Our old buddy Mase is back and giving us his reaction to GOTHAM’s mid-season premiere!  Check it out!

GOTHAM: Guest star Nathan Darrow in the ÒÒRise of the Villains: Mr. FreezeÓ winter premiere episode of of GOTHAM airing Monday, Feb. 29 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jessica Miglio/ FOX

Name of the Episode: “Mr Freeze”

Beware – the following contains spoilers!

Gotham is back and better than ever! In the first season Gotham put criminals in front of Jim Gordon, and he took them down. Defeating them every time. After the dull first season, Gotham listened to the fans and critics. With the beginning of the second season Gotham turned the tables and answered the question, “If Jim Gordon is so good at his job, why does Gotham need the Batman?” Season two had Gordon getting overwhelmed and coming out on top most of the time, but every time it was a great sacrifice for Gordon. He questioned his motives every time.

The first half of the season saw the rise and fall of Theo Galavant. It was a power play for him to bring the Court of Owls to Gotham as a form of revenge on the Wayne family from 200 years ago. Now with a minor Batman story out of the way (Court of Owls), and motive for Bruce to actually leave Gotham so he can become the Batman, the show can now get back to the matter at hand, why does Gotham need the Batman?

The back half opens with the aftermath of Gordon and Cobblepot killing Theo down by the docks, in the same place where Gordon was to kill Penguin. They play with Harvey Dent’s character every time he comes on the show. For those that don’t know, he is the villain Two-Face after half his face is burned off with acid. In the hearing the tables are off center with Capt Barnes on the right side of the screen and empty space to the left. Gordon was questioned by Dent on if he killed Galavant or was present when he was killed. Gordon denied everything. Also, after Gordon was released of all charges, Capt Barnes was standing on the second floor when Dent walked up beside him. The light was only coming in the right side of the screen through the windows and black on the left.

Now, since all the crime families have been destroyed thanks to all the infighting mostly caused by Penguin, the only one on top is Butch, the one handed bodyguard. He isn’t the best to run the empire in Gotham, he is just a big dumb bodyguard. Enter Tabitha Galavant, sister to Theo Galavant. She uses her sexuallity to convince him to join with her. All the while little Selina Kyle is looking in from the windows. Now these stories are interesting because, Fish Mooney is not dead and is rumored to come back by the end of the season. Who would Butch choose if push came to shove?

Victor Fries has his introduction in the next scene, with a young cop approaching him about a kidnapping. He is obviously nervous, and she tells him to open the back of his car. When he does, you see the body and then the cop gets a freeze blast. More on Fries in a moment. Bullock and Gordon get called to the scene where they have no idea what to do except go to Edward Nygma for help where we learn that it is science that nobody knows. In the meantime, Cobblepot was captured and brought in for questioning. He confessed to the murder of Theo Galavant and also pleaded insanity. The police then transfer him to Arkham Asylum, because he’s insane, where he proceeds to jump on the table and proclaim to be the king of Gotham! But the other inmates just laugh at him.

Back to Victor Fries, we learn that he is actually freezing these people so that he can successfully thaw them out so that he save his wife’s life from a disease. This is in line with most versions of Mr. Freeze, he is just a man in love with his wife and will do anything to save her life, even kill. Lucky for Mr. Fries, the GCPD doesn’t take him seriously when he said he was the one freezing people. If they had, he may not have seen his formula for A16 worked and it successfully thawed a man out.

GOTHAM: Guest star BD Wong in the ÒÒRise of the Villains: Mr. FreezeÓ winter premiere episode of of GOTHAM airing Monday, Feb. 29 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2016 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Jessica Miglio/ FOX

Our other villain for the back half of the season come in the form of Hugo Strange. He is the psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum. He pulls Penguin in his office for a chat after his outburst in the cafeteria. How Hugo speaks to Penguin is interesting, he is trying to hypnotize him but the words aren’t working because Penguin isn’t a normal insane person. As Hugo leads Penguin out the door, he tells him there are many treatments in his ‘rehabilitation’ here. We catch a glimpse of the Indian Hill facilities at the end of the episode and also we hear what treatments Penguin will be going through.

The series as a whole has gotten so much better from the first season and continues to get better. The introduction of Hugo Strange and Arkham Asylum have really rounded out the show. There is finally a clear reason for the Batman to come to Gotham. After Gordon puts all these criminally insane people in Arkham, Hugo is going to twist their minds until they turn into the costumed villains of the night that Gotham is known for.

We didn’t see any Bruce Wayne this episode, but we did get some Lucius Fox action this episode to help explain some science stuff that to two cops didn’t understand. It is nice to not have the youngins on the show. The mystery of Batman is one of the best parts of his characteristics. If we see him get beat down too many times in real world situations, he will lose his appeal. But at the same time if we see him succeed too many times out of pure luck then he seems less like Batman and more like the first domino in a Rube Goldberg machine.

Excent episode for the beginning of the second half of the second season. Mr Freeze is going to be very exciting to watch. His story has a lot of heart to it, and it is easy to relate to how he feels. I give the episode a 9/10. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a great intro to two great villains, Mr. Freeze and Hugo Strange. Next week’s episode, ‘A Dead Man Feels No Cold’, Mr. Freeze come to the GCPD looking for his wife, and Penguin gets a first hand look at what his rehabilitation is going to do him.