08-14-2015, 01:12 AM
8.7 The Misinterpretation Agitation
Laughter is one of the greatest forces around. It can be uplifting and inclusive, a shared comradery between people who might not otherwise know each other. While we might sit in our own homes we all gathered together as it were to watch The Big Bang Theory and laugh. The jokes, the familiarity of characters, all creating an illusion of inclusiveness.
This fuzzy feeling, however, has become less and less for me since s5 and by s8 is about as fuzzy as my legs after a waxing. While I have many grumbles against the later incarnation of the show my number one gripe is how the humour has changed. As noted before, the humour is no longer inclusive and witty; it's now invective and belittling as opposed to light and teasing. And don't think for a moment that 'light' means uncomplicated. It means that there was an understanding that the characters I was watching on the show were friends and therefore not going for the jugular with crass comments against each other.
This episode brought in a new perspective in the laughter debate. Billy Bob Thorton's character, Dr. Lorvis, is one of Penny's pharmaceutical clients and has fallen head over heels for her. He decided to make his feelings known "by tracking her down on the internet and then showing up unannounced at her door" with a bouquet of flowers. Rather creepy, yes, but considering that in the early days Leonard had repeatedly stolen her mail just to have a reason to talk to her I suppose creepy is a matter of taste.
Indeed, there are so many similarities between Dr. Lorvis and Leonard, like their shared love for sci-fi and fantasy collectibles and their counting the length of time Penny touches them in Mississippis, that Dr. Lorvis finds it incredulous that Leonard could have landed someone like Penny. Leonard says it was by being himself. Sheldon, in contrast, tells us how Leonard did it: "Implacable, relentless badgering. In urology terms, he was a drug-resistant staph infection. And she was a urethra that could not shake him."
Sheldon's line is funny but at the same time it's not. Leonard's behavior around Penny is one misstep after another. He suggests that Penny could cheat on him with practically any man she meets and then he goes out and cheats with a colleague on the Hawking expedition. He enjoys Penny's feelings of insecurity as Alex pursues him but at the same time spies on and threatens Penny's history partner. To me, this seems as though the writers are rewarding his behavior.
And yet in this episode there's a humour that's been missing about Leonard for far too long. When Penny asks Leonard if Dr. Lorvis just showing up at her door is "a little weird" he says, "A little, but he's basically harmless. He's actually kind of a nice guy." The key to this exchange is that this is how *Leonard* sees Dr. Lorvis, not Penny or the audience or, even more dastardly I suggest, the writers.
Leonard's the type that thinks he's a good guy which makes him dangerous because he doesn't take responsibility for his actions. This is why he can't see the creepiness in Dr. Lorvis's actions—because they're actions he'd find acceptable. Since Leonard is so low, the only place the other characters had to go in order to make him look good is lower than his level. Howard is hen-pecked, Raj is a douche, Penny's a quasi-alcoholic, Sheldon's infantilized, Bernadette's cruel and Amy's—well, with the exception of a few episodes in s4 Amy's always been pathetic so I suppose she's the brain tumor in my otherwise laid out argument.
Dr. Lorvis is how Leonard would have turned out were it not for the writers intervening on his behalf. The writers are acknowledging that Leonard's actions with Penny are creepy and that there is a suspension of disbelief inherent in their premise that Penny would actually be interested in Leonard. That the 'Lenny' love-story is less about 'true love' than "a story of a pretty blonde girl tirelessly pursued by a small, oddly-shaped man."
Leonard is unimpressed with the Donkey Kong reference and Sheldon tells him not to be defensive. He might be oddly-shaped but "he got the girl". Comedy works best when there is an opposition at play and this is what the writers are working with in the Leonard/Penny relationship. He's the creepy nerd and she's the pretty 'normie'. The problem with this is that it rather simplifies the characters to the point of being stereotypes—with Penny being brought down to the level of prize—and I don't find that combination terribly interesting to watch.
Especially after watching Penny with Sheldon.
When the Penny and Sheldon dynamic came together it brought the show to a new comedic level. Here were two characters that challenged each other rather than beat each other down with insecurities and accusations. There was a tension between them that could have leapt the characters into the halls of great comedic coupledom—but the writers decided not to go there. They stuck with their initial idea of the homunculus and the girl. Leonard liked Penny and wanted her babies before he even really knew her. And at the end of the day he gets her despite being her stalker. That's the humour I'm supposed to side with? Since I don't, and the show is now more relationship-oriented than ever, no wonder I don't find it funny.
