You better watch out and you better not cry. Who is Kristen Kringle on Gotham ? The Fox series is all about origin stories, and she seems to have found herself intertwined with the origin of The Riddler. But what about her own background? Here's where it gets interesting. While Kristen Kringle is not a character in DC Comics, Kris Kringle... or rather Kris "Crusher" Kringle is. If you thought How To Get Away With Murder ruined Christmas for you, think again.
Yes Virginia, there is an evil Santa Claus who faces off against Batman. If you're a fan of Starkid Productions, the theatre/online group responsible for A Very Potter Musical and therefore Darren Criss, you may remember that Santa Claus appeared in Holy Musical B@man's Gallery of Rogues along with other "villains based on public domain characters" like Sherlock Holmes. It's thanks to them that my ears pricked up when we first learned Kristen's full name,
Is Kristen the Gotham version of this character? In an interview with DC Online, actress Chelsea Spack spoke about how fun it was to play an original character. She also said that the character is full of mystery. Wouldn't a gender-bent, evil Santa Claus be kind of the coolest thing ever? In the comics, Crusher Kringle is a true villain — a shiv-wielding, soul-crushing, coal-giving, elf-enslaving dictator who was taken out by an intergalactic bounty hunter named Lobo. While all of that sounds like a lot for Kristen, here are a few reasons why I think her character was inspired by this most peculiar antagonist.
Making A List
I've made reference to this before, but wouldn't a records keepers be the best at knowing who's naughty and nice in Gotham City? In a town so full of morally grey citizens, that would be a particularly useful skill. If you think about it, Santa is a vigilante of sorts. As Spack mentioned in the same interview, information is a powerful weapon.
All I Want
The GCPD employee surprised us last week by showing up to work with a new boyfriend. I'm all for women who refuse to be "worn down" by suitors, but Kristen seemed to genuinely like Ed Nygma a few weeks ago. Is she that oblivious to his affections, or up to something? Maybe I'm optimistic, but I want to think that she knows what she's doing and picked this guy out specifically to get to Ed. I'm not a huge fan of the "nice guy whose crush always dates jerks" trope, and I'm hoping that Gotham has an interesting twist planned.
I also mentioned the coal earlier. In the comics, Santa distributes coal that has a damaging emotional affect on his victims. I'm not about to relate that to her lending Nygma a pencil, but it is an interesting thought. What if Kristen is deliberately trying to damage Ed's pride and confidence? If so, what's her larger endgame here?
Secret Santa
Kristen always looks like she's going to a sock hop. I know it's wrong to doubt anyone on Gotham, but maybe she's not evil after all. In one iteration of DC Comics, Santa Claus joined the Justice League. He also has heat vision. While we haven't seen superpowers show up on this show just yet, which is all well and good because Batman and his adversaries don't usually mess around with those, that could explain Kristen's glasses.
Images: Fox; Giphy (3)
