Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

1More Film Blog

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Gotham Episode 1.10 Recap: Lovecraft

Gotham Episode 1.10 Recap: Lovecraft

Last updated on: November 26, 2014 at 1:52 pm by Scott W. Kingsolver

Gotham Episode 1.10 Recap: Lovecraft 2014-11-26T13:52:15-05:00 Scott W. Kingsolver

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Gotham‘s 10th episode, “Lovecraft” marked it’s halfway point of the inaugural season and demonstrates how far the show has come in 10 weeks.

This episode was a solid “chase” theme with Bruce and Selina having to outrun some would-be assassin’s with Alfred, Gordon and even Bullock on the trail to save them. We also got to the the mob war continue and drove us closer to poor Liza seeing her world cave in.

Let’s get to the Good and Bad of this week as we also take a longer look back over the entirety of the season as well

The Bad

Has the show really explained why Bruce talks the way he does? Sometimes he speaks more like a young Sheldon Cooper than he does a young Batman. Was he like this before his parents were murdered? Bullock and Gordon’s dialogue suffers from some of the same awkwardness that Bruce’s does and there are times when this really comes off as a blight during otherwise enjoyable episodes.

Normally, I enjoy just about any scene involving Oswald, but this week I think his scenes stood out as the most extraneous. I understand why they wanted to include them, but I think they weren’t necessary. The audience came into the episode knowing Oswald is in a precarious position and has to play out his plan of using his knowledge of Liza’s allegiance, and they came away from the episode with the same thing.

I know it serves to move the plot, but the reasoning of Gordon being sent to Arkham was pretty spotty, even within the internal logic of Gotham’s world. This does open up an entire realm of possibilities. and if you’ve read about the rest of the season can probably guess how a certain character will be introduced through Gordon’s time at Arkham, but still…I would’ve preferred it maybe if the motivation was Gordon going to Arkham undercover or something to that effect.

Harvey Dent’s only be in in two episodes now, and we already see him as kind of snotty, and not very good at his job. The entire tragedy of Harvey turning into Two-Face has always been that Harvey was a great servant of justice as DA and that he was generally a great person. My hope is that Gotham does not turn him away from that in favor of making him part of the larger problem the city itself has with corruption.

The Good

Bruce, Alfred and Selina. The show has danced around really focusing on the Bruce/Alfred dynamic for extended sections of time and has used Selina more sparingly than some of the other characters. “LoveCraft” and last week’s episode were nice touches as we got something of a break from the Mob-related arcs and got a chance to see Bruce and Selina getting to know one another and Alfred’s growing relationship with Bruce. The latter is an obvious element for Gotham to focus on, which they have done well, but the interaction between the future Bat and Cat has really made the last two episodes shine. It creates so much more depth because we know where these two end up in the future, and it makes these scenes feel that much more important.

Sean Pertwee is absolutely dialed in and nailing it as Alfred. Michael Caine will always be thought of fondly as Alfred, but for the most part he was being Michael Caine (which is admittedly very entertaining). Pertwee, however, is bringing an edge to Alfred that many have always enjoyed as well as a warmth that brings “all the feels” to fans who want Bruce to have something to fight for as well as a model for Bruce to learn about taking care of others as he eventually becomes apt to do.

“She’s scary.” While the acting performance between the two was a bit odd, the dynamic between Selina and Ivy was really interesting and establishing Ivy as odd and frightening early on separates her from Bruce and Selina and hopefully positions the character for some interesting things as the series progresses.

Mid-Season Grade

That brings us to look at the series as a whole as we enter its midway point. I have seen so many different viewpoints of the show that I’ve come to realize the people who want to give it a chance and like it will do so more often than not and the people who look first with a cynical eye will probably never really like it. I think Fox could have gone some other directions and probably found an audience that was more fully into the show (the Kevin Smith/Paul Dini idea is hard to get out of my head) but what they’ve chosen is still really solid and has plenty of potential. Here are a few notes I’ve come to be fairly sure of regarding the show so far and its future:

When Gotham focuses episodes tightly on one character or one main plot, rather than all the characters they have and all the different plots, the show thrives and finds a much more solid footing. When the show spreads itself thin, it feels like a mess.
I’m not always a fan of them but I think more flashbacks would really help audiences better understand the motivations of characters, rather than the characters simply saying, “These are my motivations!” If there was a show that could use the “Lost” style, it’s this one! There are so many more people with a much smaller comic-book knowledge than there are hardcore fans. The show doesn’t need to dismiss the comic history and mythos, but rather pull casual fans into it, and I think these might be a good way to do so.
Bruce can’t become Batman yet (duh) but the more we see him learning lessons that eventually help make him who he is, the better. in “Lovecraft, Selina gives him advice on balancing, and Bruce also gets a chance to see a different side of Gotham up close and personally. These little touches aren’t fast-tracking Bruce to become the Bat, but they are fun ways of reminding the audience that he will get there.

I’ve been optimistic about this show since the beginning, which I admit to be my own bias, but at the mid-season mark that hasn’t really changed. This is an entertaining and dare I say “pretty good” show even with its faults. My grade so far, a solid B, which let’s be honest is a pretty fitting letter for Gotham after all.

What about you? How would you grade the show at the half-way point?

Previous Post

November 25, 2014

Queen Rock Montreal (Swimmer, 2002)

Next Post

November 28, 2014 2014 Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury Awards--Winners To Be Announced December 22

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 10 Years Later 1999 Top 5 2007 Top 10 2008 Favorite Discoveries 2008 Top 10 2009 Favorite Discoveries 2009 Top 10 2010 Favorite Discoveries 2010 Top 10 2011 Top 10 2012 Top Ten 2013 Top Ten 2014 Top Ten Best Picture Winners Christian Spotlight on Entertainment Christianity Today Coming Soon Disclosure Disclosure--AS Disclosure--Book Disclosure--DVDS Disclosure--SEOL Disclosure--Travel Dissenting Opinion Elsewhere Emergenetics Essays Featured Film Fest DC--2014 Film Festivals Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014 Headline Interviews Laura on the Oscar Winners Podcasts Quick Impressions Reviews RiverRun Film Festival 2014 Television The Criterion Collection The Thin Place To Stream or Not to Stream? Top 10s and Other Lists Toronto International Film Festival 2009 Toronto International Film Festival 2010 Toronto International Film Festival 2011 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Toronto International Film Festival 2014 Uncategorized Video Virginia Film Festival 2011 Virginia Film Festival 2013 Women's Film Festival 2012

Select a Month February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the result of Jesus meeting the Gerasene demoniac?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A man healed of leprosy Bread multiplied A storm calmed Demons cast into pigs