#kelsey liveblogs gotham

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File name ‘Pier One Imports’

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Alexander Siddig as Ra’s Al Ghul has to be one of the more inspired comic book castings ever made

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THE PIER. If Gotham is the main character on this show the THE PIER is a recurring villain.

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Love how in season 5 Penguin just uses Nygma. Turns him over to Gordon (or tries to) without blinking. Wheedles him into making him an escape plan for him and his money and then proceeds to do none of the work. Complains about him and his plans. And Nygma just goes with it. Builds him his escape route, saves him from the Ventriloquist, follows him back to the docks then follows him back from the docks. Their cooperation is always marked by the best worst power balances and s5 brings that to a delightful finish with Penguin being The Worst except for both times he saves Nygma and Nygma following Penguin around like the dog named after him. The explicit power imbalance (Nygma does everything for him) counters the implicit (Penguin will keep him alive no matter what)

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Friends. Romans. Countrywomen. Please watch Gotham (2014). Yes even the bad episodes. Yes even season 1. Be frogboiled into the spiritual child of Adam West and Denny O’Neil. Executed by the team the network forgot. Starring Sean Pertwee and a bunch of nobodies. Lose your sense of self, good taste, and propriety as you watch plotlines coalesce and then dissipate into the ether whence they came. Start a running tally of the costumes that slay. Admire the tailored suits and leather gear and impeccably chosen ties. You may not like it. You will not be the same.

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Including resurrections, the Gotham recurring character kill count is:

Penguin kills Fish* (1), Butch (2), Tabitha, Isabella, Carbone

Nygma kills Kringle, Penguin*, Lee*, Penn, Doherty

Gordon kills Fish (2), Jerome* (1), Galavan* (1)

Barbara kills Butch* (1), Ra’s (2)

Bruce kills Ra’s* (1), Ra’s (2)

Jerome kills Essen, himself

Fish kills Maroni

Lee kills Nygma*

Butch kills Galavan (2)

Tabitha kills Barbara*

Sofia kills Carmine

Ra’s kills Alfred*

Jeremiah kills Ecco

*later revived

Of Penguin and Riddler I’m going to give the top murder prize to Penguin for the murder of a few minor characters and a lot of bit characters. Nygma despite being the most annoying man known to man has a lower total body count just by virtue of not murdering his way through season 1.

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Dieselpunk urban combat finale about the defense of a city against the forces of governmental neglect and gentrification? Good. Big bad defeated by attaching a bat-attracting signal? GREAT.

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At the end of my journey I take everything back. Gotham does not have contempt for its audience. It is not a bad show. It is an inconsistent show; an incoherent show; it swings wildly between stylized camp and clunky cringe; it is so cruel and bigoted that it sometimes feels like watching it is punishment for watching it. Yet it is made with love. An immature, flighty love, but a love still there. From one night of passion between a gender neutral girlboss and a closeted clown came the show bible for s2-5. The awkward scripts and bizarre stage directions are a fiery blaze upon the printer paper. It is a show that is trying so hard to be something. It gets halfway there. It crawls on its hands and knees to the finish line. It is a show that is shouting out to you, the audience, begging you to return its feelings. I do, I say. I do.

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Alfred and Selina’s relationship. Her first murder was his best friend. But also was the guy who tried to kill him. He hit a child. He makes her dinner when she shows up at the house. He’s too protective of Bruce to be a mentor of any kind to Selina while Selina views him more as an obstacle than a person for a long while. Eventually Selina loses her other mentors and her friends which leaves Alfred as…someone she trusts. Eventually Alfred realizes she’s Bruce’s only friend and that means his protection of Bruce extends to her. They neither like nor dislike each other but they are family.

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The production/costume/art design through all 5 seasons of Gotham is the strongest part of the show. There’s a sharp shift from s1 to s2 as the setting goes from pseudo-40s NYC to a richer horror-y setting and again from s4 to s5 with the destruction of the city. Funny enough, though there’s a strong throughline from s2 to s5 the entire staff does change over beween s4 and s5. Budget? Availability? Whatever the cause it shows that it’s the showrunning team with as strong a sense of the aesthetic as the actual art department.

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Return of the parent issues!

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A byproduct of the Gotham kids growing up over the course of the series is they cast Selina as ‘cute kid’ as opposed to ‘future beauty’, resulting in her older teen self looking like a revolutionary Normal Person instead of Cardboard Cutout Doll

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[most bored voice possible] well, I’m still alive

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Comparing the two maligned s4 romances

-> Sofia/Oz. Interesting. Fine. The arc demonstrates Oz’ growth from the easily-manipulated sucker of s3 to the unhinged paranoiac he out to be. Introduced Martín as a fun little foil for Oz. Delivers plenty of flavour to the story by drawing neat little parallels between the Fish-Carmine-Oz-Sofia quartet. Sofia is more than just a 1D half-season threat, she gets one right over on Jim and tears him down (bonus points). Her wardrobe slays. Bonding over parent issues. It works.

-> Ed/Lee. Rancid. Horrible. Cruel and unusual punishment for those that made it this far. The only thing that makes it tolerable is how badly it ends for Ed and how much of a fucking clown it makes him look (lampshaded by I don’t know the literal clown costume). It’s a crime, and I hated it

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The truth of Nygma is that he is an extremely misogynistic, extremely homophobic bisexual man. Love life is hindered by him having 99.96% contempt for anyone he’s interested in

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I like it when it’s busy at the underground fight club and the gay Riddler gets mean