5 Ways to Fix Gotham

Comic book adaptations are the lick right now—from the box office domination to the many heroes that fill our TV screens, it is safe to say it is a good time to be a comic book fan—unless of course you are a fan of Gotham City and sat through season one of “Gotham” like Alex sat through the Ludovico Technique in “A Clockwork Orange.”

The freshman Fox series showed flashes of brilliance out of the gate with its pilot and some strong episodes like “Penguin’s Umbrella” and “Spirit of the Goat,” however, this promise quickly turned into “how did this ever get out of the writer’s room” when the show began ditching its strengths and going for the more ratings friendly tease more of Batman’s rogues gallery approach—and “Gotham’s” brand of teasing is putting up a huge Las Vegas sign next to a character saying this person will be a problem in the future.

With “Gotham” renewed for a second season, we are going to take a look at how it can right the ship and become the show that not only Gotham City needs, but the one it deserves.

The Kids Are Not Alright

Flat out—Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle need to go. It is not that Camren Bicondova and David Mazouz are not capable of portraying the iconic characters, but it is clear hat the writers cannot write these characters. The reason for this is that whenever the two are on screen, “Gotham” goes from dark and gritty to a children’s mystery. The characters would be great for a “Gotham Academy” show; they just do not fit in on “Gotham.”

We Get It—These Characters Will Be Batman Villains

“Gotham’s” biggest crime has to be it’s not-so-subtle approach to Batman’s rogues gallery. When “Gotham” premiered, it seemed it would be a slow burn. Characters would slowly, but surely evolve into the villains we grew to know and love—however, the creative team left this idea in the dust when the show began to just churn out characters like Harvey Dent and Jerome (who may or may not be the Joker). It is not a bad thing that these characters appear, it is a bad thing that these characters seem to be the psychopaths that populate Arkham Asylum—at this rate, Bruce Wayne will have to become Batman at 15 if he wants to save Gotham. Let the characters grow organically; it’ll give audience members a reason to stick around.

Barbara, Make Up Your Mind

One of the series’ more complex characters is Barbara—complex in the sense that you cannot figure her out. She starts off as a loving girlfriend, then begins sleeping with Montoya, then dates the Ogre, then she is the damsel in distress and finally she becomes crazier than the Joker—all of this over the course of “Gotham’s” freshman season. The writers need to get in a room and just figure out what they want to take her character and stick to it because we essentially got five completely different Barbaras in season one.

The Big Bad

Penguin played brilliantly by Robin Lord Taylor is the shining light of the series, but for some odd reason the show kept jumping around and introducing new characters, which diluted his ascension to becoming “the King of Gotham.” Season two should focus solely on one overarching villain that pushes Jim Gordon to his limits, not 25 and then try to correct it in the season finale.

It is Called “Gotham”—Lets See More Of It

Grounded is cool and all, but can we see more of Gotham. The show focuses heavily on psychopaths and mobsters, we rarely get to see the environment that produced all of these villains. So much time is spent in police stations and mob clubs, where are the normal people being broken down by comics’ most crime-ridden city?

Hopefully, season two of “Gotham” will fix some of these issues and put itself in the conversation for best comic book series on television because right now it is one of its weakest.

Let us know what you think works and does not work on “Gotham” in the comment section.