“I’m bad, and that’s good. I will never be good, and that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me”. While it might not be Bad-Anon, Gotham has returned to our screens this Fall with a clear pledge; this will be “The Season of Villains”. It was already a minor theme of the debut to shine lights into the lesser known angles of certain Bat-foes, but this is when we will see them take their mantles as villains. On a paper it’s a smart move. The first season didn’t win everyone over but it was always at its best when utilising more recognisable comic figures (the 2-part Scarecrow origin being the highlight). Not to mention that the show’s undisputed star was Robin Lord Taylor’s Penguin as he waddled, schemed, and double crossed his way to the top of the criminal underworld. Or is the show playing its hand too soon? We all want to see it cover the iconic members of the rogues gallery, but while our young Bruce Wayne is still getting his ass kicked by puberty is the show running the risk of screwing up its timeline worse than the Terminator franchise? Only time and 22 episodes will tell but this season opener makes a very strong case in its favour.
Rise of the Villains: Dammed If You Do... – After being fired from the GCPD by Commissioner Loeb, Jim Gordon runs out of legal ways to fight him. He turns to his now high flying criminal friend, Penguin, to make an ugly deal for the greater good. Meanwhile, the issue riddled Barbara meets a few familiar faces in Arkham before a new player in town makes a surprising job offer.
Like a certain on screen character, Gotham has returned with a surprising case of schizophrenia. Instead of trying to balance being a gritty cop drama one week, and the crazy comic book show, the new season motto seems to be “Screw it, let’s be both” (Harvey Dent approves). So the tone completely shifts from scene to scene as we transition from the familiar gritty styles of Jim in the criminal underworld to balls out stripped jumpsuit madness from the villain ranks in Arkham. What’s more, it really works! Suddenly, the show feels so much fresher and invigorated. Like its added new gadgets on the utility belt without taking anything away. If the show can sustain this over the season, then its rival shows should beware, because this runt of the comic show roster has just swallowed a dose of Venom.
The shining star at the centre is Erin Richards’s Barbara Kean. For so long last year, she was such a loathsome character until her surprise psycho makeover had us all bug-eyed with delight. Here, she expands that persona into an almost diva-like confidence as she strides into Arkham like it’s The Hilton and shows no intimidation to inmate society, quickly making a gorilla paint her toenails. The writers have really nailed her character to draw some excellent offbeat humour out of her, like her girl time phone message to Leslie, “I just wanted to say that I hope you die screaming bitch!”. She even somehow manages to look rather alluring in her prison stripes and in many ways her performance feels echoing of Robin Lord Taylor in last season’s premier; we just want to see more of her. Not all her company is as enjoyable, namely Cameron Monaghan’s Jerome “am I the Joker?” Valeska. He was outstanding and insidiously creepy in his single episode last season but now, his significance feels way too forced. He’s like the kid at the table trying too hard to be cool. Hopefully, this is just exaggeration to re-establish him because there’s no doubting the potential is there. It also feels like the show is moving more away “Villain of the Week” opponents and instead focusing more on developed recurring figures. In fact the hilarious but pathetically incompetent opening foe of Zaardon (“The Soul Reaper!”) almost satirizes the concept.
The “Season of Villains” makes a convincing start as it immediately looks like it already has a master plan. We’re introduced what looks like the season’s main antagonist, Theo Galavan (The Tudors, Grimm), in a minor capacity to imply a long-running story. Unless he has a hidden alias to be revealed (not out of the question), he’s a show original creation like Fish Mooney previously. At first glance, they’ve brilliantly set up him like an evil Bruce Wayne. At the GCPD ceremony, we see him as a billionaire industrialist and community pillar with close ties to the mayor. Yet in private, he has a darker duel identity as he assembles his own evil super team and encourages them to become more (so also an evil Nick Fury). His charm and composure are complimented well by his sister, Tabitha, a variant on the comic book's Tigress character with a real lust for violence. It all builds the foundation of what will become a formidable unit and a real threat to the city. Though the real fun comes in considering who they’ll be facing because as we catch up with the prospering mob kingpin, Penguin, we see he’s already working with his own team including Victor Zsasz and Selina Kyle. So in a stranger take on last season’s gang war plot could we be heading towards a villain civil war? With Jim and the GCPD forced to make a hated alliance with Penguin and gang as the lesser evil?
For all the bright colors and fun of the villains, the cop drama element is still significant and enjoyable. It also places Jim in a central prominence to the story in a way we didn’t see enough of last year. His dilemma of moral conflict is rewarding and forms a surprising flip comparison to his role in the season 1 opener. This is best shown in the club chase scene repeating some of the “reaction cam” visuals only this time Jim is the criminal on the run rather than the chasing police officer. The overall theme of doing wrong to make right moves the show into darker territory as we see how far Jim is prepared to go for the sake of his city. In this capacity, Morena Baccarin’s Leslie broadens her character to a moral reflection of Jim rather than just his romantic interest which works on many levels. The re-introduction subplot of Bruce & Alfred’s spelunking also echoes this as Bruce resorts to extreme measures to circumvent the uncovered security. David Mazouz feels more decisive than last season --that despite only a month passing, he has grown up considerably. The “Batfred” double act still delivers as they mix tea time with TNT time. Their mission to get past the door is comparable to the hatch plot of Lost’s first season but thankfully (unlike much of that show) is doesn’t get so drawn out and delivers immediate payoffs. In many ways, their final scene of discovery is vastly more rewarding than cliff-hanger entrance discovery.
We’ve seen it recent years with Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and that after some grind in Season 1, a series will find its form and unleash its potential in its sophomore year. Could we now be seeing that with Gotham? Let’s hope so because superb episodes like this demonstrate just how awesome that could be. A show with the power to cover deep and meaningful subjects while delivering such face breaking laughs as Zsasz’s ventriloquism. If Gotham can do that, its "Season of Villains" will make it a "Show of Heroes".