Gordon (Ben McKenzie) works in a monster-ridden Gotham as a bounty hunter and seeks to find Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) for answers about the Indian Hill escapees – and why their powers appear to be killing them. Meanwhile, Bruce’s (David Mazouz) doppelganger roams the streets, and Barbara (Erin Richards) and Tabitha (Jessica Lucas) open a new nightclub called The Sirens in the all-new “Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell…”

Gotham returns for a third season picking up where the second left off and setting up a lot of mysteries to come. The first episode is a mix of plotlines as the Indian Hill escapees are running loose in the city in a proto-Batman villain sort of way. There’s a guy that’s similar to Killer Croc, there’s a Man Bat knock-off, there’s a lot to make you want an actual series with the straight up rogue gallery we enjoy.

With the introduction of so many with varying powers, the first episode feels like the X-men’ing of Gotham, especially with Fish Mooney running around with her group of individuals. There’s a power for each moment’s needs and it includes some costumes that don’t help the comparison. And as far as that X-Men tone, the series feels more like X-Men: The Last Stand, than the more higher quality films. Watching the episode I awaited for the word “mutant” to be dropped at any moment. It’s a very odd tone and direction for the show, especially with Batman’s more horror roots, this at times camp feels a bit mixed in what it’s attempting to achieve.

The key players are back, though at this point Bruce is more front and center as he attempts to figure out the corruption at the heart of Wayne Enterprises. This mean David Mazouz has more on-screen moments, unfortunately known of that is good. Mazouz is the weakest point in the series with line readings that are flat and without any personality at all. Every scene he’s in drags killing any flow of the series.

Gotham is going in an interesting direction with a weird mix of Schumacher’s Batman and Ratner’s X-Men and in a way moving further away from the classic characters it’s based on.

Overall Rating: 6.75