Another day, another Gotham clip. The run up for the show’s season 2 premiere has been kicked into overdrive. The last couple of weeks have seen the FOX drama release multiple clips from the upcoming season, whetting the appetites of fans with a few tasty—and intriguing—morsels of insight about what we can expect.
Starring Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Robin Lord Taylor as The Penguin - as well as new additions Michael Chiklis as Captain Nathaniel Barnes, James Frain as Theo Galavan, and Jessica Lucas as Tabitha Galavan/Tigress - season 2 of Gotham promises to take viewers deeper into the seedy underworld of Gotham City prior to Batman’s arrival. Dubbed “Rise of the Villains,” Gotham is all set to deliver even more villainous action when it returns later this month.
Coming off the heels of last week’s clip release, which featured erstwhile Gordon lover Barbara Kean getting comfortable in her new Arkham Asylum home, the latest clip from Gotham once again focuses on the villains. It also gives us our first real glimpse of the Galavan siblings and their presumably nefarious plans involving the Arkham inmates and their special talents.
Though we see little of Tabitha in the clip, Theo looks right at home among Gotham’s neo-camp vibe, suggesting, perhaps, that showrunners have finally been able to strike a balance between their gritty realism and comic book silliness. This would be a welcome change from last season, which too often floundered without ever quite figuring out just what it wanted to be, despite a few interesting twists and plot points along the way.
While the idea of forming a supergroup of baddies to do evil deeds isn’t precisely new - especially for a DC property (Suicide Squad, anyone?) - it’ll still be interesting to see how this all plays out in Gotham. With the mob successfully dealt with after last season’s events, there’s certainly an opening for some inspired criminality to begin to take hold of the City. Gotham has been aggressively pushing the idea of Jerome (Camron Monaghan) transforming into the Joker, and the last couple of clips released are doing nothing to dissuade this as a possibility. Despite the fact that his debut last season wasn't universally loved, Jerome appears to be developing nicely as a sort of proto-Joker, which could be a great arc if Gotham commits to it. Also intriguing is Barbara Kean’s character growth which, in the clips we’ve seen so far, almost has a bit of a Harley Quinn feel to it.
Despite the fact that so much has already been seen from the season 2 premiere, titled “Damned If You Do,” there can be no doubt that Gotham has a few surprises up its sleeve outside of what we’ve been given. As the villains rise, how will the corruption-ridden GCPD react to this new and growing threat? How far will Penguin and Gordon’s uneasy alliance go? What about Riddler? While the wait for season 2 is almost over, for now we’ve got plenty to think about and consider before it makes its debut. Though it’s still too early to say for sure, signs seem to point to Gotham at least learning from its mistakes last season.
Gotham season 2 premieres Monday, September 21 on FOX.
Source: FOX