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Hey team it’s Charlie and since I already posted a non-spoilery review of Gotham this
is going to be a top 10 video that will be a lot more specific.
I saw on twitter that most of you guys were divided. In terms of quality I’ll just say
that the pilot and the regular series usually look very different. And when you consider
a show like Agents of SHIELD. Sometimes it can take a half a season for it to find it’s
legs.
So if you had any issues with the premiere, just stay with it. Fox already ordered 16
episodes, that’s what season 1 will be 16 episodes. They’ve only shot some of those,
so they will be able to address feedback.
I wish I’d said all that at the beginning of SHIELD season 1 last year.
But Gotham top 10 moments from the premiere. I should call this top 10 Batman easter eggs.
Careful for spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet. I’ll wait just a sec...okay, here
we go
Number 10 - Selina Kyle’s introduction
This really reminded me of the beginning of Tim Burton’s Batman, with the way it opened
with the mugging.
It was michael keaton on the rooftop that time but essentially it opens with a crime
being committed. And I like that they’re tying her to the scene of the Wayne ***.
There are so many different batman titles in the comics, I can’t remember if there
was ever a version of the origin story where Selina Kyle was present at their ***, so
I’ll say this is something new to the show.
It’s just a way to bind their characters across time and space. I’ll bet that both
Selina’s story and Bruce’s story will be good mirrors of each other.
We’ll actually be able to test that theory next week as Episode 2 will focus mostly on
her character.
Number 9 - The *** of course
This scene has been done in every single version of every batman story since the dawn of time.
The thing that’s different each time is what people use it for in the story.
In Gotham, the *** is going to be the macguffin of season 1. Or finding the identity of the
murderer. Because apparently even the most powerful mob boss in the city has no idea
who ordered the hit.
In case you missed it, Falcone is the boss of bosses in Gotham, you could call him the
big bad but he’s morally gray. Not a straight up psychopath. Jada Pinkett Smith’s character
is also a mob boss, but answers to him.
None of them seem to have a clue who ordered the Wayne’s ***. It’s a little too
soon to guess which villain did it but with the way things come full circle in most big
*** mysteries, I’m guessing Bullock or Barbara Kean’s father or someone close to
Gordon had something to do with it.
I’ll talk more about the mystery as we get on through several episodes and learn more.
Number 8 - Bullock with the Paper
This is also a callback to Burton’s first Batman movie when Vicki Vale is talking to
Alexander Knox and he makes the comment about giant flying bats and the crime wave of the
century. As dark as Bullock got in the episode, I like
to think that Donal Logue got a good laugh when he was doing this. His Bullock isn’t
quite as angry as the older version we see in the Animated Series.
I’m interested to learn more about how he’s connected to the big players in the city.
I’d guess he’s directly on Falcone’s payroll but isn’t out to hurt people. He’s
not an evil character.
Hopefully what we’ll see is some episodes told from Bullock’s perspective this season
that explain how he got to where he is.
Number 7 - Meet the Penguin
He’s one of the first batman villains we see and I believe he’s supposed to be in
his early twenties. Like 10 years older than bruce wayne. This whole episode was mostly
dedicated to him despite them cramming in so many other characters.
His mother is going to be played by Carol Kane, this is an actual image of her.
You would probably turn into a supervillain too if you grew up in a home like that. She
has this amazing Grey Gardens look about her.
I liked that later, even when Oswald was staring *** in the face, he got really pissed when
Mooney called him Penguin.
He even limped penguin style when he was on the pier with Gordon.
Yes he was told to never come back, but of course he’s coming back. I’m looking forward
to more Gordon Penguin scenes. He spared his life so I’m interested to see how Oswald
returns the favor.
The Penguin in the canon has had periods when he tried to go legit. He’s one of those
batman villains like the Riddler, they don’t want to hurt people or cause chaos just for
the sake of chaos.
They just want to build something of their own.
The reason they’re called batman villains is because of what they do to get there, and
when push comes to shove they start endangering people's lives.
Number 6 - Enter the Riddler
Edward Nygma is working in the police department so we’ll get a lot more of him soon. In
the canon as the riddler he’s worked with the police before. He’s helped them solve
cases in exchange for money and public service he’s been ordered to serve from past crimes.
Here on the show as far as we know that’s all ahead of him. I’m interested to see
if he’s already committing crimes or if we’ll get to see him have a mental breakdown
and just start going nuts on the city.
It seems like it would be too fun for them to not tell that story. And since Gotham looks
like it’s inspired by the Tim Burton Batman, I’m wondering if we’ll get a Michelle
Pfiefer Catwoman transformation scene.
