Gotham is still on winter break and our Mondays are a bit more boring right now. As you may or may not know, each week, we've been taking look at characters from this large cast and deciding what works and doesn't work on the FOX series. So far, we've covered those who work for the Gotham City Police Department and the crime syndicate of Gotham.

Like many folks that live their whole lives in New York City or Chicago, when you are born into a bustling metropolis, like Gotham, it's a place you're going to set down your roots and stay in you're whole life, so it makes sense to see so many beloved Batman characters as younger versions of themselves in this show.

This week, we're taking a look at one of the most polarizing parts of this show: the kids. Some people love how they're included in the show and other side of the coin really isn't into what's happening with how the kids are included in the show. Let's get down to business and find out about all these kids.

Bruce Wayne

Spoiler alert! This little kid is going to become Batman. A young Bruce Wayne saw his parent's murdered right before his eyes and it changed him from a stuck-up, spoiled child to a stuck-up, spoiled child with a passion for solving crimes. Jokes aside, this junior detective is in a transitional phase where he's thrusted into adulthood and almost forcing himself to grow up too quick. David Mazouz plays the role of the famed Bruce Wayne.

What's Working: David Mazouz actually does a really good job with what he has to work with. He's great in his scenes and fantastic with showing emotion. You know, that thing called acting. He comes of as natural. The moments where Bruce learns about the world are exciting to watch.

What's Not: The focus of this show went from the cops and crimes in Gotham to "what's Bruce Wayne up to this week?" The problem has nothing to do with David Mazouz and everything to deal with how unfocused the show can feel at times. His character can be an unbearable as the creative team forces the character onto the screen, week after week.

Conclusion: Sometimes, Bruce is a great edition to each episodes, but sometimes, it feels like the writers threw him on the show just to throw him on the show. The latter half of the season, before the winter break, lots of people warmed up to him.

Selina "Kat" Kyle

Selina Kyle is the girl that grows into the woman Catwoman, Batman's on-again, off-again, criminal lover. Carmen Bicondova plays the young Selina, who prefers to be called "Cat" or "Kat" by the way. Kat was the only witness, aside from Bruce, to the murder of Martha and Thomas Wayne, in that dark alley. She also spends a lot of time showing Bruce what the real Gotham city is like, which apparently isn't as scary as you'd think.

What's Working: Although I was really against Kyle being a witness to the murder, it did lead to some interesting stories for the show. Sadly, that's about it.

What's Not: She's poorly written and forced into almost every episode as to scream to the viewer "Hey! I exist." I feel bad for the young Carmen Bicondova because the character is bi-polar and all over the place, like seven different people had a hand in her dialogue. It's like they don't know what to do with her but demand she be a part of every episode.

Conclusion: I really want to like the character, but she's directionless and doesn't really offer the audience anything new. Sure, the more recent episode, where her and Bruce visited the underground, gave viewers insight into some of the underworld, but aside from that, the aren't writing the character strong enough to pull this much screentime.

Thomas Elliot

Cole Vallis has the job of playing Thomas Elliot, in one episode so far. For those who are unfamiliar with the character, in the comics, he was a friend of Bruce Wayne's who became a bit obsessed with him. Elliot ended up killing his parents, to be an orphan like Bruce, and a bit later down the road, Elliot became the villain Hush. On Gotham, Elliot is a big jerk bully that can't stop reminding Bruce his parents are dead. Eventually, Bruce confronts him and give him a couple of right hooks.

What's Working: He's only in one episode so far, and the scenes of him were more of a wink and a nudge to fans. However, we do get to see Bruce come up against adversity that he can actually handle and control.

What's Not: Some folks are not happy with the change of Thomas being a bully right off the bat. They want him to be Bruce's friend. Personally, I don't care. It works.

Conclusion: Elliot's appearance on the show was short but sweet. He was really here to move forward Bruce as a character. Technically, it could have been any character with and name, but it was cool to see Elliot. Here's to hoping we get to see him a bit more.

Ivy Pepper

Clare Foley plays Ivy Pepper, who will be in 4 episodes this first season. Ivy is the daughter of the man who was wrongfully accused of murdering Thomas and Martha Wayne. Thus far, she's appeared in two episodes and she's always are plants. Why? Well, she grows up to become Poison Ivy, we think. The Poison Ivy from the comics is named Pamela Isley, but the signs they're the same character are all there. Basically, we're just assuming they are the same character.

What's Working: Not much. It's a forced character with a decent backstory that's never worked with.

What's Not: Relatively everything. The character serves no real purpose other than a nod at the fans of the comic. Sure, because of the actions of the GCPD on the show, that gives her motivation to become Poison Ivy, but the audience will never see that fully realized. In a world where many shows don't make it past a second season, the chances of Gotham hitting season 14 and seeing Poison Ivy are 9,999,999/1.

Conclusion: Ivy Pepper, if she actually is Poison Ivy, isn't just the weakest character in the set of kid actors on the show, she's the weakest part of the whole cast, right above Selina Kyle.

