FOX has been releasing a steady stream of promotional materials for Gotham season 2 – which has taken on the moniker of “Rise of the Villains.” Gotham may never have Batman, but it does have everyone he will eventually go up against. So far, the upcoming season promises all out super villain chaos for Gotham, over the world of organized crime in season 1.
The season finale was all over the place. If you didn’t know, Nygma is a murderer, Cobblepot is king and Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) has finally lost it. In the newly released clip, which does its level best to keep up with the villain theme, we catch up with Barbara and Jerome Valeksa (Cameron Monaghan) – who may or may not be the Joker – having a tense conversation amongst an the criminally insane guests of the infamous Arkham Asylum.
Staying within Gotham tradition, neither actor plays their role with any amount of subtlety. Barbara is crazy and Jerome is certainly acting like he’s the Joker. Visually, the show is still terrific, such an example is Barbara flipping through a magazine in her striped prison dress is a stylized over-the-top comic-book pleasure to look at.
Lounging comfortably in Arkham looks good on Barbara – who, according to Richards may have found herself a compelling plot this season. Getting to see her do something other than be angry at Gordon is already a promising move for the character. Add that to her cozying up to the crazy and dangerous inmates and she, like the show, may be saved.
Monaghan does crazy so well and it’s great that FOX keeps highlighting him in their Gotham promotional onslaught. Though we already saw Jerome laughing it up in an earlier promo, this is one of the longer bits of his the network has delivered and he looks good in the role. Based on everything that’s been released so far it looks like season 2 has potential to highlight the strongest parts of season 1; namely, great performances highlighting iconic characters, while hopefully doing away with or altering the more tedious parts (i.e., Bruce’s storyline). If FOX is looking to draw new viewers to their bat-less Gotham this is probably the best way to do it.
Gotham season 2 will premiere Monday, September 21st on FOX.
[Source: Screenrant]
