ADVANCE PREVIEW: Gotham Season 3 Premiere Lays the Groundwork for Third Season

Gotham will hold its Season 3 premiere “Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell…” tonight, September 19 and like its past premieres it is a good starting off point for the season. The episode had more ups than downs, but it’s the last 5 minutes of the episode that will leave you dying for the next one.

In the episode, we are introduced to newcomer Valerie Vale, played by Jamie Chung. Valerie, much like many of the newcomers in past seasons, is a nice addition to the Gotham family. Her and Ben McKenzie’s chemistry was definitely an up in the episode. They played off each other really well and the episode left me wondering if she would eventually be the person to help Jim get over Thompkins or stay would the pair’s relationship stay completely platonic.

Another up was Bruce’s story arc. Bruce confronts the Wayne Enterprises Board about their involvement in the experiments at Indian Hill and David Mazouz proves he is ready to start writing the path for Bruce’s ultimate role as CEO of Wayne Enterprises. He also has a really good scene with Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle) that left us wanting more from the pair. You could also tell in the scene that their dynamic is beginning to change from friends to something else, so it will be fun to see where that leads this season.

The only downs, and these have been my downs since Season 1, in the episode were Fish Mooney and Barbara. I understand why they need to keep Fish around, but I think they could have picked another character for her arc. They could have used one of Gotham’s other villains or maybe one of the experiments from Indian Hill instead of using Fish again. In regards to Barbara, she is a useless character that they just keep bringing around. Erin Richards is a great actress, but the character is pointless and I feel like she is just there to be there.

All in all, the episode did a nice job of laying the groundwork for the third season. There were a lot of pairings and things that happened in the episode, that hopefully will be explored even more as the season goes on; things like Fox and Bullock’s relationship, the long-haired Bruce Wayne look-a-like and Bruce/Selina’s relationship.

Let’s just hope that Gotham can keep the steam going for longer than its premiere episode. As we all know, the show is known for having a good start and finish, but consistently gets lost in its middle episodes. I am really hoping that is not the case this season.

Let us know what you guys think of the episode after it premiere’s tonight!

Cr: Jeff Neumann/FOX.