Gotham City has not found the light in the hiatus between Seasons 2 and 3, so we can only expect things to get darker, grittier and even more bizarrely hysterical this season. We know about some of the new villains that are coming and some of the old ones that are returning in new ways, but without a whole lot of context. Thankfully, Fox has released the synopsis for the Season 3 premiere, "Better to Reign in Hell," and it opens up an interesting narrative path.
Gordon works in a monster-ridden Gotham as a bounty hunter and seeks to find answers about the Indian Hill escapees and why their powers appear to be killing them. Meanwhile, Bruce's doppelganger roams the streets and Barbara and Tabitha open a new nightclub called The Sirens in the all-new 'Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell'...
In just two years, Ben McKenzie's Jim Gordon became a Gotham cop, lost his job as a Gotham cop, went to jail and survived multiple attacks on the GCPD building. Most people might move away, but Jim set his heels down in this city, and that's where he'll stay, monsters be damned. So when Season 3 kicks off, he'll be taking on yet another duty as bounty hunter. Somebody has to do that difficult job, as the city is now being overrun by the monstrosities from Hugo Strange's lab experiments, and the cops are presumably busy handling normal human being criminals.
I like the fact that there appears to be a shortened lifespan for these altered foes, with their powers seemingly killing them from the inside. Considering most, if not all, were dead to begin with, it's not the weirdest thing in the world that their natural state wants to take over. But does that mean we're only going to get limited versions of Fish Mooney and all those other creepshows seen in the Season 2 finale? And what does that mean for The Joker?
Elsewhere, we still aren't quite sure what's happening with that oddball Bruce Wayne double that came out of the bus in the finale, or what his powers might be. They're not the same person at all, so those kinds of comparisons are out. And him roaming the streets doesn't give us much of a clue as to what his destination(s) might be. I really hope this guy and Bruce start up a new version of the band Nelson. It would mean...more than words...can say.
And last but not least, the sadistic tag team of Barbara and Tabitha are not calling it quits on their mission to...do whatever it is that they have made it a mission to do. Like villains in this show have done before, they'll be putting their efforts into getting a nightclub opened, though I'm certain none of the proper paperwork and certifications have been completed in a legal manner. As long as they have snazzy tunes and decorations, though.
Gotham is set to bring the mayhem of the Mad City on Fox on Monday, September 19, at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see when everything else is coming later this year, check out our fall TV schedule.
