Gotham Season 4

4.5/10 The penultimate season of “Gotham” isn’t all that different in quality from previous seasons but definitely hits a new low for the show. Not only does the fourth season repeat flaws from previous seasons (bringing virtually every character back from the dead) but this season goes off the rails when it comes to a couple of character arcs. Instead of writing a villain, eventually killing them off and then having a new villain take their place, the writers are obsessed with bringing the same dead villains/characters back to life. There are more resurrections than the Bible in this show and it overstayed its welcome multiple seasons ago. Anytime anyone dies, you know they are coming back which completely defeats any strong emotions you may feel when a character dies. In addition to that lazy trope, this season sees both Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) and Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) act so out of character that I didn’t buy their transformations for a second. While Lee did change after coming into contact with a certain serum, even after being cured she decides to team up with murderers and takes on this leadership role in the Narrows, all of which betrays who her character was and is. She lectured Jim Gordon for some of his moral shortcomings and then hooks up with mass murderers and robs banks. I didn’t buy her 180 degree transformation for a moment. Similarly, while it has been completely believable that Bruce Wayne struggles from seeing his parents get murdered right in front of him, his treatment of Alfred and going completely off of the deep end to the one man who truly cares for him was too much. These uncharacteristic changes in Lee and Bruce are inserted to create drama but when you betray the characters that you’ve established for four seasons now, I can’t forgive that. I’ve mentioned in previous seasons how easy it is to break into both the Gotham City Police Department and Wayne Manor and it gets so bad this season that even Selina Kyle remarks on how easy it is to break into Bruce’s place. Bringing attention to it as a joke doesn’t forgive how dumb it is that the richest man in Gotham has almost zero security as people freely waltz in and out of it. While this season is the weakest, there are still several enjoyable moments and episodes. How certain villains come together to make alliances, the constant betrayal, Gordon and Bullock’s relationship, etc. are all fun to watch unfold. If you’ve stuck around this long and know that the final season is ten episodes shorter, you might as well finish the series, as I plan to do. While the actors have all gotten so completely comfortable in their roles that they could likely do it in their sleep, I am curious to see how everything ends in the final 12 episodes. Season 2 seems to have been the show’s peak but since there are fewer episodes left in the final season, I’m hoping “Gotham” goes out with a bang.

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