S03.E03: Freeze

[scarynikki12]

Quote

An unfortunate incident in downtown Gotham alerts Batwoman and the Bat Team that another missing trophy has made its way into the wrong hands.

 

 

[Primal Slayer]

Not a bad episode but this is one episode where the team failing would've made it stronger. 

Nora makes her return and....Freezes efforts were practically for nothing because now she is aging rapidly and almost on her deathbed. For some reason a gang thinks the woman who was put on ice for 20 years knows how to work the very machine that she was put in and all Noras sister does is push a button and push a lever? It was a poorly written part of the episode. 

Putting Batwoman on ice was good and of course we all knew she was going to get out but in true fashion, she should be out of commission for a couple of hours after being close to dying of hypothermia but no...she recovers in 2 mins and is able to win the battle at the end all because the bad guys were stupid and didnt keep driving. 

I think it is fairly obvious that Jada is behind this and looking to be young forever! Ill be shocked if it isnt her. 

Still rolling my eyes at Ryan being looked at as this uber success and Alice being thrown in jail each episode. Do we really need to see her put back in her cage every time? Her whole subplot was fun as usual.

[Quark]

It's so nice to move away from all the Kate stuff and focus more on Ryan.

Good episode.

[Trini]

Thought it was cool (heh) that they referenced the first crossover with Batwoman.

Hee! - Who would have thought Alice would meet her match in a thawed out Nora Fries. Also, they let a supervillain's sister-in-law work at GCPD? Well, it wouldn't be GCPD if they weren't the Worst.

Did we even find out who the henchwoman was? Name? Anything? Kinda annoyed she got away since she was barely competent. Well, it's Gotham -- good henchmen are in high demand.

Dang. Two steps back for HamilFox. But WildMoore seems to be going full steam ahead.

So... Does Sophie have a job somewhere? I don't mind her being in the Batcave; but it was a big deal that she quit the Crows, so what is she doing now?

Speaking of employment: I see they're going all in with Ryan being CEO of Wayne Enterprises - even though it makes no sense!  Marquis mentioned the apparent cover story that she "worked her way up" but that's flimsy at best, since she only got off parole a few months ago. It seems like it would be incredibly easy to disprove that cover. Even if the Bat Team disappeared all Ryan's records, pretty sure if anyone asked any actual W.E. employee if they'd even heard of her, they'd have no info. I just don't understand why the writers are doing this; I'm sure we still could have had the story of Ryan getting to know her bio family without this nonsensical development.

Anyway, I'm actually enjoying the introductions of Jada and Marquis. Jada clearly wants to distance from Ryan for *Reasons* that will be significant and revealed later. [Early spec: Ryan's bio-dad is a supervillain?] I like Marquis' energy, and it's a different, new dynamic with Ryan.

The ice bridge scene was dumb, silly fun; and that's fine on a comic book show.

No, Mary!! On the other hand, looks like we meet Poison Ivy next week!

Edited October 29, 2021 by Trini
d'oh - dropped word

[Cress]

25 minutes ago, Trini said:

So... Does Sophie have a job somewhere? I don't mind her being in the Batcave; but it was a big deal that she quit the Crows, so what is she doing now?

Is it possible that Ryan as acting CEO gave her a job title and salary at Wayne Enterprises, but really she's just on the Bat Team? I'm just guessing. Otherwise it is a plot hole.

[yellowfred]

So, I'm gonna be honest that I didn't really care about the whole "Ryan is the acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises for reasons" thing before this episode.  But hearing Jada use that as the proof Ryan has "risen above her circumstances" irked me on a level I'm not sure I can fully explain.  I think it's mostly that it doesn't feel like something Ryan would appreciate being complimented on, but they seemed to kind of blow past that?  I don't know, I hope they circle back to it more later in the season.

