#so... idk... my mind always ends up a muddle thinking about Riddler oy!

[littlehollyleaf]

Another thing to keep in mind is that Ed has always kind of had a crush on Lee (sniffing her hair) even when he was infatuated with Kristen, so that mixed with his general insanity, and inability to fully understand love is going to leave him rather broken-hearted this season. I mean, it'd be insane to expect Lee to reciprocate. However, it could end up being a catalyst for Ed to get help...If he's afraid of hurting another person he cares about.

True about Ed always ~kinda crushing on Lee, although… IIRC it was LITERALLY only the fact he knew what she smelled like that vaguely hinted at that? (we don’t actually see him smell her I think? he sniffs KRISTEN’S hair in an extremely creepy and inappropriate fashion early on, but about Lee he only comments to Harvey and Jim that he thinks she ‘smells nice’ - is that right?), so I wouldn’t argue that it was MUCH of a crush really.

That said I do not think it’s OOC for him to crush on or believe he’s in love with Lee (hell, idk, I don’t think it would be wildly OOC for him to ACTUALLY fall in love with her, esp. now that she is embracing her melodramatic side as well as her dark side, meaning they actually have a fair bit in common atm). I just… don’t find it… NECESSARY as an aspect of their plot/relationship.

So basically, like… it WORKS, I guess. It MAKES SENSE as a story choice in the sense that it FITS within the narrative the show has crafted. I just… don’t like/want it *sigh* So I’m not trying to get on a high horse and say that it’s objectively wrong/bad and/or nonsense or anything, I’m just venting my personal distaste.

Been doing that a lot with Gotham lately - how very lame for my followers, I’m so sorry!

I do like your idea that it could act as a catalyst for Ed seeking help though, in order to not put Lee in danger. That’s nice thinking! 

Although I’m afraid I don’t share the optimism :( Because Ed NEEDS to get back to being Riddler at some point ofc (sooner than later probably), and since being Riddler seems to me to be symptomatic of his illness, my general assumption is that he is doomed to consistently FAIL to get help (as is the case for, like, all the Batman Rogues I feel? awww).

Considering that, it has always seemed to me that this happy family with Grundy and Lee was the set up for a tragic fall for Ed - giving him a taste of happiness in order to make his inevitable return to madness as The Riddler more powerful/painful for the audience. 

So I’ve been prepping for Ed to break with Grundy and Lee from the start and with Grundy it has always seemed pretty likely this would happen with Grundy getting some of Butch’s memories back, realising Ed has been lying to and exploiting him, and so turning on Ed - possibly actually trying to assault him, but ultimately leaving him in any case (though I have made some desperate hopeful speculation otherwise!). Which would then contribute to Eddie embracing being The Riddler again, since he will have lost a key part of the support system that was keeping him from being overwhelmed by his unhealthy thoughts/urges, yeah?

With Lee though I’ve had no thoughts on how she and Ed might eventually part ways… in fact, considering how heartwarmingly good together they’d been of late I was actually starting to wonder if perhaps they might NOT split on bad terms at all - that perhaps Lee would genuinely try to HELP Eddie fight his mental problems, but that in the end the pull to become Riddler again would just be too strong and Ed would run off right back to his previous crazy life of crime, albeit with warm feelings towards Lee still. While Lee is left disappointed, but with some sort of lingering warm feelings for Eddie too, maybe holding on to some hopeful idea that he can still be appealed to and helped… (I actually would really love this, oh, can’t we have this??)

HOWEVER, now we have this sudden, unexpected romance element… I have a new theory on how Ed might end up splitting from Lee -

Because no matter what I’m thinking Lee will NOT reciprocate any romantic feelings towards her from Ed, be they real or not, (as you say anon - that would be ridiculous), so… maybe it’s just because I recently played through the first Telltale Batman (:p), but I’m picturing a variation on the Harvey Dent spiraling into Two Face scenario, as seen in Telltale and also BtAS (since Gotham has given their Eddie a bit of a Two Face flavour after all) -

ie. Ed makes a pass at Lee (leaves her flowers, just blurts out that he loves her, something like that) and she rejects him (I imagine she’d do it really nicely too, emphasising how she values his friendship or some such), but while this is all innocent it kickstarts Eddie’s paranoia (why doesn’t she love me? am I not good enough? does she have someone else? is it Jim? etc etc), which then spirals into darker more violent thoughts (why shouldn’t she be with me? how dare she think I’m not good enough! what does Jim have that I don’t?! etc etc)… leading, perhaps, to him being angry or even violent towards Lee (who will defend herself in kickass ways if that is the case ofc) and ultimately going off in a rage believing that Lee isn’t and never was his friend and he was stupid to think they could ever be friends or more… or possibly slinking off in shame at having tried to hurt her, believing that she hates him now and that he clearly can’t fight his violent urges anyways (oooh that might be quite cool actually)… endgame being that he turns to becoming Riddler again as the only life he thinks he can have… 

…in general I guess it might not be a TERRIBLE way for Eddie to tragically fall back into being The Riddler - I do love a good tragedy and all that :) But… I feel like they could do similar WITHOUT any (potential) romance involved… hmmm…

I’ve been a disaster at predicting the show this season however - so hopefully that trend will continue and this will be wrong :p

(one thing I do find curious and that works against my prediction is that Eddie was very ANGRY at his Riddler self when he suggested he was in love with Lee… could be that Eddie didn’t want his feelings mocked/belittled/tainted and/or didn’t want to start having violent urges towards another woman he loves, hence telling that side of himself ‘SHUT UP!’… OR, idk, could be that Eddie ISN’T in love with Lee and he doesn’t want his mind to start twisting his relationship with Lee into something it isn’t and that’s why he’s angry? (kinda like Ozzie being pissed at everything thinking he was in love with Sofia?) he just wants to keep being happy and being friends and not feel compelled to be more… this would fit a reading of Ed as suffering from issues of toxic masculinity and all that - the side of him that’s all about hyper-masculinity is telling him that as a woman Lee ofc should be considered as a potential lover because that’s what women are to men and that kind of nonsense, so he’s trying to resist that…. on the same note, it’s interesting that his Riddler self mocked his acting - his toxic thoughts shaming him for having ‘unmanly’ interests perhaps??)

SORRY ANON, I’ve got WAY WAY OFF TOPIC pls forgive me! thank you for making me think anyways xx and if the show does use this story to have Eddie actually seek help like you suggest that will be cool and I will owe you all the kudos!