Gotham: The Complete Third Season (2016 - 2017/DC Comics/Warner Blu-ray Set)

Picture: B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Episodes: B

DC's best new live action television series, Gotham, reaches new heights in the action packed Third Season that brings some classic Batman characters to the fold, including some that have only been seen on the pages of comic books versus live action. While some aspects of the story changes origins drastically from the comics and some liberties are taken, Gotham remains more mature than Arrow and not as campy as The Flash, Supergirl, or Legends of Tomorrow. The season is divided into two parts entitled Mad City and Heroes Rise.

Gotham: The Complete Third Season features an all-star cast lead by Ben McKenzie (Southland, The O.C.), Donal Logue (Sons of Anarchy, Vikings), David Mazouz (Touch), Morena Baccarin (Homeland, the V remake), Sean Pertwee (Elementary), Robin Lord Taylor (The Walking Dead), Erin Richards (Being Human, The Quite Ones), Camren Bicondova, Cory Michael Smith (Carol), Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield), Chris Chalk (Rent), Drew Powell (The Mentalist), Maggie Geha (All My Children), Benedict Samuel (The Walking Dead) and Michael Chiklis (The Shield). Based on the characters from DC's long history and produced by Warner Bros. Television, Gotham was developed by Bruno Heller (The Mentalist, Rome), who executive produces with Danny Cannon (Nikita, CSI), John Stephens (Gilmore Girls, Gossip Girl) and Ken Woodruff (The Mentalist, Shark).

Some directors for the show this season include Danny Cannon, T.J. Scott, Eagle Egilsson, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Rob Bailey, and John Behring.

Now a bounty hunter and no longer on the Gotham City Police Force, Jim Gordon (McKenzie) has his own agenda as he faces off with some of the city's most colorful supervillians including The Penguin, Edward Nygma/The Riddler, a (sort of) Joker, Mr. Freeze, and more are joined by the future Poison Ivy, now transformed into a young woman who's harnessed the full power of her charms, and Jervis Tetch aka Mad Hatter, a. talented hypnotist (and an interesting spin on the character mythos) who isn't all quite there upstairs. Also in the fold is a young Bruce Wayne (joined by Alfred and occasionally a young Catwoman crosses his path), who faces off against a clone of himself as well as the underground criminal organization known as the Court of Owls (who find themselves in live action form for the first time).

22 Episodes span four discs for Season 3, which include Better to Reign in Hell, Burn the Witch, Look into my Eyes, New Day Rising, Anything for You, Follow the White Rabbit, Red Queen, Blood Rush, The Executioner, Time Bomb, Beware the Green-Eyed Monster, Ghosts, Smile Like You Mean It, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, How the Riddler Got His Name, These Delicate and Dark Obsessions, The Primal Riddle, Light the Wick, All Will Be Judged, Pretty Hate Machine, Destiny Calling, and the finale Heavydirtysoul.

Presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a nice sounding DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit) lossless track, the improvement over the original network broadcast is noticeable right away. Skin textures are more pronounced and the sound mix is much more impressive. This show is heavy on special effects and has better production value than most shows of its kind and it really shows on Blu-ray disc. Hopefully one day we will get a 4K release as television seems to finally be getting released on the new format with the upcoming HBO release of Westworld this fall.

A digital UV copy is also included.

Special Features...

Gotham: 2016 Comic-Con Panel

Madness Rising: the New Villains of Gotham

The Dark Within the Dark: The Court of Owls

Ben McKenzie Directorial Debut

Deleted Scenes

Gotham is a fun show for fans of the Dark Knight that doesn't mind stirring the pot on some of the DC universe canon and telling an interesting story with old and new characters. I'm looking forward to seeing how much endurance the show has, as it would be interesting to follow it until Bruce Wayne is a man.

- James Lockhart

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/