like so many in the pilot, is different from Batman comic continuity, but adds extra dimensions to characters and the relationships they have with each other. This new television show asks questions and slowly gives us answers, allowing us think about what kind of world demands to be defended by a masked man.
Wicked cool kids
Every comic character that comes across the screen has a standout presence in the pilot, but special recognition needs to be given to the three kids who so fully embody the emotional energy of the adults they will grow to become from the comic books.
In the pilot, Ivy Pepper is on screen for all of one scene, and yet as a lost little girl from a troubled upbringing, the haunted look in young Clare Foley’s eyes and the fury in her voice demands that we look at her, and ask how society can fail its children so miserably that they must in turn become the villains.
As Selina Kyle, Camren Bicondova is a spirited, naive Michelle Pfeiffer at fourteen. Her strong cheekbones and twinkling eyes make her look all the more like a cat already, and as a teen cat burglar who feeds homeless felines, we know this girl might be all mischief, but her thrills are still based on an instinct for survival, not a love of being cruel.
Within the first episode, Selina’s fascination with the broody Batman starts early: she’s intrigued, and we’re starting to understand just why. As the twelve-year-old Bruce Wayne, David Mazouz embodies all of Batman’s necessary gravitas, even as he is a shocked orphan who’s just witnessed his most horrific nightmare come to life. Young Bruce is dark and pensive, with Christian Bale’s sorrowful eyes and a determined jaw, but there’s an energy and spirit to him that still leaves room for innocence. At twelve, he’s still just a child, but the man he will become is already forming. As we watch him wonder how the world can be so meaninglessly cruel, we know we are witnessing the Dark Knight’s origin story.
So why does a young man so obsessed with justice become so heartbreakingly attached to his beautiful villain that reeks of desperation? And why would a boy who watched the horror of true injustice come alive in the dead of night come to believe that the only place to seek justice is in the dark?
Terrifying villains
Jada Pinkett Smith is all of five feet tall, but after tonight’s spectacular premiere, you’ll be hailing her as one of the most harrowing villains on television. Fish Mooney, a mob boss of Gotham’s underground criminal kingdom, is fun, sexy, and absolutely terrifying. Using her baseball bat, she kills people with grace and a smile on her face.
And yet, even at her most gruesome, there’s the feeling that she’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the villainous empire Gotham is brewing. She’s colorful in her cruelty, but still very human, yet it is her inhumanity that will be the bridge that makes way for Gotham’s upcoming parade of masked villains.
One of these villains lurking in the shadows is Oswald Cobblepot, the man behind the Penguin. And though the Penguin has come to be known as one of Batman’s least frightening villains, Gotham explores how the way people are prone to underestimate him actually leads to him becoming a truly haunting villain. The Penguin proves in the first episode that there is little truly as terrifying as a desperate, ambitious man.
Crooked cops
By the time Batman’s old enough to throw on his cape and strap on the tights, there’s a reason Gotham’s become such a mess that the only one who can save it is a masked vigilante. In Gotham, the lines between hero and villain are blurred as everyone from the criminals to the police force seem to be working for a darker agenda.
The finest example of this moral gray area is Gordon’s partner Harvey Bullock who is prone to being a little violent, and very corrupt. From the start we learn that Bullock is lazy and fairly self-absorbed; he’s not working hard to keep the streets safe — he just wants to make sure he’s taken care of. But Gotham challenges us to see the world from his point of view. Is he the one who sees Gotham for what it really is? Maybe Gordon really is an idealistic idiot dreamer one wrong step away from getting himself killed?
Murderous mysteries
As many character introductions as we’re blessed with in the premiere episode, the hour is still jam-packed with mysteries to carry us out throughout the season as well. Who is the mysterious stranger running Gotham’s underground? What dirty little secrets is Gordon’s pretty fiancé hiding? And most importantly: who killed the Wayne’s? Because as much as we’re itching to learn the identity of the murderer, we’re more concerned with the “why” of the crime. Why was Bruce spared, and why, despite it all, do the deaths feel so powerfully meaningless?
The city’s last noble man
He’s young. He’s idealistic. He’s got SoCal good looks and a “kid with a heart of gold” vibe. So how does fresh-faced Gordon become the one person left in Gotham that young Bruce Wayne will actually come to trust as an adult?
As a television show, Gotham is a fresh take on the Batman franchise because Gordon is not the hero Bruce Wayne will grow to be. Gordon plays by the rules — or at the very least, he still truly believes the rules can work. He wants to fix Gotham from the inside, and he believes in fighting for justice in an honorable, honest way. And like he tells a young Bruce Wayne, he doesn’t want to conquer his fears: he sees fear as a good thing. Fear is a line in the sand. Fear stops us from becoming that which we hate.
The promise of more
The most exciting thing about the pilot is that it promises to bring so much more than what it’s already given. From the Riddler working at the police station, to the endless hints about the Joker, this exhilarating opening of a show is just the beginning to what is sure to be an epic season.
And considering we have decades of story to pull from, the future looks bright, and the series’ plot can only thicken. What other comic book classics will make an appearance before the series is done? And what kind of gruesome city makes a Batman?
Gotham premieres TONIGHT, Monday, September 22 at 8 p.m. on Fox.