Selina Kyle

Gotham episode 2 was much better than the pilot. Not many people had high hopes for this series calling it the weakest of the new DC shows coming up but this episode is proved otherwise. I love Robin Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot he's creepy as hell and he fits the part perfectly, he looks really weird too. I also love Donal Logue as as Harvey Bullock he's shown the best performance of the cast so far. Ben McKenzie as James Gordon is looking promising too. If there was one performance I would say I'm not really intrigued by yet is would be Sean Pertwee as Alfred. I'm not really feeling him. Think that's more to do with the writing than the acting itself. I'm definitely excited for future episodes and it's made my Monday nights exciting. I hope they keep it up and manage to keep watching. 9.1 out of 10

I wish I could rate this episode more. I thought it was better than the pilot. It had a great continuation of the first episode. There was more of Catwoman and Penguin which was great. I love how the way Gotham looks. As far as I know, Gotham has probably been the most coolest, realistic view of Gotham hence the name of the show.

James Gordon is at it again with trying to find out who has been kidnapping homeless kids one of which is Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. I'm starting to like her more as a character. She is brilliant. I like the Fish and Carmine scenes as well. I bet they'll be a huge war between them soon. Robin Lord Taylor. What more can I say. He is Penguin. I saw that a lot of people were complaining that he is too skinny. Remember guys, this is an origin story. He'll get there.

The ending is so good. It is a great cliffhanger episode. This changes the whole mythology of Bruce's parents deaths because Catwoman doesn't witness it happening. It'll be interesting to see where it goes.

I also want to mention the acting between Sean Pertwee and David Mazouz. Both are perfection. I've never seen either of them before, but I love them. This will definitely be the next Smallville. I know it.

P.S. Perfect amount of scenes with Bruce. I know it is mostly about the villains and James, but Bruce is a big part as well. So excited for next week's episode. We will probably see Salvatore Maroni who was referenced by Fish and Carmine in their scenes. So much is in store for Gotham.

Tune in next week.

On the heels of the lukewarm response to the pilot, episode two of Gotham titled "Selina Kyle" shows some promises but still has it's pilot's missteps. The episode revolves young homeless kids being drugged and kidnapped by an interesting duo played exceptionally well by Lily Taylor and Frank Whaley. I'm very happy to see the outcome of the episode. These two need to come back in a later episode. Selina Kyle aka Cat is the only one that gets away from the twosome with one teen being lead on a chase that ends him being thrown through a restaurant's front window. Gordon and Bullock are brought in because an old homeless man was murdered during the attempted kidnapping.

Gordon, still trying to be the law and order cop scolds an officer for not securing the crime scene. What follows is a small back and forth that give the writes credit to their subtlety. They hint at the corruption of the Gotham Police Department. Oswald shows up later limping down a road leading into Gotham look for a ride. I get that they want to give him his evolution into the sadistic villain he becomes but the creators really aren't airing on the side of patience. He's picked up by a two college kids, who joke with him until one of them crosses that 'penguin' line. He is brutally stabbed by Oswald. The other is taking hostage which of course fails miserably to Oswald's not so delight.

The rest of the episode follows Gordon and Bullock trying to track down the child kidnappers. With them encountering Fish Mooney, who steals just about every scene she is in. There is also a short but brutally shootout between the kidnappers, Gordon/Bullock that leads to a janitor henchmen being shot then falling down a well. The show is bookend by Bruce acting out in the opening to Alfred's dismay and having another end interaction with Gordon. The end scene felt a little less tacked on than in the pilot. It also showed Bruce's side for orphaned children which will become very prominent in his future.

I'm entertained by this show but it's just so scattered. It really has an identity crisis. Because there is so much going on it doesn't know where or what it wants to be. The first episode seemed far more dramatic. This episode airs on the side of camp. It doesn't get to the Adam West camp level but it sure could have. I know it's hard to take the Batman world seriously (Christopher Nolan did get that right). I think the show needs to find solid footing instead of sliding around in the muck. When it is actual serious it feel genuine and when it's action heavy I'm sucked in. But there are those campy moments that just stop the show in it's tracks.

