Gotham is an American crime television series developed by Bruno Heller, based on characters appearing in and published by DC Comics in their Batmanfranchise, primarily those of James Gordon and Bruce Wayne. The series stars Ben McKenzie as the young Gordon, while Heller executive produces along with Danny Cannon, who also directed the pilot. As originally conceived, the series would have served as a straightforward story of Gordon's early days on the Gotham City police force. The idea evolved not only to include the Wayne character, but also to tell the origin stories of several Batman villains. The first season order originally consisted of 16 episodes, but was later extended to 22. Gotham premiered on Fox on September 22, 2014.
On January 17, 2015, the series was renewed for a second season.[3]
Premise
A new recruit in the Gotham City Police Department, James Gordon, is paired with veteran detective Harvey Bullock to solve one of Gotham's highest-profile cases ever: the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. During his investigation, Gordon meets the Waynes' son Bruce, now in the care of his butler Alfred Pennyworth. Meeting the younger Wayne further compels Gordon to catch the mysterious killer. Along the way, Gordon becomes involved with Gotham's Mafia families and associates including gangster Fish Mooney, DonCarmine Falcone, and Italian mob boss Salvatore Maroni. Eventually, Gordon is forced to form an unlikely friendship with Bruce, one that will help shape the boy's future in becoming the Dark Knight.[4]
Main and recurring characters of Gotham, from left to right; upper row: James Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Sarah Essen, Barbara Kean, and Alfred Pennyworth; lower row: Oswald Cobblepot, Fish Mooney, Carmine Falcone, Edward Nygma, Ivy Pepper, Renee Montoya, and Crispus Allen.
A new detective at Gotham City Police Department working to find the man who killed Bruce Wayne's parents and battling the corruption of Gotham City's Police Department.[10] He is a war veteran and his father was the Gotham City District Attorney before his death in a car accident when James was 13.
A low-ranking member in Fish Mooney's gang where his job has him holding an umbrella over Mooney in the rain. He has a potentially lethal falling out with Mooney after he is discovered to be a police informant, which results in a brutal beating, leaving him with a limp and odd way of walking which results in the nickname "Penguin". He escapes an attempt on his life, allegedly orchestrated by Don Falcone, with the help of Gordon.[12][13]
The orphaned son of Thomas and Martha Wayne who is under the care of Alfred Pennyworth. Traumatized by the murder of his parents, Bruce has been doing his part to find the identity of his parent's killer while showing concerns of some illegal activities done by members of his father's company. In a later life, Bruce will go on to fight crime in his adulthood as Batman.[14]
The Captain of the Gotham City Police Department's homicide squad and the boss of James Gordon and Harvey Bullock.[12] She is an honest cop that wants to do something about the rampant corruption in her department, but fears for her family's safety.
A young homeless thief. Since witnessing the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne while memorizing what the murderer looked like without the mask, Cat has been lingering around the borders of Wayne Manor which leads to her befriending Bruce Wayne.[14]
A nightclub owner and mobster who leads a gang under Don Falcone, whom she aims to overthrow. She operates in Gotham's red-light district despite the heavy presence of the Italian Mafia. Mooney sometimes provides information to Detective Bullock, who has a sweet spot for her.[17]
A detective in the Major Crimes Unit of the Gotham City Police Department. She was revealed to have had a relationship with Barbara Kean.[16]
Andrew Stewart-Jones as Detective Crispus Allen: A detective in the Major Crimes Unit of the Gotham City Police Department who is Renee Montoya's partner.[16]
A Mafia Don and businessman who is Fish Mooney's superior and has specific members of both the Gotham City government and the Gotham City Police Department on his payroll. Upon first encountering Gordon, he at first dismisses his idealism as naive. His hold on Gotham is challenged by the rival Maroni family and his allies such as Fish Mooney and the Russian Mob. Several of his caporegimes and even his underboss Jimmy Saviano have also shown signs of treachery.[18]
The Mayor of Gotham City who is in Carmine Falcone's pocket. Superficially congenial, he is indifferent and contemptuous of most of Gotham's citizens and ruthless towards anyone who would endanger his political standing and criminal associations.
A young vegan girl who is the abused daughter of Mario Pepper (who was framed for the Wayne murders) who enjoys tending to her plants. After her mother committed suicide by cutting her wrists sometime after her father's death, Ivy Pepper escaped from juvenile hall (which was part of Mayor Aubrey James' plan for street kids) and lives on the streets while maintaining contact with Selina Kyle.
