WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for this week's episode of Gotham, "The Beginning...," which aired Thursday on Fox.
For the past five years, Gotham's Bruce Wayne has been on the path to becoming Batman. Along the way, the character picked up tricks of the trade, and iconic moments would define his journey. Whether it was putting on a mask or finding the cave underneath his manor, every season of Gotham featured defining scenes that would help groom Bruce Wayne to become Batman.
It's been a long road, but finally Gotham has reached its end. Thanks to the promos and trailers for the series finale, we already knew that Bruce would finally suit up as the Dark Knight in "The Beginning...," fight some iconic villains and start a partnership with Jim Gordon.
So, did the episode deliver? Was the debut of Gotham's Batman everything we hoped it would be? Well, no. Not really.
Yes, Gotham finally features Bruce Wayne as the Batman. The big problem is that the little teases we've seen in the trailers -- from the superhero crashing through a window or the street view of a caped figure jumping over a rooftop -- comprise most of the instances where we actually see Batman in the episode. What's even worse is that a couple of other scenes featuring the Caped Crusader have the character either out of frame, out of focus or relegated to a shadow.
However, Gotham does ultimately make up for this by ending with a full shot of Batman, standing mighty on a Gotham City rooftop. But here's the thing: It's the exact shot that was already leaked weeks ago. Therefore, it you've been keeping up with Gotham news recently, if you've seen the trailers and the picture, then this episode has nothing new to offer you.
Yes, it's commendable that the series made sure to end with a shot of Batman in full costume, but fans are bound to be left disappointed. The producers of the series had gone on to say that the finale would effectively work as a Batman pilot, and the trailers made it seem like fans were in for an epic hour of caped crusading. However, that's not what this episode featured at all. There are no major surprises here. No Batcave. No Batmobile. No Bat-gadgets except the batarang we already saw in the trailer.
After waiting five years, fans deserved better than a Batman who spends most of Gotham's final hour off-screen. A static shot of Batman on a rooftop may make for a nice concluding image, but it's far from satisfying.
Gotham stars Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth and Shane West as Bane. Season 5 and The Complete Series will be available on Blu-ray and DVD June 11, 2019.