Fox television's Lethal Weapon and Gotham continue their amazing seasons

Lethal Weapon and Gotham shock and surprise week to week, and this week was a holiday treat!
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Fox's Lethal Weapon (Image via Fox/Richard Foreman)

Author - Colin Bruce Munro Wood

The #Fox channel continues to roll out amazing television shows, containing original, exciting, and emotional plots that surprise, tug at the heart-strings, challenge the mind and pull you in with special moments.

Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford are as special as their names are original
Episode 10 of season 4 of #LethalWeapon was possibly the most powerful of them all. The main plot was surely one we are all familiar with. The side stories, however, are what dominate this amazingly written, directed, and acted show. Whether it's Murtaugh's family matters or Rigg's twisted and emotionally scarring past, the surprises never end.

We discovered more about Rigg's past, and why he continues to see the staff psychologist, who in a rare instance, did not show up in this action and emotionally packed episode. We found out who killed his best friend and how, and that it was his girlfriend's ex. We see his heart begin to tear down its walls, and we meet his father in the most interesting circumstance that ties into the present and obvious future storyline.

Murtaugh continues to make choices that upset his wife, but #DamonWayans performance is so endearing in the role originated by Danny Glover, that no one can help but forgive him for his bad, but heartfelt choices.

#ClayneCrawford is no stranger to film and television, as I have been discovering several other things he has acted in. In every part, he is different and original, and there is something incredibly attractive about this man's heart, performances, and personal character that shine through every role I've seen him perform. Daman Wayans seems to have found his biggest leap to stardom with his role and multi-leveled characterization.

This is a show you shouldn't be missing!

Gotham continues to twist, turn, surprise, and shock!

When #Gotham first hit the airwaves last season, and I took in the #pilotepisode, I was honestly dumbfounded by it. I've never been the hugest comic book fan, or at least not since I was a kid anyway, and rarely catch the super-hero movies anymore. They all seem to be filled with plenty of action, but badly written scripts, and way too much action for me. That much constant action bores me after a while without good lines, good humor, great acting, direction, and a little more intricate storyline usually.

So, when I happened upon Fox's Gotham last year, I was weirded out by the characterizations of the roles by their performers and found it all to be a bit gaudy and over the top. Something about it grabbed my attention, however, and I was oddly drawn back to the next episode, probably due to the enticing ending of the first episode.

Two seasons later, and I can't begin to describe in just one article the immense success, the incredible storylines, acting, scripting, direction, makeup, and so much more guiding this show to be one of the top performers the past two seasons in television ratings.

The setting is Gotham (Manhattan), of course, and it follows the young life of Bruce Wayne, prior to creating his alter-ego, Batman. Along the course of learning his true past based on the comic book series, we have delightfully been introduced to many of the major characters that were created in the comic book series, and the television series from the 1960's.

The Riddler, also known as Enigma, the Joker, Catwoman as a teenager, Fish Mooney, Detective Gordon, Bruce's butler and so many more, all in their younger years. We find them all in a disheveled and murderous Gotham, all trying to take the power of a city, in disgrace. Every episode is packed with incredibly twisting storylines, amazing character acting, excellent makeup that deserves #Emmy nods. The power structure of the stories, and the enticing script with fantastic acting, all come together to keep you on the edge of your seat. However, #Gotham doesn't stop there. This is no run of the mill comic television show. It is filled with murder, horror, intrigue, psychologically disturbing material, incredible action and destruction, all neatly wrapped around the growing youth Bruce Wayne, and his metamorphosis into the Caped Crusader!

Even the youth of this show does not disappoint with their unbelievably crafted abilities at such young ages. It seems obvious that this cast is closely knitted with each other and offer each other suggestions and help, as it shines through in their ability to truly connect on screen!

39-year-old #BenjaminMcKenzie leads this phenomenal cast as the ever-ardent Detective, and now Commissioner Gordon, whom in the 60's #Batman series was a pretty old guy. In fact, if you take the age of the current young batman, and add on 25 more years to his life to the age of the tv batman, that would only put the character of Gordon around 69 years old. If you all remember, the tv Gordon looked like he was in his 80's, and may very well have been. So, yeah, there are some minor timeline discrepancies between the two shows, but who cares!

David Mazouz as young Bruce Wayne, now developing into a young man, and in fact, just fired his butler Alfred for now, and declared emancipation from his guardianship in the show. David is a fine actor, showing a diverse range of emotions so real, you'd think he really is Batman. I mean, seriously, in about 10 more years, this kid will be the perfect star for a new and better written and directed Batman movie, than it's predecessors. Cameron Bicondova started the role of Catgirl quite young looking and has grown into a lovely young lady who is still building her craft on screen it seems but gets better and better with every episode she is in.

My two favorite actors in this show though, are the roles of Enigma (The Riddler), and The Penguin, whom I disliked very much for the first two episodes of the first season. But Robin Taylor has grown on me and proven to me that he is a master of his craft, even at such a young age. He reminds me of a modern version of a young Al Pacino. He never holds back in his performance or abilities and is definitely the greatest Penguin to EVER grace the screen. Corey Michael Smith is my second favorite as Enigma, and he also has undertaken extreme changes in his characters person throughout the show, handily reflecting the insanity of The Riddler.

Basically, if you haven't seen either of these shows yet, and you have binged all that you thought you could, think again! Get your On Demand programming running, and rewatch the first two seasons of both of these amazing Fox Channel creations, and I promise they will not disappoint.