But this episode has opened my mind to the possibility of another humour in the show. A darker humour which sees the writers having fun at the expense of those viewers who think that Leonard is a nice guy and that he deserves Penny. The writers are quite aware of the hypocrisy between what Leonard says and what he does; this is where Leonard's humour lies. Unfortunately, this is not strong enough to lead an ensemble show which is why the Leonard and Penny relationship is falling to the wayside. They're a one-note Donkey Kong pattern without any hint of maturation or mutual respect and this can't be kept up for 8+ seasons.
Sheldon lets it be known that there's a pool going as to how long Penny and Leonard will last, given that they have little in common. So let's take a look at the record: Leonard's unsure, Penny's unsure, Sheldon's pretty much sure (that they'll fail) and the rest of the gang take part in the pool. That means everyone on the show has doubts that Leonard and Penny will last. But wait, Leonard smoothed it all over in an earlier episode when he said, 'sure, we've got zippo in common but we love each other and so we'll make it work'. That's either the worst thought out argument I've seen or else the 'why' in wondering why Penny and Leonard are together is irrelevant to the writers. It's the 'comedic gold' they generate that we're supposed to focus on and not how it's second fiddle to the Penny and Sheldon scenes.
So it isn't a case of there being no humour in season 6-8 rather than the humour is just not to my liking. I admit, however, I'm rather particular. I actually like my humour to be funny.
8.8 The Prom Equivalency
In The Prom Equivalency we have Bernadette and Amy wanting to rewrite their bad high school prom experiences. Penny, on the other hand, doesn't see what the big deal is. After all, it was just high school. Sure, she was popular then as opposed to now where her social base has shrunk significantly to just the gang but she also knows that what happened at high school has no bearing on adulthood. Life goes on. But she can't convince her friends and so the prom idea is born to fruit.
That grown scientists would actually overlook all of their academic, professional and personal successes as adults in order to rewrite their prom experience is immensely sad. What I don't like is the power this suggests high school bullies and experiences have over the lives of these people over a decade later. The gang have risen above all the teenage crap and have become reasonable successes—something which Leonard's high school bully pointed out as an irony given how as adults Leonard was the success and he, the loser. These people shouldn't be having a prom, they should be having cocktails, saluting who they've become and what the future awaits them.
This perversion is the result of the writers wanting to rewrite earlier episode canon perceptions so as to fool the viewers into thinking that the show's later turn from individualism to a herd mentality is the result of a well-thought out plan. Yes, Amy and Bernadette are 'fortunate' accidents (according to the creators) but the attempt to entrench them into the show's mystique is positively outrageous as they come with the message that 'before we came along there was something wrong with the show'. It's hard to understand why. The guys were all about celebrating the positives of their childhoods by way of their interests and hobbies. They had succeeded in making lemonade from their lemons but couldn't overcome the derision the writers seem to have for their depicted lives in the first two seasons.
Bernadette and Amy (and later on Penny) ridicule them for clinging to their childish hobbies. Apparently it's okay for Amy to dress up as Snow White and for two grown scientists wanting to re-do their prom but it isn't okay for the guys to read 'lame-o' comic books and attend fandom conventions. Gone is the delicate balance struck between Penny and the guys where she showed them there was more to life than geekdom; they opened up to the new experiences but that didn't stop them from playing paintball and attending Renaissance Fairs.
When Penny came across as the 'adult' voice Sheldon called her out on it—one cannot deride another's action figure collection while wearing Hello Kitty shorts.
But the biggest hypocrites are the writers.
The Stuart/Howard storyline is a thing of absolute pettiness. Howard is mad because of Stuart's close relationship with his mother and yet when Stuart brings cousin Jeanie, Howard accuses him of 'two-timing' his mother. Granted, Stuart could have been more sensitive to the situation and not brought Jeanie given her history with Howard but as she told Howard in the limo, 'it was a long time ago'. I.E. Here's another incident when something was done in adolescence and continues to have an impact to this day. What is Jeanie supposed to do, never be seen in public with Howard again? To her it was no big deal. For Howard, it was humiliation. It's not difficult to see who was the adult in the situation.
