You probably already know how Bruce Wayne became Batman.  According to the comic books, as a child, he witnessed the murder of his incredibly wealthy parents. As a result, he went under intense training to become the caped crusader, protecting the citizens of Gotham from evil.  We’ve seen this origin story so many times, it’s almost burned into our minds.  But Gotham, the new drama on Fox, focuses on the city itself—or more specifically, on the lives of Gotham City detectives James Gordon and Harvey Bullock back before Batman became Batman.

Within the opening minutes of the pilot, which aired on Sept. 22, Wayne’s parents are gunned down in the middle of an alley.  Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Bullock (Donal Logue) are the first to respond to the murder.  Gordon is a war veteran who is on one of his first days on the job, and is completely unaware of the city’s rising crime rate.  Bullock has been at the police department for many years, and is uneasy about taking on the Wayne murder case because it could potentially be tied to crime lord Carmine Falcone (John Doman).  Still, Gordon insists.

After a brief investigation the two are led to Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett-Smith), a gang leader who works for Falcone.  Mooney is ruthless, and she goes out of her way to make an example out of her henchman.  Ultimately, she leads the detectives to Mario Pepper, her former bodyguard.  Gordon finds Martha Wayne’s pearl necklace in Pepper’s apartment and chases him when he tries to run away.  Pepper is finally stopped, and the detectives are labeled as heroes.

Or are they? Following a quick celebration, Gordon realizes that he made a huge mistake in the case.  He decides to correct his error, even though it may lead to conflict with the both the Gotham police department and the criminals of the city.

Although Gotham may seem like familiar territory, the storyline is completely new, as you get to see the heroes before they became heroes and the villains before they became villains.  For example, the future Riddler works as a forensics analyst for the police, while the future Penguin is a humble henchman for Mooney.  Meanwhile, before Selina Kyle becomes Catwoman, she is nothing but a petty thief, stealing milk to give to stray cats. It’s intriguing to imagine how the show will eventually explain their transformations to the dark side.  Because of this, Gotham’s strongest asset is definitely its intriguing plots.

That’s not to say that Gotham doesn’t have any faults.  Outside of Logue’s and Pinkett-Smith’s performances, the acting can be a bit weak.  McKenzie’s performance as Gordon is solid, but he doesn’t stand out like a lead character should.  Other than that, the show is pretty good and definitely worth your time, mainly because it’s completely new but also because you can expect some interesting storylines as the show progresses.  Out of all the superhero shows on TV right now, Gotham looks like it’ll be one of the best. I give it 3.5 of 5 stars.