My partner and I are finishing the last season of Gotham, finally, and man, what a ride. I love this weird, surprisingly gay, gothic soap opera.
It's a relic of DC's period of loosened creative control, the same one that gave us Legends of Tomorrow and Doom Patrol, and it's *delicious*.
Gotham was originally pitched as a prequel to Batman, and it initially focused hard on Bruce and Alfred - and then it realized they were dull as dishwater, and what was *delightful* was the massive ensemble cast of villains, chancers, and anti-heroes.
In every way, this show feels like "what if we sprinkled some super villains into your soap opera, and what if two of them existed in a constant state of unresolved sexual tension" (Penguin, played by Robin Lord Taylor, and Riddler, played by Cory Michael Smith) and it is just genuinely delightful.
They're the best of friends, Penguin falls in love with Riddler, they betray each other, try to kill each other, succeed and fail, over and over again, but neither of them can ever be rid of the other, and so, through five seasons, they orbit each other, one chasing the other, taking turns.
