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Gotham – Why Gerald Crane Is A Bad Move

By Steve Lam

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Audiences watching this week’s Gotham episode, The Fearsome Dr. Crane, were introduced to the Scarecrow’s father, Dr. Gerald Crane.  During the prologue, we saw Gerald murder a man plagued with acrophobia, all for the name of research.  We would later find out that this twisted study has to do with a perverted cause of “helping humanity.”  Towards the end of the episode, we get a glimpse of a teenaged Jonathan Crane, who will later become one of Batman’s most famed villains, the Scarecrow.

Not to take anything away from Julian Sands, who plays Gerald Crane, but I think the introduction of Jonathan’s father is a bad move on Gotham‘s part.  Why?  The Scarecrow’s comic book history is much more interesting than this re-imagined origin story for the series.  Having the Scarecrow be intrigued by fear because of his father is very clichéd, and takes away interesting aspects of the future villain himself.

In the comics, after 1986’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Scarecrow’s origins were expanded upon.  The character’s biography was one of tragedy and pain.  Jonathan Crane’s father, Gerald, actually left before he was even born.  As a newborn, Jonathan’s mother left him to his great-grandmother, who was a religious fanatic.  Growing up, Jonathan suffered horrible physical and mental abuse at the hands of this woman.  She would dress Jonathan up in a suit and lace it with a chemical that would enrage crows — causing them to viciously attacked him.

School proved to be just as torturous.  The young Jonathan would suffer constant bullying and name-calling — two of which were “Ichabod” and “Scarecrow” because of his lanky build.  Thoughts of revenge would cross Jonathan’s mind, but he was plagued with too much fear to do anything about it.

In his high school years, Jonathan, like all adolescents, would experience having a crush on someone.  The girl to get Jonathan’s attention would be Sherry Squires.  However, she was already involved with another boy, Bo Griggs, who was also one of Jonathan’s bullies.  Jonathan later summed up enough encourage to ask Sherry out on a date.  Surprisingly, she agreed.  What Jonathan didn’t realize was that Sherry was conspiring with Bo to play a cruel prank on him.  On the night of their date, Sherry led Jonathan into dark room where he would be attacked and humiliated by Bo.

The prank was a breaking point for Jonathan, and he sought his revenge shortly after.  One night, he dressed up as a scarecrow and attacked Sherry and Bo with a water gun while they were sitting in their car.  The attack resulted in an accident where Bo was paralyzed and Sherry was killed.  Jonathan found that he enjoyed this experience and it awoke a deep drive buried within him.  He would later murder his great-grandmother with the same crow-enraging chemical that was used to torment him.

Of course, the Scarecrow’s story doesn’t just end there, but for the sake of Gotham this would’ve been a good start.  So far, in the show, there hasn’t been one villain who we caught ourselves sympathizing for.  The Scarecrow’s origin story could’ve flipped our expectations upside down.  We saw Bruce Wayne get picked on in The Mask, and the satisfaction of seeing that bully get pummeled by Bruce in the end was amazing.  But we all know Bruce will eventually be the savior and hero of Gotham City, so those feelings of triumph are okay.  Now, imagine someone who eventually aims to destroy Gotham City through fear, yet we cheer him on.  How’s that for audience manipulation?

There was nothing wrong with the Scarecrow’s origin story in the comics, and Gotham‘s re-imagining was unnecessary.  If they truly needed to bring the Scarecrow into this series, the writers could’ve used a better introduction.  By making the Scarecrow’s purposes and goals be inspired from a paternal source, Gotham has removed the compelling nature of one of the most twisted and dark villains in Batman’s rogues gallery.

Fox’s Gotham airs on Mondays at 8:00PM EST.

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