From the dawn of television, audiences craved and even worshipped superhero storylines, with tales of characters who molded themselves from the rubble of broken childhoods to transform into leaders of their communities who fight crime in flashy and stretchy outfits. More recent renditions of classic superhero stories portray a shadowy backstory to the heros with somber costumes, such as The Dark Knight.

Gotham, created by Bruno Heller, continues the trend of gloomy backstories. The show stars Benjamin McKenzie as a young James Gordon, as he discovers the gruesome mob scene that controls the city of Gotham. The show focuses on the development of James Gordon and the villains that young Bruce Wayne(David Mazouz) will one day fight.

The show arrives at a time in the superhero genre that encourages remakes of classic hero stories, where the superhero is recreated into an imperfect, rough character who struggles to find their place among their fame and successes, as well as dealing with crafty and extremely dangerous villains. As characters deal with the struggle of merely keeping up with their reputations, their human flaws expose themselves at the surface.

For a novice Batman fan, the pilot presents a wide variety of characters, a few of whom can easily be identified through repeated, perhaps unnecessary references to their future character, such as the Penguin(Robin Lord Taylor). Knowledgable fans likely enjoy the presentation of villains and supporting characters of the Batman series. Any viewer of the pilot, however, cringed at the horrendous writing of the show. A wide range of cliche situations and statements hinder the introduction of villains, as well as the entire plot of the show.

Watching Gotham in a dark room, the sheer opaque nature of the city of Gotham force feeds the theme of despair, as every set piece, from apartments to the police station, lack any lighting. An opening scene of the police station showed an officer reading a report in the near blackness of the station– there is simply no way anyone could read papers in that dark of a room.

While Gotham excites diehard fans of the Batman series, the average viewer might struggle with understanding references and scenes that assume prior knowledge of the story. Weak writing also hinders a storyline that has been rewritten over decades. In the fall window of new shows, Gotham ranks very low compared to new dramas.