5 Reasons to Watch Gotham Season 2
Gotham returns to Fox tonight, Monday September 21, 2015 for the show's second season with some [...]
Gotham returns to Fox tonight, Monday September 21, 2015 for the show's second season with some major changes. The "Rise of the Villains" subtitle marks the new season, and the villains have a major impact on the season from the get go. With new villains, new turns for existing characters, evolving relationships, and more, this is the show a lot of people were hoping for when they first saw Gotham in development. In what its stars described as "a new pilot," the show has a fresh start tonight. Here's five reasons you should give it a shot, even if you've since fallen off the Gotham bandwagon.
Serialized, Finally
One of the biggest problems the first season had, as described by everyone from critics to fans to the stars themselves, was the "case of the week" or "freak of the week" formula. The characters would catch wind of some new weirdo, go after them, and that would end. It's a take that let people see a ton of Batman-related characters in one season, and saw very little actual growth or character development. That's not the case in Season 2, which follows a formula that they teased at the end of Season 1. In fact, thanks to a short timejump, even if there was a case to work on at the start, well, Gordon and Bullock wouldn't exactly be in a prime position to do so...
prevnextA New Sense of Urgency
With the serialization, we also get a much faster pace to the show. That means that things that come up don't just sit around. If it makes sense for a story to progress, it does, without needing to stew. That means characters are making bold choices, story layers are adding, and a world is really building. It's much more reminiscent of its DCE/WBTV siblings that way, and a great shift for the show.
As Ben McKenzie, who plays Jim Gordon on the show, said, "The first pilot we made did show how it could be a grand, serialized saga, but it got diverted into the procedural act." Now that the procedural has been trashed, there's a chance to explore that saga.
prevnextA New Sense of Confidence
I'll be honest, I stole this one from David Mazouz, who portrays Bruce Wayne on the show. He specifically said that both he - and Bruce - have a new sense of confidence in the second season.
"There's a whole new sense of confidence, from the writers and for me," he told me during a set visit. That shines through heavily in the first few episodes. Bruce has moments where his confidence might even overwhelm his good sense, with both Alfred and with Jim. The confidence of the show, meanwhile, shines through in the chances it takes, but more on that in a little bit.
prevnextThe New Villains
The "Rise of the Villains" couldn't be pulled off without some very compelling new ones. Luckily, they found those right away with Jessica Lucas and James Frain as the Galavan siblings. While the first episode will only scratch the surface of this pair, there are little bits in the first three, the opening story arc, that will show you just how twisted these two are, each in different ways. I want to know more about them, and see what they get up to.
The old villains get a new shot of blood, too, with Nygma, Penguin, Selina, Jerome, Barbara, and more all getting major moments that make them instantly 100 times more interesting.
prevnextYou Simply Won’t See It Coming
Death. Betrayal. Breakdown. Compromise. Death. Discovery. Betrayal. Heartbreak. A turn down the wrong path, and a turn down the right. A call to arms. Oh, and death.
That's all in the first, oh, episode or two of Gotham season 2. And it should be a fun ride.
