US: Gotham (US spoilers)

CK61938 · 23 Sep 2014 at 08:43

Yes, there's already a thread in the main part of the forum. So, given that people over there will be waiting for the UK release of the show, here we will focus on the US release.

So did anyone catch this last night/this morning? Watched it live myself and I have to say, very good start. Most of the characters worked well with each other. I love the tension between Bullock and Gordon.

Notable characters appearing for me were Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya.

Some of the cameo appearances by other characters could have been better.

The very opening of the show had a very interesting twist involving one Selina Kyle. I thought that was a very alluding moment for both herself and Bruce.

Looking forward to next week's episode already!

NexusK · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:30

I liked it more than i thought i would. Seemed to be a few too many villains making an appearance for a single episode though.

Hutchy · 23 Sep 2014 at 12:32

That was probably just to sell it more.

Seemed good though, way less cheesey than Arrow was at the start.

Simian · 23 Sep 2014 at 13:11

Thought it was very good...

I usually say, If a program grabs me within the first 15 minutes I'll keep going (though this proved to be wrong with Under the Dome, which I've given up on!!)

This grabbed me within about 5 minutes!! But then I'm a big Batman fan!

Thought Shaun Pertwee was a weird signing when I saw the Preview a few weeks ago, but He's actually quite good (for the few small scenes he's in) and Oswald is a Sadistic and Chillingly frightening (when he gets going) as I'd pictured (especially at the end!!)

Okay there were a few Villains introduced, Edward Nigma, Oswald Cobblepot, Selina Kyle and Ivy Pepper... but was the Comic on stage at Mooney's Possibly Jack Napier??? They did (sort of) Hint he might appear in the series!!

Yep! Gonna keep watching!!!

Tummy · 23 Sep 2014 at 15:25

I thought it was spectacularly mediocre.

Trying to shoehorn in all future villains too, felt way too forced and obvious. The cinematography was nice, and the production value is obviously huge, however things felt too 'clean' this is a violent, crime ridden city, a dirty and grainy filter might have made the city 'feel' more run down, violent and corrupt.

I think they have gotten Bullock all wrong too, Gordon seems too 'white knight', although I am a huge fan of the actors.

Also; Catwoman being at the murder? Eh?

I think it's making changes for changes sake, but oh well. Doesn't help I'm a big Batman fan I guess.

Jonny2284 · 23 Sep 2014 at 17:47

Seemed alright, although I wasn't 100% sold on it as either a cop show or as a comic show.

Just hope they tone down the "hey kids, here's a character that you might recognise" stuff before we end up with another Smallville.

drunkenmaster · 23 Sep 2014 at 20:47

As Tummy said, the constant forcing in of villians seemed entirely wrong. I'm not sold on it after one episode. I think much like The Tomorrow people did, it tried to go from start to setting up the season WAY to quickly and probably needed a double parter intro.

Tomorrow people went from him finding out he was a telepath to seeing both sides and deciding to work undercover in the space of 45 minutes, too much too soon. In Gotham it had the similar thing, too much crammed in without enough kind of building up to this decision to decide to pretend to be dirty but really be "good" at the end. It rushed through it, they said the cops set it up but decided to not actually show this, they also didn't establish how and why the major crimes squad was free of corruption when the rest of the force/city is, they threatened to kill Gordan but haven't gotten rid of major crimes.

This screamed for making it a two parter, establishing the corruption through other cases going on. Over a two parter they could have introduced the villians much further apart in less forced ways if they still wanted to.

The Arrow never worried about telling a story slowly

Seriously though not every scene in the Arrow is about the case they are working on that episode, the family/friends all have issues and not every scene is purely on moving the case forward one more step. It felt incredibly narrow in that sense and that is pretty much where it went wrong and why it needed at least a two parter before the decision to effectively go undercover as a bent cop happened.

ianh · 23 Sep 2014 at 20:58

Tummy said:
I thought it was spectacularly mediocre.

So did I. It didn't feel anywhere near as "big budget" as it should have done and the episode felt rushed, especially Bruce and Gordon talking at the end. From a single episode it's difficult to see if this will be the big hit everyone is expecting but unless they slow down I just don't see it becoming "must see" viewing. 2 things that really stuck me as a mistake were, in my opinion,

A: the poor direction of Sean Pertwee's "Alfred". Not that I've ever had a butler before but I'm fairly sure a rich US family hiring an English Butler wouldn't pick someone who called people Mate!

