Gotham Season 3

Right now you can watch Gotham Season 3 on and — and it goes further with its ideas than most genre entertainment bothers to. A single, tightly-focused season means there is plenty to get through without ever feeling padded. With 3,737 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Watch it for Ben McKenzie — the performance elevates material that could easily tip into self-seriousness. Start it whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, Gotham Season 3 is worth clearing space for. What makes Gotham Season 3 work is that the ideas never crowd out the people having them. With the Indian Hill escapees on the loose, Jim Gordon must take matters into his own hands as a bounty hunter in Gotham. He makes it his mission to find Hugo Strange, the mastermind behind the horrifying Indian Hill experiments, and Fish Mooney, one of Strange's subjects. Meanwhile, GCPD Detective Harbet Bullock and Captain Nathaniel Barnes remain at the forefront of the fight against crime in the monster-ridden city. Ben McKenzie and Donal Logue lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was aired in 2016. Gotham Season 3 resists the temptation to explain everything, trusting the audience to sit with ambiguity. The consistency throughout is what elevates it — not every moment is the best, but none of them are a reason to stop watching.

Viewers burned by ambitious sci-fi that could not sustain its premise should give Gotham Season 3 a chance. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. The complete run is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Ben McKenzie grounds the bigger ideas in something human. Once you are in, you will want to talk about it.