When I watched the first sneak peek of Gotham a few months back it looked like a show I was going to love. But part of me was scared that it would be too cheesy to enjoy, so I was worried about my reaction upon viewing the whole first episode.
Usually, I watch my TV first thing in the morning, on my own, with breakfast. This is because I can't wait for the UK networks to catch up and I'm worried about what people will think of me if they saw my true 'fangirl' reactions. However, for this episode, I watched with my Dad and my Sister, Jen - so I have to wind it down a bit. Instead of breakfast I had a rusk, and let me tell you, rusk bits get everywhere!
Anyway, enough of my ramblings, I'll get on with the review and let you know what I think of the pilot episode of Gotham.
As far as pilot's go, I think that this was very strong. Most pilot's are a bit slow and you are waiting for the action to kick in. With Gotham though, the action kicks off straight away. The show opens with Catwoman doing her thing and robbing some milk to feed her cats. Then, she sits in the background and watches as the Wayne family tragedy unfolds. This is where we see the Caped Crusader as his younger self, witnessing the murder of his parents and becoming forever traumatised. This is all before we have seen the opening credits!
Thus begins the investigation by Detective Jim Gordon and his dodgy partner, Detective Bullock (who irritates me to no end). I will mention here that at the first sight of Gordon, my sister declared her love for him! Didn't take much, eh?
I love that this show stays true to the nature of the Dark Knight and is incredibly dark itself. In this episode it is always night, or it's raining in Gotham. At the end, there is a pan shot which shows us Gotham in its entirety and it just gave me goosebumps! I could just see the bat signal breaking through all of that gloomy mist. There are elements of cheese in this show. When Gordon is consoling poor Bruce, he just keeps saying, "there will be light" all the time! I was like alright now, just go and kick some ass!
This episode was full of Easter Eggs, there were moments when I was so excited! In this episode alone we met:
- Catwoman
- The Riddler
- The Joker
- Penguin
- Poison Ivy
When I first heard that this show was going to be about Gordon and not about Batman, I was a bit sceptical. I wanted to see Batman! But now that I have seen it and I know that Bruce is going to appear, I'm more agreeable. I'm trying to be a bit more impartial than I usually am, but who am I kidding, I freaking loved it!
My favourite character was Alfred (Sean Pertwee), obviously. He is so cockney and I imagine him to head butt people at the football (in his spare time). I think this is a refreshing change from the prim and proper Alfred that we usually see. He provided the well needed comedic break from the doom and gloom of the episode.
When it comes to the future baddie, my favourite so far was by the Riddler, closely followed by Penguin. They were both really quirky and easily identifiable. The Joker was just dropped in there and unless you were listening clearly, you might have missed him!
I don't want to give too much away but I have high hopes for this show. Fox has already ordered more episodes and they did so before they even had the pilot, so it will at least run for 16 episodes. Gotham is going to show us the origin stories for many characters from the Batman Universe, including the ones mentioned above and:
- Scarecrow
- Harvey Dent
- Hugo Strange
- Mr Freeze
To conclude, I am really looking forward to seeing what this show has to offer. The pilot was strong but I don't think it was better than the pilot episodes for Arrow and The Flash. It has potential though and I will be adding this show to my TV rotation this year, so watch this space for more reviews!
Rating: 7/10
Raff is a massive Disney Geek, Thrill Seeker, Gamer and Comic Book reader. Basically she's an all round massive geek! Read more from Raff at nerdasylumonline.com and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & YouTube.
