Harvey Dent: Gotham's Other White Knight

[darkestboy]

 

With him set to make his debut in Monday's episode, I thought a character thread for him would be appropriate and the title comes from the fact that aside from Gordon, he seems like he's going to be something of an overt do-gooder.

[Actionmage]

I am not so sure about his do-gooding.   I understand how he thinks what he's got started is supposed to play out, but since he is dealing with volatile criminals and super-cucumber cool white collar criminals, he seems to have blinders on about unforeseen circumstances.

 

Taking Selina's testimony as a witness and dangling it out there in conjunction with an unrelated crime, is shady to me. Jim may not have fully explained that Selina is a teen, hoping to shield her if Dent did not meet expectations. Yet, putting a witness in danger just to go after another nasty bit of business seems...reckless. Harvey was fast-talking and hard-selling Gordon on the plan. Newly trustable Montoya and Allen were nodding and agreeing. Then again it wasn't their witness.

 

The glimpse of Dent's temper was OTT, but was needed to show how he breaks eventually. Plus, he's a DA in Gotham! If anyone other than Gordon has shares in Tums, it's going to be this guy.  If I was pretty sure a guy with four lawyers was bullshitting me? I might have a small outburst similar to Mr. Dent, Esquire.

 

Oh, also, his two-headed coin. Because that's honest. (Like any "troubled" kid in Gotham wouldn't demand to look at that coin?) I also thought that lawyers generally tried to not ask questions they didn't already have answers for, so fishing with Lovecraft was a bupkus, unless he bugged his office and got a wiretap approved for Lovecraft's phones, et. al.

 

It was just his introduction, and despite my misgivings, I am hoping to enjoy Harvey, as I have most of the characters!

[dialyn]

Not too crazy about this character, or maybe its the actor I'm having trouble with.  They are a little challenged with this one because Harvey Dent is supposed to be more or less on the side of good but then is pushed over to the side of evil; but this guy isn't pushed but is rushing forward.  (My understanding is that he eventually he picks which direction he goes in by a flip of a coin, but if the coin he uses is two-headed, what's the point of that?  Probably a different coin, eh?)  I tend to like the way they introduced Robert Taylor as the Penguin because the audience has a chance to see him evolve.  Ditto with Cory Michael Smith as the Riddler...we get plenty of hints of who he will become but we are given time to get used to him.  On the other hand, Nicholas D’Agosto goes full bolt from a slightly chilly bureaucratic type into near frenzy mode before anything has happened to provoke him....he's a guy with anger issues (maybe they explain the source of that but I missed it so I apologize ahead of time if I'm wrong yet again).  I suppose he could be that outraged by the corruption around him, but given the level of corruption in Gotham, that just doesn't seem enough by itself...I would think something more personal would be triggering him.  I didn't mind the lighting on the guy's face, since just about everyone ends up in half light, half dark in this show, but I felt a little piece was left out of his character development to account for his changing gears so fast.  Why even do the reveal so soon....if he is going to be around for more than one episode, couldn't they give him a little arc so he can have some background to his issues?  Sadly, when he is in "good" mode, he still seems somewhat untrustworthy to me (maybe conning teenagers doesn't strike me as a positive role model).  This isn't a deal breaker as far as me watching the show....I just have some reservations about how the character is written and portrayed. 

[Actionmage]

It was his mealy-mouthing  reaction to Gordon's actions. Maybe Gordon has siblings and that's why he picked up on the "I didn't say anything out loud" whine/defense. "What about whispers?!" was pretty good. I am hoping that Dent, freaked about how badly the plan spun out of control, decides to play it straighter for a while.

 

Dent seemed willing to take some punishment, though I think it was more form/ what was expected. The mayor has a big hate-on for Gordon, and with some reason-despite Aubrey James' corruption. Gordon (and Bullock!) had the balls to think they could initiate legal proceedings against him! Yeah, Falcone too, but Mayor James seems like a vindictive man. If Gordon was jaywalking, there's be charges and Arkham anyway.  I don't think Dent is the mayor's pawn, but Dent is ambitious, and that leaves him vulnerable to being leveraged, especially after a PR nightmare like this!

 

Maybe the writing for him will get better after the break.

[darkestboy]

I thought he was fine in episode 9 but in episode 10, he came across as a bit snivelling and cowardly. Not a good impression so far.

 

Hopefully the second half of the season fleshes him out better.

[HoodlumSheep]

I'm going to give the actor some time to settle into his role, because I think he comes off as a little forced right now. They also seem to pushing his two-facedness, which is too soon in my opinion.