There you have it! Next week, we'll be back to take a look at some of the villain of the week characters that have appeared on the show. Remember, Gotham returns from it's Winter Break to Fox on Jan. 5 at 8/7c. What do you guys think of these characters?

uggghh hate these little kids

CinemaSins: "Poison Ivy is too young to be hot yet." *ding*

But the children are the future.

i dont like this show at all. im still waiting for a super-heroish comics based showed to be the caliber of Breaking Bad or Lost or Walking Dead. hasnt happened yet. they all seem to have too much of the corny / cheesy factor for my tastse.

I think Selina's adorable, and the actress apparently has been doing gymnastics and dance since she was a fetus, so she could probably deliver some pretty good action scenes. I'm also quite okay with Bruce and how he's been used on the show for the most part. Also, more Bruce would mean more Alfred, and show Alfred is the best.

Ivy, however, is a shoehorned in mess...

Like I said in another thread: This show is a total hit or a miss and there is no in between. When this show wants to be edge of your seat excitement and fun it can do it quite well. But when it want to change things up and be horrid then this could be mistaken for the worst show on TV.

I dont get all the selina hate, shes not tio bad and the worse chracter of the series is mr im edward nigma the guy who has to state his own name in every scene he's in even when talking to chracters who all ready know him

I don't understand why everyone hates Selina "Cat" Kyle honestly I like the character, She's actually one of my favourite characters on the show. Bruce Wayne's character is also good the only character I'm iffy about is Ivy she does not seem that interesting hopefully they do something really good with her character soon.

Get rid of Selina, and the show would be better.

Can't stand Selina. Not because I think the actor is bad. She does fine. But that character is forced in every aspect.

Bruce surprisingly is a pretty good actor for a kid. I was impressed.

I extremely hate that Selina and Ivy are using their nicknames(criminal names). I think it is far far far to early for that, and it seems forced

I hate how this show insists on beating you over the head that these are the younger versions of the characters you actually love. Pamela Isley wasn't obvious enough so they changed it to Ivy Pepper. Didn't get the memo that Selina Kyle was Catwoman? She calls herself "Cat" and literally carries around a jar of milk. I'm pretty much done with the show at this point.

Wow, I think 90% of the hate these characters get comes solely from the fact that they're children. They're a large part of what keeps Gotham from being a typical (lack-luster) cop drama.

As for the "shoe-horning into every plot" argument: it is a very common TV trope for episodes to have a B-plot. Whether the B-plot directly relates to the A-plot is inconsequential. But the constant claims that Selina and ESPECIALLY Bruce are shoehorned into episodes just feels weak to me.

I'm sorry, but I can't take this stuff seriously anymore whenever Bruce or Selina comes up. I realize that all these articles are written by a person and are therefore not objective and that they are not intended to be free of opinions, but whereas I think the articles on the good guys and bad guys were fairly balanced, the personal opinion is just too strong here. Really a shame because it makes the article unreadable.

We get the rehashed whining about Bruce and Selina getting screen time and as far as major changes to Tommy Elliot's character go (an important issue for many Hush fans like myself) we get a literal "Personally, I don't care." Oh and then let's just curbstomp Ivy while we're at it, because you know this little girl Selina that I have been hating on from day one and telling everybody how she is the worst thing in the world? Well, I hate this little girl even more.

Sorry for being so rude and upfront, but after hearing the same stuff over and over and over again I was getting very frustrated. Shame on you.

Spawn of Satan.

Never realized there was so much hate for the kids. They certainly take up too much screentime, but finding the Waynes' murderer is still a huge plotline.

Nice article, they should kill off Pepper, turn Kyle into a prostitute and make Bruce leave Gotham.

Ivy and Selina are just shoe horned in to just drip in Easter Eggs...

Bruce is awesome and I give a hats off to his actor, and when he feels annoying, it's not his fault really...

In order for me to care about Elliot, he needs to be in more episodes...

This.

It could have been much better that Selina wasn't the witness to Bruce Wayne's parents' murder.

So from what I gather from the commercials in the mid-season finale Bruce and Selina are on the run, this would be a great way to tie Ivy into the mix by allowing her to hide the fleeing duo and having some interaction between Bruce and Ivy. I know Bruce knows that Ivy's father did not kill his parents so she could initially not like him and then start to side with him as time goes on. Would that work?

I like the kids, particularly Bruce and Selina. I'd prefer more of them than we get as it is, lol. Particularly more action scenes for Carmen Bicondova -- every time she does something physical, she's a marvel to watch.

The two of them and Det. Gordon are the characters I like to watch the most, though others like the Penguin, Alfred, Det. Dent, etc. deliver good lines as well.

I don't think there's much point to Ivy on this show, so she can drop off the radar till she's needed -- and Thomas Elliot has to return for some obsessive payback in a season or two.

Selena and Bruce are the most enjoyable parts of the series for me. True, often Selena is forced, with her useless cameos and "CALL ME CAT ITS CAT GET IT LIKE CATWOMAN CUZ IM HER" and Bruce seems to show up in some scenes just for the sake of reminding everyone that he's definitely almost Batman, but as a whole, I'd rather just see Bruce and Selena and Alfred than the rest of the cast and their "story".