Drew Powell as Butch Gilzean: Fish Mooney's right-hand man and mob enforcer. Victor Zsasz later "works on him" so that he would obey Oswald's every commands.
Carol Kane as Gertrud Kapelput: The overly possessive, heavily-accented mother of Oswald Cobblepot.[19]
An up-and-coming Mafia Don who is a rival of Carmine Falcone and the owner of a restaurant. His territory includes Gotham's Little Italy neighborhood as well as the waterfront. Sal also controls Gotham City's drug trade, unions, and gun smuggling.[20]
Makenzie Leigh as Liza:
A singer who has applied for an opening at Fish Mooney's nightclub and subsequently an agent for Mooney to seduce and kill Don Falcone.She was initially hesitant to follow Fish's orders and is subsequently strangled to death by Falcone following being exposed.
J. W. Cortes as Detective Alvarez: A member of the Gotham City Police Department.
A sadistic hitman who is loyal to Carmine Falcone and is assisted by a number of female associates. He carves a tally mark into his skin for every person he kills.
A physician at Arkham Asylum who works in the female ward. After enlisting as a medical examiner at Gotham City Police Department, Leslie enters a relationship with Jim Gordon.[22]
Guest
Sharon Washington as Molly Mathis: A middle management worker at Wayne Enterprises who is part of the illegal activities done by some of the company's members.
Chelsea Spack as Kristen Kringle: An archivist at Gotham City Police Department to whom Edward Nygma is attracted to.
The corrupt CEO of Sionis Investments. He secretly ran an underground fight club before he was publicly exposed in a struggle with James Gordon and arrested by the police.
During Bruce Wayne's brief time as a student at a school, fellow student Tommy Elliot bullied and teased Wayne until he was confronted by Wayne, who beat Tommy Elliot with his late father's watch wrapped around his fist.
Alex Corrado as Gabriel: A thug who works as Oswald Cobblepot's assistant.
A former mafiabank robber who uses electricity-based weapons and technology in his vendetta against Maroni. Following his arrest, he passes himself off as an inmate of Arkham Asylum, under the alias "Jack Gruber", in which he experiments on other inmates with electroconvulsive therapy. He escapes from the asylum with his ideal prototype of a factotum, Aaron Helzinger, after killing two guards and the asylum's director. Buchinsky is later recaptured in a struggle with James Gordon.
Kevin McCormick as Aaron Helzinger: An inmate upon whom Jack Buchinsky experimented.[24]
A corrupt narcotics detective in Gotham City Police Department who has an interest in Kristen Kringle and openly mocks Edward Nygma. He is later arrested by Gordon and Essen for killing Leon Winkler.
A serial killer posing as a member of a support group for people with severe phobias, named "Todd." Crane kidnaps members of the support group and extracts their adrenal glands while exposing them to their greatest fear before killing them. Crane uses the adrenal glands to create a fear-inducing toxin that he uses to eradicate his own fear. Crane is killed in a gunfight with James Gordon and Harvey Bullock.
The teenage son of Gerald Crane, who forced him to take a fear-inducing hallucinogen to wipe away his ability to feel fear. He now struggles constantly with fear and helplessness.
Robert Gorrie as John Grayson: A member of the Flying Grayson's at Haly's Circus who gets engaged to Mary Lloyd after a dispute is resolved between their two families.
Abbi Snee as Mary Lloyd: A performer at Haly's Circus who is the fiancé and sometimes rival of John Grayson.
Dr. Francis Dulmacher is a European mad scientist.[27] The Dollmaker was the mastermind behind the street child trafficking ring that was foiled by James Gordon and Harvey Bullock. The Dollmaker is later behind the abductions of people in which he has their organs harvested by his men to be used in his as-yet-unknown experiments.
A young, wealthy and seductive serial killer who lures women and subjects them to "tests" as he searches for the perfect mate. He then murders the women once they fail to meet his impossible standard.
Jeffrey Combs as the unnamed prison manager:[29][30] The prison manager for the Dollmaker who is harvesting human body parts.
