It's Time To Start Watching Gotham

Gotham returned this week after an extra-long mid-season hiatus, and while 'Pieces of a Broken Mirror' may not be one of the strongest episodes this season, it does promise plenty of Gotham goodness to come... which may surprise those fans who gave up on the show after season 1. Gotham started life in 2014, and got off to something of a rocky start. The characters, the city, and the comic inspiration are all Batman-based, but the Dark Knight himself isn't the star of the show. Instead, Gotham originally promised a gritty cop-drama, set against the criminals of Gotham City, and fans weren't quite sure what to do with it.

Unlike some other super-shows, Gotham hasn't quite got geekdom buzzing, but it does have a devoted fanbase, and remains one of the top ten most popular scripted TV shows on FOX. The mid-season premiere even brought in more viewers than either Supernatural or Arrow, both of which air on the same night (2.6 million viewers, compared to 1.63 and 1.18, respectively).

Gotham has been quietly clinging on, with ratings hitting a low point at the start of season 4, but does it deserve its bad reputation, or have fans simply not caught up with how good the show has become? It may not have had a strong start, but by this point, Gotham has become a dark, campy, and gloriously weird comic book show unlike anything else on the small screen... and if you're getting a little tired of some of the other offerings, it could be time to give Gotham another shot.

The Problem With Gotham Season One

The biggest issue with the early seasons of Gotham was Batman - or the lack thereof. Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) does appear in the show, which starts with the murder of his parents, a crime that rookie cop Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) is assigned to. However, Bruce is a little kid, and was never intended to be the focus of the show. Originally, Gordon was the central figure, but he was far from the most compelling. Instead, it was the villains that stood out in the first seasons. However, the villains weren't quite enough to carry the show, as they were very different to their comic counterparts, and the first season seemed to be about cops and gangsters more than comic book bad guys.

Overall, the early seasons were just a little bit confused, and that put fans off. Was this a Batman origin story? If so, why were all the villains so much older than him? Was it a cop/mob drama, or a comic book show? It didn't seem to know if fans were meant to take it seriously or not, and although it is beautiful and inspired by some of the best comic characters around, Gotham was all over the place - so it's no wonder that so many fans ditched the show.

Steering Into The Skid: How Gotham Got Good

Things started to get better for Gotham when the series stopped taking itself seriously, and embraced the camp side of comics. We're not talking the 'holy primary colors, Batman' camp of the original '60s series, though. This is a dark and gothic take on the wilder side of comics, that steers into the skid of unrealistic villains and over-the-top plotlines. Clones of Bruce Wayne. Singing serial killers wearing pig masks and force-feeding human pie to the rich. Hard-as-nails criminal queens digging out their own eyeballs. Whip-wielding club owners, multiple resurrections, and a costume department that isn't afraid to put the mayor in a quasi-mohawk and pinstripes. A proto-Joker wearing his own face as a mask (literally. He stitched his own face back onto himself).

What Gotham has always done best is compelling villains and completely bonkers storylines, and with the more recent seasons, the show has chosen to make the most of those strengths and become something absolutely phenomenal. It's dark, it's crazy, it takes all kinds of risks, and most of the time, those risks pay off in a big way. Gotham has also really found its stride with the original choice to create a world without a time period - the costumes and the technology ranges from the '20s to the '90s, and yet it works. Gotham exists effectively in its own completely mad world, and takes the best of the Batman comic universe with it (except Batman himself, of course).

Season Four: Worth Returning To

Now, mid-season four, Gotham still isn't perfect, but it's good. It's embraced what it does well and Bruce's bat-story has been relegated to the background. It's stopped even attempting to be serious or realistic, and one of the best things is that it remains itself. In a TV world where there are now multiple very, very similar super-shows that imagine the modern world with superheroes in it (from the Arrowverse to Black Lightning to the Defenders to The Gifted to Runaways) Gotham doesn't bother competing. It does its own murderous, campy thing and because of that, it stands out. It's not trying to focus on the hero as he (or she) attempts to balance their real life with their vigilante efforts. Gotham doesn't even really have heroes; Bruce is a spoiled, drunken teen, Gordon is becoming rapidly more and more crooked as a cop, and almost everyone else is an outright villain.

Gotham has become something for comic fans who want something that's fun, but in a gruesome, gory way. It's a soap opera that isn't focused on love triangles, and it's got a gloriously noir feel for anyone sick of the brightly colored fun of the Arrowverse or the MCU.

How To Get Back Into Gotham

Of course, even if all this waxing lyrical about the madness of Gotham has piqued interest, who wants to trudge through the early seasons to get to the good stuff? Luckily, it's not necessary. Gotham moves through storylines at a breakneck speed, and viewers don't need to watch all of it in order to catch up, especially if they are already somewhat familiar with the Batman universe. Jumping in at the start of season 3 is doable, and season 4 is also an excellent starting point. For those who want to really dive in at the deep end, and pick up mid-season 4, we've got a quick recap for the most important characters (Spoiler Warning!):

Bruce, having done some solid training in the early seasons, has killed Ra's Al Ghul and become despondent about it. He fired Alfred (who has moved to the Narrows), and is now living it up as the most obnoxious teen playboy imaginable. One of his favorite spots to booze it up is the Siren Club, co-owned by Selina Kyle, Tabitha Galavan, and the Harley-Quinn-esque ex-fiancee of Jim Gordon, Barbara Kean. Elsewhere in the Narrows, another ex-flame of Jim's, Dr Lee, is a rising Queen of the underworld, helped by the Riddler, who is struggling with his split personality. The pair are also being helped by Solomon Grundy, the resurrected gangster who used to be Butch Gilzean, and who has recently remembered who he was before Barbara shot him in the head. Harvey Bullock is working as a bartender, having quit the Gotham City Police Department (where Jim is now Captain), and serving up shots to Alfred. Finally, Penguin is back in Arkham Asylum, after a phenomenal fall from grace, and incarcerated in the cell next to the fan-favorite proto-Joker, Jerome...

What's Next For Gotham Fans?

Jerome (Cameron Monaghan), of course, is one of the biggest things that fans are looking forward to seeing in the second half of this season, as the proto-Joker is sure to break out of Arkham, presumably after spending some serious time tormenting the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor). But that's not the only thing to get excited about. Ivy 3.0 (Peyton Reed) is out and about, poisoning people with her plant touch and presumably about to get into some trouble, Riddler (Cory Michael Smith) is back with his bowler hat to torment Nygma, the Mad Hatter is promised a return, Bruce is going to hallucinate his future as Batman, and it looks like Bullock (Donal Logue) and Alfred (Sean Pertwee) have their own team-up starting out in the Narrows. It's going to get even crazier, darker, and weirder, as the villains continue to make this city their playground... and in the words of Ed Nygma this week: "That is SO Gotham..."

Next: A New Poison Ivy Is Born In The Gotham Mid-Season Premiere (Review)

Gotham Continues With 'A Beautiful Darkness' On Thursday, March 8th