Jim makes a questionable moral choice while Bruce blows things up in the Gotham season 2 premiere.

Weve got all of our favorites: Jim, Bruce, and Penguin re-committing to their respective goals.

picking up relevant plot threads from the previous season while simultaneously launching a new story.

This is whatGothamneeds to move from an entertaining, yet ultimately underwhelming show to something greater.

In this respect, the season 2 premiere didnt wow us, but it had a few surprising moments.

Jim has always been a tough character to develop.

He needs to be good, but still effective in a corrupt world.

Steady, but not predictable.

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Jim is as boxed into his source material role as Bruce is.

You wanna be a cop so bad, youre willing to break the law?

His response: Im willing to bend it a little, yeah.

Hes a competent cop, not a superhero.

(Point forGotham.)

The scene that sees Loeb retiring is oddly sad.

I wasnt expecting that.

It is a sign of just how far this city has fallen i.e.

that Jim is willing to stoop to such lows to get his job back.

As Bruce would (and does) put it: Sometimes, the right way is the ugly way.

It also properly introduced new Big Bad Theo Galavan, played wonderfully by James Frain.

We dont know what this guy is up to, but we know it cant be good.

Its a not-Batcave, aka his fathers office.

The message Thomas Wayne ominously left for Bruce via letter: You cant have both happiness and the truth.

You have to choose.

I beg of you, my son, hey choose happiness.

Unless you feel a calling.

Bruce doesnt choose the first option.

Gothammanages to distract with the sheer delightfulness of the relationship between Bruce and Alfred i.e.

when Alfred chastises Bruce for trying to make a bomb: I read a book, Alfred.

It seems simple enough.

but its going to need to make some bold moves with this storyline.

But Bruce doesnt have to become Batman to be interesting.

Barbara is more interesting in this episode than she was in all of season 1.

Shes still annoyingly obsessed with Jim and Leslie, though.

I kind of wish she would have bigger plans, you know?

Conclusions

Let me hammer theGothamCant Be Afraid of Canon theme home for you one more time.

It is inspired by, rather than chained to its source material.

In that way, these shows both have some wiggle room.Hannibaltook that wiggle room and reinvented the canon itself.

Its not too late for it to start putting its own spin on DC lore in some game-changing ways.

Rating:

3 out of 5