Rookie detective James Gordon and his partner Harvey Bullock are assigned to the case of the murder of Thomas (Grayson McCouch) and Martha Wayne (Brette Taylor), which was witnessed by street orphan Selina Kyle. Gordon meets the Waynes' son, Bruce, empathizing with him due to his witnessing of his own father's death. Their investigation leads them to a parolee named Mario Pepper, whom Bullock shoots when he flees and attacks Gordon. They discover that Pepper had been framed leading them to mobstress Fish Mooney. Mooney has them captured but they are saved by Mooney's superior and Mafia boss, Carmine Falcone. In exchange, Falcone orders Gordon to kill Oswald Cobblepot, a low-level member of Mooney's gang and informant for Gotham MCU investigators Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen. Gordon fakes Cobblepot's death, telling him to never return to Gotham. Gordon and Bullock are celebrated for solving the Wayne murders, but Gordon confesses the truth to Bruce and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth. As Gordon leaves, Kyle is seen lingering around the borders of Wayne Manor.
The murder of a homeless man leads Gordon and Bullock to investigate the abductions of street kids by Patti (Lili Taylor) and Doug (Frank Whaley), underlings of the Dollmaker posing as members of the Mayor's Homeless Outreach Program. Meanwhile, Oswald Cobblepot takes refuge in a rented trailer after his faked death, plotting his return to Gotham City. After Patti and Doug escape, with Quillinformer worker Morry Quillan (Wayne Duvall) captured, Mayor Aubrey James announces plans to help Gotham's homeless kids, which involves rounding them up and shipping them out of town. Patti and Doug return and hijack one of the buses of street kids, including Selina Kyle. After Bullock's interrogation of Quillan, Gordon obtains a clue that leads to Trident International Shipping. Gordon and Bullock arrive and catch Patti and Doug while encountering Kyle. While Bruce has plans to find a way to help the children, Gordon meets with Kyle who states that she has been watching him during his visits with Bruce and might have some information on the person who shot the Waynes.
Gordon and Bullock track a vigilante who targets corrupt Gotham citizens and nicknamed "Balloonman" for strapping his victims to weather balloons. Montoya and Allen question Gordon about Cobblepot, who returns to Gotham to get revenge on Mooney. He gets a job at Mafia Don Sal Maroni's restaurant, and is befriended by Maroni himself. Mooney arranges for Falcone's lover Natalia to be disfigured in a phony mugging after Falcone's men severely beat a waiter with whom Mooney had been sexually coupled. Gordon realizes that "Balloonman" is social worker Davis Lamond (Dan Bakkedahl), who was driven to become the Balloonman because of corrupt officials refusing to aid children on the streets. He warns Gordon that more vigilantes will follow in his path. At his apartment later, Gordon receives a surprise visit from Cobblepot.
Gordon learns of the Arkham Plan when he visits Bruce Wayne, where Alfred mentions that Falcone and Mayor James are backing the project that will improve the Arkham District. An unnamed hitman (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) has been targeting the city council members involved in the Arkham Project. After an attack on Maroni's restaurant by three masked men, Cobblepot is promoted to restaurant manager by Maroni, following his action of saving a bag of money and the death of the previous manager. Mooney pits two female singers against each other for her nightclub job opening, with the winner being Liza. Mayor James holds a conference about the Arkham Plan, announcing that Falcone will handle small housing development projects and Maroni will be refurbishing the Asylum. Later, Cobblepot kills the three masked robbers who had attacked Maroni's restaurant, who it turns out had been hired for just that purpose by Cobblepot himself, by serving them poisoned cannolis.
Bruce plans to find a way to speak to the board members of Wayne Enterprises to learn their connections to the Arkham District Project. A new drug called "Viper" is hitting the street where the user gains super-strength, but eventually kills them. Maroni plans to rob a casino owned by Falcone, and Cobblepot reveals his past. Gordon learns that "Viper" (which is a prototype of Venom) is being distributed at a charity event held by WellZyn and Wayne Enterprises. Gordon shoots the canister on the roof and former WellZyn employee Stan Potolsky (Daniel London) is exposed, jumping off as he suggests they check out Warehouse 39, where Gordon and Bullock later find nothing. As Mooney makes plans to conspire against Falcone with her lover and Russian mob boss Nikolai, a disguised Liza visits him in the park where she shares her opera music with him.
