“I believe people can be two things at once.”
This line, spoken by Bruce, can be paraphrased as “I believe a TV show can be two things at once,” for this episode really is a continuation of last week’s winter premiere. It’s as if the producers filmed a two hour episode then cut it in half. I’m guessing FOX didn’t want to broadcast a two hour episode and bump Lucifer out of its 9pm time slot. Watching both eps in tandem, however, works better as “A Dead Man Feels No Cold” fleshes out those details that played hooky last week, most notably Bruce and his search for the killer of his parents and completing the Mr. Freeze origin story.
The premiere stayed the course of typical Gotham storylines in terms of tone, but this week’s episode is funny and even becomes campy at times. It’s interesting to note that over-the-top performances are expected from most of Gotham’s actors, but the show unfortunately tends to take itself seriously at the expense of many fun storylines. One that is ripe for the picking and bursting at the seams to be let out is the Nygma and Penguin odd couple buddy-movie that doesn’t serve campiness for the sake of campiness, but also has the potential to really examine the relationship of two criminal masterminds in its infancy. Instead, Gotham goes to great lengths to create a serious, gritty drama with Gordon and there’s the rub; since the show never goes all in on Gordon as a tortured anti-hero, the gritty drama is lost.
When in camp mode like this episode, Gotham becomes a better show. I will concede to you, dear reader, that much of the humour comes from the increased screen time Harvey receives, but his tone – dry, mocking, nay almost a wink to the camera, has an influence over the rest of the cast and provides parts of “A Dead Man Feels No Cold” an energy that is often lacking on the show. Consider the teaser when Gordon and Harvey arrive at ACE Chemicals in pursuit of Fries and they find an officer frozen mid-gunshot with the bullet stuck in the air. Harvey, in a mix of shock and admiration says “Damn,” and while it may be a small moment it sets a light, campy and fun tone. Harvey does get all the best lines, at least on this side of the badge. “We could freeze to death waiting, which would be ironic,” Harvey says dryly. Donal Logue was a rock star this week delivering those lines. But then Harvey always marched to the beat of a different drum on the show, much like Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith) did. It’s almost a different show, and this episode came closest Gotham’s producers have allowed an ep to being that different show.
Consider the scene following the teaser, when Gordon and Bullock inform Barnes that Fries wants Nora released. Barnes, slams the desk and says, “I’ll free my boot up his frozen ass,” before invoking a Frank Costanza “Serenity now,” moment. A ridiculous line, combined with Michael Chilkis’ delivery and physicality and the reactions from Harvey and Gordon that the scene and the episode by extension, move into camp territory. Barnes then suggests they move Nora to Arkham, a more secure location, in order to draw out Victor, and when he asks his detectives for confirmation of how great his plan is, Harvey replies with an “I guess.” Harvey knows things always go wrong in Gotham, and the only guarantees in this life are death and taxes. It’s these moments of levity that make Gotham fun to watch, and more is needed.
Continuing the “A Tale of Two Gothams” analogy, any fun, camp, and levity is muted when the episode shifts to the Bruce subplot. A boy searching for his parents’ killer is rather dark on paper, but on screen it comes off with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Lee visits Bruce to check in on him and hopes he opens up about the kidnapping trauma. Bruce’s lines stop just short of declaring he will be Batman and reveal how much actual hand-holding the show gives the audience. A stand alone episode of Alfred hunting down and killing Matches Malone would be a welcome reprieve from the cringe-worthy dialogue we’ve had to endure. Even if Matches didn’t kill the Waynes, it would be really cool to see Alfred in full badass mode and kill somebody. Anybody.
Lee also gets the lesser part of the bargain as she’s placed into situations that use the abovementioned sledgehammer when dealing with subtext. Clearly Fries’ journey mirrors that of Gordon’s; Victor killed people in order to save Nora and Gordon killed Galavan to save Bruce and Gotham. Both men are able to justify their actions, morality, and visions of the world they live in. Nice parallels and as subtext it gets an ‘A’ for acceptability; but the producers can’t let sleeping dogs lie, so Lee and Nora are alone in a room so Nora can opine how in her blind love for Victor she ignored his dark side. Audiences are smarter than the producers believe them to be, and it’s not necessary to spell everything out, which threatens to ruin a solid start to the second half of the season.
That solid start is purely due to performances; Donal Logue is solid, as mentioned above. B.D. Wong is batting one thousand as Hugo Strange and Robin Lord Taylor continues to shine as Penguin. Hopefully Strange seeing Penguin shouting about lying for Gordon isn’t handled in a ridiculous way, though it wouldn’t be the first time something similar happened on the show; for a split second it looked as if Fries was dead and the show move away from Mr. Freeze as a villain, if an example was needed.
Tune in next time – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
