Pilot episodes are notorious for clunky exposition, and it's best to give any series a few episodes before writing it off entirely. To hold the writing of a pilot against the premise of the show would be almost unfair. But it was honestly difficult to take some of the dialogue of the Gotham pilot seriously, to the extent that it's hard not to wonder whether or not any of the producers had thought to read the script aloud before sending it into production. One particularly memorable example of such writing occurs in a scene between partners Gordon and Bullock as they very seriously discuss Mario Pepper's possible framing:
"Maybe Falcone wanted the Waynes killed," says Gordon. "Why would such a nutty idea even enter your head?" counters Bullock. "Montoya from MCU," answers Gordon. "That pillhead looney bird!" Bullock exclaims.
Whoa there, Detective Bullock. There are children watching. Quite aside from lines sounding as though they must have been dubbed over from expletives to sound so ridiculous, others are so redundant as to bore. Beyond even the loose standards for pilots, Jim Gordon's name is repeated so many times that to include it as part of a drinking game would have viewers passing out before the halfway point. Certain straightforward plot points are reiterated without much in the way of subtlety. Falcone more or less repeats the same exposition of Gordon's background that was first established at the precinct. Time that could have been spent on fleshing out main characters was wasted on poor writing. Hopefully, however, the script clumsiness will prove unique to this first episode, and future installments will measure up to the premise's potential.
Fiction buff and writer. If it's on Netflix, it's probably in my queue. I've bought DVDs for the special features and usually claim that the book is better than the movie or show (and can provide examples). I've never met a TV show that I won't marathon. Follow on Twitter @lah9891 .
