TV Review: ‘Gotham Knights’ Season 1, Episode 9
by Frank Martin
The problem with Gotham Knights is that it comes off as a CW show first and a superhero show second.
The show highlights character drama above plot. This is not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of character drama shows on The CW that do very well. But Batman has a very particular demographic. Any show that involves him — even if he’s not in the show at all — will draw fans expecting a certain amount of comic book mythology. Gotham Knights has all the ingredients of this mythology, it just uses them as window dressing for the drama instead of making them the highlight.
Following the events of the previous episode, Turner (Oscar Morgan) was still held hostage by the Court. Lincoln March (Damon Dayoub) reveals himself to Turner and even stabs Turner with a poison dagger to give him a vision. Meanwhile, the other Knights try to find the mysterious electrum in order to trade it for Turner’s life and go so far as creating a fake to trick the Court. However, things take a dramatic turn when Lincoln almost kills Turner, forcing the Knights to reveal the real electrum. All this plays out while Harvey (Misha Collins) still has to grapple with his blackouts.
It’s taken a decent amount of the season, but Gotham Knights has really shown its true colors. Rather than display a lot of the character drama through action, mythology, and plot, it resorts to having their characters talk out their issues. This is The CW style of drama that’s prevalent in a lot of its other shows. There’s more than enough material for Gotham Knights to really dive into its mythology and use that as a means to strengthen its characters. There are even hints of this happening early on with the use of the Mutant Leader and Joe Chill. Unfortunately, there’s been little else since then. It could be chalked up to missed opportunity. Then again, maybe Gotham Knights just isn’t that kind of show.
Gotham Knights is Tuesdays on the CW.
