Fresh off what our reviewer, Kyle Fowle, described as “perhaps the most pointless, dull episode” of its second season to date, Fox has announced that it’s renewing Gotham for a third season of rising villains and lowered expectations. Starring Ben McKenzie as future Gary Oldman Jim Gordon, and David Mazouz as a version of Bruce Wayne who doesn’t do any of the things—dressing like a bat, growling, hitting people with car batteries—that make Bruce Wayne interesting, the series will presumably return this fall.
Executive produced by Danny Cannon, Bruno Heller, John Stephens, and The Tick’s Ben Edlund, the DC Comics-based show has lost some of its ratings steam in its bad-guy focused second season, but is still holding strong among key demographics. Meanwhile, a few gifted performers—including reliable schlub Donal Logue and a pleasantly unhinged Robin Lord Taylor, as The Penguin—do their best to keep the masses entertained while the show struggles toward the Batarang-hurling fireworks factory it’ll never actually reach.