PILOT LITE: Gotham (2014 television pilot)

This year sees an unprecedented amount of comic book characters being adapted to the small screen. When you add new shows to returning series like Arrow, Walking Dead and Agents of SHIELD, it sure looks like comics are primed to dominate this medium in the same way they have movie screens for the last decade or so. As such, now seems like the perfect time to launch a new column that takes a look at comic-book-based pilots. I've reviewed a couple so far, but they have been for shows that weren't picked up or were never actually aired. With this column, I want to focus on shows that did go to series and see how well they establish their tone, characters and future storylines.

With that, I'll be looking at the first pilot of 2014 to premiere: Gotham. This is the story of the ubiquitous police force in a pre-Batman version of the infamous city. While not based on any one interpretation of the characters, it does draw heavily from Gotham Central, a much-loved series from the early 2000's. GC was, essentially, a police procedural with supervillains as the perpetrators. This series lacks the clearly defined supervillains since the first wave of those didn't appear until after the first appearance of Batman. However, things like that don't just happen over night. As such, this show is littered with the foundations of many notable characters. The pre-release material heavily publicized this as being the "origin" of many heroes and villains. But that's not really giving due respect to what this series seems to actually be doing. Instead of origins, this is setting up complex paths that these characters will traverse. The concept of an "origin" is very anachronistic. We know that people aren't defined by a single moment in their life, so why should fictional characters be?

"Don't call me penguin."

A good example of this is the character of Oswald Cobblepot. Ostensibly, his origin would be that he's an ugly gangster who usurps control of Gotham's mafia. Most audience members recognize him in this capacity and know that he'll be known as The Penguin. However, he's already referred to by that name more than once in the pilot thus showing the gradual and continual change that his character is going through. There are no definite beginning and ending points in real life. Even birth and death are preceded and succeeded by a vast number of events that are tied into one's life. All that to say that this series deserves more credit for the slow burn character work that they seem to be establishing for its vast ensemble.

The episode opens with the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. This is a scene that comic fans know all too well and yet it's given an interesting twist as we're seeing it from the point-of-view of a young street-kid who's watching the violence unfold. We're not given any information on this resourceful youth, but it doesn't take a whole lot of fore-knowledge to realize that it's Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman). From there, we're introduced to sleazy veteran cop Harvey Bullock and his new partner, the level-headed Jim Gordon, as they work the murder case.

Fishy goodness.

The pilot moves fairly quickly, giving us introductions to many characters who are likely to get more screen time as the series progresses. There are plenty of veiled (and not so veiled) references to future personas as these characters are introduced. Fish Mooney, however, is a character who has no match within the comic. Played by Jada Pinkett Smith, she's one of the old-guard gangsters who are all but eradicated by the time The Caped Crusader's war on crime is in full swing. I've never been a big fan of Pinkett Smith (or is it just Smith? I dunno, but Jada feels too familiar) but I do like her in this role. She hams it up when appropriate and turns on the ice-cold sadism when needed. I never thought I'd say that I wanted to see more of her.

Between this show and Constantine, we may get two different takes
on The Spectre on television at the same time. Probably not...but still.

One aspect of the series that I find very interesting is the characterization of the Major Crimes Detectives, Montoya and Allen. In the comics, these two are often incredibly virtuous. While complex and interesting, the reader always had an easy time identifying with the decisions that they made. In fact, at some point in each of their personal histories, they became superheroes in addition (or in place) of their roles as cops. Montoya took over the mantle of The Question post-52 and Allen became The Spectre after his murder (oh...spoiler!). However, in this series they are shaded as antagonists. While not villainous, they are shadowy and malicious in their pursuit of justice. The pilot sets them up as unlikable foils to the uber-righteous Gordon and the dirty-but-endearing Bullock. While this is a departure from these characters' comic personalities, I think it works well for the show.

Overall, I was very impressed with this pilot. Sure, there's some kinks that will likely be worked out throughout the first season, but I can't think of another pilot in recent memory that has felt so wholly competent. Danny Cannon (director of...Judge Dredd...really?) is the pilot's director and executive producer of the series as a whole. He gives a certain Blade Runner aesthetic that is meshed with a toned-down version of the architecture of Burton's Batman. It works great for television and I'm excited to see it develop as the series does as well. Here's hoping that the remainder of the series follows and expands on the choices made here.

Bring. It. On.