Spoilers below for anyone who has yet to watch Gotham's latest episode.
This third season of Gotham has been just as crazy and over-the-top as we'd hoped, and though tonight's "Follow the White Rabbit" was centered on Jim Gordon trying to take down The Mad Hatter, the moment that probably had fans taking notice involved Oswald Cobblepot professing his love for (but not to) his partner in crime and in mayoral duties, Ed Nygma. Gotham took Batman's rogues gallery to a wild place by moving a potential Penguin/Riddler romance away from fan fiction and into series canon.
Now, the concept of the Penguin and the Riddler getting colorful between the sheets is admittedly more of a shock to viewers who have neither picked up on the half-subtle build-up nor paid attention to web sites and social media pages where the incredible shipper nickname Nygmobblepot has become an entity of its own. (Search for the hashtag on Twitter right now to see some amazeballs reactions.) But fear not, those who have no interest in watching sparks fly between two of the comic book medium's most devious baddies, as it doesn't appear extremely likely that Ed will reflect Oswald's feelings in the same way.
Oswald's attempts to declare his love for Ed are straight out of an unfilmed Doris Day and Rock Hudson screwball comedy. He hems and haws over it like a grade-schooler working up the nerve to speak to a puppy dog crush, never quite confident that his admissions would win Ed over. Which is understandable, since Ed is kind of a psychopath who, while super helpful and dependable in an official setting, hasn't exactly heated things up in the flirtation department. He seems sort of game, though, if that counts.
Nygmobblepot enthusiasts were probably a bit more dismayed by the time the episode ended, too, with Ed meeting and being wooed by a woman who apparently shares his love of randomly gushing riddles. Of course, this woman bears more than a passing resemblance to Miss Kringle, his former love interest who he went and murdered in cold blood, so there's no guaranteeing she will serve as a legitimate romantic foil for him. Hugo Strange's experiments do not make us think that good things will come from anyone who looks like another Gotham character.
Regardless of how it all turns out, this picture, right? This picture is everything.
While we probably shouldn't expect wedding bells to ring in Gotham City's underworld any time soon, Gotham airs Monday nights on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see when other things are heading the small screen's way soon, check out our fall TV schedule.
