With the Power of One Stupid Outfit, 'Gotham' Was Finally Dumb Enough to Lose Me

By Vivian Kane | TV | September 22, 2015 |

By Vivian Kane | TV | September 22, 2015 |

I haven’t made a secret of the fact that I am somewhat of a Gotham apologist. I honestly have no idea why I’ve continued to watch the show. I know I should have stopped after the first few episodes. I recognized it as supremely dumb (in fact, as we’ve established, it sucks), and although I never thought it was bad enough to even call a full hate-watch, it has been a major waste of time. Still, I held on. Maybe I was hoping it would get better, Agents of SHIELD style. Maybe it was because I liked a few of the characters (Cobblepot!) enough to overlook the rest. Or maybe we all just need one show that not only allows, but insists that we turn our brains off for an hour a week and not judge.

But with last night’s season premiere, I think they finally broke me. There was a lot of dumbness in the episode, so what was the straw that broke my judgemental back? What could possibly have been so silly that even someone who didn’t really mind Fish Mooney all that much would deign too over-the-top? Was it the weird PG sex party? The reduction of Edward Nygma to a crazy muttery split personality cliche? The idea that Barbara Kean, who may or may not be on her way to becoming Harley Quinn, now locked away in Arkham, spends an entire episode trying to get a phone only to leave stupid voicemails for Jim’s new girlfriend? No, the thing that broke me was one single outfit. And no, not even this one:

No, I’m talking about an even more ludicrously unrealistic outfit. Like this one here:

Are you fucking kidding me? A co-ed asylum/prison for the criminally insane? Sure, that’s a real thing. But kicky little poodle skirts and v-necks just low enough for cleavage shadows? I had no idea ModCloth designed prison uniforms.

Why does this bug me? Well, it’s stupid, of course. But it’s not even close to the stupidest thing this show has going for it. So why does it bug me so very much? I really don’t know, other than it’s just one step too far on a show that is so very tonally confused. If Gotham trusted itself enough to have more than a sporadic sense of humor, or actual camp instead of a weak impression of it, this prison dress could be delightful, even a great Halloween costume contender. Instead, it just seems like a lazy way to keep the blonde’s legs out there.