Guy stated that the cold would make the rubber brittle and the lower pressure would make the helium expand. The cops go, “huh?” Cut to a little old lady walking her dog, looking up and going, “huh?”
I think I’m going to like this show just fine.
Despite the goofiness of killing people by attaching them to balloons, and the questionable physics involved, this episode seemed to have more internal logic and consistency in tone than the previous, so my hopes for the series are rising.
I’m not sure, though, where they’re going to go with young Bruce. We don’t need constant reminding that Bruce Wayne exists in Gotham, and I was under the impression that this wasn’t to be a Batman origin story anyway. We’ll see if they have anything up their sleeves that can surprise us about the character at this point.
Yeah, I was getting a little bit wary when they kept showing how intrigued he was by the idea of vigilante justice. But I’m enjoying it plenty enough to keep watching.
I think it improved greatly past the first episode (aided no doubt by our figuring out how to change our TV setting so it’s not so ugly), but I’ll admit that the weak spot for me is the Jim Gordon actor. I like it best when he’s not there.
Nothing groundbreaking about the storytelling or action, but solid dark-ish, goofy-ish entertainment. I believe I’ll keep watching this. (What the heck, Hell’s Kitchen isn’t doing anything for me anymore and it’s going to be a while before the next American Ninja Warrior, I need something.) I’m just sad that this came out after Television Without Pity shut down; this looks like exactly the kind of show it would’ve had an absolute field day with.
I’ll be keeping an eye on these three things:
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Fish. I’ve always been wary of original characters, as few things have a greater ability to completely swallow up a series (e.g. the neighbor’s son in Baby Blues, that teacher in the Battle Royale movie, Jack Lysias in Magical Crossover Fighting Tournament Ultra…old fanfic series, long story). Oftentimes the writers simply fall too in love with the character and everyone else is unwittingly (sometimes not so unwittingly) left in the cold. For Fish, I think the most critical thing is to really lock down her role. One moment she’s a petty tyrant, the next she’s a bully, the next she’s a shameless suck-up, and she can go from glib suaveness to shrieking rage in a heartbeat. I know this is all supposed to make her all sinister and unpredictable and whatnot, but to me it comes across as more shizophrenic than anything. What motivates her? What notch does she inhabit in the mob’s power structure? How dangerous is she really? Is she planning anything, and if so, what? I’d like at least some of these questions to get answered before the first season is done.
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It looks like the show’s taking a middle approach between one-shot stories and grand seasons-long arcs, with the former gradually building up the latter. That’s definitely a workable idea and probably the ideal approach. The only danger is that with so many threads, there’s the risk that they’re going to lose potentially interesting arcs…for example, what was the deal with The Dollmaster, and what did he want with all those street kids? (Yo, Bullock, there’s your freakin’ open case!
) If the writers can manage no less than, say, a 2:1 ratio between completed and dropped, I’m probably fine. -
I’m intrigued by the cast we’ve seen. Almost everyone other than James Gordon is unlikable in some way, but not unequivocally evil. The Baloonman was a cold-blooded killer, but he had some pretty compelling motives and at least tried to reason with Gordon. Oswald Cobblepot is an oppurtunistic, backstabbing coward (and has racked up a disturbing bodycount in three episodes), but he’s not malicious and seems to genuinely care about the fate of Gotham City. Bullock is a punk and a thug, but more of the embittered world-weary realist variety than a violent sadist, and while he may get annoyed with Gordon it hasn’t risen to the level of hatred. Cat is an unrepentant crook, but she’s a pragmatist; she does what it takes to survive and will help the law if it serves her ends. Alfred Pennyworth is an abrasive, joyless scold (that was a stunner, much more than Bullock), but his heart is always in the right place, and he wants to make sure young master Bruce is up to the task of swinging from rooftops and dropkicking muggers before he actually tries it. Usually a lineup like this turns me off in the first fifteen minutes, but Gotham is the kind of show…and place…that it’s actually possible to pull it off. It’s a delicate balance, however, and I just hope it can keep it, at least until the real bad guys show up.
Unless there’s something earthshaking, this is probably the last I’ll be posting for a while (yeah yeah, thank heavens, I know…).
Until proven otherwise, I remain convinced that Fish was added to the show solely to die a fiery death and pave the way for some real Batman rogues.
Fish is an underboss. Good enough at controlling territory that Falcone is happy to let her manage some turf herself, but every so often he has to remind her that she reports to him. She pretty obviously wants his job (what mobster doesn’t want to be in charge) and I think she knows how to get there, but she lacks the refinement and subtlety really required to be a mob boss. She does jump around a bit in personality, but I think rather than unpredictable or schizoid, that’s an indicator that she’s barely covering her true self, a thin veneer of planning and sophistication that is all too easy to puncture and see the rage and naked desire underneath.
Gordon seems to be trying to hard to stay a boy scout in a city that doesn’t know what to do with one. His biggest problem is every episode is seems he has to run to Wayne Manor and ruin an 8 year old orphan’s day with how shitty the city is. Boundaries Gordon, boundaries! His second problem is that he doesn’t trust his fiancee at all. Yes, she broke his trust when phoning the kid snatchers in to the papers, but he could get over it and assuage her fears instead of letting her walk out of his life. The smart thing for him to do would be to call Oswald by name, so Barbara knows he didn’t off the Penguin and can get Montoya is realize Gordon is one of the good guys.
I like Balloonman, a grey hero in a city full of black.
Cobblepot is too cowardly and too scheming and leaves too much of a mess in his wake. His scheme with the Maroni robbery was far too obvious and will bite him in the ass fast. Plus, I never like villains that feel they always need to kill their underlings to show how eeeeeeevil they are.
