Riddlers,
Penguins and maybe-Jokers (oh my!), but not a Two-Face to been seen.
Odd, really, considering the schizophrenic nature of Gotham's
premiere episode; ex-D.A. Harvey Dent would definitely be of two
minds on the subject. On the one hand there's a passable cop story
of corruption and betrayal (soft-boiled but pushing the 8 p.m.
envelope for sure), focusing on young Jim Gordon, a newbie do-gooder,
and his partner Harvey Bullock, a nihilist drunk, chasing the man
who killed the Waynes. On the other you've got a Batman story that
does not actually feature Batman, nor will it even should the show
run many seasons. On the surface Gotham is
a transparent try by DC Comics to milk more cash from their one
sure-fire property and to win a timeslot with a wider draw than Arrow
can offer. Underneath, however, I detect a genuinely good-hearted
attempt to put old wine in new bottles by repackaging the Dark
Knight's sacred canon, melding comic mythos and serial sensibilities
into a show that wasn't awful and may very well get better.
So,
back to the past we go. Just like Smallville,
just like Star Trek,
just like Terminator, just
like the hated Prequels, to scratch the surface.
Comedian Patton Oswalt lambasted Hollywood's baffling obsession with
backstories with a theory called Jon Voight's Ballsack, i.e. if you
like looking at something (Angelina Jolie), it follows that you will
equally love the forbearer of that thing (the pink, glistening ball
sack of actor Jon Voight from which Ms. Jolie emerged). Ergo, seeing
where the things you love came from is just as good as seeing the
things you love. Obviously Mr. Oswalt is a detractor, as am I,
though I am willing to acknowledge those few exceptions that have
proven the rule such as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
and, yes, Batman
Begins. But if Begins
was a retelling of Batman's origins, what is Gotham?
In
as much as it can be judged from a single episode, it is less of a
strict retelling of a pre-Bats Gotham and more of a selective
re-imagining of the events and people that birthed him, a sort of
'what if...?' scenario fueled by the grimmest kind of whimsy. If
you're a member of the Orthodox Church of the Batman and pillory any
departures from immutable Dark Knight lore, this series may be more
trouble for you than it's worth. I admit over 48 minutes to
eliciting many a harumph myself and rolling my eyes more than a
little. There are too many liberties both big and small for this to
be considered an adaptation of existing work and the show rips it's
britches more than once reconciling the ages, roles, backgrounds and
personalities of the characters. Neophytes won't complain,
but traditionalists will likely balk at the fuzzy math and blunt characterizations.
Rather than expound for
paragraphs on each detail I thought I'd share a sampling of my notepad from the debut episode - truly, first impressions are the most telling:
- “Rich city detail, furbelows and visual flare of Gotham – grit, lights, color, sound, steam, skyways(!)...how many composites, how much CG?”
- “Interesting: Wayne murder off-canon - deliberate handing of pearl necklace, shooting is COLD, INTENTIONAL, not panicked but calm and calculated...”
- “Gordon's cocky, has a backstory (ugh!), shouldn't have made him a soldier – PTSD bordering on trite...tells B. Wayne 'I know how you feel right now'...NO! NO, HE DOESN'T – HE NEVER HAS – THAT'S WHY JIM GORDON NEVER BECAME BATMAN HIMSELF.” [original caps and underlines from notes]
- “B. Wayne child actor seems very good.”
- “Alfred as a Guy Ritchie caricature-slash-soccer hooligan ('Mate' and 'oy!' with a RAISED VOICE!?!?) Not the lessons B-Man needs to learn from him..."
- “Dire need to hook audience ASAP...abandons subtlety, straight for the carrot – Riddler especially...slow down boy, we've got more episodes...
- “Jada P. Smith terrible as usual, chewing – gnashing – every goddamn scene...overdone...overdone...3 accents in 3 lines, or just awful at her job?"
- "Fish Mooney: understand need for non-white faces but Falcone employing non-family turf bosses is way outta character...”
- “Why is Cobblepot tall? Funny nose/milky complexion not half as important as small stature, dammit!!!”
- “Good job putting various cops at loggerheads...this is the most believable part...not overbearing, smart...”
- “They use old cellphones...BECAUSE IT'S THE PAST, GET IT???”
- “Supermodel wife, free r&b in a high-rise apartment w/a Hell of a view...how much of a sympathetic everyman is JG really??”
- “End: Don't think Gordon would've played Bullock's 'game', but can see the need to stretch conflict, tension, shows, and was that shot of TOXIC WASTE barrels at the docks supposed to be a hint???"
There's
little I despise more than armchair quarterbacking – except maybe
premature armchair quarterbacking – so I'll leave it at
that. One episode is hardly enough to render a final judgment much
less come down on the series for anything worse than quibbles. I
will say I am a huge fan of showrunner Bruno Heller's series Rome, and it shouldn't be lost on anyone who followed that series how
Heller vaulted the narrative ahead ten years from one
episode to another almost without a wrinkle. I wouldn't be surprised
if we saw something similar with Gotham should the show
survive the ratings crucible; audiences will want to see the seeds
sown in these early episodes bear fruit in less time than it
will actually take for Wayne to don the cape and cowl. How long do
you let a super-villain simmer before he's ready to pop? We'll see.
And
I'll be watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment