Gotham: Episode 1- "Pilot" Review (UPDATED: Oct 15/2014)

Gotham: Episode 1- "Pilot"

Being a fan of everything Batman (especially the 60s Batman), this is the pilot that I had the highest expectations for this fall. I loved the trailers and everything leading up to last nights premiere. I really hate to say it, but I wasn't quite buying what they were selling. 

First of all, I'm not sure what era this show is set in. There are so many styling choices (glasses, hats, clothing) that I was pretty sure it was set in the 50s, but then when I saw the cell phones, the dancers outfits in the club and Barbara's apartment, it looked more set in today's world. Retro Fashionable maybe? 

We were introduced to many characters in this pilot episode, including several future villains. Half of the characters I'm very into and half I'm not. I heard so many rave reviews regarding Robin Lord Taylor's Oswald Cobblepot but I thought the character was just okay. I'm not really sold that the first thing he would do after having his life saved by Gordon is kill a random man for his lunch. I also didn't really care for Fish Mooney or Barbara Kean. I'm not interested in how Mooney runs her gang/club or what secrets Barbara is keeping from Gordon. The romantic scenes between Gordon and Barbara just felt very forced. Casting Ben McKenzie as James Gordon was a match made in heaven. He's a great fit to bring this character to life and I really felt the sincerity of his character coming through when he offered to turn his badge in to Bruce Wayne after failing to catch his parents killer. I enjoyed Harvey Bullock because he's opposite of Gordon's character so it will be entertaining to watch them work on the same team. I'm also very interested to know more about Selina Kyle. 

The main problem I have with this series is that fact that even though all of the characters will be in harms way at one point or another, none of the characters (Selina Kyle, Poison Ivy, Oswald Cobblepot, Joker, Bruce Wayne, James Gordon, Alfred, Barbara) will ever die until their stories are completely told which they won't be unless we see Bruce Wayne become Batman. This was customary with shows saving the main actors until Walking Dead and Game of Thrones came along and I have to say that I prefer having some characters not make it through the series. It makes all the intense scenes that much more gut wrenching. 

A lot of times for me, prequels don't work. I'm not a fan of back story when I already know what happens. It's one of the reasons that I didn't like Bates Motel. I don't need seasons of back story for a character that already exists when I know how the story ends. I just never feel the need to go back to the past if I know the ending.

My biggest fear for Gotham is that it will turn into a show like The Blacklist with 90% of the episodes just them solving a random (single episode) crime and 10% of the episode with actual ongoing Batman plot lines. I'd rather just watch a Batman movie than a cop show with random bits of Batman thrown in. 

Unfortunately, I wanted to like this episode a lot more than I actually did. Since they pull out all the stops for pilot episodes and I was on the fence with this one, the next one probably won't be as good and I may decide not to continue. I don't know at this point if I will make it through the whole first season but for now I will continue with it. Same Bat time, same Bat channel. 

Grade: B-

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As a side note, I was lucky enough in 2012 to meet the original Boy Wonder (Burt Ward) and Catwoman (Julie Newmar). 

UPDATED OCT 15/2014
Fox extends Gotham season 1 order to a full 22 episodes. Unfortunately for me, I have given up on the program. The last few episodes had too much cop stuff for my taste with bits and pieces of Gotham mixed in. Plus the villain Balloon Man was just too much for me. There is an entire world of Gotham villains that could be used but instead they make up someone lame like Balloon Man? Please. Sorry Gotham, I wanted more than anything to love you, but instead I'd like to see other TV shows.