"Gotham" received mix reviews and lukewarm responses from a number of critics in its first season. One common knock against the show was its emphasis on one-off villains instead of long-term story building. However, "Gotham" posted solid enough ratings to warrant a second season on Fox. Going forward, executive producer Danny Cannon is focused on more long-form plot lines that will better connect with one another in season two.
"Our ambitions are higher," Cannon said via Collider. "We've created a saga in Season 2 and are splitting the saga into two pieces. Rather than telling so many different stories and treating them as individual stories, it's 22 episodes of one story. Therefore, it's a lot harder to break because we want to organically weave in a lot of origin stories into this one main story. It's very complex."
What exactly does that mean? Well, it sounds as if "Gotham" will trade in some of their freaks-of-the-week in exchange for more season-long plots. Cannon explained further that they hope this new direction will be a change for the better in season two.
"It was very much in our mind that, if someone like Batman is going to be necessary, the rise of the villains is about creating an environment where Gordon has to lose control," Cannon said. "What's unleashed upon Gotham is a villain who is only trying to outshine, outplay and out-maneuver another villain, and not the police. There's a competition amongst villains, and a lack of honor. A type of villain that believes in chaos and anarchy and doesn't have the same morality as any of us...So, Gordon has to embrace his darker side, in order to face that."
Throughout the first season of "Gotham," there were a handful of villains - especially mob bosses - jockeying for better positions in the hierarchy of the crime world and planning power plays. Cannon's plan sounds like a similar format, but with more colorful villains.
Even star Ben McKenzie criticized the show's procedural format in season one.
"That was just a mistake. We should've never done it," he said via Cinema Blend.
"Gotham" has added a handful of new villains for season two who will all, presumably, be featured throughout the show's next run.
"Gotham" will return to Fox on Monday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m.
