GOTHAM: L-R: Guest star Nathan Darrow (Mr. Freeze). GOTHAM (Mondays, 8/7C) on FOX. ©2015 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: FOX
Gotham (FOX, Mondays, 8/7C) returns with our first real look at Victor Fries aka Mr. Freeze. Also Oswald T. Cobblepot is insane – and a certain hot young villainess returns to Gotham’s underworld.
Mr. Freeze opens on Jim Gordon’s hearing vis-à-vis the events of the fall finale, with Gordon answering questions from Assistant DA Harvey Dent (Nicholas D’Agosto) – including the death of Theo Galavan; we meet the new king of Gotham’s underworld – Butch (?)(Drew Powell) – as he receives a visit from Tabitha Galavan (Jessica Lucas), and a cop on her beat has a chilling encounter. And that’s just the teaser!
As the teaser suggests, there’s a lot going on on Gotham this week. Not only do we finally meet Victor Fries (Nathan Darrow), but we find that his story hews very closely to the original version – he’s freezing people to try to perfect a method for freezing his dying wife, Nora (Kristen Hager), until medicine can find a cure for the disease that’s killing her.
At city hall, Dent and Captain Barnes (Michael Chiklis) have an exchange that has us wondering how much he believes Gordon’s (Ben McKenzie) story. Dent accuses Barnes of sounding a bit too much like a lawyer – we’re not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult…
Meanwhile, good old Oswald T. Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) has turned himself in and confessed to killing Theo Galavan before winding up in Arkham – which leads into the introduction of one the most insidious Batman villains, the incredibly creepy Dr. Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong).
GOTHAM: Guest star BD Wong (Dr. Hugo Strange). GOTHAM (Mondays, 8/7C) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jessica Miglio/ FOX
Written by Ken Woodruff and directed by Nick Copus, Mr. Freeze gives us a peek at Selina (Camren Bicondova) as she eavesdrops on Butch and Tabitha (this cat seems to go wherever she pleases without being noticed) and a couple of sequences that show the new, more confident Ed Nygma (Corey Michael Hall) – including a great moment where he stands up to Bullock (Donal Logue).
So, this ep is chock full o’ goodies, but does it hold up as an episode? Why yes, it does. Mr. Freeze ties together a number of threads that were set up in the first half of the season – including the possibility of Wayne Industries being behind (or at least unwittingly funding) some real nastiness (see also: Dr. Hugo Strange).
At the same time, the ep also deepens characters in unexpected ways and sets a noir mood that feeds into the show’s comic book sensibilities (call it comic book noir, if you like). There are shots at unsettling angles that are just a hair off standard and the pacing is as deliberate as a British espionage movie. The freeze effects are pretty cool, too.
Mr. Freeze ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, too. It looks like Victor Fries is going to be very busy in the near future – if other forces don’t remove him from the playing field before he gets to it.
Altogether, Mr. Freeze is a solid winter premiere that plays nicely off what has gone before while setting up what is to come. It’s a kind of bridging episode and it does its job capably if not inspiringly.
Final Grade: B