Ok I just want to talk about something I’ve been thinking about for a while and that is the different interpretations of the whole Oswald/Ed/Isabella plot line in season 3. Now when this plot line happened, there were a lot of fans angry because it caused conflict between Oswald and Ed and felt like a giant middle finger to Nygmobblepot shippers.
But for me personally, I had a very different interpretation to how most people viewed this storyline. I always thought this storyline was not trying to say “oh, Oswald and Ed can never be together”, I thought it was trying to show the complexities of falling in love when you are a psychotic villain like these two.
Because no matter what anyone says, Oswald’s love for Ed was genuine. Even if he did awful things to make Ed reciprocate, it’s obvious that Ed meant something meaningful to him.
After all, if it was just purely obsession, he probably wouldn’t have gone to the lengths he did to save Ed when Lee stabbed him. Does this whole Isabella plot line show a lot of toxicity? Yes, a lot of it lol. But I always thought it was a storyline supposed to show how Oswald and Ed are fucked up soulmates.
That despite everything they do to each other, they always find a way back in each other’s lives. Sort of like star crossed lovers, but with murderers.
I feel like “How the Riddler Got His Name” really backs up this interpretation because why would Ed hallucinate Oswald singing seductively if there wasn’t some repressed feelings there? I always thought that even if Ed hated him, there was always a part of him that will harbour some sort of love towards him.
If Oswald didn’t mean that much to Ed, he would have never spiraled as hard as he did in that episode. But he did, and I don’t think that was on accident.
However, while I thought that this was what the storyline was supposed to represent narratively, I feel like the writers had a different idea of what this storyline was supposed to be, mainly with it being about how Oswald can never be with anyone because he’s selfish. And yes, that was clearly a theme in that arc but I thought that was something he had to overcome, not a thesis on his character. It seems like the entire point of that arc was to show why Oswald will always be alone.
His Sofia crush plot line in season 4 also carried those same themes. But like… why? Why can Barbara Kean, who always has her own agenda and puts herself before others, have multiple romance plot lines but apparently Oswald can’t? Why, because he’s too selfish? I think that’s kind of bullshit lol.
I don’t get why the writers had this obsession with not wanting Oswald to be happy. Do they have a gripe with Robin Lord Taylor or something (lol I’m just kidding but you got wonder why)? Because I don’t understand why for some reason, Oswald seems to be the only character denied the opportunity to be in a meaningful relationship. It’s just kind of strange, especially because him and Ed did have such great chemistry.
