‘Gotham’ Season 3 Spoilers: Did Ed Nygma Reciprocate Oswald Cobblepot’s Feelings?

Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) and Ed Nygma (Cory Michael Smith) had an unexpected reunion in the previous “Gotham” Season 3 episode, titled “Light the Wick,” after Oswald was taken into custody by the Court of Owls.

The two have a lot of unresolved issues, given Oswald’s desire for revenge after Nygma shot him and left him for dead. Nygma did this after Oswald’s jealous fit caused him to murder Isabella (Chelsea Spack), the love of Nygma’s life. Fans were left hanging as the two stared each other in the eye and left a lot of important things unspoken.

READ: Ed Nygma seeks out Lucius Fox to replace the void of Oswald Cobblepot’s loss

When asked by Bustle if Nygma reciprocated Oswald’s feelings, Taylor answered that Nygma did not reciprocate Oswald’s romantic feelings. However, Nygma truly did care for his former boss, hard-pressed as he might be to admit it now. This was evident in the April 24 episode when Nygma was taking pills and having hallucinations about Oswald. “He’s hallucinating Oswald and you can see in those exchanges — not romantically, he didn’t have that for Oswald — but there still was a love and a respect and a need on his part too to connect with him,” he said.

Taylor also loved the fact that his character got all dressed up in Nygma’s hallucinations, since it was the first time Oswald put on the traditional tux and tails and top hat, which is the trademark Penguin look. “And I love that he didn’t come up with that look initially. That was the Riddler. So it’s almost like Riddler created part of me. And they’ve created each other, there is no one without the other,” he said.

Taylor actually appreciates the fact that “Gotham” took the liberty to create fresh new spins on the villains’ backstories. For Penguin and the Riddler, they were given a romantic edge that was not present in the movies or comic books. “It’s never going to be the show where people live and fall in love and live happily ever after. This is a story about how these people become psychopaths,” he said.

But even though Oswald loved Nygma, he’s not one to hold a torch for long, given Nygma’s failed murder attempt on him. Cinema Blend reported that he’s going to change drastically after his shooting incident. Executive producer John Stephens said Nygma’s act of betrayal is going to turn Cobblepot “quite hard in the opposite direction.”

“We really saw a softer side of Oswald through a lot of this year. The Oswald who rises again is going to be someone who is much darker and much more vicious,” he said. “He's not letting anyone inside the way he did with Ed, in a way that he feels makes him weak.”

Meanwhile, “Gotham” has just been renewed for a fourth season, and the Fox network decided to move its time slot from Monday to Thursday.

“Gotham” airs every Monday at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox.