Sofia Falcone was introduced on Gotham season 4, episode 3, “They Who Hide Behind Masks” and decided to immediately make her a love interest for Gordon – and I am not amused.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of romance, shipping, and love. But I certainly am not a fan of relationships in fandom that feel forced, gratuitous, and that just don’t make any sense.
Gotham has a pattern of creating love interests for Gordon that feel both unnecessary and forced, which has been shown again with the most recent introduction of Sofia Falcone on the show.
Sofia Falcone happened to be introduced to the show just as Gordon showed up at Falcone’s estate looking for the former mob leader. The pair are quick to exchange heated looks before they even know who the other is. It’s obvious right off of the bat that the show is going to make them love interests without them even having said one word to one another.
Gordon then goes off to talk to Falcone and propose his idea to take down Penguin. He wasn’t expecting Falcone to reveal that he is dying and can’t go back to Gotham because it could speed up his mysterious illness.
At this time, Sofia gets the chance to actually speak. She immediately shows that she’s a strong, independent woman, and even offers to take her father’s place and go to Gotham. But Falcone shuts that idea down, claiming that Sofia isn’t ready for Gotham.
With how the talk goes, Gordon wasn’t expecting to see either of them again. That’s why when Sofia shows up later to go see him, he’s thrown off guard. That’s not the only surprise she has for him.
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Sofia also reveals that she knew her brother was sick and Gordon didn’t have any other options but to shoot him. She also makes it clear that she isn’t really that close with her father, since she mostly grew up apart from him.
They also go for a stroll on the beach and kiss, because of course they do.
When Gordon returns to Gotham, it’s revealed that Sofia followed him. She shows up at the GCPD and her strong, defiant characteristics are back. She’s quick to let Gordon know that she needs no man’s permission to do what she pleases, including him and her father.
He wants help getting rid of Penguin and that’s what she’s there to do. “You came looking for a gangster and that’s exactly what you found,” Sofia informs Gordon.
On the one hand, I love how Sofia’s character is shaping up to be another bad ass woman on the show. It’s always great to see these female characters that are ready to kick ass, take names, and don’t care about waiting around for a man to take care of things for them.
On the other hand, why do the writers feel the need to push the same great characters into a romance.
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It seems like the writers feel like A) Gordon always needs a love interest and that B) making a new character a love interest for Gordon is a great way to tie them into the storyline. But neither of those things are necessary.
Fans know that Gordon is still pining over Lee and wouldn’t expect him to want to saddle up to anyone new so quickly. Additionally, female characters can be perfectly interesting and come into the show without needing to have a romance with someone.
That’s not to say that creating relationships and having love as part of the storyline is a bad thing. Yet, it must feel genuine and make sense for the storyline. It’s better to have a slow burn and show that characters have chemistry before shoving them together like a puppet master forcing them to kiss.
I’m hopeful that the writers will allow Sofia to continue to be a strong woman and show that she can stand on her own. It would be an interesting twist if she had simply been trying to lure Gordon so that he would do what she wanted. However, if this love interest storyline continues on and feels forced it will down grade Sofia’s character arc.
So for the love of god Gotham, just let characters be single sometimes.