Gotham Season 5

6/10 Tied with season two for being the best season of “Gotham” (although 6/10 isn’t super high for being the best), I’m glad the show recovered from season five’s low point and ended on a decent note. Before I get into how the show rebounded, I will get the negatives out of the way first. There are still plenty of ridiculous moments and bad guys are always so easily able to escape in laughable ways. Several villains from previous seasons (Mr. Freeze for example) are never seen again so many characters leave open ended and never get any kind of closure. Lee Thompkins (Morena Baccarin) goes from absolutely hating Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) to forgiving him in the span of a couple episodes and it felt rushed and unearned. The final episode takes place 10 years after the previous episode yet almost everyone looks identical, despite supposedly having aged 10 years (gave off major vibes to the final scene in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II”). While I overall enjoyed the plot this season, it was interesting to see how much the final season borrowed from “The Dark Knight Rises” with everything from the inclusion of Bane to Gotham being cut off from the mainland in a “A Tale of Two Cities” type manner. While the flaws were noticeable and detracted from the show, there was a lot that I enjoyed and the final episode ended on a high note which perfectly transitioned the show into Batman territory. Reducing the final season from 22 episodes down to 12 definitely helped with the pacing and made sure that there were less filler episodes. Of the characters the final season does focus on, I was happy with how they ended everyone’s character arcs. The ending provided some strong emotional moments and seeing a few characters go full circle was satisfying. There was some decent action this season and I enjoyed characters’ pasts being brought up in relevant ways for current subplots. In the end, you may ask yourself if “Gotham” is worth watching now that I have reviewed all five seasons. Shows and films are all about expectations. If you are used to high quality HBO, Paramount+, Disney+, Showtime, etc. shows, then since this is public TV, you will be disappointed. “Gotham” isn’t a good show, it is a mediocre one with its quality changing season to season. However, if you keep your expectations in check and know that the show never achieves greatness going in, there is some enjoyment to be found. Die hard Batman fans will find something to enjoy with its likeable leading characters and a new take on some of the Batman lore but with a couple of upcoming HBO Batman shows in the works, just don’t expect this to reach the quality of what HBO ends up putting out. I’m glad the series ended on a decent note but if you want to sit through four long seasons to get there is up to you.

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