THIS IS OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEW OF THE SERIES FINALE OF GOTHAM “THE BEGINNING”.

Gotham will reach the end with it’s finale airing on Thursday the 25th of April on Fox TV. This is definitely an episode for fans of the show. While we do see the much publicised appearance of Batman in this episode, the other residents of the city get ample time on screen. This is the final time we will get to see Gotham’s version of the iconic villains and the supporting players in Batman’s world. Writer John Stephens does an admirable job in getting us up to speed quickly on what’s happened in the ten year time jump since last week’s episode and what was important about the last five seasons of the show.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

In this final hour long episode of the show we get to visit some of the most iconic locations of Gotham. At points it’s like a trip down memory lane in Steiner Studios where the majority of the interiors for the show were filmed. Riddler is called out for using a revenge plot he used before but angrily responds “It’s a call back!” which in itself is a nice call out for the episode. This finale features John Stephens’ same twisted mix of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in one instant, followed by the playful 60’s Batman TV show, with a dash of Geoff John’s or Scott Snyder’s comic book Batman which have been a feature of his episodes in the past. This time it feels like we as an audience have earned this.

Gotham has changed a lot  

Over the course of the last five years and one hundred episodes Gotham has changed a lot. Originally conceived by British producers Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon as “Law & Order : Gotham” the intention was to show how the police tried to help the city before the arrival of Batman. The original pilot was well received by critics and television platforms worldwide including a reported upfront payment from Netflix of $1 million per episode for the season one streaming rights. This lead to an initial sixteen episode order for season one. The show premiered in September 2014 to over fourteen million viewers and received a full season order extending the show to twenty two episodes.

The changes came early on in season one as the show began to pivot away from the procedural police drama with the G.C.P.D. vs the mounting mafia-like crime families. A number of major comic book characters did not return to the show including Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, mainstays of Gotham Central which provided a lot of influence on the original concept. More and more villains were brought on throughout season two, aptly named “Rise of The Villains” and “Wrath of The Villains” to placate vocal Batman “fans” calling for the Nolan version of the character on TV. With Bruno Heller moving on after the season two finale more of Bruce’s journey towards becoming the Batman came to the forefront of the story.

Gotham Enters No Man’s Land

On May 13th 2018, four days before the season four finale aired, Gotham was belatedly renewed for a fifth and final season of ten episodes. This order was extended to twelve episodes. A lot of this season has been spent getting the city of Gotham back from the “No Man’s Land” cliffhanger from season four. But it has also spent some time on fan favourite pairing like BatCat and Nygmobblepot while introducing iconic villains such as Bane and Scarface along with their own versions of the Joker and Harley Quinn in Jerome and Ecco.

A new Catwoman?

Sadly, as we mentioned on our last episode Camren Bicondova, announced that she does not appear in the final episode of the show. She was the first actor who appeared on screen  in the first episode of Gotham and it’s sad that she couldn’t round out the show with the rest of the cast. The good news is new comer Lili Simmons clearly studied Bicondova’s performance as Selina Kyle. She maintains a similar poise while also delivering a truly iconic moment for the character. The finale episode is the ultimate fan letter to Gotham and the characters featuring even more comic accurate versions than we’ve seen before.

Gotham Finale Verdict

When all was said and done I really enjoyed this final episode of Gotham. My only wish would have been that the one month gap that Fox had placed between episodes 10 and 11 of this season could have come between episodes 11 and 12. The nostalgia for the show feels slightly misplaced at times since it had an episode just last week. But that’s a minor complaint. I think many of us Gotham fans will watch this episode multiple times wondering what might have been.

Join us for our spoiler filled thoughts later this week on our podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and all heroic and villainous podcast players around.

About Derek O’Neill

Derek is the Co-Host and producer of Gotham TV Podcast with John Harrison. Beginning in March 2014, six months before the release of Gotham, Derek and John began discussing their thoughts and insights on the most exciting DC Show Gotham. When not podcasting about Gotham you can find Derek, John and other hosts discussing various Marvel shows and Good Omens over on their main channel at https://tvpodcastindustries.com.