Gotham - S2E12 - Mr. Freeze

Previously on Gotham, ‘Worse Than a Crime’

Penguin gets fingered for Galavan’s murder. Meanwhile, Gordon and Bullock investigate the body-snatching spree of Victor Fries (Nathan Darrow), a cryogenics engineer trying to save his wife. Oh, and enter Hugo Strange (BD Wong).

Gotham is back! Everyone is excited, right? Well if not, you should be. After a very long hiatus the show everyone loves to hate is back with a few new villains and the same old overeager acting. But hey… we can’t stop watching it for some reason.

Images: FOX

Gordon is in a judicial hearing, answering questions about how he was able to find Bruce and save him from Galavan. Gordon points the finger at Penguin as the man who killed Galavan and he how he was not present during the killing, even though we know from last episode Gordon was the one who pulled the trigger. Captain Barnes and District Attorney Dent are not quite sold on Gordon’s tale of events.

But Gordon’s story has made Penguin a wanted man. With Penguins absence, the one-handed, drill welding Butch is now “King” of Gotham’s underworld. We also find Tabitha Galavan sniffing around the “King” and it looks like he likes what she is selling.

When a police offers interrupts Victor Fries loading a body into his car, Fries uses his freeze gun to kill the officer before she can reach for her gun. Seems there is a reason for Fries’ cool plans: His wife, Nora (Kristen Hager), is sick and Fries is desperate to find a way to help her. He is abducting and freezing people to experiment on them in an attempt to find a way to freeze his wife and reanimate her safely. His experiments are not doing so well and he is running out of medication to help his wife. He has to freeze a not-so-nice pharmacist to get the medication she needs, but in the process Nora finds out that her dutiful husband is willing to do anything to make sure she gets well. He also leads Gordon and Bullock back to his home where he had been conducting the experiments and Nora is taken away from the house with Victor looking on. In the end, Victor’s latest experiment worked and he is more motivated than ever to save his wife.

Penguin is caught and Gordon is, of course, nervous because Captain Barnes does not believe Gordon’s story. Penguin backs his story however, and Barnes lets his misgivings go, for now. Penguin is transferred to Arkham, which he finds is literally filled with insane individuals who don’t care if he thinks he is the “King of Gotham,” because so do they. Hugo Strange, the chief of psychiatry, is definitely attempting to get something out of Penguin during their counseling session together. And Penguin gets a glimpse of what could be in store for him as another inmate digs out his own eyes with his fingers right after he also has a session with Strange.

The episode ends with Strange dictating his notes about Penguin. He gets in an elevator, which takes him down to the Indian Hill facility. The underground facility is shown to run beneath the property of Arkham Asylum. While being told by Ethel Peabody (Tonya Pinkins) about a certain chemical needing replacing, Strange learns that Victor has perfected the cryogenic experiments that Strange has been trying to perfect for his own experiments. The newpapers have already given him a nickname: Mr. Freeze.

Most Hilarious Scene(s)

“What are you a bunch of cheerleaders?” - Captain Barnes to his officers, who were clapping as he brings Penguin in for questioning.

Honorable Mention: Nygma is freezing a rose attempting to illustrate how our new villain froze the police officer. Bullock throws a little disparaging remark Nygma’s way, and as he crushes the rose in his hand, Nygma tells Bullock he did not like being called names. Both Gordon and Bullock see a side of Nygma they had never seen before, and Bullock apologizes. His more than appropriate throughout the rest of the conversation.

Best Scene

Penguin, with his head down and realizing he is quite literally the voice of reason in a room full of “crazy” people, is a microcosm of what Gotham has now become. Who is really sane?

Most Geeked Scene

“Mr. Cobblepot, my name is Hugo Strange, chief of psychiatry here at Arkham Asylum. Please come in.”