A Pair of Dreams

I'm in Vancouver, and Melissa Benoist, in costume as Supergirl, surprises me downtown by wrapping one arm around my shoulder, holding out her phone, and snapping a photo.

"Super selfie!" she says, grinning. "Hey, you should be on the show. You'd make a great Harvey Bullock."

I have to admit that of all DC's character's, my current rotund physique most closely matches that of Bullock. I'm a little confused, though; in the comics, Harvey Bullock is a detective working for the Gotham City Police Department. But I rationalize this by figuring Supergirl's writers have perhaps had Bullock transfer over to National City. In any event, the pay is $2000 a week and I get to be part of the Arrowverse, so I take the job.

*  *  *

It's 4 AM and Sylvia wakes me up. We're in our old condo. She reminds me that Sean, Mike and Scott are coming over for McDonald's. Sean has already arrived on the balcony on a rented bicycle glider, but I haven't actually picked up the food.

I join Sean on the balcony and we launch the glider, pedalling back offshore to Sean's yacht, picking up our McDonald's order, and cycle-gliding back to the condo. Scott and Mike arrive and we eat in the darkness, four identical orders: Big Mac combos, medium fries, medium Cokes. Mike notes with some disdain that there's a triangle of toast in his Big Mac. I check and see that my Big Mac also includes a slice of toast.

"Well, it's a bonus, I guess," I say, eating the toast.

Everything is so real as to be more convincing than true reality. Not for a second do I question the bicycle-gliders, Sean's yacht, or the fact that Sylvia and I have moved back into our first condo. The only thing I question is why I arranged for a McDonald's dinner at 4:45 AM.

Flying on the cycle-gliders is effortless and exhilarating. After supper, I fly over the beaches of Hawaii, shooting photos for Google Maps as I ride the wind. Turquoise waters lap at white sand, and the sun beams down benignly. All is good, but a voice at the back of my mind questions my sanity, and it is that voice that brings me back to reality, awakening with my alarm. 

Gotham Rising?

I watched every episode of Gotham's first season last year, but the experience grew steadily tedious. I'm not sure why I tuned in for season two, but I'm glad I did, for just two episodes in Gotham feels like a different - and much better - show.

The fine production design of the first reason remains, as does most of the first-season cast. But the writing is sharper, the acting less melodramatic and more grounded (except in the case of the lunatics driving the plot in these first episodes, but here it's wholly appropriate), the pacing improved and the characterizations generally more believable.

In these first two episodes, we witness Jim Gordon's fall to beat cop and bounce back to detective, Harvey Bullock's adjustment to civilian life, a rending and reconciliation between young Bruce Wayne and his guardian/butler Alfred Pennyworth, and perhaps most importantly, the rise of the Maniax, a group of escaped lunatics whose only agenda is chaos.

Using the mentally ill as villains is a troubling and overused trope. While the cultural politics of this storytelling choice are still difficult to justify, at least this time around it's not boring; each of the Maniax have, if not depth, then at least interesting tics...and agency, which is somewhat ironic; in Gotham, only the mad are free.

It's too early to tell if the show has really turned around, but this is certainly a very promising second time at bat. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Batman: Day One

Tonight Sylvia and I watched the first episode of Fox's Gotham, the first of a half-dozen shows based on comic books set to debut soon. 2014 is the year of the superhero on the small screen, and as first superhero out of the gate, Gotham sets a high bar for Constantine, The Flash, Agent Carter and Supergirl to come.

Pilots present a special challenge for television producers; they have to carry a heavy burden to capture audience interest, presenting a compelling setting with interesting characters and providing an easily comprehensible backstory, motivations and dramatic throughline in one (or sometimes two) hours. With all that work to do, it's no wonder that sometimes the actual stories presented in pilot episodes seem a little weak in comparison to the more solid episodes that often follow.

That being said, this is a pretty good pilot, perhaps helped along because almost everyone in western culture already knows the basics of the Batman story: young Bruce Wayne's parents are killed by a mugger, and the trauma convinces the boy to fight crime as a dark avenger of the night...the Batman.

Gotham's job is to make Bruce Wayne's formative years interesting. Whereas in the original comics of the 1940s Batman's origin was related to a few panels, Gotham will spend dozens of hours exploring both Bruce's boyhood and the city that shaped him. It's fertile ground for good stories.

The pilot's first story, then, is straightforward: it depicts the murder of Bruce's parents and introduces Jim Gordon as the young detective who must solve the case. But solving homicides in Gotham presents unique challenges - the city is pretty much owned by the mob, and most of the police force is corrupt. Jim Gordon is the one beacon of hope Gotham has right now. Even his partner, rough-edged Harvey Bullock, while well-meaning, has been tainted by the city's rot.

To make matters worse, Gotham is nurturing monsters who will eventually become Batman's rogues gallery. In the first episode we're introduced to young versions of the Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman and Poison Ivy. This leaves the pilot seeming a little crowded, but fortunately the producers wisely focus mainly on the Penguin, and even he isn't presented as the story's main antagonist. That honour goes to more conventional criminals - the Falcone crime family, introduced in the seminal Batman: Year One comic book back in the 1980s.

Of the superhero dramas being offered up this year, Gotham was the one least anticipated by me, given my disappointment with Smallville, which shares the same basic concept as Gotham. That show's potential was so sorely squandered that I expected little from this variant take.

But as it turns out, Gotham is enriched by a superb cast, gorgeous production design, solid writing (workmanlike, but with touches of cleverness) and tons of atmosphere. Gotham has a lot of potential, and if, like many genre shows, it improves over time, I'll be a regular visitor to its mean streets.