Out of the many superheroes that I'm a fan of, Batman has always ranked among one of my favorites. I loved watching the Tim Burton movies, the animated series, and even the Christopher Nolan movies (for the most part. The Dark Knight Rises was a disappointment but I digress.). Something that might surprise you though is that, out of the various villains that the Caped Crusader has to face off against, my favorite Batman villain isn't Catwoman, Scarecrow, Penguin, or even the Joker, but instead is actually Mr. Freeze.
I've always loved the character of Victor Fries and the very tragic backstory that was given to him about his attempts to cure his wife, Nora, of a debilitating disease. Naturally, I avoided watching the godawful Batman and Robin because of how goofy and cartoony he was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. So when the show Gotham was first starting out about a year and a half ago, I was eager to see when and how they would bring in this character and I'm pretty impressed with how they pulled it off.
Admittedly, I can't remember much of Mr. Freeze from my earlier days of watching the animated series, but the guy they got to play him in Gotham, Nathan Darrow, is very believable. This is how I always pictured Mr. Freeze being portrayed. You really feel the pain he's going through as he's trying to find the proper solution for cryogenically freezing his wife and reanimating her once a cure is found, all the while going through many human test subjects that have constantly failed.
Also worth mentioning is the character of Hugo Strange (BD Wong) who works as Chief of Psychiatry at Arkham Asylum where characters such as Penguin and Detective Gordon's former girlfriend, Barbara Kean, are locked up. Before this show I mostly remembered BD Wong from such movies as Father Of The Bride I and II, Mulan, and apparently the first and fourth Jurassic Park movies and while I mostly remember him being a humorous character from both Father Of The Bride movies he was absolutely eerie and terrifying in this show. You just immediately sense this sinister aura about him whenever he's on camera.
The relationship between Victor and Nora is perfectly portrayed in this show as he's trying to save her and she's feeling responsible for all the people he's killed but still standing up for him. Victor himself even has remorse for those he's killed while at the same time realizing that he's killed too many people already for him to just go back now. The way the episode ends for both of them is almost like something out of a Shakespearean tragedy. It's just heart-breaking. I also really appreciated the fact that when his wife does meet her end, Victor doesn't lash out in anger like most others would, blaming them for her demise. I feel like that's something all too common and was glad that they went a different route with that.
The further development of the story with Gordon and young Bruce Wayne were still kept interesting as Bruce discovers a lead on the man who murdered his parents. Sadly, though, this leads to the predictable route where Alfred makes him promise that he won't kill the guy but then Bruce plans on going behind his back to do it anyways and why does it have to do this? That's just soo blatantly cliched that I'm sick of it.
Still, all things considered, I hope that they'll be able to do more with Mr. Freeze in later episodes as the 2 that he was in weren't quite enough for me. I'd be interested in seeing what direction he goes now that he's got nothing to lose. Anyhoo, I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on that.
So if you guys follow Gotham like me, I'd like to know your thoughts on this episode and also "Who's your favorite Batman villain?" Feel free to comment below and I'll hopefully have another review out in the near future. Until then, keep loving movies and TV Shows and I'll see you on the next post. Later.
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