B: The is she/isn't she Lesbian backstory of Jim Gordons wife

On a positive note the Harvey/Gordon combo is very well done with both playing their parts perfectly, even though Donal Logue (Harvey) acts the other guy off the screen in virtually every shot.

tl:dr - Meh, must get better soon.

drunkenmaster · 23 Sep 2014 at 23:17

What is it with Pertwee, he was god awful in Elementary, completely awful. How he got this after being so rubbish in that I don't know. Poor acting, stupid accent and for Alfred... basically any english bloke who could do a reserved/posh accent would have worked so they went for him and he played it "normal" without even attempting a posher accent, didn't fit in the slightest.

Donal Logue I love, Terriers was one of the best series in ages and he was great in the second series of Life as well, I quite like the other guy as well but his role/dialogue was almost all so stupid it wasn't a lot to work with.

CK61938 · 24 Sep 2014 at 00:16

Simian said:
Thought it was very good...

I usually say, If a program grabs me within the first 15 minutes I'll keep going (though this proved to be wrong with Under the Dome, which I've given up on!!)

This grabbed me within about 5 minutes!! But then I'm a big Batman fan!

Thought Shaun Pertwee was a weird signing when I saw the Preview a few weeks ago, but He's actually quite good (for the few small scenes he's in) and Oswald is a Sadistic and Chillingly frightening (when he gets going) as I'd pictured (especially at the end!!)

Okay there were a few Villains introduced, Edward Nigma, Oswald Cobblepot, Selina Kyle and Ivy Pepper... but was the Comic on stage at Mooney's Possibly Jack Napier??? They did (sort of) Hint he might appear in the series!!

Yep! Gonna keep watching!!!

That could be possible. He certainly had a familiar "grin" about him.

Nexus18 · 24 Sep 2014 at 00:22

Well I loved it!

And looks like the majority of people did too, 8.8 rating on imdb....

Malevolence · 24 Sep 2014 at 05:15

I thought it was really rather good.

CK61938 · 24 Sep 2014 at 08:51

With 8m views from the Pilot. I'd say it's got off to a really good start! Let's hope it continues and FOX don't cancel it so soon!

Jonny2284 · 24 Sep 2014 at 09:20

Views on a pilot don't really mean that much. Let's see the retention over the next few weeks.

Simian · 24 Sep 2014 at 09:26

Lets hope Fox don't do a Firefly/Almost Human with it!! If they start showing episodes out of order it's going to bomb!!

Though Fox's track record for doing that isn't good!!!

Greboth · 24 Sep 2014 at 10:50

Unless a pilot is so terrible it puts me off I will give a new series at least half a series to get going. This was good enough for me to give it half a series but wouldn't say it has grabbed me enough to be a must watch instantly. I don't want Gotham to have a feel exactly like Arrow but I think they could take some cues from Arrow on how to improve.

The introduction of characters being the main one as it was so bad, they forced it too much and too many. I didn't mind the intro to the penguin but with him obviously being such a big future character they didn't need to introduc others, mainly thinking Riddler and Cat Woman. Comparitively I liked the introduction for Ivy, she has 1 line and was in two breif scenes (from memory) and if you didn't know who she becomes then she would just seem like a small bit part.

Kainz · 24 Sep 2014 at 15:54

Thought it was brilliant tbh, with great cinematography all round. They did try to force all the villians down our throats though and I agree it could have been spread out over the next few episodes instead.

My main problem is Jim Gordon's actor - I keep seeing sodding Ryan Atwood (same actor) from The OC everytime I see him!

Malevolence · 24 Sep 2014 at 17:48

Kainz said:
My main problem is Jim Gordon's actor - I keep seeing sodding Ryan Atwood (same actor) from The OC everytime I see him!

I kept wondering how Ben Sherman got a transfer from LAPD to GCPD.

Tummy · 24 Sep 2014 at 19:21

Jonny2284 said:
Views on a pilot don't really mean that much. Let's see the retention over the next few weeks.

...

, of course they do! That is the point of a pilot episode?

Jonny2284 · 24 Sep 2014 at 20:59

Well the point of a pilot is for networks to decide whether a show gets made, which misleading title of the first episode aside Gotham never actually got since it was commissioned as a full series on concept alone.

Once it's been made a series proper those initial views are worth less than the retention. Perhaps saying the views of the first episode don't mean much was a bit much but my point is that figure is irrelevant if it suffers a Agents of Shield-esque ratings hole.