Gotham Knights (2023) Review

Batman Died, And Apparently So Did Common Sense

Posted by budnrip

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

🦇 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Gotham Knights is a CW DC show that asks the brave question:

What if Batman died, Gotham lost its protector, and instead of making that an emotional, gritty, interesting crime drama, we followed a group of teenagers who somehow get framed for his murder and then spend most of the show trying to prove they didn’t do it?

And yes, this is a CW show.

You can feel it.

You can smell it.

The CW energy is baked into this thing like someone sprinkled melodrama powder over a Batman corpse and said, “There. Television.”

The show follows Turner Hayes, Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, after Bruce is murdered. Turner then gets pulled into a conspiracy involving other young characters, including Harper Row, Cullen Row, Stephanie Brown, Carrie Kelley, and Duella. They all get tangled up in Gotham’s criminal underworld while trying to uncover who really killed Batman and what’s going on with the Court of Owls.

On paper, that sounds like it could work. A Batman show without Batman, focusing on legacy, corruption, Gotham’s rot, and young people stuck in the shadow of a dead legend? That could’ve been cool.

But the execution? Oh my lord.

This show feels like someone had five different ideas for a Batman-adjacent series, shoved them all into a blender, forgot the lid, and then acted surprised when the kitchen exploded.

It wants to be dark. It wants to be teen drama. It wants to be mystery. It wants to be a Gotham conspiracy show. It wants to be emotional. It wants to be edgy. It wants to be legacy-focused. But most of the time it just feels like a CW show wearing Batman’s cape and hoping nobody asks too many questions.

And unfortunately, I am asking questions.

A lot of them.

👥 Character Rundown

Oscar Morgan plays Turner Hayes, Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, and this character is one of the biggest problems with the show right away. Turner is not from the comics in this exact way, and that’s not automatically bad. You can create new characters and make them work. The problem is Turner just does not feel interesting enough to carry a Batman legacy show.

He is supposed to be our emotional center because his adopted father was Bruce Wayne, but somehow he feels less connected to Batman than half the side characters. He spends a lot of the show feeling like generic CW lead number 47. He’s pretty, sad, confused, and surrounded by drama. Congratulations, we have completed the CW starter pack.

Navia Robinson plays Carrie Kelley, and honestly, she should have been way more central than Turner. Carrie Kelley is actually a Robin in the comics, so right there, you already have a more natural Batman legacy angle. She has more direct superhero energy than Turner, and the show clearly knows she matters, but then it still makes Turner the main character because apparently we needed Bruce Wayne’s adopted OC son in the middle of everything.

Olivia Rose Keegan plays Duella, and she is easily my favorite character in the whole show. Not even close.

Duella is the one character who feels like she walked in from a more interesting version of this show. She’s chaotic, strange, damaged, unpredictable, and actually fun to watch. She has personality. She has weird energy. She has that messy Gotham freakshow vibe that this show desperately needed more of.

And what makes Duella interesting is that she believes she is the Joker’s daughter. That instantly gives her a twisted identity crisis. She’s not just a random edgy girl who says weird things because the writers wanted a Hot Topic Joker-adjacent character. There’s something actually sad and broken underneath her whole personality.

She is the one character where I was like, “Okay, hold on, there is something here.”

Fallon Smythe plays Harper Row, and Harper is fine, but the writing does not always give her enough to fully stand out. She has attitude, toughness, and a sharper personality than Turner, but again, the show has too many characters and not enough strong writing to balance them all.

Tyler DiChiara plays Cullen Row, Harper’s brother, and I appreciate the show trying to give him his own emotional material, but once again, the show’s writing is very CW. So sometimes the emotional drama works, and sometimes it feels like everyone is one hallway argument away from a commercial break.

Anna Lore plays Stephanie Brown, and Stephanie is another character who should feel more important because of her comic history. But the show doesn’t really use her in a way that makes her feel as exciting as she should. She’s there, she’s involved, she’s smart, but the show never fully makes her pop the way she should.

Misha Collins plays Harvey Dent, and I’m sorry, but this might be one of the worst Harvey Dents I’ve ever seen.

And look, I don’t even blame Misha Collins completely. I think the writing and the direction are the bigger issue. But this Harvey Dent just does not work for me. Harvey Dent should have charm, authority, inner conflict, tragedy, and that slow feeling of a man cracking under pressure. He should feel like someone who could become Two-Face because something inside him is already broken.

This version just feels off.

He doesn’t have the presence I want from Harvey. He doesn’t have that tragic weight. He doesn’t feel like the Harvey Dent who could be Bruce Wayne’s equal, Gordon’s ally, Gotham’s golden boy, and eventually one of Batman’s most tragic villains.

