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  • "All happy families are alike" Poll and rating thread

    Sorry, just a little impatient when it comes to threads like this one.
    8
    10-awesome!
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    6
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    1- Worse Ep ever.
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  • #2
    So, on the season finale yesterday. my initial thought was that it was mostly entertaining, but it could had been better since it was a finale.

    So, I was right about Barbara becoming a serial killer... turns out that she was not drugged or anything like that like others thought. There was nothing in the water, that was just Barbara being her natural self. This plot twist is interesting... but kind of predictable considering how crazy she's been acting all season.

    But mostly, the things I enjoyed the most were the fights... it seemed like everyone in the show were out for each others' blood, and it made for some highly entertaining scenes. The only thing I didn't like was the jaded mobster deciding that he wanted to retire from it all.

    The best part was Peguin's scene where he stood on the ledge screaming "I'm king of Gotham!". But I kind of hoped that the lackey guy (forgot his name at the moment) would push him off the ledge for killing off Fish Mooney. It would had been so much funnier that way, even if it would ruin Penguin's little moment.

    Comment


    • #3
      Could have been better, but I wasn't expecting much after the obvious downturn the show took after Christmas.

      The biggest positive was that the two characters who've been written the best throughout the season (Penguin and Nygma) ended the it in fantastic fashion. I'm really curious to see where next season takes both of them.

      The mafia storyline ended a bit flat, although it was a surprise to see Maroni killed. Falcone "retiring" wasn't much of a surprise, seeing as the character has been phased out lately. It makes you wonder if the Maroni and Falcone that Batman will come across in the future will be descendants of the two characters we saw this season.

      Fish's storyline wrapped up exactly as expected: with an open ending.

      Bruce discovering the cave was a nice way to end the episode although again, it feels like this is all happening a bit too soon.

      Barbara's storyline was a mess the entire season and it became an even bigger mess in this episode. I can't shake the feeling that the showrunners got intimidated by the backlash the character got in the first half of the season and they changed her entire trajectory as a result. First they marginalized her for large parts of the second half of the season and now they turned her into a psycho, because they figured that's the best way to deal with said backlash. Weak. Weak and lazy.

      I wish I cared more about Jim at this stage, but something about him has rubbed me the wrong way for a while now.

      The show has signs of promise, but it's hampered by woeful characterizations and a lack of clear direction. Here's hoping they rectify these things next year.

      Comment


      • #4
        I gave it a 7—based on the fact that it seemed like they were really trying to amp up the action/stakes.

        I'm not sure it was really successful, though.

        The only things I liked about it were Gordon and, of course, the unstoppable Fish Mooney.

        Everything else just seemed mediocre.

        I loved it when Gordon picked up that machine gun and did it mob-style. It felt like he was really trying to fight fire with fire (kind of like, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" vibe).

        While it was great to see Fish have the upper-hand, the fact that they let it slip that Pinkett-Smith was leaving months before this episode aired made all of her scenes, especially the end with Penguin/Butch, feel anticlimactic; there was nowhere for her character to go but over the edge of that building. It felt underwhelming. The only bright spot there is that the showrunners want her back at some point, and I've already read that Pinkett-Smith is open to it.

        I thought they managed to give Barbara/Erin Richards something interesting to do, but it was also too little too late.

        Then, Bruce/Alfred were resigned to tearing apart the study for the ENTIRE episode...only to find the cave? Not the best cliffhanger.

        I didn't like Nygma having a split personality, either.

        I don't know, it just felt like a mish mash of stuff to me.
        Last edited by Aries83; 05-05-2015, 04:27 PM.

        Comment


        • #5
          There were some fun moments and a few underwhelming ones.

          The rise of Cobblepot/Penguin and the parallel arc with Nygma were the intriguing plots this season and they've set both characters up to keep the momentum going into S2. With Nygma it seemed a bit rushed, after Kringle picked up on his letter clue, to get him from point a (slightly off-balance, hinting at something insidious as the season progressed) to point b (what looks like a psychotic break in the finale). But overall, these are the characters I'll be tuning in for next season.

          They built up the mob war decently enough, but the end result was a bit underwhelming. Mostly because a lot of it was a foregone conclusion (knowledge of Pinkett-Smith's departure, Falcone wasn't going to bite the bullet so soon into the ep.). What I didn't like was how easily Falcone essentially "rolled over" after being threatened yet again by all players in the gangland war. He got his nerves rattled (again) and now he sees it's time to retire? I can appreciate that he had to move over just to make space for Cobblepot in the next season, but it also seemed a bit rushed to me. As was Selina deciding to side with Fish on a lark. Though to be fair, Selina with her destiny was never going to be a reliable Wayne or Gordon sidekick/confidant. They didn't sell it as well as they could have if they'd built up Selina's "heel turn" a few episodes earlier.

          Barbara and Leslie Thompkins' subplot was all sorts of convoluted. I guess they needed to inject a twist to do something (anything) unexpected with Barbara's character going into the next season. It was also a bit late-inning here, never mind the absurdity of Gordon's current flame counselling his estranged wife.

          Bruce finding the "bat cave" was also a non-surprise -- it's a given that there was going to be one eventually beneath Wayne Manor, although the question of "why" Thomas Wayne had it there in the first place will likely be the main mystery early in S2.

          I don't know if better editing might have improved it as a season finale, as much of it was either a wrapping up of loose ends, or revelations we knew or suspected were around the corner. Some of these were necessary story-wise because they do need to clear the Gotham decks of an excess of subplots and characters, leave them behind in S1 and maybe have a more streamlined, smaller roster of main characters going forward next season.