What doesn't help is Raj's admission that he told Emily that Howard had slept with his cousin. Raj is turning into a colossal douche. First he's telling Emily he was 'intimate' with Penny and now relates something truly embarrassing about Howard. Doesn't Raj get the idea that what he's doing is talking down his friends? Emily becomes the audience and her laughing at the comments is exactly what TPTB expect the show's audience to do—find humour at another's expense. Only viewers like me who miss the days of friendly, inclusive humour find Raj to be one seriously sukky sukky friend.
As for the Sheldon/Amy plotline, Sheldon is ready to abort the night after seeing Amy in her prom dress. He thought she looked pretty and knowing thanks to Penny and Leonard the expectation for post prom coitus Sheldon retreats to his room. It's a turning point as the relationship of the mind has transformed into the carnal. It's kind of funny considering that some viewers argued against there being any chemistry between Sheldon and Penny because he is attracted to intelligence. Amy is intellectual and that's what he likes about her. However, as the march towards coitus continues, there has been a marked reduction to near zero of intellectually stimulating evenings together. I can only surmise that this occurs off-camera which is a shame. I mean if the Sheldon/Amy relationship is to be held up as an unorthodox couple shouldn't their intellectual connection be front and center in their on-air relationship? The writers, it seems, don't want the 'boring science-y stuff'; they want 'romance' as defined by Amy's coming into her social/sexual prime and her attempt to drag Sheldon along with her, making him someone he didn't know he apparently 'wanted to be'.
But what is Sheldon now? He's unrecognizable as early seasons Sheldon. His quirks come and go as the writers see fit. As he 'grows' he has become downright mean, especially to Amy. Since the writers this season have made it known that Sheldon can now tell when people are making fun of him, i.e. he's become more aware, then it's curious that his comments are now crueler than ever.
Sheldon's 'evolution' has always been problematic but this episode's 'I love you' really highlighted what's gone wrong with the show. His panic attack subsides when he tells Amy he loves her. Love was the only thing that explained his feelings for her. It's logical. Only when you place it next to how he normally treats her on-camera it's anything but. Basically, he fell in love with Amy off-camera and that's really lousy writing. I don't want to be *told* that Leonard and Penny are a great couple by Stuart or that Sheldon/Amy are together like two peas in a pod. I want to see it for myself. If I was a fan of either ship I'd want to experience their moments of connection. The moments are few and when they do occur are so *this is a 'Moment'. Insert 'awwws' here *. They miss the natural beat that good writing provides and the writers were more than capable of doing when this was a friendship show.
Of course there is another more poignant example of flowing to a 'natural beat' but some are rather loathe to mention the Sheldon/Penny dynamic. The rapport between Jim and Kaley ignited the screen as Sheldon's glares practically melted through walls even as Penny responded with her pumpkin grins. What works beyond the fact that both are good actors is that they had a strong sense of who their characters were. As the seasons have gone on I'd argue that all of the characters have declined significantly but particular attention must be drawn to Sheldon and Jim Parson's inability to maintain the illusion of the quirky physicist.
I had troubles with the 'I love you' moment because when the line was delivered it wasn't by Sheldon. I don't know what Jim Parsons sounds like in person as I don't watch interviews but if I had a guess as to what I heard last night it was Jim doing an impression of what he thought a 'more mature' Sheldon would sound like as opposed to him transforming himself into Sheldon and acting accordingly. Sheldon Cooper has passion, whether it's for trains, his Meemaw or his science. Jim is capable of generating this spark with adversaries like Kripke or Wheaton or Leslie and most definitely with Penny but seemed lost when he delivered his monumental line to Amy. There was no passion. And no, I don't mean the "oh Marsha!" "Oh Bob!" kind. I mean there was no *connection* between Mayim and him.
To be fair, Mayim did her best with the scene. She knew it was a BIG MOMENT for Amy and she expressed shock but it seemed overacted because the chemistry between her and Jim was all wrong. She was left to fend for herself as she had to react to his lack-luster 'I love you, too' pitch.
