Gotham: Mr. Freeze: Victor & Nora Fries Cast & Thoughts on the Show

Thoughts on Freeze

     Nathan Darrow is pretty decent on House of Cards, and they can't do any worse than what DC Comics did to my Mr. Freeze than they did with his New 52 incarnation.  They took a compelling villain and made him mundane.  Hopefully my taste for Gotham as a series will return (more on that below), so I can return to this show and fully enjoy my favorite Bat-villain again.
     At least they kept his story sound according to Bleeding Cool News:

     "Victor begins as one of Gotham’s preeminent cryogenics engineers. Though ferociously smart and eminently capable in his work, Victor struggles to make meaningful connections with others. The one exception is his wife, Nora, who has tragically fallen ill with a terminal disease. Victor’s love for Nora knows no bounds, and as her condition worsens, he goes to extreme measures to figure out a way to freeze her before she dies."

     As much as it will be awesome to see Mr. Freeze on television again, I think the show needs to cut back on the ever-growing cast size.  I think it would've been cool to have him be a small consultant doctor on a case for Gordon.  Nothing super overt, just a guy doing his job, placed in a role for the fans to spot as an Easter Egg.

     UPDATE: Today marks the announcement of two additional new cast members.  The first is the awesome B.D. Wong (Jurassic Park and Jurassic World) as Hugo Strange, and Kristen Hager (Being Human) as the tragically-fated Nora Fries.

     At least she's going to have a compelling story (via Comicbook):

     "Thanks to her smarts, sincerity and a lighthearted sensibility, she’s the only person who’s managed to connect with the otherwise emotionally cold cryogenicist. As her condition worsens and her husband becomes more desperate to save her life, Nora must make the ultimate choice: play the willing participant in Victor’s mad plan or sacrifice herself to stop the monster inside of him." 

Thoughts on Gotham

     I've been a less than thrilled with Gotham.  Before it aired they were touting it as the story of a crime-riddled Gotham City long before Batman with Jim Gordon working against the odds.  What we got was an angsty show overloaded with all the people that we know from the 'now" all crammed into an impossibly connected world.

     It really bothers me that all these backstories are so conveniently tied to each other.  Why couldn't they make it a tightly knit story of a handful of crime families and the police force interwoven in a way that when someone weird does come along it signals something big?  Nope.  Of course they need to make everything tied together.  We have to deal with constant reminders of all the future criminals when they are young and are being force-fed their origin stories.

     It would make more sense, and in my mind a much better tale, that when Batman finally starts showing up, there's wouldn't be much in the way of strange super villains.  His appearance would serve as a beacon to draw the evil oddities out of the woodwork and bring them to Gotham City.  Hell they could even play it so you never see him in the very last season.  Keep him as a legend in the shadows, and only leave his rumors to be told by those that have encountered him.

     Think about how awesome it would be if a young Bruce Wayne only appeared maybe twice.  And then leave him away, he has his own story that comes much later in life, in a more interesting time of his life.  We don't need his whole damn childhood, and we don't need a kiddie Catwoman, or pint-sized Poison Ivy- Gotham would be much better as a straightforward crime series.  Maybe having the merest weird things, like a precursor to Black Mask with the Sionis family, along with Cobblepot and the Falcones.  I think a smaller story would do wonders instead of smashing together every damn character possible into one mess of an origin story.