When you go back and re-watch scenes like that you have to admire the attention to style
and TV is a place where they can have more fun like that.
Plus the Riddler has always been one of the wackier batman villains, so I think a big
Nygma goes crazy scene would totally work with the character.
Number 5 - Meet Poison Ivy who lives at fourth and Grundy
This is really like two things, so I’ll do Grundy first. Arrow did Solomon Grundy
in season 2 with the whole Mirakuru army of blood storyline, he didn’t die. Because
Grundy can’t die, but on Gotham it’s just an easter egg.
Arrow does the same thing with street names and signs. I don’t think Gotham will bring
Grundy on the show.
Ivy Pepper is a bit of a mystery on the show right now. Since she’s such a small character
at this point I don’t think we’ll see much from her right away. They might tie her
to Selina Kyle’s character in the way Harley Quinzel and Poison Ivy spent a lot of time
together in the comics and the animated series.
Since Gotham is just doing origin stories I don’t expect to see any crazy Poison Ivy
powers but hopefully they’ll let her have some fun with Catwoman.
Number 4 - Meet Barbara Kean fiancee of Gordon and Former Lover of Montoya
In the canon her character is always talked about in past tense.
She and Gordon are usually divorced by the time he becomes commissioner gordon. Montoya
talked about her past which was of course a reference to their previous relationship.
Montoya is a lesbian character in the canon.
She also becomes The Question, so I felt like when she was talking to Barbara she was also
referring to some non-*** extra curricular activities.
I wondered for a brief minute if they were going to turn Barbara Kean into Kathy Kane,
the Batwoman character from the comics. She was also a wealthy heiress just like Barbara
Kean is on the show and she’s a lesbian.
I just felt like for a minute the show wanted us to make that association with batwoman
in the comics and this person on the show, even if they’re not going in that direction.
The show has cast Betty Kane, the original Bat Girl in the comics. That’s going to
be Sarah Paxton. No word on which episode she’ll appear in.
But I think it’s more likely they’ll do batgirl than batwoman. Or they could do both.
I totally dig the idea that all the vigilantes in the city are hardcore females.
Number 3 - Meet Carmine Falcone, Gotham’s Boss of Bosses
This character also appeared in Batman Begins. He was played by Tom Wilkinson. In the canon
he was created to be like a Michael Corleone figure from the Godfather.
His father was also a mob boss, Thomas Wayne saved his life and as a result Carmine told
Bruce that he could always ask him a favor if he needed it. They followed up on this
during Batman Year One.
But here’s where it gets really interesting. In the comics Falcone is Selina Kyle’s father.
It’s unclear if the show is going to deal with this but I think it would be an interesting
way to create more bonds between all the characters.
Falcone on the show is slowly losing control of the city, so we might meet some of the
contenders for the throne of Gotham soon.
Number 2 - Gotham Central and all the big characters we haven’t seen yet
THere’s a lot of Police characters from the comics we haven’t seen yet that I expect
to see eventually and add to that district attorney Harvey Dent. Two face will be on
the show eventually.
They pretty much have their pick of the litter when it comes to Gotham-centric batman characters.
With one exception.
and my Number 1 moment of course the Comedian.
No it was not the joker. What they teased this summer was that they’re going to have
a string of comedians come through the club, like each time we see one, it will be a different
person.
Fish Mooney auditioning comedians for her club is going to be like the show auditioning
people for The Joker.
You could also say that naming Jada Pinkett Smith Fish Mooney is a subtle reference to
the joker’s Laughing Fish. That was an episode of the animated series where the joker poisons
the fish supply with his neuro toxin.
Her character isn’t someone from the comics, there is no Fish Mooney reference I could
find.
I’m not expecting to see a Joker character ever on the show, but I am expecting to see
references to him.
And also, for people asking. Since Arrow is doing Ra’s Al Ghul Gotham will not. None
of the shows are going to do the same people at the same time. There’s no way DC Comics
would allow that kind of mass confusion.
But let me know what your favorite moment was and if you spotted any comic book references
in the episode just write them in the comics.
I’ll be doing weekly Gotham videos so if you like talking about Batman please subscribe
and join the team. We meet every monday night. Tomorrow is agents of shield season 2 episode
1, I’ll also be doing that every week.
In related news a new walking dead trailer just dropped, so that will be my next video.
I’ll post that tomorrow morning.
Right now click here for my non-spoilery review. I go into greater detail about what I thought
of the episode and click here for my agents of SHIELD season 2 preview.
Thanks for watching, now everybody high five and we’ll meet back up tomorrow.