Heartwarming / Gotham Season Three

Season 3

3x 1 Better to Reign in Hell

• Apparently, Oswald still goes to visit Nygma in the Asylum, mentioning that he had been sending him "a sweater, some biscuits..." and buying a puzzle box for him as a present. A genuine Villainous Friendship at its finest.
  • Almost sweeter, Ed actually tries to apologize for the way he treated Penguin the last time they saw each other (turning him away), and Penguin won't hear a word of it; he even insists Ed call him by name.
• Even though Bridgit nearly killed her in last season's finale, Selina is still taking care of her old friend's pigeons with Ivy's help.
• Harvey saying he loves Jim like a brother.
• Oswald letting Tabby (who killed his mother) live out of courtesy to Butch, who is still in love with her. Anyone who knows Oswald can tell you that's a hell of a lot of respect.

3x 2 Burn the Witch

• Fish admitting that she didn't kill Penguin last time they saw each other because she has too much pride in what he's become. Penguin is so moved by this he actually spares her life in response.
• Despite the shady way he goes about it, Jim would do anything to save Bullock. And despite holding him hostage, Fish keeps mentioning that it's not personal and she still likes Harvey.

3x 3 Look into My Eyes

• Bruce trying to help his clone.

3x 4 New Day Rising

• Nygma going out of his way to help Oswald win the election and trying (and failing until it's almost too late) to clue him in to his motivation for doing so: love. Oswald realizes that whatever Nygma had been doing behind his back, it was all thanks to him that he had just won the mayoral election, and he didn't even need the help of any bribes to achieve that goal. Oswald rewards him for his efforts by naming him his Chief of Staff.
• In a moment that firmly cements Harvey Bullock as one of Jim Gordon's True Companions, he helps Gordon get out of suicide watch, hunt down Tetch, and helps him try to bring him in. When Barnes tries to read him the riot act over this, Bullock's response is very touching:
  Barnes: Gordon is going to get you killed one day.
  Bullock: Yeah, but until that day, I will NEVER give up on him.
• Before the previous moment with Barnes and Bullock, we get a heartwarming conversation between Gordon and Thompkins. While Gordon wants to get out to find Tetch, Lee delivers this very touching line:
  Lee: But there is a difference between moving on and letting go

3x 5 Anything For You

• They may be villains, but there's something touching about Nygma sincerely telling Oswald that he'd do anything for him and Oswald bringing Ed tea and doting on him after he is nearly killed by Butch.
• Bruce finally addresses his and Selina's feelings for each other. And in response, Selina kisses him!

3x 6 Follow the White Rabbit

• Penguin is in love with Ed! His realization and subsequent attempts to spit it out are sweet and adorkable and everything you'd expect from an Oswald who has finally found someone to love.
• Barnes and Bullock do their best to reassure Jim that what happened to Jervis's most recent victims wasn't Jim's fault.
• Doubles as a Tearjerker, but Ed meeting Isabella. After a season and a half of Ed's madness, we get to see the briefest glimpse of the man he used to be, even if there is no going back.

3x 7 Red Queen

• After disappearing for twelve hours, Ed walks in on Oswald, out of his mind with worry and trying to file a missing persons report believing that Edward got kidnapped. Then Oswald hugged him saying how he is glad that Edward is safe.
• The memory that snaps Gordon out of his self-pitying funk? The beloved father he always looked up to as a hero.
• Bruce and Selina's first date, with them being openly honest how weird the whole thing is.
• When Gordon tells Barnes he wants to rejoin the GCPD, he's welcomed backed with open arms.
• Even though Barbara is just a hallucination, Jim still hallucinates her being somewhat caring towards him. Perhaps some good is still in the Real!Barbara and he can sense it, or at least Jim has some good memories of their past together. On the last stop, she looks genuinely worried for Jim:
  Hallucination!Barbara: "Don't be scared. It's not easy to face who you really are. I should know...[a little while later] Good luck, Jim."

3x 9 The Executioner

• Gordon's and Bullock's refusal to believe that Barnes killed Symon. followed by their sheer determination to help Barnes after learning that he's infected with Alice Tetch's blood.

