If you listen to the podcast (you should, it’s pretty awesome) you know that Tyler and I are unapologetic Batman fanboys. We will throw our money, or in this case our time, at anything Batman related. Spider-man is personally my favorite superhero, but in terms of origin story and quality of villains Batman is hands down the best. Thus, when we first heard the news that Fox was developing a Smallville-esque television show titled Gotham focusing on Detective Gordon we were undoubtedly excited. Now that the series has premiered I will be reviewing every episode of the first season. Here is the first of those reviews.

Episode: “Pilot” (1:16) Air Date: Sept 22, 2014 Directed: Danny Cannon Written: Bruno Heller

After Thomas and Martha Wayne are shot, Detective Gordon (McKenzie) makes a promise to a young Bruce Wayne (Mazouz) that he will find the person responsible for their deaths. Gordon and his corrupt partner (Logue) track down Mario Pepper (Sherman), the man they believe may be responsible for the murders, and while attempting to apprehend Pepper Harvey (Gordon’s partner) shoots and kills Pepper. Through various means, Gordon comes to believe that Pepper may have been framed and he begins a quest to uncover the truth.

In interest of full disclosure, I cannot be objective when it comes to Batman. I am more willing to give something the benefit-of-the-doubt when that film or in this case television series occurs within the Batman universe. That being said, Gotham has a lot of potential. For a television show it has great production value. The city of Gotham is dark and gritty just the way I like it. The cast, most notably Donal Logue (Grounded for Life, Terriers), does an excellent job. Is it a perfect show so far? Absolutely not. The Easter Eggs in this episode were fun at first, but as the episode continued it began to feel crowded. There were also a couple slight plot holes that could not be ignored. For example, while Bullock is persuading Gordon to keep his theory about Pepper a secret, he explains that if Gordon is right then they killed an innocent man. Bullock goes on to explain that he and Gordon would, at the very least, lose their jobs. No, they would not. They questioned Pepper, which they had every right to do, and he shot at them and eventually drew a knife on Gordon. I am no lawyer, but, even if Pepper was framed, assaulting/attempting to murder a police officer is still a crime. Sure there would be an investigation and MAYBE a suspension, but it’s very unlikely either would be fired for ultimately self-defense. Those minor problems aside, this was still only the first episode and, therefore, needs to be graded on a curve. The pilot did an adequate job of introducing the characters and plot without sacrificing pacing. Thus, I am not more-or-less excited to see what the rest of the season has to offer after this episode. My ultimate hope is that I will eventually forget it is a Batman show and love it based on the quality of Gotham alone, but that remains to be seen.

(3 / 5)