In Review: Gotham Knights (S1 – EP1) Pilot

Synopsis: In this pilot episode for Gotham Knights. Bruce Wayne has been killed and his adopted son is framed for the murder of The Caped Crusader along with the children of some of Batman’s enemies.

The Story

In this opening episode Bruce Wayne’s adopted son Turner Hayes is throwing a victory party, but in another part of Gotham City his adopted father has been murdered and a gang that consists of some of the Children of Batman’s enemies has been framed for the killing. While this gang, which consists of Duala, Harper Rowe, and Cullen Rowe gets taken in by Police. Turner is shellshocked at the discovery that his late father was Batman and becomes determined to find the real killers. When he finds the Batcave he enlists the help of his friend Stephanie Brown to help him hack the bank details of who it was that put a hit out on Bruce Wayne aka Batman. However, when they find that the money came from Turner’s own account. It is not long before the police come knocking on the doors of Wayne Manor. 

The Acting

Oscar Morgan for me felt a little patchy in the lead role of Turner Hayes. Particularly during the scenes where he is supposed to be grieving the loss of his adopted father. His performance seemed to be up and down. The best parts are when he interacts with Duala, Harper Rowe, and her brother Cullen. That said it is these supporting characters that bring charisma to this show, which feels too much like a by-the-numbers CW Superhero show offering us another mystery box with nothing new. Olivia Rose Keegan brings equal measures of charisma and unpredictability to her role as Duala who is the daughter of Batman’s most famous enemy The Joker. While Misha Collins brings some maturity to the series Harvey Dent. Who in this version of the Batman Universe has not become Two-Face yet. 

Overall

If you are looking for another Teen Centred Superhero series from The CW, which a close friend of mine called “The Can’t Watch Network” a number of years ago. Then you might enjoy this show if you are not already jaded by CW’s Superhero offerings. Personally, I found the opening episode to be pretty bog standard and offering nothing new that we haven’t seen before. We get a nice touch with the villains being connected to The Court of Owls who run Gotham. And we do see a somewhat bloody murder by a single Owl assassin at the episode’s end. But as far as setting up the story arc all this achieves really is having young Turner meet what will become his future gang aka Gotham Knights. So I think I will stick to the Gotham Knights video game instead, which is way more fun and intriguing. In short, this review is a one-off, as is my time watching this show as I am clearly not the right audience for it.