Gotham is back and off to a fun start. Word is Season 2 is going to be much more serialized, with no “villain of the week” type episodes.

Looks like we’re going from mob war to psychopath’s run amok with a man named Galavan. Breaking out a few crazies from Arkham (including Jim Gordon’s somehow even hotter, now ex-girlfriend, Barbara, and Jerome, who must be the guy who will become the Joker) the streets of Gotham have a lot to worry about. I’m a huge fan of Cameron Monaghan from his work as Ian in Shameless and he’s really hamming it up here. Sure the Joker is very animated and he’s found a good laugh for him, but I’m not entirely sold on his performance yet. A lot of crazy attacks in just the second episode, I can only imagine what’s planned for the rest of the season. It’s a rather violent show despite them not showing everything. Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock are going to be put through the ringer,

Meanwhile, Bruce made it into his father’s secret room with Alfred’s help and Lucius Fox has been brought into the fold in a clever way. The seeds of Batman are growing right in front of us now.

I enjoyed the first season, as uneven as it was. I think the show runners learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t and “Rise of the Villains” should be vast improvement overall.