I loved Ryan's explanation at the end of the episode about what she really wants from Jada.  It felt so specific and relatable and also really sad.  Like, what she wants is what she lost when her adoptive mother was killed, even though she knows that's not something she's gonna get.  I kind of think that part of her disappointment is that both members of her biological family seem to be approaching her from the "we're all titans of industry" angle (full disclosure: this might just be me projecting, since it's a thing I'm kind of disappointed about).  Like, for the Jets, it seems like the concept of family is so closely tied to career ambition and corporate strategies, and that just doesn't jive well with who Ryan is. 

Also, am I understanding correctly that Alice's deal with Montoya seems to be that she's locked up in Arkham full time, but she gets furlough whenever there's an active lead on one of the Batman trophies?  That is not a great deal.  I guess it makes sense if she agreed to the terms with the thought that she'd escape the first time she was out, but still. 

Speaking of Alice, I feel like a lot of the in-show discussions about what she wants and deserves and all that seem to skip right over the footnote of "but also she's killed a bunch of people."  Like, yeah, I know she's spent a lot of her life in captivity and she just wants to be free.  Also, yes, I fully believe that she is deserving of compassion and fair treatment for her trauma and mental illness.  I don't even mind the idea that Mary and the Bat Team ought to be more empathetic and open to working with her.  But also, she's killed a bunch of people, and I don't think any redemptive storyline for her can really work without Alice acknowledging that and taking steps to make amends.

Complete side note: I hope "cranky old lady who does not fear death" becomes a more common archetype in superhero media. 

[Trini]

8 hours ago, yellowfred said:

So, I'm gonna be honest that I didn't really care about the whole "Ryan is the acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises for reasons" thing before this episode.  But hearing Jada use that as the proof Ryan has "risen above her circumstances" irked me on a level I'm not sure I can fully explain.  I think it's mostly that it doesn't feel like something Ryan would appreciate being complimented on, but they seemed to kind of blow past that?  I don't know, I hope they circle back to it more later in the season.

It irked me because 1) it was a big ol' lie, and 2) the "circumstances" were because of Jada herself.

[thuganomics85]

Impressed that Ryan was able to shake off hypothermia that quickly!  To be fair, I guess I can buy that once Luke got her out of there that whole "heater" thing or whatever was kicked back in and got back her back to the correct body temperature. 

Liked this take on the "Freeze" concept and how even though he technically "cured" Nora, there was a side effect that apparently made her age rapidly to the point that the whole thing was basically kind of a wash.  I'm guessing there will be more the whole attempt to steal his device: especially since Nameless Head Mercenary got away.  I suspect whoever she was working for will come into play soon.  It will either be someone they'll introduce later or maybe Jada herself for some nefarious reason.

So, first it was Luke and Mary's sexual tension last week and now it's Ryan and Sophie's flirting for this one.  At some point, all of Team Batwoman is going to end up getting married and going on couple retreats when they aren't fighting crime (and I guess that makes Alice the 5th wheel.)  Of course, Luke and Mary are probably set back a bit since I doubt he's happy over her bringing up his PTSD to Ryan. 

Curious about the Marquis character.

The Alice/Mary scenes never fail to entertain.  The actresses seem to have so much fun when they are together.

Looks like either Poison Ivy or just the vines themselves have got Mary in their clutches!

[Lantern7]

I thought this was a fun episode. Alice was extra . . . "extra," and that was a good thing.

I think most stories involving Nora Fries are supposed to be tragic . . .  but I liked the departure from the standard. She did get cured, but then she basically went "Mel Gibson in Forever Young" (was that the title?), and she's actually looking forward to death . . . to the point where getting her throat cut by an extra-irritated Alice wasn't a huge deterrent.

I want to thank Luke for pointing out that the guy who has every right to the word "Doctor" is okay with people calling him "Mister." I'm the same way about Mr. Fantastic.

The Ryan/Jada scenes are going to be intense, aren't they? Nice bit with Jada having a kid she actually wanted to keep, and how he wants to advance in life with Ryan's help.

