When I first heard about Fox’s new Batman series, I figured it would be just like the plethora of animated series or similar to the ’60s series that starred Adam West. I could not have been more wrong. The first episode opens with a girl who is hinted to be a young Catwoman, making her way across Gotham’s rooftops and alleyways, stealing milk and some guy’s wallet as she goes along. She ducks into a side street, just as the doors to the nearby building open up, revealing three characters any Batman fan should be familiar with: Thomas, Martha and little Bruce Wayne.

It was at this point that I knew this series was going to be different. Most of the Batman series that I had seen took place when Wayne was already Batman. “Gotham” flashes back to before Wayne even has designs on becoming Batman and I really like the detail that it goes into.

We actually see Wayne’s parents get shot, instead of it being presented as a small flashback or a series of still images. We see the shock and disbelief on young Bruce’s face as he tries to get his parents to wake up.

That really sets the stage for the first episode. As news of the murder spreads throughout the city, we meet character after character, including younger versions of James Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth.

“Gotham’s” version of Alfred Pennyworth keeps more in line with Christopher Nolan’s movies than the animated series and comics, which I find refreshing. Most of the interpretations of Alfred have been as the quintessentially proper English butler. Sean Pertwee’s version, while still an English butler, is more rough-and-tumble.

From the Wayne murder, we jump to the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), getting an inside look on how things are done, specifically the animosity between the Homicide and Major Crimes departments and the disdain Gordon’s partner, Bullock, has for him.

We watch Gordon and Bullock interrogate some lowlifes and then, when that turns up nothing, they turn to the mob. That’s where things really get interesting and “Gotham” shines. We meet many of Batman’s allies and enemies before they become the people we are used to. For example, we meet the GCPD forensic examiner Nygma, who only speaks in riddles. We meet a mob lackey by the name of Cobblepot, called “Penguin” by his co-workers.

All in all, “Gotham” looks incredibly promising because it stays true to the dark and gritty backdrop of crime and corruption that has always been part of the Batman universe. It is much more of an in-your-face thing than it was it was in the comics. If the other episodes in the series are anything as engaging and on-target as this one was, I cannot wait to see what the series holds.

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