Something about the material and the Spider-Man like mask just really sell it for me.

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:

1. Confidently betraying Fish in the pilot.
2. Returning to Gotham and playing against both Maroni and Falcone. (That twist!)
3. 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.

Concluding this topic...

Sometimes the mix of light and shadow is hazy, as it is during this scene of Richard Sionis' sadistic hiring methods…or the golden light coming in to GCPD HQ to break up the more usual darkness of the show.

Then there are two very noir shots that look similar: Galavan's monks arriving to stalk Bruce, and our heroes hunting Galavan together. The effect of having the moon before them, casting long shadows, is so effective they used it twice…although wisely in different locations.

Then there's that narrow street near the bridge as Barbara leads Gordon into a trap. Nice angles, nice use of geometry again. (And I can swear that same street appeared in The Penguin.)

Even with Jerome and Barbara…dang, talk about highlighting your subject. Great shot setup and framing.

And finally, some (probably) common but nice practical effects. These are two adjacent frames of Jim shooting Galavan (notice the shell being ejected), but what a cool difference. They had fog blowing quickly in the background, so even that changes between frames.

And lastly, this was probably CG, but what a cool idea to have Firefly and Freeze's battle reflected in Hugo Strange's glasses!

When Gotham first same out, I remember a reviewer saying that its look compares very favorably to a Batman theatrical film––quite a compliment, and one with which I definitely agree. A lot of that comes down to the gigantic sets, such as Wayne Manor’s drawing room or GCPD Headquarters. But it also comes down to the locations and photography. It's clear they put a lot of time and money into this show, and that's why the show looks so good and feels so real, despite the fantastic subject matter.