Ultimately, Gotham's return left me rather bored, and that's disappointing considering the show has such a solid cast (down even to its guest stars), rich source material and the feeling that it could be something great.
The problem with keeping things simple, though, is that if your main storyline is a dud, there's precious little else to keep things interesting, which was unfortunately the case with "Rogues' Gallery."
Episodes like tonight's return from winter break -- "Rogues' Gallery" -- recreate the experience of reading a mediocre Bat-book so perfectly that they all but feel plucked from a back-issue bin at a Comic-Con dealer's table.
The show continues to pile on characters and killer-of-the-week storylines with little regard for an overarching narrative, or even a sense of identity. There's a lot of pieces here, but few of them fit together.
It's about time. Changing the one-and-done villain storyline is what Gotham needs to jump-start its winter season. The previous routine was beginning to feel stale.
With circumstances changed, relationships altered, and new characters created, "Rogue's Gallery" feels like a definite second act for the often misguided Batman drama, and one that hopefully learns from the first act's many mistakes.
I was hoping that in the month-long gap between episode ten and 'Rogues' Gallery' that Gotham would tighten up a little bit. As it turns out, this show is racked with the same old cramps.