Not that Detective James Gordon gets off that easy, either. Ben McKenzie is still best known for his leading role as teenager ne'er-do-well Ryan from The OC, but since then he had a genuinely typecast-busting part in cop drama Southland, and now he's trying to parley that latter success into what he's doing on Gotham. Unfortunately, despite being the leading man, he hasn't had much to do. And that's mainly because of the writing, rather than McKenzie himself. Despite being the main character, Gordon hasn't had a whole lot at stake in Gotham. Well, there's big abstract things like his soul and the fate of the GCPD, but who can identify with that? There was him and Barbara but, well, that didn't seem all that affected by his day job until she went off the deep end entirely and instantaneously. Giving Gordon some sort of anchor, and some sort of stakes besides OH NO HE HAS TO BE GOOD BECAUSE HE IS THE HERO. McKenzie is a good actor, let him act!
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/
