Complaints about The Joker aside, as a prequel Gotham has a lot of freedom to veer from the comic books, especially as the early years of Batman's villains and supporting cast have rarely been explored in great detail. Even so, there are times when Gotham's attempt to line up with the source material begin to feel forced and unnecessary to the overall narrative of the series. Oswald Cobblepot's ridiculous walk is a good example of this (have his legs still not healed from the beating Fish gave him in the pilot?), as are the forced nods to the fact that Selina Kyle will one day become Catwoman. Gotham needs to tell their stories in the here and now without constantly relying on what these characters will one day become. That stuff's obviously important, but viewers don't need weekly reminders of Selina's future by having her drinking a big bottle of milk and telling people to call her "Cat." As controversial as it would be in the eyes of some, it honestly wouldn't hurt for Gotham to start killing characters who the audience are sure will be safe. Some of the bigger name villains are probably off limits, but would Batman's life be all that drastically altered without The Riddler or Two-Face? So long as their stories are effectively told within the confines of these formative years for Bruce Wayne, it really shouldn't matter if they're taken out of the equation early. This may sound drastic (especially after complaining about them veering from the source material with The Joker), but Gotham risks getting in a rut of introducing disposable characters like Fish who we all know aren't going to make it out of the season alive simply because they're newly created. The chemistry between Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin is a million times better than it ever was between him and Erin Richards, so why not have Jim end up with Leslie in this world? Sure, it's a big change from the comics, but it would help to not only give the series a much needed element of unpredictability. It would also shake Gotham up enough so that it doesn't feel like it's simply killing time until all of these characters end up where fanboys know they're going to...
