Gotham.

So, the fourth season of Gotham just premiered. I remember being so pumped about the idea of Gotham. When it was announced that they were creating a "Batman show without Batman" I was intrigued. I watched the premiere, excited for the possibilities for the series, and after watching ever-so-patiently for three seasons, I've reached this conclusion:

Everything about Gotham is great...except everything that isn't. And that's what makes Gotham so frustrating. 

The major problem with the show lies with the protagonist Jim Gordon. He's boring. Incredibly boring. Wet cardboard boring. There is no charm to his character, nothing that makes the audience care about him. They attempt to make you care about him through romantic subplots and through the fact that every season multiple people want to kill him. (I care way more about Bruce, but caring is fruitless, knowing that he can’t enter any real danger because he’s Bruce fucking Wayne and someday he will become Batman.) The other problem with Jim is that the show keeps trying to paint him as this super dark character when anyone who is vaguely familiar with the comics knows Jim Gordon is one of the few good men left in Gotham. That's kind of his whole deal. The show doesn't illustrate the ways in which Jim is dark either, they just tell you he is and you're supposed to believe it for some reason. I understand this character is supposed to be a younger Jim Gordon and not the lovable but tired Father figure we're used to, but as viewers we need to care about him. His flat line readings and lack of convincing facial expressions don't help. Giving him some levity and/or charm would help with that considerably and add gravitas to his more serious moments. I think Ben McKenzie was terribly miscast in this role, and I am genuinely curious to see who else could have pulled it off. Having a shaky protagonist doesn't bode well for the viewers' investment in your series, but that's where the rest of the show comes in and (partially) saves the day.

The show is worth watching if you just ignore the Jim Gordon parts and focus on the dynamics between the villains and other denizens of the Gotham underworld, and almost all other aspects of the series. There are some missteps with the villains (I'm looking at you, Mr. Freeze's unnecessary hair and Ivy's creepy aging plot), but overall, the concepts are fun and different. While some people make take umbrage with diversions from the traditional character concepts, I'm always open to different interpretations and new characters as seeing the same things regurgitated for 70 years can get a bit stale. I will admit a fair share of the characters do become grating at times, but most tend to reel it back in at some point during the series. This trend is most evident with Riddler and Penguin as they enter season 3. Barbara, possibly the worst aspect of season one, blossoms into a deeply enjoyable villain and is one of the highlights of the series. She's a delight every time she's on screen. The same can be said of Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, an example of absolutely dynamite casting. His world-weary approach to everything is wonderful, and he acts as the show's voice box for the audience without being overly winking or lampshadey. It's just Harvey being Harvey. Other characters you should keep and eye on are Victor Zsasz (acerbic, creepy, hilarious), Butch (continually done with people's shit), Jerome (whose performance I can't tell is amazing or terrible) and a personal favorite, Fish Mooney (channeling Eartha Kitt). I'd like to take a moment to give kudos to David Mazouz, who has the difficult job of portraying the teen version of Bruce Wayne, the secondary protagonist of the series. He frequently straddles the line of stoic, borderline-sociopathic, budding superhero and likable, human teen. There's a real evolution of his character and his acting skills, and I am quite excited to see what he does as the series goes on, and what Mazouz does after. And he wears the hell out of a turtleneck.

With the cast being mostly on point, you can focus on the more technical aspects of the series. The sets are extremely well-done. Each mansion is expansive, yet cozy and lived-in. The apartments are appropriately decorated for and reflect each character's personality. The outside set pieces are perfectly grungy and industrial. You definitely get the impression that the city of Gotham is enormous and dilapidated, filled with mysteries and decay, and different paths and tunnels for characters to traverse when the plot dictates. I find it to be my favorite interpretation of the city other than Batman: The Animated Series. The costuming is equally fantastic and the little details in each character's outfits are impressive. Barbara's outfits in later seasons demonstrate how hard the costuming department works on this show. She looks incredible. The same goes for a lot of the villain's costumes, both the civilian outfits and the super-villain costumes, such as Firefly and Mr. Freeze. The sound design is great, the music works. Everything comes together nicely, but...

Despite all the good the show has to offer, it's still kind of a dumpster fire. A somewhat enjoyable dumpster fire. One that keeps you warm outside on a winter's night because you're locked out of your apartment, waiting for the locksmith to show up. There's a lot of tonal issues, but the Batman universe has always been constantly evolving, and the tone has never been consistent. It's to be expected. Much like Neil Gaiman's Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, the series creates an amalgam of universes and tones from the rich history of the comics, movies and assorted media. So, some dysfunction is to be expected, especially with changing writers and directors. The show also feels this need to continually try to top itself in a Ryan Murphy-esque way. Characters and situations can get a little soap opera-y and ridiculous, namely in Season 3. But, most of the issues really come back to Jim Gordon and how he interacts with the rest of the characters and his stupid romantic subplots. What could have been done to salvage the show? The series may have worked better as a mini-series exploring the origins of each villain with minimal intervention from Batman or Jim Gordon, or perhaps a drama focusing solely on the relationships between the villains without the Jim Gordon storyline at all. Or, rework Jim Gordon into someone the audience would actually care about and watch as they grow into the father figure we all adore. But, we have the series we have. And even though the series has it flaws, you should check it out. There are some interesting things to see, and you'll always be surprised by where the series goes, for good or for ill.