Gotham Season 2
DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:
The darkness grows on GOTHAM, as super villains more ambitious and depraved are introduced, and a realignment of alliances shakes up the fight for power in Gotham City. With Detectives Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock at the forefront of the fight against crime in this dangerously corrupt city, Season Two witnesses Gordon’s moral compass wavering, as he confronts Gotham’s most notorious criminals.
In a season full of surprises, Detective Jim Gordon continues fighting the corruption that is part and parcel of life in Gotham but it’s not long before he finds himself neck deep in trouble.
He has to make some morally questionable decisions, his captain is killed, the bad guys have their hooks in almost every facet of government, and their influence is so great that Gordon winds up as little more than a security guard at the Arkham Asylum. It gets worse: He later winds up in jail, his girlfriend tells him she is pregnant, and his partner quits the police force to work as a bartender.
This is not a season without hope, however. It arrives in the form of a new captain: Nathaniel Barnes (played with perfection by Michael Chiklis) is a straight arrow who cannot be corrupted and he is just as determined as Gordon to clean up the streets.
This season marks a departure from the first in that it has a lengthy storyline involving billionaire Theo Galavan, who appears (on the surface) to be someone that can save the city because he is too rich to be bribed and is too powerful to bow to pressure. Played nicely by James Frain (who “Orphan Black” fans will recognize as the evil Ferdinand Chevalier), Galavan is not the savior he appears to be, however, but a man with his own twisted agenda.
The tone of “Gotham” remains dark and moody: It seems as though there is never a sunny day in the city. In my opinion that’s necessary to help tell the story although I recognize that many people will find it depressing. The acting is sometimes over the top but this is a series about comic book heroes and villains so I’m prepared to forgive that fact.
The final verdict: I like the Galavan storyline and some of the new villains and I like the situations that the writers have thrust Gordon into so I give this season 5 stars with one proviso – at some point, things have to start going right for Gordon and his allies.
– Mike Billington
Very well written–both in character development, dialogue, and plot. Love the clever use of music or dark humor (think INTJ humor and you’ve got it) to lighten the horror of villains or the grimness of the brutal life that is Gotham. I like how we can see Bruce becoming what will one day be Batman a piece at a time–sometimes it is through what he experiences himself, sometimes it is through the effects of others on his world. (IE: His fascination with watching Azrael move cloaked through the shadows above and seeing the fear it invokes in the watchers below, will help him choose his future costuming. Alfred’s realization that he will lose Bruce either to death or someone else if he doesn’t start teaching him to fight, begins Bruce’s training in earnest. Etc.) There are a lot of nods to the comic series, so if you know the Batman stuff, this series just really deepens out nicely. Sure, this is a violent series–that should be expected as this is about Gotham not Metropolis, the darkness that creates the future Dark Knight. But it is handled in a comic book way–almost villainously picturesque, not straight up Walking Dead style, if that makes sense. And I really love how all the moral or philosophical questions of the Batman series is present here–which really adds to the feeling of a growing hero story. Sure, there is some cheese, it is tv, but it is fun anyway.
-Cape Girl
DVD Wholesale Main Features :
Actors: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, David Mazouz, Morena Baccarin, Zabryna Guevara
Producers: Bruno Heller, Danny Cannon, John Stephens
Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Number of discs: 6
Rated: NR – Not Rated
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Release Date: August 16, 2016
Run Time: 968 minutes