On 10/29/2021 at 2:21 AM, Trini said:

The ice bridge scene was dumb, silly fun; and that's fine on a comic book show.

That was awesome.

Poor Mary. I'm thinking the vines were trained to tangled her high up her legs. Otherwise, they might have pulled her boots off. I know, she wasn't wearing those in that final scene, but she did have on a pair that looked like they could store ambulances.

[Trini]

Behind the scenes from Camrus:

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I am torn about the Jada plot. I like what Robin Givens is doing in the role, and thank Beebo that the brother is fully aware of Ryan being his sister. I thought he was going to go down some creepy Lannister path. At the same time, I can't really buy that 27 years ago, Jada was rich enough to bribe someone $2 million to fake that there was no connection between her and Ryan, that Alice somehow managed to pierce through to learn of the connection 26 years later and then on top of that Sophie did as well.

I don't really care about the reasons why Jada gave Ryan up for adoption (as opposed to abortion, but that is a no-no on most mainstream TV shows), and I wish that Ryan got over trying to know her birth mom (other than getting some share of the Jet fortune, which she's entitled to).

I will say that there seems to be less in a given episode so far this season that is eye-roll inducing. 

Not a fan of Sophie/Ryan, but it looks like as of this episode it's happening. The talks the two of them have been having toward the end of episodes seem like Clark-Lana barn scenes in Smallville, and for people unfamiliar with that series, that's not a good thing.

[tennisgurl]

I really like Nora, I would be happy see her again sometime. She's super sassy,  and I liked her "I'm tired of people giving everything for me, just let me go naturally" attitude after her husband lost everything trying to save her and now her sister wants to do the same thing, and just wanting to enjoy what time she has left. So Nora did get cured, but Victor didn't realize that his machine would have side effects, like Nora becoming her real age after staying out of her cryopod for too long, and by the time she got out he was dead anyway, just making the whole situation even more tragic. I like that they broke with formula and didn't have a new person following in the footsteps of a former villain and instead had it be more about the consequences of super science on a more human level.  

I like the dynamic between Ryan and Sophie, but I hope that they don't actually hook them up, it would feel weird to me. Like Sophie just exists to kiss whatever woman is wearing the bat mask, regardless of who it is. 

I always like Alice and Mary scenes and I loved Mary's annoyance at Alice trying to take Nora hostage to get Mary to get the nanites out of her even after they bonded a bit. This is why rooting for Alice is so hard, everyone always reminds us how mentally ill she is and how traumatized, which is all very true and I do feel bad for everything she went through and God knows she needs better mental health care then Arkham, but none of that changes the fact that she still killed a bunch of people and keeps doing bad things even now. 

I am glad that everything is out in the open about Ryan's birth mom, even if Ryan's mom has zero interest in getting to know her. We also find out that she has a brother, which must sting even more, knowing that her mom did want to have a kid, just not her. Like damn Ryan's mom, all that money and she couldn't even find her a nice adoption agency to make sure she would get a good home? Had to toss her into the system and wipe her hands? Ryan is also still going with this ridiculous CEO story, which continues to suspend my belief way more then any ice bridge. How will Ryan even run this company? How will she fool people into thinking she worked her way to the top and is now a 20 something CEO without any of the knowledge that it takes to run a major company? Not even getting into how no one should buy into this cover story with her apparently fake resume and educational background, I just have no idea how this will work on a practical level. Who is even running this company and how will Ryan, who knows nothing about being a CEO, be able to fake it? At least her brother seems like he could be interesting, and I am really glad that this plot is totally focused on Ryan and not about Kate. we can finally focus on Ryan as Batwoman without Kate's death/disappearance and all of that baggage hanging over her.

Luke questioning why Mr. Freeze was a Mr. and not a Doctor, despite his many degrees, was hilarious. Then commentating on how Captain Cold wasn't a captain of anything. Besides my heart.