• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

  • Reading Orders
    • Marvel
    • My Marvelous Year
    • DC Comics
    • All Comic Book Publishers
    • Most Recent
  • Beginner Guides
    • Beginner’s Guide To Comics In 2021
    • Marvel 2021: Where to Start?
    • DC 2021: Where to Start?
    • Best of Lists
    • Tablets for Comics
    • Guides for Digital Readers
  • Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
    • DC Comics
    • Comic Book Movies
    • Comic Book TV
    • Video Games
  • Podcasts & Video
    • My Marvelous Year
    • Best Comics Ever (CBH)
    • CBH on Youtube!
  • About Me
    • My Favorite Comics of All Time
    • Columns
    • CBH Email Newsletter
  • Support Comic Book Herald
    • Ways to support
You are here: Home / Reviews / Comic Book TV / Gotham Episode 4: Arkham Review!

Gotham Episode 4: Arkham Review!

October 14, 2014 by Drew Narayanan Leave a Comment

This week on Gotham: Gordon’s secret creates a problem in his relationship with Barbara. Meanwhile, Cobblepot makes a play and climbs up the ranks of Maroni’s gang. Finally, councilmen are assassinated left and right, the only link…Arkham Asylum.

“Arkham” was an improvement from last week’s episode “Balloonman“, but only slightly. While this episode did have a greater sense of drama and plot development, it still lacked the excitement of the pilot or “Selina Kyle“. So, without further ado, let’s see what “Gotham” gives us this week.

1. Gotham – The Plot

The main plot itself was actually done very well. Maroni and Falcone are each bidding for the contract to develop Gotham’s newly created “Arkham” sector, which includes the abandoned asylum. This significant piece of land could determine a shift of power between these two bosses as well as start an all out gang war. Hence, both sides use a plethora of tactics (assassination, police corruption, bribery) in order to reach their goals. Thus, the episode captures the essence of Gotham. The city is not merely a backdrop for these characters, it is in itself a character: it’s political, treacherous, corrupt, dangerous, but it’s worth being saved. The show runners have clearly demonstrated that they understand Gotham, both physically and emotionally.

BTAS Gotham City

2. Arkham Asylum

Two-Face, Killer Croc, The Joker, Scarecrow…what do they all have in common? Well besides being crazy they all have permanent cells in Arkham Asylum. “Gotham” has introduced another important aspect of the “Batman Mythos”. Arkham is the pseudo-Gothic, dark, scary place where Gothamites put their rejects, to keep out of sight and out of mind. So how does “Gotham” re-imagine this iconic site? The answer is simple…it doesn’t, but this isn’t a criticism. Arkham Asylum is so ingrained in the minds of fans that changing the formula would be a mistake. Here, the lack of originality is actually a success.

Spooky Arkham

3. Bruce/Gordon Interactions

I understand that the show-runners want to foreshadow the partnership of Batman and the future Commissioner, however their current relationship seems to be forced. Gordon has made the death of Bruce’s parents his personal crusade. In doing this, his motivation for saving the city becomes completely centered around Bruce (a boy he barely knows), rather than trying to save Gotham because it is the right thing to do. Furthermore, while I appreciate that Gordon is a “mentor figure” to Bruce, he does privy a great deal of sensitive police information to a child. This creates a jarring contrast between the realism of the show and the idealized relationship of Gordon and Bruce. With time, I feel the relationship will become more natural, but for the moment it remains awkward.

Support For Comic Book Herald:

Comic Book Herald is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a qualifying affiliate commission.

Comic Book Herald’s reading orders and guides are also made possible by reader support on Patreon, and generous reader donations.

Any size contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards, or Donate here! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

Bruce and Gordon

This episode was better, but it was still lacking. I feel that “Gotham” needs to start developing some of its other characters. The plot lines are centered around Gordon, Fish and Penguin while ignoring cameo characters such as Nygma, Alfred and Falcone. In short, I am tiring of the same three perspectives each episode. It is time for something fresh, a palate cleanser if you will, so that viewers are not bogged down in cyclical episodes. Hopefully, next week will do something different.

CBH Score: 3.5 /5

[schema type=”review” rev_name=”Gotham Episode 4: “Arkham”” user_review=”3.5″ min_review=”0.0″ max_review=”5.0″ ]

Filed Under: Comic Book TV, Featured Tagged With: Gotham

Heroically Support Comic Book Herald!

If you like Comic Book Herald, and are able to donate, any small contribution will help keep CBH alive and full of new comics guides and content. Donate here! Or, support CBH on Patreon for exclusive rewards! Thank you for reading!

Become a Patron!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

CBH on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7HnWapV-o

The Comic Book Herald Podcast!

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsRSS
My Marvelous Year Podcast and Reading Club 1

Recent Posts

  • Betsy Braddock (Psylocke, Captain Britain) Reading Order! January 27, 2021
  • The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch and What Went Okay January 26, 2021
  • Creannotators #32: “Queen of Bad Dreams” Interview With Writer Danny Lore! January 26, 2021
  • Where to Start With Marvel Comics In 2021? January 25, 2021
  • How To Start Reading Comics In 2021: A Beginner’s Guide January 25, 2021
  • MMY Interview: The Amazing Story of Stan Lee w/ Danny Fingeroth! January 25, 2021
  • Loki: God Who Fell to Earth Review! January 24, 2021
  • There is Only Doom | A Primer on The Greatest Villain of All Time January 23, 2021
  • The Great Pretenders: Regarding Wanda | A Look at the Character of the Scarlet Witch January 22, 2021
  • Black Panther: Panther’s Prey Epic Collection Review! January 21, 2021
  • Previously On #99: My Favorite Comic Book Youtube Channels (2021)! January 21, 2021
  • How to (Re)Read the Jonathan Hickman Era of X-Men January 20, 2021
  • The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong January 19, 2021
  • Creannotators #31: “Genius Animals” Interview With Vali Chandrasekaran & Jun-Pierre Shiozawa! January 19, 2021
  • BATMAN, INC. by Grant Morrison: The Dark Knight Undone January 18, 2021

Popular Articles

DC Rebirth Guide

Batman Reading Order

DC New 52 Reading Order

Marvel Ultimate Universe Guide

Civil War Reading Order

Marvel Cosmic Reading Order

The Best Comics of All Time!

Deadpool Reading Order

Justice League Reading Order

Complete Thanos Reading Order

X-Men Reading Guide (Modern Era)

Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

Modern Marvel Universe in 25 Trades

Best Tablet For Digital Comics

Is Marvel Unlimited Worth It?

Footer

New to Comic Book Herald?

Hey there - my name's Dave and this is my comic book blog. It's my way of sharing my borderline obsessive addiction to the comic book medium, and I hope you like some of what's going on here.

Most people that come here are looking for my (WIP) Marvel reading order guide. You can probably also get a sense if CBH is for you by taking a look at some of my columns.

If you like what you see, let's connect on Facebook or Twitter. Or, leave a comment on the blog here, I'm always looking for new awesome people in the comic book community.

More on Comic Book Herald

  • Home
  • About
  • Support CBH
  • My Marvelous Year
  • Join!
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

Recent Posts

  • Betsy Braddock (Psylocke, Captain Britain) Reading Order!
  • The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch and What Went Okay
  • Creannotators #32: “Queen of Bad Dreams” Interview With Writer Danny Lore!
  • Where to Start With Marvel Comics In 2021?
  • How To Start Reading Comics In 2021: A Beginner’s Guide

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in