Gotham: The Complete First Season

Fox's Gotham is TV's most lavish superhero show to date. Essentially Batman before Batman, the series balances a shadowy urban comic book noir style with larger-than-life personalities that look forward to the Batman universe, mixing and matching fashions, architecture, and personal style from decades of inspirations. The show begins with the murder of young Bruce Wayne's parents—the defining moment that would inspire Wayne's transformation into a masked hero—and the promotion of honest, earnest cop Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) to detective in the thoroughly corrupt Gotham City Police Department. He and his partner, Gotham PD veteran Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), are assigned the case and Jim gets a crash course in the ways of Gotham, where the city's mob boss, Carmine Falcone (John Doman), controls the mayor, while the commissioner and police simply fall in line. Gordon provides the moral center in a universe of corrupt officials and colorful villains, including rising underworld player Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), street waif and teenage cat burglar Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova), and police forensics expert Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), characters who will later morph into Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler, while Jada Pinkett Smith costars as the original character Fish Mooney, a flamboyant underboss who takes on Falcone. Compiling all 22 episodes from the 2014-15 debut season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, a DC Comics TV panel discussion at Comic-Con 2014, character profiles, and a gag reel. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)