          Batman's my top-tier superhero fave and I want to love anything related to his universe. As a series Gotham has elements that work well, but there are some that don't. I like the series -- but I should love it. I'm just not there yet as a viewer. Better story arcs and writing focused on a smaller core of characters would be the way to go.

          I'd give the season finale a 7. Not bad, but not great.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by President_Luthor
            Bruce finding the "bat cave" was also a non-surprise -- it's a given that there was going to be one eventually beneath Wayne Manor, although the question of "why" Thomas Wayne had it there in the first place will likely be the main mystery early in S2.
            I have 2 theories on that:
            1. His father became a masked vigilante at night (trying to right simple wrongs like muggings, car jackings, etc.)
            2. For whatever reason, he stashed away files pertaining to WE that could bring each corrupt board member down.

            I know #1 sounds convoluted, but who knows? Maybe his father going out into the night and doing that could change his opinion of him and inspire him to do what he does later?

            #2 sounds more realistic, but that would be a weird place to keep a bunch of damning files on a select number of board members.

            On another note, I thought it would be fun to go back through all the Loved/Hated it threads and average my votes for the entire season.

            For me, apparently, the season as a whole scored an average of 6.63.

            My highest-rated episodes were Episode 7 ("Penguin's Umbrella") and Episode 15 ("The Scarecrow")
            Lowest-rated were Episode 11 ("Rogues' Gallery") and Episode 16 ("The Blind Fortune Teller")

            If I had to pick a favorite, it'd probably be "The Scarecrow," as I thought they introduced the character really well. I hope he is brought back for Season 2.

            Least favorite would probably go to "The Blind Fortune Teller," because I wasn't impressed with how they introduced the Graysons (Mary Lloyd calling the Graysons "buttheads" was cringe-worthy) or the character of Jerome, a potential Joker.

            I'm sure nobody cares what I think, but I'm putting it out there anyway

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Aries83
              I'm sure nobody cares what I think, but I'm putting it out there anyway
              Oh come on now, your opinion is no less valid than anyone else's on this site. As for your first theory there's comic book history to back you up, specifically Detective Comics #235 entitled "The First Batman " in which Bruce and Dick discover that Thomas Wayne wore a bat costume to a masquerade party and helped foil a robbery. It also revealed that Joe Chill was hired to kill the Waynes and make it look like a robbery gone wrong. So your theory might not be too far off the mark.
              A possible third theory is that some of the WE board members are part of the Court of Owls and Thomas Wayne used the cave to hide information he gathered on them. Also, Reggie could have been a Talon sent to search the house.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by SuperheroFan87
                Oh come on now, your opinion is no less valid than anyone else's on this site. As for your first theory there's comic book history to back you up, specifically Detective Comics #235 entitled "The First Batman " in which Bruce and Dick discover that Thomas Wayne wore a bat costume to a masquerade party and helped foil a robbery. It also revealed that Joe Chill was hired to kill the Waynes and make it look like a robbery gone wrong. So your theory might not be too far off the mark.
                A possible third theory is that some of the WE board members are part of the Court of Owls and Thomas Wayne used the cave to hide information he gathered on them. Also, Reggie could have been a Talon sent to search the house.
                You think they'd dive into the Court of Owls and Talon stuff in this show? I don't know if they would, but I think it would be pretty damn cool.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Kaleltheking
                  You think they'd dive into the Court of Owls and Talon stuff in this show? I don't know if they would, but I think it would be pretty damn cool.
                  I agree with you completely. I thought I read that they plan on bringing the Court of Owls in but haven't found a way to incorporate them that would work or something.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Once Bruce sensed that something was amiss at the Wayne Ent. board, I thought 'hey maybe the Court of Owls have taken control of it'. If they're planning to bring the Owls into the show, they should methodically build up to it and not get tempted to plunge into it before all the pieces are in place. It all depends if the writing, casting etc lives up to it.

                    Maybe S2 is Cobblepot consolidating his underworld power base and one of the subplots is Bruce slowly unraveling the mystery that will turn out to be the Court of Owls -- maybe into S3 (Thomas needing a cave could be related)? And hopefully they become multi-season villains, the way the League and Ra's have emerged on Arrow.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by SuperheroFan87
                      Oh come on now, your opinion is no less valid than anyone else's on this site.
                      Oh, thanks

                      As for your first theory there's comic book history to back you up, specifically Detective Comics #235 entitled "The First Batman " in which Bruce and Dick discover that Thomas Wayne wore a bat costume to a masquerade party and helped foil a robbery. It also revealed that Joe Chill was hired to kill the Waynes and make it look like a robbery gone wrong. So your theory might not be too far off the mark.
                      A possible third theory is that some of the WE board members are part of the Court of Owls and Thomas Wayne used the cave to hide information he gathered on them. Also, Reggie could have been a Talon sent to search the house.
                      Interesting. I wasn't aware of any of that (only read a few Batman comics back in the day). I just can't see their being this huge cave for a bunch of incriminating employee files. You can put something like that on an encrypted flash drive or hide it in plain sight. There has to be more to it.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I thought it was rushed and made no sense.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          ^^^ It did seem like it was something that was tacked on at the last minute. I thought Nygma having a split personality didn't make sense either—especially when Harvey Dent/Two Face more than fills that type of role.

                          Comment

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