I remember Jim once saying that he does his best to play Sheldon the way he's written and directed only I find that he's playing less of Sheldon and more of what I expect is 'Jim Parsons'. The writing has shifted from demonstrating nuances of characterization to keeping characters in line so as to fulfill the conditions necessary for the romantic 'master plan' of the show. This wouldn't be so problematic if the writers were actually good at the romance part, but they're not. What strikes me most about this episode is that it tries so hard to be significant, to be a moment, and it fails miserably.
Amy did get what she wanted and by extension the pro-Amy fan base, but the writers messed it up. For me it had the same anticlimactic feel as Leonard and Penny's engagement. The writers seem to have lost the ability to put proper sentiment into 'game-changing' moments. Remember when Leonard asked Penny out and she accepted? The audience was ecstatic. You could feel the relief and joy, practically envision the audience members hi-fiving each other and fist-pumping.
Amy had the Sheldon kiss after an entire episode of being treated horribly. Now after a drawn-out episode with a nonsensical plot about accomplished thirty-somethings wanting to rewrite their prom experiences she had the 'I love you, too' delivered by Jim Parsons instead of Sheldon.
For Sheldon and Penny, all it took was a single napkin to set the audience ablaze.
And they say 'Shenny' is a forced, unrealistic relationship....
Laughter is one of the greatest forces around. It can be uplifting and inclusive, a shared comradery between people who might not otherwise know each other. While we might sit in our own homes we all gathered together as it were to watch The Big Bang Theory and laugh. The jokes, the familiarity of characters, all creating an illusion of inclusiveness.
This fuzzy feeling, however, has become less and less for me since s5 and by s8 is about as fuzzy as my legs after a waxing. While I have many grumbles against the later incarnation of the show my number one gripe is how the humour has changed. As noted before, the humour is no longer inclusive and witty; it's now invective and belittling as opposed to light and teasing. And don't think for a moment that 'light' means uncomplicated. It means that there was an understanding that the characters I was watching on the show were friends and therefore not going for the jugular with crass comments against each other.
This episode brought in a new perspective in the laughter debate. Billy Bob Thorton's character, Dr. Lorvis, is one of Penny's pharmaceutical clients and has fallen head over heels for her. He decided to make his feelings known "by tracking her down on the internet and then showing up unannounced at her door" with a bouquet of flowers. Rather creepy, yes, but considering that in the early days Leonard had repeatedly stolen her mail just to have a reason to talk to her I suppose creepy is a matter of taste.
Indeed, there are so many similarities between Dr. Lorvis and Leonard, like their shared love for sci-fi and fantasy collectibles and their counting the length of time Penny touches them in Mississippis, that Dr. Lorvis finds it incredulous that Leonard could have landed someone like Penny. Leonard says it was by being himself. Sheldon, in contrast, tells us how Leonard did it: "Implacable, relentless badgering. In urology terms, he was a drug-resistant staph infection. And she was a urethra that could not shake him."
Sheldon's line is funny but at the same time it's not. Leonard's behavior around Penny is one misstep after another. He suggests that Penny could cheat on him with practically any man she meets and then he goes out and cheats with a colleague on the Hawking expedition. He enjoys Penny's feelings of insecurity as Alex pursues him but at the same time spies on and threatens Penny's history partner. To me, this seems as though the writers are rewarding his behavior.
And yet in this episode there's a humour that's been missing about Leonard for far too long. When Penny asks Leonard if Dr. Lorvis just showing up at her door is "a little weird" he says, "A little, but he's basically harmless. He's actually kind of a nice guy." The key to this exchange is that this is how *Leonard* sees Dr. Lorvis, not Penny or the audience or, even more dastardly I suggest, the writers.
Leonard's the type that thinks he's a good guy which makes him dangerous because he doesn't take responsibility for his actions. This is why he can't see the creepiness in Dr. Lorvis's actions—because they're actions he'd find acceptable. Since Leonard is so low, the only place the other characters had to go in order to make him look good is lower than his level. Howard is hen-pecked, Raj is a douche, Penny's a quasi-alcoholic, Sheldon's infantilized, Bernadette's cruel and Amy's—well, with the exception of a few episodes in s4 Amy's always been pathetic so I suppose she's the brain tumor in my otherwise laid out argument.
