Can the Joker Save ‘Gotham’?

Cast aside your thoughts on Jared Leto’s Joker in Suicide Squad and remember back to that other major Batman franchise currently in production. No, I’m not talking about Batfleck. If you’re drawing a blank, I don’t blame you. I’m talking about Gotham, the unmemorable FOX series that has so far done for the Batman franchise what The Sarah Connor Chronicles did for The Terminator… nothing. Approaching the season premiere of its second season, Gotham premiered a new trailer that desperately reaches out to the devoted DC fanbase who started tuning out late last season.

Here’s the trailer…

From a marketing perspective, the trailer is supposed to read “hey, guys, check it out, we brought your favorite villain center stage.” Unfortunately, it actually reads “hey, nerds, you really liked Heath Ledger as the Joker so now imagine what a young Ledger would have been like if he played the Joker in Schumacher’s Batman films.”

After its somewhat intriguing pilot, Gotham veered all over the place in tone. That’s just one of the reasons I abandoned ship halfway through season one. The new trailer makes it look like FOX has brought back Cameron Monaghan’s Jerome Valeska, a young Joker, to lure fans with a bit of hollow familiarity. Unfortunately, this trailer, much like the first season, looks to be all stick and no carrot.

The Joker is undoubtedly the greatest of the Batman villains, perhaps even the greatest superhero villain of all. There’s plenty of room for all of the unique Joker’s we’ve seen throughout the years, but as Monaghan’s version steps into the light I must once more agree with the following meme: Mark Hamill’s Joker is the one true Joker.