#barbara keane

[x-h3kk3ning-x]

Unhinged blondes with sharp objects of various size

[sunlitroom]

Everyday conversations in Gotham

(image from @cinemaphileadict)

[millicentcordelia]

Gotham 2014-2019

[strawberry-vision]

gotham screen shot redraws of some really phenomenal scenes :’)

[kali-fullofwordsnthoughts]

To anyone noticing my Gotham wave

Mad gifs and fics are coming. (A lot of it Nygma and/or Lee centered.) I'm pumped up and feeling creative!

Check under the tag #GothamGifs and #GothamFics

[birdverbatimcosplay]

Barbara Kean deserves better 2k19.

[lilsebastian4prez]

[impendingfascination]

Year Zero Takes Gotham To Its Darkest And Most Crowded Place

Oh, ‘Gotham’, you never could do anything small, could you?  The series returned last night for the premiere of the fifth and final season, and it looks like we are in for quite the ride this year.  We left a city cut off from the rest of the world last season and of course in Gotham that means the quick rise of the worst villains.  What this episode is here to do is show us where everyone is after slightly less than three months of no man’s land.

I’m reminded of The Joker’s line from Tim Burton’s 1989 ‘Batman’, ‘This town needs an enema’.  Certainly, a flushing of characters couldn’t hurt at this point because there are only so many episodes left.  ‘Gotham has had trouble in the past tying up loose strings and it is easy to imagine that happening here.  Of course, it being a show about Batman that will finish in the first year of Bruce Wayne actually taking on that mantle, some characters can be left loose.  They obviously come back over and over again, so ‘Gotham’ doesn’t need to show them with their Grandchildren looking at photo album.   Still, a satisfactory character arc makes for good TV.  At the very least it would be nice to see a resolution for Bruce, Jim, Selina, Oswald, and Ed, even if we do know more about these character’s futures than this program can possibly show.

Most at risk for an unsatisfying arc is Barbara Keane, if only because she’s had the least satisfying arc so far.  It’s difficult to know if this is the path the writers have intended for the character all along, or if the just keep throwing her into different orbits to see where she’ll stabilize.  Taking Tabby away from her in this episode does start a path, but the end of it is not clear.  Maybe it’s because the correlating character in the comic books doesn’t give much to go off of, or maybe it’s because the known outcome is that she should go quietly off with Gordon to give birth to Gordon Jr.  I guess maybe that’s for another series to decide?  

The highlight of the episode and a fact not uncommon to this series is Selina Kyle’s plotline.  It would be nice to see Camren Bicondova get some recognition for the job she has done with the role.  She easily has brought depth to the character is some unexpected ways over the years, and her portrayal of the agony Selina is feeling not only from her wounds at the hands of Jerimiah Valeska but the reason she is suffering from those wounds.  ‘Batman’ has always been about complicated relationships and the long history of he and Catwoman has not been exempt, but it’s been fun to see that play out here.  It will be interesting to see what her visit to ‘the witch’ will bring us.

Other than that, ‘Year Zero’ is a pretty standard re-introduction episode.  Oswald has somehow scrabbled back to being one of the bigwigs in Gotham, Ed and Riddler are still fighting for full-time control of the body, and the streets of Gotham are never dry.  Hopefully, we’ll be seeing some more consolidation and exiting going on in the coming weeks.  Otherwise, we’re gonna need more than two hours for that final episode.