Gotham is a confusing show to watch. The characters are all insane, or teetering on the edge, and they do horrible things, but you're still rooting for them in the end. The show combines the goofiness of Adam West’s Batman with the gore of a B-grade horror flick. The season premiere, “Mr. Freeze,” didn’t disappoint. It kept with the weird theme developed in the first half of the season while introducing crazy new characters and story lines. The best part was Lil’ Bruce Wayne was nowhere in the episode.
Gordon has been cleared of all wrongdoing in the murder of Theo Galavan, but Commissioner Barnes still has his suspicions. Back to being a cop, Gordon and Bullock continue trying to catch the new “freak of the week,” who happens to be freezing people.
Mr. Freeze is done perfectly in this episode. He’s a scientist who does horrible experiments to save his wife’s life, trying to find a way to chill her and then bring her back when there is a cure for her disease. It’s the same origin story given to the character in Batman: The Animated Series from the 90s, which is perfect since that’s the story that made Mr. Freeze a top-tier Batman rogue.
Oswald Cobblepot, who has become one of Gotham’s breakout characters, has been arrested and sent to Arkham. Here we meet Hugo Strange, played by B.D. Wong. Strange has always been one of Batman’s best villains, an evil scientist who believes he has a superior mind to Batman, going so far as to discover Bruce Wayne's secret identity. I’ve loved Wong ever since he was a preacher in Oz , where he tried to help the depraved inmates. In Gotham , he’s playing the exact opposite of the priest character, performing sick and twisted experiments on the Arkham loonies. The half beard and glasses, along with Wong’s stellar acting, gets me excited to see how they are going to use this character.
Gotham really stepped up its camera and special effects work this episode. Simple close ups, like the pill bottle at the pharmacy or Hugo Strange’s twisted smile, add a whole new level of depth to these scenes. We can really feel Penguin’s and Mr. Freeze’s anxiety and stress. The gore was disgusting: there was a man melting on a table and a frozen head flying through a windshield. Gotham is embracing its goofiness while still making compelling characters and an entertaining story.
if Gotham can keep this up, I can’t wait to see more Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman and Butch with a screwdriver hand. We are living in a great era of comic book television.
