8 Reasons Gotham's Second Season Could Fail Miserably

Rarely is personal or altruistic heroism enough by itself anymore. On Gotham, Gordon is a war hero whose father was a district attorney and who always seems to have a love interest to protect, yet the kind of heroism which puts Gordon in danger is usually tied to his quest to clean up the Gotham Police Department. While this will always seem admirable, it's likely a character like Gordon could need stronger, more personal motivations.

Batman's motivation is rooted his parents' death by violent crime. Aside from parental loss being universally poignant, by the time Batman was created and his back story revealed, comic book readers of the time included young adults about to go to war in a society for which urban crime and moral ambiguity were all too familiar themes. 

People in the 1920's frequented nightclubs and "speak-easy's" run by mobsters they otherwise feared because many defied Prohibition by finding creative ways to serve alcohol. Robbers like John Dillinger became quasi-celebrities in the 1930's for robbing banks that had to deny so many their money during the Great Depression.

Gotham is an exciting show, but without stronger motivations, Gordon's dangerous and excessive efforts to enforce the law and reform his department - often by himself, more or less - could lose audiences along with its credibility.