3x 10 Time Bomb

• Butch tells Tabitha he loves her and forgives her when he thinks she'll choose saving her hand over saving him.
  • Tabitha is obviously moved by Butch's words to her, enough that she drops the shock trigger and allows her hand to get cut off. Extra sweet when you think about how they match now, since they're both missing a hand.
    • The fact that Tabitha still loves Butch after breaking up with him offscreen between season 2 and 3, presumably because Butch helped Penguin kill her brother Galavan (as revenge for stabbing her for her betrayal).
  • Barbara, too. She goes up against Penguin, in spite of the rest of the crime families pointing guns at her, to find and save Tabitha and doesn't stop until she finds her and Butch. Even if Tabitha and Butch are an "item" now, Barbara would still do anything for her.

3x 13 Smile Like You Mean It

• In his own disturbing way, Jerome telling Lee that he liked her and Gordon together. So one of the evilest characters on Gotham is a Shipper on Deck?
• It doubles as a Tear Jerker, but Bruce demonstrates just how much he cares about Selina's happiness when he admits that he had suspected Selina's mother was just using her to get to Bruce's money but had paid her anyway because he hoped it would be enough to make her stay for a while.
• Tabitha and Barbara plotting to kill Nygma. Despite the circumstances, Barbara gently kissing Tabitha and then the soft way Tabitha watches Barbara was pretty heartwarming.

3x 14 The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

• Bruce running into Alfred's embrace after he thought Jerome had his zealots kill the butler.
• In the aftermath of Bruce sparing Jerome's life, Bruce declares "I will not kill" to Alfred. Alfred then encourages him to repeat it to show his conviction.

3x 15 How the Riddler Got His Name

• The burgeoning friendship between Harvey and Lucius.
• Despite all he's done, Lucius still sincerely tries to persuade Ed to turn himself in and get help, acknowledging his obvious mental issues.
• Though it's something of a Tearjerker too, Ed still can't let Oswald go, obviously taking some level of comfort in having the hallucination around, and still freely referring to him as his best friend.
  Ed: I want you to know that our friendship meant something to me. I cared about you, and I miss you.
• Ivy apparently saved Oswald for no other reason than genuine compassion.

3x 17 The Primal Riddle

• The part where Penguin and Poison Ivy meet with Firefly to recruit her into Penguin's army is a surprisingly touching one. While Firefly rejects their offer at first, Ivy convinces her otherwise, assuring her that while Firefly may be a freak, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a freak, pointing out both she (Ivy) and Penguin are also freaks. The way Ivy and Firefly bond through their friendship with Selina is also a noteworthy detail.
• Pissed off with Bruce she may have been, the second that Selina finds out the Bruce has been replaced with The Clone and the people said clone is working with plans to kill a lot of people? Turn on him and instantly becomes dedicated to saving her boyfriend starting with telling Alfred.
  • When the Clone tries to convince her to save herself and abandon Gotham, Selina tells him that no matter what the real Bruce would not stop until he saved everyone. Too bad this earns her a one-way trip through the window to streets below.
• Jim and Nygma reminiscing about the time they had dinner together with Lee and Kristen. Neither of them show much emotion when talking about it, but it's clear that the both of them still cherish this memory dearly. Even as the evil, murderous Riddler, Ed still carries at least a little bit of his former life with him.
  • It's implied that Jim brought this up and told Ed he considered him a friend as a way of apologizing for turning him over to the Court of Owls, who will probably kill him.

3x 18 Light the Wick

• Ivy and Selina may bicker frequently, but Ivy still cares about Selina deeply enough to rush to the hospital as soon as she hears the latter is hurt. Ivy immediately gets serious and promises that she'll find a way to heal her.

3x 21 Destiny Calling

• Though it's tearjerking too, Oswald immediately rushes to Fish when she's stabbed by Jim. Previously, she'd saved him from Riddler and sincerely offered to rule the city with him.
• Alfred's willingness to die to help Bruce find himself. When Ra's is urging the brainwashed Bruce to kill Alfred to free himself from his past, Alfred delivers what is possibly one of the most touching monologues on the show.

  Alfred: He's wrong. Master Bruce, there's no other way to put it, he's wrong. Your destiny is to be Bruce Wayne. And one day you're gonna remember that. And you're gonna remember how much I love you. I remember the first time your mum and dad brought you home, they were so exhausted. And they gave you to me; this tiny, defenseless little creature, and they said "look after him," and I said "sure." And I scooped you up in my arms, and I held you, and you opened your eyes and you looked at me. And at that moment I decided that I would do anything for you; anything. So if this is what you need to do, Master Bruce, you crack on. You do it.

• Bruce literally glomps Alfred when he wakes up - with a very happy "You're awake!" - after being stabbed... by Bruce.

  Bruce: What's your true north?

  Alfred: You. It's always been you.