Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham Season 5

 

++++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season and some hints, but no major giveaways for season 5+++++

The 12-episode fifth season of Gotham aired during the winter and spring of 2019. It is, of course, the final season of the only DC superhero show that was never tied to the other shows of the Arrowverse (although there was a quick shot of the Queen Consolidated logo that flashed on a building during season 1). With the infinite Earths storyline that has been building on the other shows, there is a strong possibility that it was just set on an alternate Earth than the other shows. Still, it was never definitively tied to the Arrowverse during its run.

From the beginning, Gotham has been telling origin stories for the various characters that would eventually be part of the Batman universe. It has really been the first live-action telling of the story during the period from when Bruce Wayne's parents were killed until he becomes Batman. The show would have benefitted from a 10-season run to give David Mazouz time to grow up to a point where he could believably be Batman. Even though he got taller throughout the series's run, at age 19 (as he was during this season), he was still not very muscular, and he still looked like a teenager, so it was hard to buy him as being intimidating in the suit.

The final season picks up months after the events that ended season 4. For most of the season, up through episode 11, the show did its take on the "No Man's Land" story from the comics. It was a very different telling of that story from the version shown in The Dark Knight Rises, the final film of the Nolan Trilogy of movies. You must suspend disbelief to buy the story as a whole, given that a few bridges blowing up would not really be enough to keep help from coming in, getting people out, etc. That said, it was very well done and did provide a way to introduce Bane, played by Shane West, into the story. That part of the season was mostly about tying up that last storyline, introducing some new elements (such as the birth of Barbara Gordon, who will become Batgirl), and resolving storylines of the various villains.

The final episode does a time jump. It will not be giving anything away to say we see Batman in the final episode. That much was given away before the season even started. It was a decent series finale, but it did feel a bit too rushed. It should have been a two-hour finale with more interactions between the characters. After watching it again, I know why the showrunners made the choices in the final episode they did, but it may leave some people unsatisfied. The big controversy surrounding the final episode was recasting Selina and replacing Cameron Bicondova with Lilli Simmons (probably best known for the series Banshee). Bincondova has said that it was her choice not to play the older Selina, and to me, given Selina's role in the finale, it was not a huge deal.

Overall, I think the show did a good job with the shortened season and ultimately took the story where the writers and producers intended it to go. That said, I do think that because there were 10 fewer episodes than the usual 22 episodes, the writers were trying to pack a ton of material into the limited number of episodes to give all the characters a show that at least highlighted, if not was centered, around them, that it did not tell the story as well as it could have been told.

For those who get the blu-rays, the 12 episodes are on two discs. They are (thankfully) the blu-ray sets that allow you to play all and pick up where you leave off if you stop midway through an episode. The extras include deleted scenes from some episodes, a portion of the NY comic-con panel with some of the actors and producers, a 15-minute behind-the-scenes featurette on the final season, and a 38-minute featurette on various DC comic villains (not only from the show, but the other DC shows like Arrow, Flash, and Krypton). So, it has a pretty good amount of bonus content, especially considering how light some TV series sets being released on physical media these days are on bonus features.

Overall, it was a good show that had a pretty good run. I cannot say everyone will like how the show ended, but given that there was no guarantee that the show would even get a final season, I think they did the best they could with the number of shows they had to work with.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: Season 4

 

The 22-episode fourth season of Gotham is the second to last season of the show and aired during the 2017-2018 season. It picks up some time down the line from the events that ended the last season, with the effects of the Tetch virus still affecting the city. This season has several different serial arcs going on as the show has mostly done away with the bad-guy-of-the-week procedural format combined with the serial arcs that the first couple of seasons had. This season, the writers jump between the different arcs. The plot lines are mostly kept separate, occasionally intertwining during the season and coming together at the end. This season is really focused on who will get control of the criminal underworld with Oswald/Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), Lee (Morena Baccarin), who has taken over The Narrows with the help of Nygma/Riddler (Cory Michael Smith), and Barbara (Erin Richards) all battling for control. At the same time, Gordon (Ben Mackenzie) tries to keep the city together. In the middle of the season, there is a multi-episode arc involving the serial killer Professor Pyg, and toward the end of the season, Jerome (Cameron Monaghan, who the show is still teasing as maybe he is or maybe he is not The Joker) returns to cause even more mayhem. Bruce (David Mazouz) continues to have to deal with Ra's al Guhl (played by Alexander Siddig) while getting closer to taking up the mantle as the protector of Gotham.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. The A/V quality is the same as it was for the prior season releases and for other DC shows such as Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, etc. The extras are definitely scaled back from prior season releases, but there are a few featurettes specific to the show, including a "new" villain who appears this season, a featurette on The Sirens (basically all of the female villains on the show), deleted scenes, and The Best of DC TV's 2017 at Comic-Con, which the same featurette that was included on the other DC show season releases that year. 