Ten years ago, a masked killer calling himself the "Spirit of the Goat" targeted the first born of Gotham City's elite. The Goat targets a girl named Shelley Lawson, which leads a younger Bullock and his partner Detective Dix (Dan Hedaya) to try and rescue her. When Lawson is found dead, they find the killer, Randall Milkie, who claims that "Randall Milkie is dead" as he tries to attack them. Milkie is shot down by Bullock after Dix falls through a trap door and ends up badly injured. Ten years later, Bullock finds Robert Hastings' daughter, Amanda, murdered by someone with the same "Goat" motive. Upon surgery, Harvey sees a penny inside her neck, Milkie's trademark, which only he and Dix knew, which meant that he was not an imposter. They find out that Hastings' psychotherapist Dr. Marks (Susan Misner) hypnotized both Milkie and the new killer to become the Goat to scare Gotham City's rich and corrupt. The "murder" of Cobblepot is also investigated, with Gordon the prime suspect as Montoya and Allen finally find a witness near the river. When they attempt to arrest Gordon and Bullock, Cobblepot enters the police station, causing friction between Bullock and Gordon.
Gordon takes Barbara to the bus station, telling her to leave Gotham. Cobblepot leads Carbone and two other henchmen to Nikolai's hideout, killing him and Carbone. The escalating mob war is put down with a land trade between the two mafia families. A drunken Bullock re-evaluates his choice for helping Gordon, and the two partners attempt to arrest the mayor and Falcone, but they give up when it is revealed that Falcone and hitman Victor Zsasz have Barbara, who had come back to try and negotiate with Falcone for Gordon. As Falcone later tends to his chickens, Cobblepot visits him, and Falcone tells him that everything is going as Cobblepot predicted. In a flashback to the night they had met Gordon, it is shown that Cobblepot and Falcone had formed a deal, in which Falcone would place Gordon in charge of killing Cobblepot, giving Cobblepot a chance at surviving, and in exchange, Cobblepot would forge an alliance with Maroni, snitching for Falcone. Cobblepot tells Falcone that Mooney and Nikolai are conspiring against him.
Bruce returns to school, where he has some trouble with the students, including Tommy Elliot (Cole Vallis), who made fun of his parents' death and asks Alfred to teach him how to defend himself. Gordon and Bullock investigate Richard Sionis (Todd Stashwick) who is hosting an illegal and deadly fight club where the victims are those who applied for Sionis Investments. Meanwhile, Liza's loyalty to Fish Mooney begins to falter when she learns of Mooney's plan to eventually kill Don Falcone, but Mooney presses her to steal a ledger from the Falcone's office that may be used to incriminate him. When Gordon is caught at the site of the fight club, Bullock asks GCPD for help finding Gordon. After "The Mask" and those involved are arrested, Gordon is informed by Detective Alvarez that Selina was apprehended after robbing a dress store.
Gordon has Selina placed at Wayne Manor for her safety. During a prison transport from Blackgate Penitentiary to St. Mark Psychiatric Hospital, insane bomb maker Ian Hargrove (Leslie Odom, Jr.) is taken by the Russian mob, who are working against Falcone following Nikolai's death. Gordon meets with Harvey Dent, who suspects tycoon Dick Lovecraft may be behind the Wayne murders. When Gordon and Bullock find Hargrove at an abandoned metal factory, they are ambushed by Russian mob thugs who make off with Hargrove. Manipulated by Fish Mooney, the new Russian boss Gregor Kasyanov (Steve Cirbus) and his crew targets Falcone's cache of money, but when a police standoff ensues, the Russians' armored truck explodes via remote control by Butch Gilzean. Oswald visits Liza at her apartment, telling her that he knows that she is a spy for Fish and that he won't tell Falcone. At a press conference, Mayor James states that Arkham Asylum will be reopened to house the criminally insane, including Ian Hargrove. Later that night, Gordon leaves a message on Barbara's phone, unaware that she has gone back to sleeping with Renee Montoya.
Assassins led by Copperhead infiltrate Wayne Manor, but Alfred fends them off, allowing Bruce and Selina to escape. Alfred seeks Gordon and Bullock help to find the pair. Cobblepot tells Falcone that there is a mole working for him within Mooney's ranks. Dent suspects Dick Lovecraft hired the assassins. Meanwhile, Falcone kills Irish gangster Bannion for failing to guard the armory, and increases the tribute to be paid to him by all of his gang leaders and mafiosi. Selina tells Bruce that the assassins were after her, not him, and leads him to an underground area used as a mall for street kids. They see Ivy Pepper, who tells Selina that her fence Clyde is operating in the Narrows. Gordon finds Lovecraft, who claims those after Selina are also after him and gives Gordon some files about the Wayne Enterprise stocks. The two are attacked by the same assassins who kill Lovecraft and knock Gordon unconscious. Bruce and Selina visit Clyde, only to be grabbed by his associates. The assassins arrive to claim Selina, but she knocks one out, just as Bullock and Alfred arrive. Copperhead stalks Bruce, demanding to know where Selina is. Clyde and those involved are arrested. Following Lovecraft's "suicide", Mayor James reassigns Gordon to Arkham Asylum. Selina kisses Bruce.
