'Gotham' Season 1, Episode 5: Watch Preview Featuring Dark Characters, Compelling Direction [VIDEO, REVIEW]

IN PHOTO: Actor Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith arrive at the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California March 2, 2014. Reuters Reuters/ Mike Blake

"Gotham" Season 1, Episode 5, titled "Viper," airs Monday, Oct. 20, on FOX. This week's new episode features "a new euphoric but lethal drug" that is wreaking havoc in Batman's home city. Watch the preview to see dark DC comics characters coming alive in compelling TV direction that is fit for the theatres.

Spoiler alert: This review contains Gotham Season 1 spoilers. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the previous episodes.

"Gordon and Bullock are on the case when a new euphoric but lethal drug hits the streets. Elsewhere, Oswald Cobblepot integrates himself into Maroni's inner circle; and Fish Mooney continues to set her targets on Falcone," reads the Gotham Season 1, Episode 5 synopsis on TV.com.

James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and (former) fiancée Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) are not likely to declare wedding vows anytime soon. Gordon's black-and-white vision has become too complex now, all thanks to Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor).

Oswald's schemes in the last two episodes of Gotham Season 1, as well as the conflicted nature of the characters in Gotham, make for a very interesting comic-TV entertainment.

Mafia lords Salvatore Maroni (David Zayas), Carmine Falcone (John Doman), Gotham City Mayor Aubrey James (Richard Kind), mob strategist Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue), and Gordon are shaping Gotham in their own ways.

But Oswald is outwitting them all, at least for now. Fish thinks he's dead (killed by Gordon, supposedly), whereas Oswald is now serving Maroni the enemy - and James Gordon, sort of.

Bruno Heller, creator of "The Mentalist" on CBS, developed Gotham, and got Danny Cannon ("Nikita") and John Stephens ("The O.C.") on board as his co-showrunners. Cannon directed the show's first two episodes, which gathered a lot of positive reviews from critics and the general viewers, some of whom were skeptic about a "Gotham with no Batman."

Also interesting to see is the development of the relationship between Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee) and the young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), both of whom have already shown some endearing Batman origin moments.

Also well-received is Selina Kyle, fabulously played by dancer Camren Bicondova. Getting creepier by the episode is coroner Edward Nygma, played by Cory Michael Smith. New entry Liza (Makenzie Leigh) seems to have a lot of venom within, as well. Greatness is hoped for these three in Gotham Season 1.

The dark characters far outnumber the good ones, and perhaps that is the reason why the show is called Gotham. The city itself is a dark character in the series, and the biggest one at that.

WATCH: Gotham Season 1, Episode 5 Promo Video | FOX on YouTube ('Viper')