I still have my fan boy issues. There's no need for an Edward Nygma cameo. Yes, the show is about villains but establish one or two and have others work in the shadows. The scene with him was painful. It seems like they keep drilling into the viewers heads that the GCP is corrupt. Changing the cannon for the show is fine. But when featuring one of the most prominent characters in the show's character changing moment I get upset. Selina Kyle was there in episode one when The Waynes' were murdered. That was the big cliffhanger of this episode. She tell Gordon she knows who killed them. Isn't there a way for to connect these characters without just dropping a big plot hole bomb like that? Two things that do come out of this episode on the positive side is the show's glaring love of comic book brutality and violence. When someone is shot it's vicious. The attack in the car by Oswald is something out of a horror movie. The blood just doesn't come out it sprays. It's one of those knock back moments when I said to myself "whoa, did they just get away with?". Even Kyle gets in on the mix, scratching a henchmen's eyes out before Lily Taylor's character shoots him point blank in the head. The show takes no prisoners for violence. Thank you to The Blacklist for that.

Jada Pinkett Smith where have you been hiding? The shining light of the entire series so far. She has some excellent character moments in this episode. The drinks scene with her and Carmine Falcone shows a range from her I haven't seen in a long time. If the writers keep giving her scenery to chew I can see a groundswell popping up for her to get some kind of award nomination.

I enjoy this show just being such a fan of source material and the films I take fan boy issues. But it wasn't a bad episode. Overall putting everything together it worked to entertain me. I know it was the episode of the night I was talking about the most with friends. That's a positive. I just would love to see this show get on it's stride and fly. It took Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. half a season to do that. With FOX's reputation Gotham doesn't have that long to get the ball rolling. Next week's episode did give me hope that they are slowly getting the kinks out.

The second episode of Gotham was not nearly as good as the first, but it also didn't hinder my excitement for where this show can go. We got a much better look at Selina Kyle (hence the title) and many great moments with Gordon and Bruce Wayne. But the episode as a whole was a bit underwhelming.

TV series tend to struggle with bringing consistently great villains to the screen week in week out. Arrow had many filler episodes that didn't do much to further the story, rather just to fill the 23 episode arc that the network had wanted. This episode gave us 'the snatchers', which was basically a way to introduce us to Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle. Gordon and Bullock track down kidnappers after a series of child trafficking incidents occur, Kyle being one of them. I really like Bicondova's portrayal so far. In fact, one can make the argument she has stole the show so far. Much due to the once again over-the-top Fish Mooney portrayal again this week. Her character seems too one note for my liking.

This episode also gave us another look into Cobblepot's transformation into The Penguin. Robin Lord-Taylor has also been a bright spot in the first few episodes. He is literally perfect for the soon to be crippled crime lord of Gotham City. But even he couldn't save us from an overall dull second episode. It's very predictable and the kidnappers were not terrifying at all. The 'Dollmaker' in Arrow was a much better character when it came to kidnapping people. It's one of the things that Gotham may struggle with in its run. The viewers will have to buy into the fact that almost all of these characters will live through each season. After all, Batman is a good 9-10 years away and all these classic characters haven't met him yet. There were also times where I found myself actually ticked off that they cut to commercial. And it's not because of a cliffhanger, but because of poor directing.

Overall it was a decent follow up to a very solid premiere. Not many stories progressed but we did get an introduction to the fan favorite Selina Kyle, or 'Cat' as she likes to be called.

+Bicondova's portrayal of Selina Kyle

+Gordon & Bruce scenes

+Penguin is becoming Penguin

-Weak villains

-Frustrating cuts

7.4/10

After an intriguing and reasonably strong pilot, "Selena Kyle"--the 2nd episode of Fox's 'Gotham'--shows signs of what I feared the most when the series was first announced; too many pieces in play and treading narrative water.

The basic plot of the episode has potential, but it never goes anywhere and much of it feels like setup. The latter is fine, as they're still world building here, but there's never any payoff. Even in a serialized show every episode needs its own arc. And for something titled "Selena Kyle", we get precious little of the character, and what we do get hardly serves as character building.

Perhaps most disappointing of all is the handling of Bruce Wayne. I really hope they find something more interesting to do with Bruce's story than have Gordon show up for tea and crumpets once a week and furrow his brow at the kid's odd behavior.

There's still enough potential here to string me along to episode #3, but only just.