Originally Posted by
kcomics
The Gotham TV show was not a great series perhaps.
They had so much Batman lore to work with, and instead they resorted to contrived plots that left characters severely underdeveloped.
Need examples?
Edward Nygma / Riddler --the character just snapped one day and committed murder. There was no slow build and no focus on his above average intelligence. Also, very little thought was put into showcasing his love for puzzles. Oddly, though, he was probably one of the better developed characters on the series.
Pamala Isly / Poison Ivy--she even had her body changed and was inexplicably aged up, instead of something more subtle like maybe say a flashback scene.
They did stupid things like this with many of Batman's famous rogues in the Gotham series. It left the whole thing feeling very disjointed and off.
Hugo Strange--they used this guy as a plot device to kill and resurrect characters on a whim. There's a right way to use plot devices like this, and then there's a wrong way, and Gotham definitely used them the wrong way. I can buy a character or two with regenerative or special healing properties but just being able to kill, resurrect, and change characters on a whim without any rule or logic behind it leaves a hole or two in the plot and doesn't give the viewer a chance to empathize with the characters.
Jack Napier / John Doe / Joe Kurr / The Joker--this was probably one of the worst portrayals of the character ever. Of all of the interesting Joker lore they could have explored, they chose to go with the new 52 comics, and they didn't even follow any of the established story lines! The Valaska brothers were terrible Jokers because they were introduced to us as sociopathic monsters out of the gate. The show could have followed Joker lore, not used the name of the character, and given us a much stronger more interesting take on the villain and his origin story. With the Joker, there's a lot to work with--abusive parents, bullying, redemption, etc. The Joker character could have been a troubled young boy who joined the mob in self defense, learned to be a ruthless killer, and then, when he encountered Batman and finally broke, it would have been somewhat tragic. That would have made an excellent story if executed properly. Very few stories in popular Joker lore have him begin life as a monster; he begins life as a regular human being in most of them. Instead, we got Jerome and Jeremiah Valaska, and, in a world already populated by mad sociopaths and serial killers, they were almost nothing special.
Do you agree with my list? What were your main complaints with the Gotham TV series?