Gotham - Pilot

Apparently, Jim Gordon is going to meet everyone who will ever be anyone in Gotham City in his first week on the job. This makes finding a concise cast image challenging, and also leads me to suspect that the entire thing will turn out to be a dream he's having after being shot, or because Leonardo DiCaprio is trying to rob his brain.

James 'Jim' Gordon is a war hero turned detective, an honest and idealistic man trying to make a difference in a city that can charitably described as not honest and idealistic. The murder of noted local philanthropists Thomas and Martha Wayne brings Jim and his partner, the pragmatically corrupt Harvey Bullock, into contact with the now orphaned Bruce Wayne and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. During the investigation, they encounter junior mob boss Fish Moony, her lieutenant Oswald Cobblepot and her boss Carmine Falcone, and cross swords with major crimes detectives Montoya and Allen. They also meet a young girl named Ivy Pepper, who likes plants, and in the background is cat-loving young thief Selina Kyle.

And this is just episode 1!

So, Fox's Batman prequel is clearly going for volume on its cast. I didn't even mention above that the GCPD forensics guy is one Edward Nygma, or Gordon's society fiancee Barbara, whose independent wealth allows them to have a really swish apartment set and who it is hinted used to have a thing with Renee Montoya, because we don't have enough plots and backstory layered in. Fish Moony was also auditioning a comedian for her club; a Joker, if you will.

Some may ask - and indeed, some of my friends have asked - what can possibly be achieved in Gotham, when we know that the city will remain a cesspit of crime and corruption and that the Wayne's killer - who may or may not be Joe Chill - kind of has to wait for Batman? Surely all Gordon's efforts will be for naught, otherwise why would Batman need to happen?

My guess would be that the 'war' which Cobblepot warns of will be a big part of it. There are the rival mob factions, of course, with Falcone's growing weakness hinted at here, but modern Batman mythology is, thanks in large part to The Dark Knight and Arkham City concerned with the idea of the soul of Gotham. Whether Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows/Assassins will make an appearance or not, it seems likely that Jim Gordon's part in Gotham will be to make sure that some light survives in the heart of Gotham City; that the corruption which riddles Gotham doesn't utterly destroy it.

Won't somebody please think of the children!
Sadly, Selina is not wearing a top hat, but they are goggles. I'm not sure why
'Ivy Pepper' isn't Pamela Isley.

I suspect that a key part of this will be the origin stories of the various characters. Cobblepot and Nygma must be driven into their future roles, in the former case by hatred and injury, in the latter presumably by frustration, and I suspect that the soul of Harvey Bullock is not yet lost, but the real meat is likely to come from the three pictured above: Bruce Wayne has to live in the darkness, but not fall to it, while Ivy Pepper must become so disillusioned that she comes to see plants as better than people. Most promising, Selina has to walk the line; she has to despise the wealthy enough to become Catwoman, but retain the fundamental humanity that makes her Gotham's favourite anti-villain (if you subscribe to the theory that her enduring appeal is due to her fundamental humanity, rather than boobs and leather, and since Camren Bicondova is fifteen I sincerely hope the show will do.)

So, 'Pilot' was a strong opening which promises great things to come. It's got a lot of work to do, and it really needs to bring its A game every week given the need to fight against the negativity that the known outcomes bring with them, but it has solid potential.