After the death of Dick Lovecraft, James Gordon was reassigned to guard duty at Arkham Asylum where he works under the asylum's director Dr. Gerry Lang (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.). During his first week, investigates a series of attacks on prisoners with the help of Dr. Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin). Meanwhile, Mooney discusses her plan to overthrow Don Falcone with underboss Jimmy Saviano. Saviano thinks he should be the new boss but Mooney is sure she is the best candidate. Oswald Cobblepot is arrested by the police for trying to further extort some dock workers already paying protection money to Sal Maroni. Gordon, Bullock, and Essen discover that the person attacking prisoners was Jack Gruber (Christopher Heyerdahl), who then escapes from Arkham with his associate Aaron Helzinger (Kevin McCormick), after killing several guards and Dr. Lang. Cobblepot is eventually bailed out by Maroni who initiated the arrest to teach Cobblepot a lesson about hubris. Saviano tries to get Butch Gilzean to join his crew and renounce Mooney, but Gilzean kills Saviano instead.
Jack Gruber and Aaron Helzinger escape from Arkham Asylum and are on a rampage through Gotham. James Gordon promises the Commissioner he will arrest Gruber within 24 hours and he is reinstated as a detective for that time. Edward Nygma tells Gordon and Bullock that Jack Gruber is an alias of Jack Buchinsky, a former bank robber for the mafia who was betrayed by Salvatore Maroni. Fish Mooney makes her move against Falcone and "abducts" Liza. Gordon and Bullock put Maroni under protective custody to use as bait to attract Buchinsky to the police station. Falcone discovers that Mooney is behind Liza's abduction, and is offered a deal. Falcone is to sign his crime family over to Mooney's gang in exchange for the opportunity for him and Liza to leave for Italy. Buchinsky attacks the police station in search of Maroni. Gordon, protected by rubber boots provided by Nygma, is immune to the initial attack and thwarts Buchinsky's bomb. Before Falcone goes through with the deal, Cobblepot informs him that Liza was always working for Mooney. Falcone confronts Mooney and Liza at the former's club, and strangles Liza to death. Victor Zsasz and several mercenaries working for Falcone then take both Mooney and Butch Gilzean prisoner, while the Don gives Cobblepot a chance to mock his former boss, as he has inherited her nightclub as well as what is left of her gang. For living up to his end of the deal, Gordon is reinstated as a detective.
In an unknown location, Fish Mooney is strapped to a stretcher where Falcone's top servant Bob will be in charge of torturing her. Bullock introduces Gordon to Arnold Flass. The three meet with a night janitor named Leon Winkler who was a witness in a public homicide. When at the police station, Winkler is visited by a mysterious person who kills him. Edward Nygma states that the weapon used on Winkler was an ice pick. Gordon suspects that a cop is behind this as Sarah Essen tells him not to take action without her say-so. Upon returning from Switzerland, Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth encounter Ivy Pepper who has been sent to carry a message to Selina Kyle. Gilzean manages to free himself and severely beats Bob, then frees Fish Mooney. In the archives, Flass mocks Nygma's crush on Kristen Kringle. Gordon visits Cobblepot at the nightclub, where he meets Cobblepot's mother, Gertrud. Gordon asks Cobblepot if he has any information about Flass. Victor Zsasz finds Bob and kills him before informing Falcone. Bruce is visited by Selina and gives her a snow globe. Selina wants Bruce to distance himself from her, and now claims she did not see the face of the man who killed his parents. Gordon eventually finds evidence that exposes Flass' involvement in Winkler's death as Flass is arrested. Mooney leaves town to lay low but vows to take revenge against Cobblepot.
