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Sep 21, 2015 By Zach Hollwedel Ben McKenzie

Ben McKenzie returns as James “future commissioner” Gordon in Gotham, FOX’s sophomore drama about young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and the city that has yet to know a Batman. After a dispute with current Commissioner Loeb, Gordon’s walking the streets as a beat cop, and his former partner, Bullock (Donal Logue) is off the force completely, having traded in his badge for a bartending gig. Dangerous and corrupt as Gotham is, though, the city can’t afford to lose two good cops, especially with the criminal balance of power so upended.

Villains will rise in the second season, which opens with an underworld landscape quite different than it was a year ago. Fish Mooney and Carmine Falcone are gone; in their place, Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) has assumed control, which he has no compulsions about wielding ruthlessly. It is this power, along with Penguin’s penchant for political machinations, which draws Gordon to him, asking whether Batman’s future rogues are the only villains who rise in Gotham‘s second season. Soon fired from the GCPD, Gordon calls in a favor from Penguin to help him get reinstated, a request that proves a deal with the devil that will surely have long-lasting ripple effects throughout the season’s 22-episode run.

The Gotham writing staff has thoroughly thrown out the status quo at the start of this season, and the approach seems to be working so far. Gordon’s association with Penguin—the latter of whom isn’t yet quite as grating a caricature of a comic book-based villain as he was last season—add depth and darkness to the show’s protagonist. His former girlfriend, Barbara Kean (Erin Richards), is an inmate at Arkham Asylum whose rapid escape sets up additional quandaries for the do-gooder cop. The show is still subject to the freak-of-the-week formula that so pervasively plagues comic book series, and its treatment of the criminally insane remains more criminally over-the-top than in Gotham‘s peer programs (Arrow and The Flash, most notably). On the whole, though, Gotham‘s second season debuts as strong as—if not stronger than—the series premiere, encouraging those who stuck with the hammy inaugural season to settle in for the long haul. (www.fox.com/gotham)

Author rating: 7/10