A lot of critics have been hoping that Gotham would settle into its early promise as a gritty crime drama that just happened to be set in the early days of the Batman universe, rather than a cavalcade of fan service that can't stop making references to future events and mugging for the camera. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, however, so viewers are just going to have to strap in and enjoy Gotham for what it is. And what it is is a show that constantly introduces characters who will, one day, wind up as canon fodder to the Dark Knight. Except right now they're younger, more lithe, and may be less immediately evil. Or, in the case of The Penguin, so evil that he passes both Hans Gruber and the Sheriff of Nottingham combined. That's pretty evil. Stabby stabby. So far Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman and Poison Ivy have all been properly "introduced", but early reports suggest that's just the tip of the iceberg. Along with Hugo Strange the first season of Gotham will apparently also see the early debuts of Dr Victor Fries (the ironically-surnamed scientist who will eventually become Mr Freeze), Victor Zsasz (a super creepy serial killer who carves a tally into his body for each person he murders) and Jonathan Crane, another of those untraditional Arkham psychologists who goes on to harness his fear gas as bad guy Scarecrow. Zsasz seems an obvious fit to the dark world Gotham has built, Scarecrow could appear under similar auspices as Strange, but Freeze? That's going to be interesting.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