Dr. Lorvis is how Leonard would have turned out were it not for the writers intervening on his behalf. The writers are acknowledging that Leonard's actions with Penny are creepy and that there is a suspension of disbelief inherent in their premise that Penny would actually be interested in Leonard. That the 'Lenny' love-story is less about 'true love' than "a story of a pretty blonde girl tirelessly pursued by a small, oddly-shaped man."
Leonard is unimpressed with the Donkey Kong reference and Sheldon tells him not to be defensive. He might be oddly-shaped but "he got the girl". Comedy works best when there is an opposition at play and this is what the writers are working with in the Leonard/Penny relationship. He's the creepy nerd and she's the pretty 'normie'. The problem with this is that it rather simplifies the characters to the point of being stereotypes—with Penny being brought down to the level of prize—and I don't find that combination terribly interesting to watch.
Especially after watching Penny with Sheldon.
When the Penny and Sheldon dynamic came together it brought the show to a new comedic level. Here were two characters that challenged each other rather than beat each other down with insecurities and accusations. There was a tension between them that could have leapt the characters into the halls of great comedic coupledom—but the writers decided not to go there. They stuck with their initial idea of the homunculus and the girl. Leonard liked Penny and wanted her babies before he even really knew her. And at the end of the day he gets her despite being her stalker. That's the humour I'm supposed to side with? Since I don't, and the show is now more relationship-oriented than ever, no wonder I don't find it funny.
But this episode has opened my mind to the possibility of another humour in the show. A darker humour which sees the writers having fun at the expense of those viewers who think that Leonard is a nice guy and that he deserves Penny. The writers are quite aware of the hypocrisy between what Leonard says and what he does; this is where Leonard's humour lies. Unfortunately, this is not strong enough to lead an ensemble show which is why the Leonard and Penny relationship is falling to the wayside. They're a one-note Donkey Kong pattern without any hint of maturation or mutual respect and this can't be kept up for 8+ seasons.
Sheldon lets it be known that there's a pool going as to how long Penny and Leonard will last, given that they have little in common. So let's take a look at the record: Leonard's unsure, Penny's unsure, Sheldon's pretty much sure (that they'll fail) and the rest of the gang take part in the pool. That means everyone on the show has doubts that Leonard and Penny will last. But wait, Leonard smoothed it all over in an earlier episode when he said, 'sure, we've got zippo in common but we love each other and so we'll make it work'. That's either the worst thought out argument I've seen or else the 'why' in wondering why Penny and Leonard are together is irrelevant to the writers. It's the 'comedic gold' they generate that we're supposed to focus on and not how it's second fiddle to the Penny and Sheldon scenes.
So it isn't a case of there being no humour in season 6-8 rather than the humour is just not to my liking. I admit, however, I'm rather particular. I actually like my humour to be funny.
8.8 The Prom Equivalency
In The Prom Equivalency we have Bernadette and Amy wanting to rewrite their bad high school prom experiences. Penny, on the other hand, doesn't see what the big deal is. After all, it was just high school. Sure, she was popular then as opposed to now where her social base has shrunk significantly to just the gang but she also knows that what happened at high school has no bearing on adulthood. Life goes on. But she can't convince her friends and so the prom idea is born to fruit.
That grown scientists would actually overlook all of their academic, professional and personal successes as adults in order to rewrite their prom experience is immensely sad. What I don't like is the power this suggests high school bullies and experiences have over the lives of these people over a decade later. The gang have risen above all the teenage crap and have become reasonable successes—something which Leonard's high school bully pointed out as an irony given how as adults Leonard was the success and he, the loser. These people shouldn't be having a prom, they should be having cocktails, saluting who they've become and what the future awaits them.
This perversion is the result of the writers wanting to rewrite earlier episode canon perceptions so as to fool the viewers into thinking that the show's later turn from individualism to a herd mentality is the result of a well-thought out plan. Yes, Amy and Bernadette are 'fortunate' accidents (according to the creators) but the attempt to entrench them into the show's mystique is positively outrageous as they come with the message that 'before we came along there was something wrong with the show'. It's hard to understand why. The guys were all about celebrating the positives of their childhoods by way of their interests and hobbies. They had succeeded in making lemonade from their lemons but couldn't overcome the derision the writers seem to have for their depicted lives in the first two seasons.
