GOTHAM EPISODE 3: The Balloonman

Tori B.'s picture

The pacing of Gotham as the episodes come and go amazes me more with each week. This week's episode was the best paced one yet, from beginning to end there was always an interesting twist to the plot that was engaging and never boring. What I also love about it too is that it's really starting to feel like a detective drama as opposed to anything else one would expect to see from a show named after the infamous Gotham City. Maybe it'll take a turn in future episodes, but for the better, I don't think it will. This episode really soldifies its place as a detective drama.

While there's certainly a lot of groundwork being played out throughout the entire series to make it clear that it's certainly not a series that one could pick and choose episodes here and there as they choose, there are certainly plots that are contained in a single episode, like The Balloonman, which gives it some accessibility to a more casual audience. Viewers who are watching out of curiosity and hype can still enjoy it for its face entertainment value while DC/Batman fans will enjoy it for that, as well as they lengthy journey taken with characters we're already so familliar with.

This episode gives us more into Jim Gordon as a character, as he hunts the mysterious 'vigilante' The Balloonman (a mysterious man who ties high profile figures to weather balloons as the justice they deserve). It presses Gordon to keep to his morals while witnessing the morals of the grim city around him. We've seen it in the previous episodes, and I'm sure we'll see it in future episodes, and what'll be interesting to witness-- seeing as he's managed to hold the same for three episodes now, is to see if he changes at all throughout the series. But it's not with Gordan that we get some new information about their character. There's a lot to be said for Barbara, and I'm sure this is just the beginning. While I'm not completely sold on Erin Richard's performance, the chemisty she has with counterpart Victoria Cartagena is papable and fascinating, and I can't wait to see how that plays out especially. Beyond Barbara and Jim, Fish, Bruce, Selina, and Oswald get a good amount of screentime-- honestly I'm surprised with how much they're giving to Oswald but they clearly have big plans for him. It's a little dissappointing to see that the rest of the characters as part of the advertising drive like Nygma and Ivy haven't had much time yet. Perhaps it's just patience that I need, but we'll see, at this point they haven't particularly lent themselves to the plot but it's too early to tell, after all there's one plot element that can't be wrapped up, the murder of the Waynes, which will obviously be the trying thread for the entire series.

It's either going to get annoying real fast or if the rest of the series plays out like this week, I think they'll do just fine. 

And I know I say that my favourite thing about this is it's cop drama genre, but I can't lie in saying that Selina and Bruce are absolutely adorable and charming and I feel rather attached to them, knowing who they grow to be.

Comments

Just watched this episode tonight (I'm one behind).  The Balloonman seemed like a villain from the psychedelic episodes of the 1960s Spider-man cartoon and the kid playing Bruce seems to have grown a lot from the pilot.