He feels like a CW adult character who wandered into the wrong show and was handed the name Harvey Dent.

And that’s a huge problem because Harvey Dent is not some random DC character. This is Two-Face. This is one of Batman’s most iconic tragic villains. If you’re going to use Harvey Dent, you need to make him matter. You need to make him feel like Gotham’s fallen angel.

This show makes him feel like paperwork with cheekbones.

⏱️ Pacing / Episode Flow

The pacing is messy.

The show has a mystery structure, but the mystery does not always feel gripping enough to carry the entire season. Batman is dead, the kids are framed, the Court of Owls is involved, Harvey Dent is floating around, Gotham is supposedly falling apart, and yet somehow the show still manages to drag.

That is honestly impressive in the worst way.

You killed Batman before the show even begins. That should be the biggest hook imaginable. That should make the city feel like it is collapsing. Gotham without Batman should feel terrifying.

Instead, the show often feels like a teen drama that occasionally remembers it is connected to Batman.

And because it’s CW, there is a lot of relationship drama, emotional speeches, secrets, betrayals, trust issues, and characters dramatically staring at each other like someone just stole their diary.

The show wants to be a dark Gotham mystery, but the CW tone keeps pulling it back into teen soap opera territory.

And I don’t mind teen drama when it works. Smallville was built on teen drama and still had charm. But Gotham Knights feels like it wants the Batman brand without fully understanding the weight of Batman’s world.

✅ Pros

The show is visually gorgeous.

I’ll give it that.

For all my issues with the writing, the story, the characters, and the CW-ness of it all, the show does look good. Gotham has atmosphere. The lighting is moody. The city has a slick, dark, neon-crime vibe to it. There are shots where I genuinely went, “Okay, that looks cool.”

Duella is also a big positive. She is the one character who actually grabbed me. She has the most interesting personality, the most interesting identity conflict, and she feels like someone who belongs in Gotham’s weird, broken world.

The Court of Owls being involved is also a decent idea on paper. The Court works well as a Gotham conspiracy because they represent the idea that Gotham was rotten long before Batman ever put on the cowl.

And the basic setup of Batman being dead and young characters trying to survive in Gotham could have worked.

Could have.

That phrase is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

❌ Cons

The biggest issue is that the show feels like wasted potential.

Batman is dead. That should be huge. But the show doesn’t make that premise feel as powerful as it should.

Turner Hayes is not compelling enough to be the lead.

The mystery is not strong enough.

The writing is too CW.

The dialogue can be rough.

The emotional beats often feel forced.

The characters do not always feel like they belong in a Batman story.

And Harvey Dent? Good lord.

Again, this Harvey Dent just does not work for me. He feels like such a weak take on one of Batman’s best villains. There’s no tragic grandeur. No powerful fall-from-grace feeling. No sense that this is a man Gotham once believed in.

And that’s the thing. Harvey Dent is supposed to be heartbreaking because he represents what Gotham does to good people. He is proof that even the best people can be broken.

This show’s Harvey feels like the show is checking off a DC name instead of actually understanding him.

The show also suffers from being yet another DC project where Batman is important, but Batman himself is not really there. And sometimes that can work. Pennyworth is weird, but at least it knows it’s doing its own thing. Gotham had its own madness. But Gotham Knights feels like it wants to live in Batman’s shadow while also not knowing how to use that shadow properly.

🧨 Final Thoughts

Gotham Knights is frustrating because there are pieces here that could have worked.

A dead Batman.

A Gotham conspiracy.

The Court of Owls.

Teen heroes trying to clear their names.

A darker mystery tone.

Duella as a chaotic wildcard.

Those ingredients could make a good show.

But instead, the final result feels like a CW Batman-adjacent drama that never fully becomes the show it wants to be.

It is visually good, and Duella is genuinely interesting, but that is not enough to save the whole thing.

This show had potential, but it mostly wastes it.

It feels like it wanted to be bold, edgy, emotional, and mysterious, but ended up being a messy teen drama with a Batman logo slapped on the evidence folder.

And yes, the show was cancelled after one season, which honestly is not shocking. It premiered in 2023, got one season, and then The CW cancelled it. So it never got the chance to continue or fix itself.

But based on what we got?

I’m not exactly sitting here crying into a Bat-Tissue.

⭐ Rating

2/10

The visuals are gorgeous, and Duella is an interesting character.

That’s basically what saves it from being lower.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning

From this point on, I’ll be talking about the full season, major reveals, Duella’s real parentage, Harvey Dent, and the cancellation.

