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kali-fullofwordsnthoughts · 5 years

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some nygmakins thoughts

Binged/finished Gotham last week. So I was behind on seasons 4 and 5 and I’m tight I waited so long to catch up because Nygmakins literally gave me life and it’s already done and I have no one to share this excitement with because I showed up 15 mins late with Starbucks.

For a ship I never predicted I’d want, I’m blown away by it and how I forreal can’t stop thinking about Ed and Lee. I’m still a Nygmobblepot fan but I realized a while ago that that would probably never be explicitly canon. But Nygmakins! The people who say it seemed forced are delusional. And it definitely ‘didn’t come from nowhere’, as you see their initial reunion being one of hostility and threats. They gradually shift from enemies to allies to friends and almost lovers and it was so sweet to watch.

Ed and Lee have clear chemistry. They play well off of each other, shifting from flirtatious to serious as the scene necessitates. They support each other. They uplift each other. Seriously, I’ve been rewatching their scenes and all I keep noticing is how much they compliment each other. And the lengths they go to protect each other. And how they’re constantly giving advice or encouragement. Please forgive my crappy gifs and screencaps, I’m just enamored with these two. [AND I learned some basic giffing for this post.]

That’s Lee and Ed. Let’s talk about the queen of the narrows and the riddler because they are a different pair.

Their relationship starts with as much antagonism as Ed and Lee’s. Riddler's superiority complex mixed with Ed's 'pathetic' love for Lee pretty much sets the stage for her being an object of derision to Riddler. In their first meeting, he spends half the time ignoring her and the other half insulting, saying she's weak, all talk and no action. When he is subsequently captured and tortured, while Penguin runs off to save him, Lee is busy taking care of business. She's the clear underdog, the newcomer, the outsider, and she takes out a bigger, more established boss. Most importantly, she proves Riddler wrong and that is something he can't tolerate.

Their first face off - without the distraction of Sofia, Oswald, or Grundy - comes at the Riddle Factory. The Riddler is already intrigued by Lee and his choice to hold the club in the Narrows is both for attention and retribution. I'm convinced he saw Lee's killing of Sofia as a fluke. She got lucky, he thinks to himself. Obviously, the weakest player can move around, avoiding detection, and get lucky by being at the right place at the right time. So he put his club in the Narrows as a challenge to Lee. When Lee wins the challenge and bests him, proves him wrong once again, his intrigue mixes with fury but you can see his thinking start to shift.

He's beginning to understand not to underestimate her but still his pride insists she won by trickery, by trying to manipulate the love she knows Ed has for her. But when she insists on that love, he cannot abide her attempts to manipulate him in that way and draws his blade on her. Lee is unaware of the danger she’s in up until that point. She's never feared Ed because he never threatened her harm. Riddler is a card of a different color. And the darkness in her reacts to him. Riddler absolutely senses this. He knew she had to be dark to do what she did to Sofia - and Sampson - but since he wasn't there for either event, the first time he glimpses her darkness for himself is with her in his arms, a knife pressed to her neck, and not a touch of fear on her face. And when she brushes the knife aside to kiss him, that’s when Riddler starts to fall in love with her.

Let's talk about the difference in the pairs.

Ed is the more repressed one. You can see it in his body language with Lee.

With Ed & Lee there’s usually a bit of distance or Ed will be standing behind Lee, symbolically watching her back and letting her dominate many interactions.

Likewise, he keeps his emotions for her quiet and to himself.

Riddler is not that constrained. Their very next scene together, following the kiss, they’re shown standing shoulder to shoulder, leaning more casually and closely than we’ve ever seen Lee with Ed.

It was Ed who said, I'm not one to play the sidekick, but it's the Riddler who actually steps up. When he's in control, he's either leading, right at Lee’s side, or two steps ahead of her, anticipating and dealing with danger - Penguin and Butch - before the threat even becomes known to her. He’s grown comfortable being near her and doesn’t pull away when she enters his space.

He doesn't hesitate with verbalizing his feelings either. After the kiss, Riddler is extremely direct with his questions, asking their relationship status, confronting her on what he saw as her teasing behavior, and demanding to know if she was just stringing him along. His bluntness extends to all audiences and we get quite a few declarations of love and loyalty.

This is a big distinction. Ed doesn’t speak his feelings but Riddler is bold, brimming with charisma and I think that affects Lee. After he promises she’ll fall in love with him, they’re both looking at each other like Christmas freaking morning.

If Ed was a pawn, then Riddler’s the knight. Especially after he proclaimed his love for her and was ready to throw down with Gordon and the GCPD without any thought.

Previously, I didn’t think that Lee was being manipulative. At least not with Ed. I feel she genuinely wanted to help him improve as a person which is why they drew so close after she became queen. He supported and advised her and she recognized him as a friend. But it isn’t until the Riddler shows up that the relationship gets physical. I think with Riddler pulling the knife on her, Lee realized that he was a different Ed, one that would bring harm on her if pushed. So she adopted a new method to combat that - seduction. She cared for Ed but with Riddler she knew she’d need a little more to persuade him. And I think the scene in the bank, with Riddler proclaiming his love for her and embracing her dark side, had Lee realizing that she liked Riddler as much if not more than Ed. She may have started out manipulating him but it would end up being something more genuine.

There’s the sense of dualism with the two of them. Lee is generally light and opts for avenues of nonviolence. Until she’s challenged and injured then she has no problem breaking a hand or shooting someone in the face. Riddler is the manifestation of all Ed’s dark impulses. Both sides compliment their counterpart. It’s not all the way healthy - show me a nonproblematic Gotham ship - but it works for the two of them. Ed has someone who sees the good in him, who believes in him even when he himself does not. Lee has someone who accepts the changed part of her, even the ugly bits that others would rather pretend doesn’t exist.

Then they go and introduce Gordon and the jealousy plot and I knew that’s where it was going to go downhill. It went just about as predicted. I knew Lee and Ed weren’t going to be endgame but I was still devastated when they took each other out. Lee’s set to leave. She’s changed out of her dark Narrows’ clothes and wears bright blue. Her dark lip is wiped away, leaving a tired woman behind. This is a death scene, even though Lee survives. It’s death to the Queen of the Narrows and Riddler brings it on her. He was trying to free her from her past self and ended up doing just the opposite. (Obviously, I’m very bitter/disappointed with Lee’s reversed personality in season 5. It all felt utterly pointless to have her acting essentially the same as season 2 Lee, especially the marriage to Gordon which was boring and nonsensical. ) But the scene is so Shakespearean, betrayal by your lover’s hand,

a final pained kiss,

and a joining in death. And their final words to each other.

Just lay me in my grave because I’m as dead as these two. I’m gonna go write an obnoxious amount of fanfiction.

#Nygmakins #Ed Nygma #Lee Thompkins #The Riddler #The Doc #Queen of the Narrows #mine #gifset #photoset #analysis

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