Gotham

I dunno. While Maroni and Falcone are rivals in the comics, the main real reason to use Maroni instead of someone else (or even an OC) is his connection to Two-Face's origin. He's all on his own walking Harvey Dent foreshadowing.

It's like having Ferris Boyle be important in some way - sure, he could fill in a Corrupt Corporate Executive role perfectly without anything else, but using him is practically announcing that Victor Fries is going to show up at a some point, even it if doesn't pay off for a long time, since there isn't much point to have Boyle be the corrupt executive otherwise.

Then again, there are exceptions to that sort of thing. Simon Stagg's cameo in Flash obviously isn't going to lead to a Metamorpho origin anytime soon, but then Stagg clearly isn't going to be a recurring character in that show either.

And on the other hand maybe this will be an exception too - someone's clearly going to have to die or be taken out of the equation somehow in order for Gordon to get through this unscathed, as neither Falcone or Maroni are likely to drop this and both of them represent serious problems that can't be ignored.

edited 20th Oct '14 10:15:51 PM by KnownUnknown

The Russian guy that Fish was arguing/sleeping with. He's a dead man walking.

Well, the fact that it was venom was obvious from pretty early on but it was still a pretty good episode. Final scene was weird though.

What I found more interesting was how Viper's effects would briefly bleach the skin white....

Yeah, that was probably another Joker gag.

Why do most fictional Russian guys have to be named "Nikolai"? There are other Russian names.

I don't see Penguin making a play on Maroni until Mooney and Falcone are out of the picture. The only thing keeping him alive at this point is being under the employment of Maroni so it's way too early to betray him.

*Citation needed*

The name was mentioned on screen.

They tech level weirdness is just funny now, the different music players just emphasised it this episode.

I think the show could take place in 2004 but it still doesn't explain why Bullock's computer uses Windows 3.1

The different music players could be explained maybe Fish prefers Vinyl and Liza who Fish trained likes MP 3 players those existed in 2004.

No, I mean that there are other Russian names than... Oh, never mind

edited 21st Oct '14 3:33:09 PM by kingtiger522

That and the name Dmitri. Writers aren't the most creative when it comes to foreign names, I guess.

I saw pretty much the exact sign Benny had in the city I live in.

Some junkies are honest.

Good episode. Where did Venom come from in the comics ?

According to the DC Wiki, it was based off of the stuff that gave Hourman his powers.

Speaking of old heroes, you know what I'm going to miss? If Thomas Elliot really is going to appear as a kid in Gotham, we're not going to get that scene where he and Bruce get lost and witness into Alan Scott flying over Gotham. I mean, I absolutely understand the many reasons they wouldn't/couldn't do it, but I always liked that moment in Hush.

That would be Miraclo, adapted as Mirakuro for Arrow.

edited 21st Oct '14 6:08:25 PM by SpaceWolf

Having people so driven to despair by corruption that they'll go on killing sprees seems to be a thing they're going for.

That guy was too impatient, though. How could he expect anyone to trace the chemical back to its source so quickly?

I am really enjoying this show. It combines the noir-ish grit of the Dark Knight Trilogy with the comic bookishness of the comic books.

While I don't think Maroni's going to get what's coming to him anytime soon, he's definitely gotten on Cobblepot's shit list by calling him Penguin to his face and making light of the fact that he hates it.

Seriously, it's one of the big rules of Gotham City. No matter how gentlemanly he is, no matter how little he seems to notice, never, ever put down Oswald Cobblepot - especially not to his face. He's even worse than Scarecrow in vindictively taking apart people who even look like they're making fun of him. In a series messed up stories in Joker's Asylum, Penguin's story was one of the scariest for that very reason - that and because of all of Gotham's villains, he's still the sanest.

It might take all season, hell it might take several seasons, but Penguin is going to make Maroni pay for how he treats him in a very nasty way eventually. Though I still don't think Maroni's going to be dying unless the storyline where it happens involves Two-Face in some way.

edited 21st Oct '14 9:07:33 PM by KnownUnknown

I don't see why Maroni has to be involved in Two Face's creation.

Dark Knight created Two Face via the Joker, and that worked out well enough. No reason why they couldn't assign the origin of Two Face to another gangster that may not even been seen over the course of the show.

The Dark Knight created Two-Face via Maroni, with the Joker being the one who directly did the deed - Maroni is established early on as the Capone to Dent's Elliot Ness, Maroni brings the Joker into Gotham with intent to deal with the situation Batman and Dent created, Joker convinces Two-Face to blame Maroni (as well as Gordon) for his scarring on the (only half-lying) grounds that he was just doing Maroni's dirty work and Maroni is subsequently Two-Face's most important victim. While Joker supplants him as Big Bad, Maroni's role in Dents origin is clear in that movie.

As I said earlier, if you're using Maroni and (as we know they're doing) you're also planning to use Harvey Dent, there's little reason not to connect them because Maroni is most importantly an agent in Two Face's backstory. Especially since Gotham had tons of other mobster characters to choose from if that wasn't the case: hell, with how much they're doing the "maybe he is, maybe he isn't" with him being connected to the Waynes' death, it would've made more sense to use Lew Moxon.

edited 21st Oct '14 11:22:21 PM by KnownUnknown

Gotham is the worst thing to happen to Batman since Schmaucher.

This is the part I agree with:

He's got a point, but I hardly think the show is that bad.

This guy is impatient as hell,and given how gritty the first two episodes were, and then "Arkham" started pushing the envelope. Clearly he has little concept of a Breather Episode.

And then he seems to have no belief in dark campiness,which blatantly ignores the Burton era of Batman, which is quite clearly what the aim was (hell this Bruce definitely seems more like he would grow up to become like the one Michael Keaton [or maybe Val Kilmer] played than any of the others]

I'll grant the direction does seem slightly confused, but even that seems to be turning around.

And I'll grant that Smith does for Fish than the writers right now, and Gordon is very vanilla compared to most of the other characters.

But otherwise, he's pretty much missing it. Or is this a sign that The Dark Knight Saga has pretty much washed away any hope of seeing Batman and Gotham City as anything other than Grimdark...with a token nod to the 60's?

Because seriously, this is the best thing since Batman Returns.

I have mixed feelings on the series. The bizarre blend of 60s camp and darkness takes some getting used to. My girlfriend and I were in hysterics through a lot of it, and the Balloonman episode in particular.

My biggest complaint has to be Barbara. Good God, I just hate her. In fact, I don't think I've hated a Love Interest character more since Justified (where every girl the hero ever dated was a terminal moron). She's upset about Jim not trusting her, after she's proven that he can't trust her? While isn't that just too damn bad, lady. Throw in the fact that she's an addict, that her face is permanently set in the same smug smile, and that she's yet to receive one iota of character development, yet the show, for some reason, wants me to care about Gordon's relationship with her, and I've got to say, I am not impressed.

On the upside, the Penguin is darkly hilarious. I'm starting to keep a running count of how many people he kills per episode, and in how many increasingly ridiculous ways. At this rate, by the time any other supervillains put in an appearance, everybody in Gotham will be dead.

edited 25th Oct '14 9:26:21 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar

Well, it is a big city. It's going to take a lot of death for it's population to really take a significant hit.