The story of Bruce Wayne/Batman has been told countless multiple times in live-action. In most versions, we see the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in front of a young Bruce Wayne and then flash forward to his decision to become Batman. Of course, that pretty much has to be done in the movies so you can have an actual Batman movie. None of the movies or TV shows have told the story of what happened to Bruce as he was growing up, until now. Gotham is an origin story for Gotham City itself as well as the villains whom Batman would ultimately come to face when he grew up. The easy comparison to make is to Smallville, which showed a teenage Clark Kent before he became Superman. Here, a young Bruce Wayne, played by David Mazouz, has to deal with the trauma of the death of his parents, try to be a kid, and start his journey toward becoming a vigilante with the help of his butler, Alfred (played by Sean Pertwee).
The focus of the first season is really on the criminal underworld of Gotham, not controlled by Supervillians, but by mobsters staking out their turf, and the corrupt police department that largely looks the other way. At this point in the story Jim Gordon (played by The O.C.'s Ben Makenzie) is a rookie detective, paired with a grizzled veteran Harvey Bullock (played by Donal Logue). Bullock is one of the loo the other way cops, who sometimes dabbles in being corrupt, and of course, Gordon refuses to do either. The show is in part a case-of-the-week procedural and also has some serial arcs that play out throughout the season. The large ones this season involve mobsters Fish Mooney (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) who has ambitions beyond being an associate of mob boss Carmine Falcone (played by the recognizable character actor John Doman). We also get the introduction of the iconic bad guys including Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), and Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova ). The show also has a very strong supporting and recurring cast including Morena Baccarin (from Firefly), Erin Richards, Drew Powell, Carol Kane, Peter Scolari, and more. There are also some swerves and misdirection when it comes to some characters. The season ends with a couple of cliffhangers and a couple of reveals that will set up season two and beyond.
For those who get the Blu-Ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. The show uses a mix of practical and special effects and everything looks seamless. The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. Each disc has deleted scenes for the episodes on that particular disc. All the other extras are on the fourth disc, including a three-part making-of featurette that lasts about a half hour. Then there is a 20-minute feature on designing the look of the series, a 26-minute feature on Penguin, and a 21-minute series of short web featurettes which has more cast interviews. Then there is a DC night at comic-con, a feature that lasts about half an hour and includes material from the other series, Flash, Arrow, and Constantine. Finally, there is a short gag reel.
Overall, the season is very good. Obviously, this is not a Batman show, as David Mazouz was just 12 or 13 when the season was filmed. In fact, while Bruce appeared in every episode, he was not always a focus of the episodes and was often just an ancillary character. While the show was on the air at the same time as Arrow, it was, aside from a blink and you'll miss it Queen Consolidated logo in the pilot, was never established as being in the Arrowverse. In fact, it is not clear exactly what time the show was set in as all of the cars in the show are older but they have cell phones. The show is well written and very well acted, with Mackenzie and Louge doing much of the heavy lifting on the "good guy" side of things. There are definitely some elements from the comics that are incorporated, but the show also aims to tell its own story and not be a carbon copy of any other variations of Batman. It is definitely worth watching.
The focus of the first season is really on the criminal underworld of Gotham, not controlled by Supervillians, but by mobsters staking out their turf, and the corrupt police department that largely looks the other way. At this point in the story Jim Gordon (played by The O.C.'s Ben Makenzie) is a rookie detective, paired with a grizzled veteran Harvey Bullock (played by Donal Logue). Bullock is one of the loo the other way cops, who sometimes dabbles in being corrupt, and of course, Gordon refuses to do either. The show is in part a case-of-the-week procedural and also has some serial arcs that play out throughout the season. The large ones this season involve mobsters Fish Mooney (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) who has ambitions beyond being an associate of mob boss Carmine Falcone (played by the recognizable character actor John Doman). We also get the introduction of the iconic bad guys including Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), and Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova ). The show also has a very strong supporting and recurring cast including Morena Baccarin (from Firefly), Erin Richards, Drew Powell, Carol Kane, Peter Scolari, and more. There are also some swerves and misdirection when it comes to some characters. The season ends with a couple of cliffhangers and a couple of reveals that will set up season two and beyond.
For those who get the Blu-Ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. The show uses a mix of practical and special effects and everything looks seamless. The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. Each disc has deleted scenes for the episodes on that particular disc. All the other extras are on the fourth disc, including a three-part making-of featurette that lasts about a half hour. Then there is a 20-minute feature on designing the look of the series, a 26-minute feature on Penguin, and a 21-minute series of short web featurettes which has more cast interviews. Then there is a DC night at comic-con, a feature that lasts about half an hour and includes material from the other series, Flash, Arrow, and Constantine. Finally, there is a short gag reel.
Overall, the season is very good. Obviously, this is not a Batman show, as David Mazouz was just 12 or 13 when the season was filmed. In fact, while Bruce appeared in every episode, he was not always a focus of the episodes and was often just an ancillary character. While the show was on the air at the same time as Arrow, it was, aside from a blink and you'll miss it Queen Consolidated logo in the pilot, was never established as being in the Arrowverse. In fact, it is not clear exactly what time the show was set in as all of the cars in the show are older but they have cell phones. The show is well written and very well acted, with Mackenzie and Louge doing much of the heavy lifting on the "good guy" side of things. There are definitely some elements from the comics that are incorporated, but the show also aims to tell its own story and not be a carbon copy of any other variations of Batman. It is definitely worth watching.
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