FolkLorre

[Louise]

But with Howard they are just playing out that old cliche of Jewish man lives with mother, and expects wife to act the same.

That joke might've been funny if it only lasted for an episode or two, but it's gone on for too long. It's the *only* joke Bernadette has. Besides, I think she's really *not* that similar to his mother. She's worse. Howard wasn't afraid to talk back to his mother or push back at her, even if he usually obeyed her wishes in the end.

Insofar as you can actually analyze a very exaggerated character like that, I'd say Mrs.W's behavior came from a place of being insecure and lonely, whereas B is just hostile and nasty. She's *more* controlling than his mother ever was.

IMO the early seasons make it clear that Mrs.W is irrational and we're not meant to take her seriously, whereas now B is presented as the voice of reason, to some degree.

Yes, I can see Howard being subconsciously drawn to someone like his mother, but that's such a clichéd and distasteful direction for the show to take, long-term. TPTB just LOVE these quasi-incestuous themes. I think it's reasonably IC that Howard would want someone to take care of him the way his mother did, I *don't* think it's IC for him to be totally unwilling to even *try* to take care of himself. I mean, presumably he went away to college; how did he survive that?* Something like that would be *actual* growth and character development, if the characters had to stretch themselves a bit and learn new things. This is just "dumb husband, bitchy wife" stuff which I find super-tiresome. He's far less independent now, not more. You can't claim "growing, changing, learning, evolving" if the characters are *less* independent and *less* self-actualized.

*I subscribe to this pre-Season 3 theory that Howard's father died while he was in college and this is what caused him to come home again and take care of his mother. It's an idea which has been thoroughly Jossed, but I don't care; I think it makes a lot of sense psychologically and it's my headcanon, now. Maybe, just as Howard was taking some baby-steps towards independence, this big event came along and sort of squashed whatever progress he'd made, and bound him and his mother closer together. Think about it; it makes sense.

ETA: I kinda think it might've been cute if there was an early-seasons ep where Howard was dating a much-older but still beautiful woman, someone like Christie Brinkley or Cheryl Tiegs, maybe a Playmate from the '70s/'80s. That would be playing with the Oedipus Complex in a gentle way, not an icky way.

Can't you just picture that? Flirty!Howard gets all excited:

"And she's a Playboy Playmate!"

Leonard: What month?

Howard: April...1975!!

*Leonard and Raj look baffled*