Martin Carr reviews the thirteenth episode of Gotham season 2…
To say nothing of consequence happens this week in Gotham is selling the programme short. Sure there are no big plot reveals and very little action, but at the same time there are small touches which make you smile.
Continuing as it does with the story of Victor Fries we get a convoluted kidnap tale with intermittent trips to Arkham Asylum. That see cops getting turned into human popsicles, while the GCPD prove less than competent at tracking down criminals. However what makes episode fifteen more than a mere diversion is the relationship that develops between Hugo Strange and Fries himself.
BD Wong has more fun with this than Nathan Darrow, as the latter spends a lot of time angst ridden and sporting one hefty NERF gun. However when the two finally meet you get the impression there is more to come, even if what that is remains tantalisingly unclear. Beyond their screen time it is only Lord Taylor that brings something special to the party, where we witness his aversion therapy in action at close quarters.
For the first time since its introduction Arkham possesses a true sense of unease, personified through Strange in an understated fashion. Elsewhere we get some side plot shenanigans between Bruce and Alfred concerning the aborted search for his parent’s killer. While McKenzie’s Gordon gets into darker territory when others begin to suspect he had more to do with Galavan’s death than people first thought.
As usual I suspect there are more than a few Easter eggs which slipped through the net with me, especially those concerning that hand pressed against sheet glass towards the end. However that aside Indian Hill is doubtless proving problematic with censors, even when employing implication rather than literal depiction. In this experimental facility we have the product of human testing, either willingly or otherwise overseen by Strange and Peabody. It is here remember where Firefly still lurks while more unsavoury individuals gestate awaiting discovery.
However Indian Hill as a tangent only represents moments of intrigue within the confines of a mediocre episode. Whether that’s because they had stretched content over two episodes to pad things out is up for conjecture. But the fact remains that with few exceptions ‘A Dead Man Feels No Cold’ felt unengaging. As I said earlier the recurring memory remains Lord Taylor strapped down, encased in a virtual reality headset gagging with that bit between his teeth. If the producers had a sense of humour they could have shown us what’s happening inside that aversion device. My guess is they were running Gotham Season One on loop. What else could have caused those anguished screams?
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Originally published March 13, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
