#gthm

general

press/media: how it was used and how it wasn’t, particularly re: the jim/os rivalry

pax penguina: how it could have worked and actually enriched the plot, particularly re: lee/the narrows

25 changes that would improve the plot 100%: let me tell you about my useless au ideas

characters & ships

lee re: ed, jim, the lack of her own story

sofia re: telling but not showing

so i was thinking about the premise that sofia was infected with the tetch virus long before jim came to visit falcone in 4x03. (that might explain the fact that her characterization was the way it was..) maybe because she cried over mario's corpse when she saw him for the last time.

she never noticed anything odd and nobody suspected anything because falcone kept mario's infection quiet and they buried him as fast as they could before anyone was able to do a proper autopsy. plus, if we assume that the virus twists her grief and the neglect she feels, it might lie dormant for a bit if the triggers don't occur like they usually do = emotional numbness due to grief/shock, but also through the way falcone uses denial and outward male stoicism to cope with the loss of mario himself

ANYWAY

so i came to ask myself: would that mean mitigating circumstances for her trial? could she plead insanity?

and then: since jim was never punished for fish's murder, what if, after the tetch debacle, someone in power hastily declared that nobody could be legally punished for what they did under the influence of the virus? likely a cover to get away with some of their own criminal affairs -- think: the purge, but only for an elite group and only for a few precious hours -- and THOSE CRIMES could actually have been the real reason why the people were so receptive of oswald's pax penguina proposal, aside from the fact that he also bribed people in high places.

and something else: even if sofia were to have her trial, would jim have to testify? and if he did, would that open a can of worms re: him bringing her to the city? and further, if jim were to testify, so would probably oswald (because sofia was seen with him on public dates etc.). would oswald use his knowledge of jim's business with sofia against him? or would he blackmail him with it? jim has still everything to lose.

and, again, something else: let's assume she'd be cured at the hospital. so finally, after MONTHS of being her twisted tetch virus self, she's suddenly back to normal and finds herself responsible for the death of her father and dozens of other people. how would she deal with that? would lee, as her sister-in-law, be there for her? lee has her own virus experiences. she almost killed jim. why wouldn’t she feel at least an ounce of sympathy esp if it’s revealed that sofia was accidentally infected while grieving mario?

another point: oswald could take sofia in to get back at jim. if she pleads insanity and they can trick jim somehow into admitting that he's the sole reason why she ever intervened in gotham underworld politics, he'd be seen as super guilty (even though they probably wouldn't have a case against him with that alone). however, the bad press might build up enough pressure for the commissioner/mayor/anyone (?) to let jim go.

oswald's deal with sofia: he lets lee/strange fix her up. (i bet there's some lasting damage.) she joins forces with him under his banner. depending on the type of person she is without the virus, maybe they can even have the friendship oswald originally wanted with her? (of course he’d expect her betrayal, but maybe she has other uses. she might be one of the few people in which the virus was active for more than just a few weeks. strange could do experiments on her and develop a better virus/cure.)

what i also always wondered: if the virus still influences lee, is it the same for jim? and if all it took was a specific trigger moment (lee shooting sofia), what would jim’s look like? (i headcanon it as the moment when jerome fell. the only difference here: jim lets him fall.)

ed falling for lee:

who needs another unnecessary het couple on this show and why do they have to introduce it so suddenly. couldn’t they show us how ed’s feelings slowly develop over time?

lee manipulating ed into losing the riddle factory:

lee never showed any awareness of ed’s feelings for her and it seems a bit cruel -- in the sense of ed being her friend and all that -- that she would suddenly go in hard like this. but: lee bested riddler. that’s more than acceptable.

lee exploiting ed’s feelings for her own goals:

i’m here for sub!ed, tbh. pls dominate the shit out of him, lee.

lee realizing her power when ed betrays and threatens oswald for her:

get it, queen! i honestly thought the os betrayal made no sense though 

because, earlier, riddler is arguing with ed that he won’t fall for lee like ed did. but suddenly he does at the end of the episode. and it’s neither explained why nor does riddler ever express that it’s a serious problem. and idgaf if it was a bait and switch to mislead the audience. it makes absoluely no sense for ed as a character.

ed mansplaining lee’s psyche to her: “but you will [fall for me].”

i mean, ed still killed kristen. lee helpfully reminded us of that in 4a. she didn’t even want to work with him for that reason. so why would that suddenly not be an issue anymore? and what’s with the deus tetch machina that ed uses to mansplain lee’s ~convenient~ dark urges? seriously, the whole thing was shit, but having him lay it out for her was patronizing af. ugh, i just hated how manipulatively he framed the whole thing: “i love you for your true self & your ~true~ self will love me!!1” not to mention that ed literally dumps knowledge about lee out of nowhere (the virus, the effect of shooting sofia, that she’s loving it). couldn’t they be bothered to develop her for even one tiny second? it would have been entirely different if she had realized all of this on her own and then decided how to react to ed’s advances. but like this it’s ... shit

lee fucking ed even though she already got what she wanted:

get dick, girl. but why does it have to be murderous, fashionably challenged dick? i mean, you could always had jim “community peen” gordon as your side dick? why wouldn’t you fuck em both if the tetch virus already turned you ~wild~ enough to book a ride with the riddler in the first place?