Gotham 501: Can you feel the BatCat angst tonight?

Every time Bruce and Selina get close, a wedge is driven between them. Gotham’s season 5 premiere was peak BatCat at its finest.

Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are star-crossed lovers if ever there were two people who should be together but keep getting pulled apart by the fickle hand of fate. In the Gotham season 5 premiere, “Year Zero,” Selina is faced with devastating news and she lashes out at the one person who has been there for her.

Roughly three months after being shot by Jeremiah Valeska, Selina is still in the hospital. She’s paralyzed and she needs surgery to relieve swelling in her spine. It won’t bring her mobility back but it will save her life. Bruce has been at Selina’s side, but she resents his presence. At one point she tells him that being his friend is what caused her to be shot and, ultimately, paralyzed.

This is a devastating blow for Bruce because he can’t deny that her words are technically true. She doesn’t really mean it, but she’s in pain and she’s lashing out at the only person there who can bear the brunt of her anger.

There’s a chance that she can regain her mobility, though. A creepy nurse tells Bruce to seek out “the witch” and he vows to find this person because he wants to help his friend.

With Gotham in its final season, now is a good time to reflect on Bruce and Selina’s relationship. It has never been an easy one given that Bruce and Selina come from very different worlds. He wants to understand her world but she knows he’ll never really know what it’s like because of where he comes from. We love Bruce, but everyone knows he can be kind of dense sometimes and he can’t always see what she’s trying to tell him.

As Gotham wraps up its run, there’s still hope for some kind of a happy ending for these two. We know that Selina will always toe the line between being good and being bad, but after watching their friendship grow over five seasons it’s nice knowing that Bruce won’t be surprised by anything Selina does, and at the end of the day he will always care about her.