Gotham – Season 2
Where Did We Leave Off: The gang war that the season was building up to fizzled out when Maroni was killed. Fish, meanwhile, was probably killed, and Falcone admitted defeat and told Jim Gordon that Gotham needed a law man now. Elsewhere, Barbara’s transformation into full-blown psycho was complete when she attacked Dr. Thompkins, and Bruce and Alfred discovered a dark secret under stately Wayne Manor.
What’s New: The producers have promised that the first season kinks have been worked out, and the emphasis at this point going forward will be less on freaks of the week and more on the ongoing drama of the sprawling regular cast. Morena Baccarin, Nicholas D’Agosto, and Chris Chalk have all been promoted to regulars, while Michael Chiklis will arrive in Gotham to play a police captain and potential strong ally for Gordon. For fans of the Batman mythos, be on the lookout for Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange, Azrael, the Calendar Man, and the Court of Owls, as well as more none-too-subtle Joker references.
What to Expect: More cultivation of Batman’s rogues gallery about two decades before any of these people should be as far as long as they are on this show. We know that the writers are playing to the comic book fans on that one, but they’re the fans complaining the loudest about the nonstop Easter egg hunt. Hopefully, Barbara’s relocation to Arkham and her new apparent friendship with the matricidal potential-Joker Jerome will give her something interesting to do, and hopefully young Bruce Wayne will get out of the library more, at least to another part of the house. Really though, Gotham needs to live up to its ambitions and its mostly terrific casting and production values, and try to remember what it is they thought would make this a good show in the first place, besides “Batman,” who, they say, will never show up until the end.
Premiere Date: Monday September 21, 2015 at 8 pm on Fox.