🩸 Spoilers

The whole show starts with the death of Bruce Wayne / Batman, which should be one of the most shocking things you can do in a DC show.

Batman is dead.

Bruce Wayne is murdered.

Gotham’s protector is gone.

That should make Gotham feel like hell has opened its gates and every criminal in the city is ready to throw a parade.

But instead, the show turns that into a murder mystery where Turner Hayes and the others are framed for Bruce’s death. Turner gets accused, ends up pulled into this group of young characters, and they all try to figure out who really killed Bruce while surviving Gotham and dealing with the Court of Owls.

The Court of Owls being the big conspiracy should be awesome. The Court is one of the coolest modern Batman concepts because it makes Gotham feel ancient and rotten. It says Gotham’s corruption is not just street crime or mobsters. It is built into the walls. Rich families, secret societies, assassins, masks, hidden history — that is all good Batman material.

But the show does not fully land it.

It has the idea, but the execution feels too much like CW mystery drama. The Court should feel terrifying. They should feel like Gotham’s nightmare elite. Instead, a lot of the time, they feel like the secret-society plotline you’d expect in a teen drama that wants to be darker than it is.

Now Duella is where the show actually has something interesting.

For most of the show, Duella believes she is the Joker’s daughter. That completely shapes her identity. She acts chaotic, dangerous, strange, and unpredictable because she believes she comes from Gotham’s most infamous monster.

And that is genuinely a cool concept.

Because imagine growing up believing your father is the Joker. That would mess anyone up. Duella’s entire personality feels like it was built around that belief. She leans into the madness because she thinks madness is her inheritance.

But then the twist happens.

Duella is not actually Joker’s daughter.

She is Harvey Dent’s daughter.

And honestly, that twist is one of the more interesting ideas in the show. Because suddenly Duella’s identity crisis becomes even messier. She thought she was the child of chaos, but instead she’s connected to Harvey Dent, a man who represents duality, hidden darkness, and fractured identity.

That should be amazing.

That should be huge.

That should completely reframe both Duella and Harvey.

But again, this is where the show frustrates me. The idea is better than the execution.

Because Duella being Harvey Dent’s daughter is a great twist on paper. It connects her chaos to Harvey’s future Two-Face identity. It gives her a more personal tie to Gotham’s tragic villain history. It means she spent her life believing she was connected to one monster, only to learn she was connected to a completely different kind of monster.

But the show’s Harvey Dent is so weak that the twist does not hit as hard as it should.

If this were a stronger Harvey Dent, that reveal could have been devastating.

Imagine if Harvey had been built up as this powerful, tragic, respected figure in Gotham. Imagine if we saw more of his inner conflict, his buried darkness, his public hero image, and his private unraveling. Then finding out Duella is his daughter would feel like a bomb going off.

Instead, it’s more like: “Oh. Okay. That’s the twist.”

And that’s the problem.

The show has DC lore bombs, but not enough emotional weight behind them.

Harvey’s descent toward Two-Face should be one of the most tragic parts of any Batman-related story. But here, it just feels like the show is trying to build toward something more interesting than what we’re actually watching.

And since the show got cancelled after one season, we never even get a proper long-term payoff. The show ends with some setup for what could come next, including more with Harvey, but then nope. Cancelled. Done. Pack it up. The Batcave lights are off.

That cancellation makes the whole thing feel even more incomplete.

And to be fair, cancellation is always annoying when a show ends with story threads still hanging. But in this case, it almost feels like the show was still trying to convince people why it should exist by the time it was over.

That’s not great.

A show like this needed to come out swinging. It needed to justify itself immediately because Batman fans are already picky, and I say that as one. You cannot show up with a dead Batman, a made-up adopted son, a CW teen-drama tone, a weak Harvey Dent, and expect everyone to just clap like trained seals.

The show needed stronger writing.

It needed a better lead.

It needed a more powerful Gotham atmosphere beyond just visuals.

It needed the Court of Owls to feel scarier.

It needed Harvey Dent to actually feel like Harvey Dent.

And it needed Duella to be surrounded by a show as interesting as she was.

Because that is the real tragedy here. Duella is interesting. She has flavor. She has chaos. She has that broken Gotham energy. Her believing she’s Joker’s daughter and then learning she’s Harvey Dent’s daughter is the kind of twisted identity crisis that could have carried a much better show.

But she’s stuck in Gotham Knights.

And that’s basically the whole problem.

There is a better version of this show buried somewhere underneath all the CW fog machines and dramatic hallway conversations.

But the version we got?

Yeah.

Two out of ten.

Duella deserved better. Gotham deserved better. Harvey Dent absolutely deserved better.

And Batman died for this?

That might be the darkest joke of all.