James Gordon and Harvey Bullock investigate a serial killer who is targeting members of a fear support group and extracting their adrenal glands as he uses their greatest fear against them. After a brief encounter with Selina Kyle, Gordon visits Bruce who, in light of Selena's recent claim of false witness towards his parents' killer's identity, absolves Gordon of his promise to find him. Gordon and Bullock discover that the serial killer is Gerald Crane (Julian Sands), the father of Jonathan Crane, who had been posing as "Todd", a member of the same support group as his victims. They are able to save one of his victims but Crane evades capture. Meanwhile, Maroni discovers from Fish Mooney that Cobblepot has been working against him and tries to kill him at his cabin upstate, but Cobblepot escapes Maroni's wrath and returns to Gotham in a church bus. At the GCPD, Edward Nygma frames the medical examiner Dr. Guerra for hoarding body parts after Guerra has him suspended by Essen for his repeated corpse probing. After Dr. Guerra is suspended, Gordon informs Leslie Tompkins (who he is now dating) that a job as the GCPD medical examiner has opened up. Mooney tries to leave Gotham City by boat, but the boat is attacked by mercenaries where one of them engages Mooney in a climactic charge.
When Gerald Crane targets another victim, James Gordon and Harvey Bullock investigate his background and discover that he was a biology teacher whose wife died in a fire accident that he was too scared to rescue her from. Believing that fear is a human flaw, he harvested adrenal glands in order to use them to create a fear serum that makes people see their greatest fears, hoping that it will help them face and overcome them. Meanwhile, Fish Mooney is abducted by the mercenaries and taken to a rowdy prison-like area. Bruce Wayne goes on a treacherous hike. Falcone tells Cobblepot to renovate Fish's nightclub as his own before speaking to Maroni about him - Maroni agrees to let Cobblepot live in exchange for having a judge placed in his pocket. James and Harvey track Crane down to his home, where after injecting his son Jonathan with the fear serum, he is killed in a gunfight. Jonathan is rushed to the hospital afterwards. Mooney kills the leader of the prisoners named Mace and then takes his place upon finding out the prisoners are being harvested for organs. At the opening of Oswald's (the newly-renovated Fish Mooney's), Don Maroni arrives with his entourage and promises Cobblepot that once Falcone dies, he will kill him. At the hospital, the doctor says to Gordon that due to the amount of serum injected into him, Jonathan may never stop seeing his greatest fear, which in his case are animated scarecrows.
Barbara Kean returns to Gotham to discover Ivy Pepper and Selina Kyle in her apartment. Elsewhere, Fish Mooney plans to save herself and the other prisoners when they discover that they were kidnapped so that their organs can be harvested. When a snake dancer at Haly's Circus named Lila Valeska is murdered, James Gordon and Leslie Tompkins investigate as the Flying Graysons and the Lloyds are suspects. An old psychic named Paul Cicero approaches Gordon, claiming to have received a message from the dead dancer. James is skeptical and thinks the psychic is covering up for the killer. Upon deducing that her son, Jerome (Cameron Monaghan), is the killer and Cicero is his father, Jerome has a psychotic breakdown and confesses to the murder claiming to have hated her for her insistent "nagging." When customers begin to steadily decrease at Oswald Cobblepot's newly obtained club, Zsasz gives Cobblepot a tortured and completely reformed Butch Gilzean who he says is knowledgeable when it comes to maintaining clubs and has been "working on him" for days. Taking advice from Selina and Ivy, Barbara attempts to re-unite with James but is enraged when she sees him kissing Leslie, though neither of them notice her. Bruce holds a board meeting at Wayne Enterprises and voices concern to the executives that the company is involved with illegal activities. John Grayson and Mary Lloyd get engaged after the dispute between the two families are resolved. Mooney tells the lead captor at the prison named Thomas Schmidt that she would like to meet with his boss.
A group of five bandits hits up a bank with concealment over their faces and one of them wearing a red hood, stealing from the bank itself and dispersing some of the money to ensure their escape. When Gordon and Bullock speak to the bank's employees, they realize this was a pro job and they had scouted the place last week to determine their timing. Tracking down one of the thieves from security footage, they find the thief Gus Floyd (Michael Goldsmith) dead and his hood gone, taken by Clyde Destro (Jonny Coyne). Meanwhile, Oswald's is still struggling especially once it runs out of alcohol which is sold to the club by Maroni. So Butch uses some cops on his payroll to seize much of Maroni's supply for Cobblepot. The Red Hood Gang hits another bank using the same MO. With the assistance of a witness, Gordon and Bullock track down Destro, finding him wounded by a third member who took the mask. Fish meets with the unnamed prison manager (Jeffrey Combs) as his boss Dr. Francis Dulmacher is currently away. As the manager tries to take her eyes for transplant, Fish removes her own left eye and destroys it to keep it out of their hands before passing out. An old friend of Alfred's named Reginald Payne (David O'Hara) arrives at Wayne Manor homeless and unemployed and he gets taken in for a day. However, when Alfred catches him stealing from the study, Payne stabs Alfred and flees. Bruce finds Alfred wounded. Identifying the next target, the GCPD surprises the Red Hood Gang who are gunned down in a firefight with the police. Gordon is then told about what happened to Alfred. Reginald reports to Molly Mathis and the Wayne Enterprises board about the suspicions that Bruce had found on them. While the police aren't looking, the red hood is found by an unknown child.
