Gotham Season Two
The silly season
released 1 August 2015-2016 | 15 | Blu-ray/dvd/download Showrunner Bruno Heller Cast Ben McKenzie, david Mazouz, donal logue, robin lord Taylor, Morena Baccarin
For a show as dark as Gotham, its second season comes as rather a surprise. Sure, there’s all the gritty misery, murder and mayhem from its first year, but now reality has been nudged just a little bit further to the side and the ridiculousness is inexorably rising. If this continues, by season four Gotham will be into full-on Adam West territory.
The reason for the uplift in craziness? A focus on the villains. Cory Michael Smith’s twitchy Edward Nygma gets a huge arc, careening towards his final “Riddler” moniker and having a ball along the way. We get to meet Mr Freeze, so reserved that he’s like an anti-Arnie Freeze, but with a mission that’s plain bonkers. Reliable genre guest star James Frain oozes smarm and outlandish schemes as Gotham’s new mayor (although possibly outstays his welcome...). Apparent proto-Joker Jerome (Cameron Monaghan) goes on the rampage in a clever run of episodes that leave us befuddled, enchanted and not a little confused. And let’s not forget Robin Lord Taylor’s superb Penguin, who still shines despite a dalliance with Arkham Asylum that takes away some of his sparkle. Oh, and then there’s Arkham itself – the goings-on in there are as daft as you could hope for if you’ve read the comics. Utterly ludicrous.
All of this means there’s precious little room for Bruce Wayne: he’s there, and he’s doing things, but you don’t really care. Thankfully James Gordon’s journey has a little more oomph – he’s like a man possessed by the end – but Gotham’s decision to make season two all about the bad guys is definitely the winner here.
Extras An hour and a half of stuff including the show’s 2015 Comic-Con panel, three featurettes (one on its noir look, one on Alfred and one about Mr Freeze) and some character featurettes.
Jim’s pregnant girlfriend Lee (Morena Baccarin), was really having Ben McKenzie’s baby! Daughter Frances was born in March.