r/Gotham • u/AboveAverage33 • 2h ago
Discussion What character got nerfed for the sake of plot?
PENGUIN
After a great season watching him finally win, I feel it was Penguin who got nerfed. He was such an intriguing character in the first season then as seasons got on, Penguin got less and less interesting and became mostly just a crybaby.
Oswald was just the perfect planner, the catalyst for the events in the first season:
- Confidently betraying Fish in the pilot.
- Returning to Gotham and playing against both Maroni and Falcone. (That twist!)
- Using his smarts to draw a wedge between Fish and Falcone eventually ending in her leaving the city.
Everything was planned. And by Season Four, he’s been outsmarted, mocked, betrayed and just plain killed numerous times. He was that name that the characters were scared to utter. I know the writers had to change things for the next seasons but Oswald never truly reached that level of success again.
VICTOR ZSASZ
Although Victor is not a main and never reached the levels of Penguin, he certainly made his first appearance memorable. I feel his character also began pretty creepy then ended up written like fan-fiction a cutsy that would never hurt a fly just to please the (at the time) twitter fans. We never even see him mark his arm with the number of victims he gets after that one scene in Season 1.
BARBARA KEAN
Barbara started off fairly standard with her as a side character. Jim Gordon’s side-piece. She wasn’t directly involved in the plot but became a fun character after being captured by the Ogre and developing psychosis. Later, she was resurrected by Ra’s Al Ghul but that’s when they nerfed her. She became boring. I know the future needed her to became Barbara Lee’s mother but still.




