The show continues to be good this season, and at times it is very good. The writers are definitely trying to pack all the bad guys they can into the show and give as many as possible origin stories for the various characters. It is still hard to buy that David Mazouz will eventually turn into Batman because, while he has gotten taller throughout the four seasons of the show, he is still not to the point where he has grown into his body and started putting on muscle. So he just looks like a taller, skinny kid. This is fine when they have him honing his detective skills, but it is not all that believable when he is fighting off a bunch of bad guys. The season ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger that will definitely set up the storyline for the final season. Ultimately, if you liked the first three seasons, then you will probably like this one. If not, then this is probably not going to change your mind about the show.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: The Complete Third Season

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from the prior season, but no major season three spoilers+++

The 22-episode third season of Gotham aired during the 2016/2017 TV season. Season two picks up six months after the end of season two. The episodes are subtitled Mad City in the first part of the season. In those episodes, Hugo Strange's (B. D. Wong) various beasts and freaks (including the Bruce doppelganger) released after the bus crash are roaming Gotham. Gordon (Ben Mckenzie) has become a private investigator after being fired from the GCPD. He is hired by Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter to find his sister Alice. Gordon discovers Alice's blood contains a virus, which becomes a plot line that affects the rest of the season. Lee (Morena Baccarin) has moved on from Jim and resumes her job at the GCPD, and Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) decides to run for Mayor of Gotham. This season, the central storyline involving Bruce (David Mazouz) centers around the Court of Owls, a group of rich, powerful, and influential people controlling Gotham. Later in the season, during the Heroes Rise subtitled episodes, The League of Shadows is introduced. This season does not end on a major cliffhanger but does set up potential season four story arcs.

The Blu-Ray set is a four-disc set. The extras include deleted scenes, a portion of the show's 2016 Comic-Con panel, featurettes on The Court of Owls and the new villains, and a featurette on the episode directed by Ben McKenzie. The A/V quality continues to be top-notch, which is great given the heavy use of CGI effects.

Overall, the season is very good. Many of the characters continue to be some shade of gray morally. Some of the bad guys have a twinge of good, and some of the good guys take a dark turn this season. The show continues to have a strong supporting cast, including Michael Chiklis, Jamie Chung, Ivana Miličević, Cameron Monaghan, James Remar, Paul Reubens (playing a similar role to his cameo in Batman Returns), and Alexander Siddig. In the third season, the show transitions from the procedural-serial combination used in the first couple of seasons to a straight serial with many longer story arcs that run throughout the season and intertwine here and there. The writers make good use of the large ensemble cast and made a good decision to make Bruce just one of the characters as opposed to the main character, especially since David Mazouz is still relatively young and not exactly physically imposing. So, if you can accept that it is not a Batman series but want to see origin stories for the various characters, this is definitely worth your time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major season two giveaways+++

The second season of Gotham includes 22 episodes that aired during the 2015/2016 TV season. The season picks up shortly after the events that ended season one. Oswald has taken over Fish's empire after killing her, Jim has been fired from the GCPD and is now working with Oswald while trying to get reinstated, and several of the villains from season one are locked up in Arkham, including Barbara Keane and Jerome Valeska (whom the series is still playing coy about whether he is The Joker). Two new antagonists are introduced this season, including James Frain, who plays Theo Galavan, a billionaire industrialist who is secretly the heir apparent of the Order of St. Dumas, and his sister Tabitha (played by Jessica Lucas from the short-lived series Life as We Know It). Michael Chiklis (from The Shield) plays a no-nonsense captain, Nathaniel Barnes, who is brought in to clean up the GCPD.

The series mostly consists of several serial story arcs that go throughout the season and overlap at various points. There are also stories-of-the-week, which are one-off stories that are used as filler material for the serial arcs. The big serial arc this season involves Arkham Asylum and shady work being done by Hugo Strange, played by BD Wong, which is not revealed until the very end of the season. The season ends not so much on a cliffhanger but with a big reveal that will surely be one of the big story arcs in season three.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the A/V quality is great once again. A big part of the show is the look of the city, and the cinematography is wonderful making the city look gritty and run down during the day and dark and imposing at night. The extras include several short clips from throughout the season, which are used to introduce a plot line or character. Then there is a 16-minute portion of the show's 2015 Comic-Con panel, a 25-minute featurette that discusses the look of Gotham, a 20-minute featurette devoted to the character of Alfred, and a featurette on the character of Victor Fries, who is another villain given an origin story this season. So, not a ton of bonus material, but what is included is good.

Overall, the season continues to be strong. The large ensemble cast is balanced well, and while Gordon is the main character in the series, the writers do a good job of giving all the main characters compelling storylines. This is especially important because David Mazouz is still quite young and a long way from being physically imposing, so he really cannot get involved in action sequences that are too intense. He is still honing the skill that will eventually allow him to become Batman (and there is a nice clue in the season about how he gets the general idea for Batman), but he is definitely not there yet. Cameron Monaghan does a great job again as Jerome and definitely leaves you wanting more of the character. Of course, he was splitting his time between Gotham and the series Shameless, so he was only in a handful of episodes, but he stole pretty much every scene he was in. Ultimately, if you liked season one and are okay with the fact that this is not a show about Batman, you will probably like season two.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Gotham: Season 1

 

The first season of Gotham included 22 episodes that aired during the 2014-2015 TV season. 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 (or once he is 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 rest of the first season cast included Ben McKenzie, Robin Lord Taylor, Carmen Bicondova, Erin Richards, Morena Caccarin, Cory Michael Smith, Donal Logue, Jada Pinkett Smith, Drew Powell, and had recurring characters including Carol Kane, and Peter Scolari.

The focus of the first season is really on the criminal underworld of Gotham, not controlled by Supervillains 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.