Bullock and Cat are played perfectly, although Bullock carries the idiot ball a bit too much.
Alfred, however, is a real joy and I really like this take on the character.
Tonight’s episode was great, although there didn’t seem to be much urgency with the councilman killings, plus the pro went down in a really stupid way with a cliche line. Definitely going to keep watching.
I liked the camp-horror of the previous villains. Tonight’s “Guy with pointy stick” needed a better gimick.
Also the show needs to do something with Bruce Wayne other than just have him serve as an excuse for that weeks exposition dump. Either have him start playing “Worlds Greatest Detective” and actually take an active role in things or just sideline the character. Trying to shoehorn him into every episode without having him do something just reminds the audience that there’s no Batman in this Batman show.
But other than that I’m liking the show. Hopefully the writers have some sort of plan to solve their Bruce Wayne problem.
Yeah, there are easier ways of concealing an ice pick.
It was like he wanted a gimmick really bad, but all the cool ones were taken, and he just happened to glance at a flute and ice pick lying next to one another.
And did I get that right? He stabbed the guy he later burned alive? Why? (Except for Gordon to have his “One killer working for two sides? LOL wut?” moment.)
I didn’t like the episode. I have liked the show enough to keep watching but kept hoping it would grow into something better but last night’s episode made me wonder if it ever would.
What really pushed me over the edge was that Barbara and Jim both lie to each other but she’s the one called out on it and made to feel bad and defensive and for no good reason. We haven’t been given any reason in show why he can’t share with her, so to me he was being a complete jerk to her, instead of a boy scout.
However, the writing reminds me of watching TV show from the 80s, with dialog that doesn’t happen in real life. They can only end some scenes they way they do because they cut to another scene. That doesn’t happen in my life, anyway! I have to deal with things I have said to people or explain myself, not talk in some weird way that explains nothing. Basically, Barbara and Jim are shown to be completely dysfunctional because they don’t talk and they don’t work things out, so they should break up.
I’m just upset at how much potential the show had and it seems to be getting worse to me, or at least not getting better, and am bummed about it.
vislor
Probably to incapacitate the councilman while Gladwell shoved him into a barrel. It’s not like the councilman was going to get in there if he asked nicely.
My other thought was it’s a calling card - a pro seems just as likely to have one of those as any other serial killer.
Sure we have. When Gordon told Barbara about the child snatchers, she called the paper about it seconds later. And Gordon got reamed out for it at work. He doesn’t want to get reamed out again, and given his position he gets a lot of confidential stuff, so he has a lot of things he can’t tell Barbara. I don’t understand why she doesn’t get this, she’s not supposed to be an idiot.
Plus, I think it’s very different to be upset that your fiancee doesn’t tell you that the person that keeps coming around with wild tales about you turns out to be your fiancee’s previous lover. That’s a far cry from not wanting to bring work home, which I wouldn’t blame Gordon for even if he was on the litter patrol.
And last, it’s not like he can just tell Barbara what’s going on. “Hey honey, about that Cobblepot guy, I actually made him go through a mock execution so my corrupt partner would tell his gangland friends I’m just as corrupt as they are. But don’t worry, I didn’t actually kill the… what do you mean you’re kicking me out of the apartment?!”
Yea, I’m trying to figure out how they got together in the first place. She’s rich, he’s not, they have wildly different careers… did they meet in college or something? Not to mention that Gordon is a straight arrow that does little but brood at home, while Barbara is a sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll libertine, so you’d think they would have mismatched personalities even if they were living in pleasantville.
Then again, Gordon and Barbara are both super-hot, and probably good in bed, and that carries a lot of relationships in the real world.
Those are reasonable. I guess my response to that would be that he knew exactly what she was doing and he didn’t say anything. He could have stopped her, especially what we have seen of their dynamic, but he agreed at that moment with what she was doing.
If they had used that as a way for him to be smarter about it, get a reporter contact and then only use them in roundabout ways, I would be behind that. Instead, he’s shown as black and white, all or nothing, in a morally corrupt world? I don’t know how he will last ten months, much less the decades before Batman shows up! It seems by then, he will be part of the probelm.
I guess this hits on another part that bugs me. There is no subtlety, maybe intelligence, to it as others have said. Bruce is only in it for exposition and it’s all blatant. I feel no reason to watch the show again to find what I missed because they use neon lights to point things out.
I did see they greenlight another six episodes via EW. sigh
Yep, that’s another good point. We almost need their origin because it doesn’t hold up. He’s a boy scout and against corruption and hates it . . . unless it’s his girlfriend who is lighting up a joint in front of him?
I get what they are trying to do and am willing to forgive a lot. It just seems as if my quotient for forgiving is already full.
I will still watch one or two more and see what it does. I’m still hopeful but will see.
Thanks! Good discussion!
vislor
Riddler: “It appears we have a paradox.”
Bullock: “A paradox?”
Riddler: “Well, a ‘paradox’ is when…”
Bullock: “I KNOW WHAT A PARADOX IS, SMARTASS!”
The more I watch the more i think they should have made The Penguin the central character.
I think they did. He’s far more interesting.
I dunno. Needs more hair, maybe silvery white, a velvet jacket, and a cape.
But no, I’m liking him a lot. And I like this show a lot.
And now I’m picturing Bruce Wayne getting raised by Magneto The Faithful Butler.
Not Magneto…
They may be going that direction. I don’t have a problem with the Penguin evolving into the Lawful Evil force in Gotham, the implication being the Joker is the Chaotic Evil.
::sighs:: Fine, have it your way. “Sir Ian McKellen, the faithful butler.”
:rolleyes: I think yer greenin’ me. 