I am a fan of comic books and comic book stories, so you may be surprised that I didn't post this yesterday. After all, this is the show that everyone has been talking about. Batman is a big deal. The old Burton/Schumacher films still have fans today, and the Nolan movies were a wide commercial and critical success. Batman is more popular than he has ever been. I should have been looking forward to this movie that tells the very early origins of Batman by telling the story of the early rise of one of the caped crusader's closest allies, Jim Gordon, in the GCPD, but I wasn't. I was apprehensive. A Batman story without Batman? That's like a Superman story without Superman! However, where the other series that we all know that I am referencing still featured the character in their established role, this show will not feature Bruce Wayne as the hero. As I already said, this is Gordon's story, and what better way is there to tell the story of a cop these days than in the form of a cop drama?
In just the premier episode, we have appearances by Jim Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Carmine Falcone, Oswald Cobblepot, Edward Nygma, young Poison Ivy, young Selina Kyle, Crispus Allen, Alfred Pennyworth, the future Mrs. Gordon, and young Bruce Wayne. What role will all of these characters play in the story? I don't know aside from Gordon and Bullock, of course, but none of these characters really feel shoehorned in, as if they didn't belong, so whatever role they play I'll be able to believe it as long as things keep to this level of quality, and that's what's most important. Heck, Bruce needs to be in this story, even if he never becomes Batman, and they throw him right into the story when Gordon's first case as detective is the iconic murder of Bruce's parents.
More than any others, though, we focus on Jim and Harvey this week. Jim is former military who came to Gotham to join the police force and do his best to make better this dark, dank, and reportedly corrupt city. He is opinionated and moralistic, and rather naïve. He knows that the mob owns the police in Gotham, but he doesn't care, because the consequences of this fact have yet to sink in for him, and they don't until his girlfriend is threatened. Harvey on the other hand is a seasoned Gotham cop, beaten down as badly as the city itself. He has seen too much of what goes on in this city to believe that anything will ever get better. He drinks, he takes poor care of himself, and he cavorts with criminals, because he knows that that's just how you survive in this town. And, of course, these two are partners.
Now I want to say something right off the bat here: This is no buddy cop show. Bullock is opposed to everything that the naïve and hopeful Gordon believes. He wants to stay alive, and despite the fact that he doesn't seem like a bad guy, and the fact that he does genuinely like his rookie partner, he isn't going to let lofty morals jeopardize his wellbeing. Jim, however, cares more for the safety of his girlfriend Barbara than he does himself, but most of all, he wants to do good. He will play along to keep Barbara safe, but he also will not allow the typical antics of the Gotham Police to run rampant as they tend to do.
When, after confronting the mob over a frame job and losing he is told to kill a man, specifically Cobblepot, for them, Gordon lets the man go, but pretends to go through with it. He also shows signs of becoming obsessed with solving the murder for which crime the framing victim was framed: the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. He promised young Bruce that he would find their killer, and when he learns that someone in mobster Falcone's organization worked with the police to try to cut the investigation short, it only makes him more dedicated. He is smart, careful, and capable, but he is walking on thin ice without seeming to realize just how thin it may be.
And that's really all that there is to the story this week. Jim wants to do good, but he is a Gotham cop, so no one trusts him. In a very minimalistic way, the pilot sets up the themes of the show. We see corruption, and Jim standing up to that corruption while forging a relationship with young Bruce. We learn that Selina and Cobblepot will have there own storylines. We see that Gordon will have to walk a fine line to survive and accomplish what he wants to accomplish, all while working against and winning over his partner as he wins over others as well. It is a complex setup with many threads, and no matter how hard I tug at them, I just can't find one loose enough to unravel the whole.
Almost as impressive as all of this, though, this show has so far done something that I didn't think could be done: it has brought Gotham City to life on a small screen budget. Between some great establishing shots, some great location shots, great extra work, great direction, and great camera work, the most corrupt city in comics not only feels like a place that could exist in our world, it also, somehow, manages to resemble a comic book setting.
The GCPD headquarters looks like you would imagine the GCPD headquarters, if a little impractical in terms of its interior layout (the holding cells are just there in the same room as all of the cops and desks and stuff, which is weird). The streets and interiors look like you would imagine the streets and interiors. The obvious class divisions are obvious. Wayne Manor looks like Wayne Manor. The alley where the Waynes are shot looks like the alley. Everything looks spot on, and that goes a long way toward making sure everything feels spot on. The show is bleak in tone, in message, and in atmosphere, and yet there is also an optimism to the tone and the message that cannot be denied, and that is what the Batman story is all about. Not to mention that the show even manages to be funny from time to time.
Overall this story was a lot better than I expected. I keep thinking of Smallville, which I did like when it first came out, but it went on too long, and it told a story that I am much more ready to accept reinterpretation of than this one. Superman is fantastical. Batman is serious. Any DC Comics fan would tell you the same thing, and while it is fine to take Superman seriously as a fan, it is less common. The Batman story is hard to retell, because few will accept changes to it, unless they are done very well, and so far that is what this show has done. If anything is wrong with it, it's that the show is over the top, but I don't mind that, and overall I think it is a great cop show with a nerdy twist that anyone with an interest in drama or comics can find some enjoyment in, and, as I did with the premier of another comic book inspired show, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, I am going to break my usual rule and rate this show an outstanding 10 out of 10. I look forward to the next episode, and if there is one new show that I recommend that you watch this fall season, it is this one.
Thanks for the great review. Glad to know that it will be worth my time to watch. Can't wait to get home and watch it.
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