Fox takes viewers to Gotham starting Monday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. The freshman drama is set in the DC Comics city before Bruce Wayne dons his cowl to become Batman and instead focuses on Detective Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie). Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) executive produces. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.
“Gotham arrives as its own entity, a wholly-realized universe, in a separate time and place, with enough intriguing characters and a stylized visual presence that is immediately intriguing.”
—Tim Goodman, THR
“The show operates on a slightly heightened sense of reality — think of it as a hint of Frank Miller's Sin City in an otherwise grounded reality.”
—Jason Hughs, The Wrap
“It’s too easy to render Gotham City as a loose collection of alleys and hideouts surrounding police headquarters and Gotham puts in the effort to portray a metropolis (not Metropolis) that could give rise to such a distinct, diffuse cast of characters.”
—Erik Adams A.V. Club
“A lot of the introductions and expository signposts seem to have been wedged into the script, there are a number of outright cheesy moments, and the whole pilot raises the question of whether we really want to know every detail of how these beloved characters finally ended up doing the things we love to watch them do.”
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture
“There’s also a potentially interesting exploration of morality in the face of corruption, concerning just how much Gordon will have to compromise his values to survive, and in the process do some good, in this seamy world.”
—Brian Lowry, Variety