On September 24, 2013, Fox announced that it had bypassed the traditional pilot phase and placed a straight-to-series order for Gotham, to be written and executive produced by Bruno Heller.[50]Gotham received a series order from Fox on May 5, 2014,[51] with the first season reported to consist of 16 episodes, rather than the standard 13 or 22.[52]
Fox's Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly stated, "We were only contractually obligated to order 13, and we ordered 16, because we think that’s the way that show, at least in its first iteration, will be very strong to arc to. Could we do more next season? We certainly could, but that’s where we're starting with that one. That show is going to have a very strong, serialized element."[53] On October 13, Fox ordered an additional six episodes for the show, bringing the first season order to a full 22 episodes.[54] Speaking of the project at the 2014 winter TCA press tour, Reilly described the series as "this operatic soap that has a slightly larger-than-life quality. This is not some adjunct companion series. This is the Batman franchise, just backing it up [in chronology]."[55] He later added that the series is separate from any DC film universe.[56]
In February 2014, it was reported that production would begin in New York City in March.[11]
Music
In July 2014, it was announced that Graeme Revell would be the composer for the series.[59]
Release
Broadcast
The series premiered in Australia on October 12, 2014.[60] In Canada, it is shown in simulcast on with the United States airing, and rerun later on another channel.[61] In New Zealand, it premiered on on September 28, 2014.[62] In the United Kingdom, it premiered on October 13, 2014.[63] In Ireland, it premiered on January 26, 2015.[64]
Marketing
File:Gotham Cast Banner.jpgPromotional banner featuring (from left to right): McKenzie, Logue, Mazouz, Taylor, Smith, and Bicondova
In early October 2014, market research firm Survata polled more than 1,400 viewers to determine that Gotham was the major TV premiere, out of 24, that viewers were most interested to watch that year.[67]
Ratings
In Australia, the first and second episodes received 1.24 million and 896,000 viewers, respectively.[68] The timeshifted broadcasts were watched by 1.43 and 1.03 million, respectively.[69] The Canadian debut got 3.38 million viewers, making it the second most-watched telecast of the night and week.[70] The UK premiere was watched by 3.20 million viewers. The airings on the 1 hour and 24 hour timeshift channels were watched by 597,000 and 142,000 viewers, respectively.[71] In New Zealand, it was the most-watched program on the network, with 278,540 viewers.[72] The timeshifted version was watched by 39,580 viewers.[73]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the first season of the show a rating of 90% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's consensus states, "High production values, a talented cast, and an appealingly stylized approach to the Batman mythos help Gotham overcome its occasionally familiar themes."[88]Metacritic gives the show a score of 71 out of 100, based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[89]
David Hinckley of the New York Daily News praised the first episode for playing "like a 45-minute movie, with stunning visuals that never feel like a shrunken TV version of the Batman films against which it will inevitably be measured" and lauded Logue's Harvey Bullock as a scene-stealer.[90] The San Jose Mercury News' Chuck Barney called the pilot "a fun, dark, moody and well-paced first hour" and McKenzie's James Gordon a commanding lead, while saying Jada Pinkett Smith is "an absolute blast to watch."[91] Matt Brennan of Indiewire said that Gotham was "the perfect antidote to superhero fatigue", praising the "bright, pop-inflected aesthetic, with urban backdrops that appear as though cut out from the panels of a comic book."[92]
In January 2015, Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly criticized the first half of season one along with the mid-season premiere. He found the personalities of the most characters "already nearly fully formed; all they can become is more or less than what they already are." Jensen added that Gordon not being Gotham's redeemer hurt the premise of the show and heavily criticized how Jada Pinkett Smith is underused. In the end, he does not see Gotham "as a show for comic book fanboys" but rather as "a post-fanboy, or fanboy-irrelevant."[93]