Bernadette and Amy (and later on Penny) ridicule them for clinging to their childish hobbies. Apparently it's okay for Amy to dress up as Snow White and for two grown scientists wanting to re-do their prom but it isn't okay for the guys to read 'lame-o' comic books and attend fandom conventions. Gone is the delicate balance struck between Penny and the guys where she showed them there was more to life than geekdom; they opened up to the new experiences but that didn't stop them from playing paintball and attending Renaissance Fairs.
When Penny came across as the 'adult' voice Sheldon called her out on it—one cannot deride another's action figure collection while wearing Hello Kitty shorts.
But the biggest hypocrites are the writers.
The Stuart/Howard storyline is a thing of absolute pettiness. Howard is mad because of Stuart's close relationship with his mother and yet when Stuart brings cousin Jeanie, Howard accuses him of 'two-timing' his mother. Granted, Stuart could have been more sensitive to the situation and not brought Jeanie given her history with Howard but as she told Howard in the limo, 'it was a long time ago'. I.E. Here's another incident when something was done in adolescence and continues to have an impact to this day. What is Jeanie supposed to do, never be seen in public with Howard again? To her it was no big deal. For Howard, it was humiliation. It's not difficult to see who was the adult in the situation.
What doesn't help is Raj's admission that he told Emily that Howard had slept with his cousin. Raj is turning into a colossal douche. First he's telling Emily he was 'intimate' with Penny and now relates something truly embarrassing about Howard. Doesn't Raj get the idea that what he's doing is talking down his friends? Emily becomes the audience and her laughing at the comments is exactly what TPTB expect the show's audience to do—find humour at another's expense. Only viewers like me who miss the days of friendly, inclusive humour find Raj to be one seriously sukky sukky friend.
As for the Sheldon/Amy plotline, Sheldon is ready to abort the night after seeing Amy in her prom dress. He thought she looked pretty and knowing thanks to Penny and Leonard the expectation for post prom coitus Sheldon retreats to his room. It's a turning point as the relationship of the mind has transformed into the carnal. It's kind of funny considering that some viewers argued against there being any chemistry between Sheldon and Penny because he is attracted to intelligence. Amy is intellectual and that's what he likes about her. However, as the march towards coitus continues, there has been a marked reduction to near zero of intellectually stimulating evenings together. I can only surmise that this occurs off-camera which is a shame. I mean if the Sheldon/Amy relationship is to be held up as an unorthodox couple shouldn't their intellectual connection be front and center in their on-air relationship? The writers, it seems, don't want the 'boring science-y stuff'; they want 'romance' as defined by Amy's coming into her social/sexual prime and her attempt to drag Sheldon along with her, making him someone he didn't know he apparently 'wanted to be'.
But what is Sheldon now? He's unrecognizable as early seasons Sheldon. His quirks come and go as the writers see fit. As he 'grows' he has become downright mean, especially to Amy. Since the writers this season have made it known that Sheldon can now tell when people are making fun of him, i.e. he's become more aware, then it's curious that his comments are now crueler than ever.
Sheldon's 'evolution' has always been problematic but this episode's 'I love you' really highlighted what's gone wrong with the show. His panic attack subsides when he tells Amy he loves her. Love was the only thing that explained his feelings for her. It's logical. Only when you place it next to how he normally treats her on-camera it's anything but. Basically, he fell in love with Amy off-camera and that's really lousy writing. I don't want to be *told* that Leonard and Penny are a great couple by Stuart or that Sheldon/Amy are together like two peas in a pod. I want to see it for myself. If I was a fan of either ship I'd want to experience their moments of connection. The moments are few and when they do occur are so *this is a 'Moment'. Insert 'awwws' here *. They miss the natural beat that good writing provides and the writers were more than capable of doing when this was a friendship show.
Of course there is another more poignant example of flowing to a 'natural beat' but some are rather loathe to mention the Sheldon/Penny dynamic. The rapport between Jim and Kaley ignited the screen as Sheldon's glares practically melted through walls even as Penny responded with her pumpkin grins. What works beyond the fact that both are good actors is that they had a strong sense of who their characters were. As the seasons have gone on I'd argue that all of the characters have declined significantly but particular attention must be drawn to Sheldon and Jim Parson's inability to maintain the illusion of the quirky physicist.
I had troubles with the 'I love you' moment because when the line was delivered it wasn't by Sheldon. I don't know what Jim Parsons sounds like in person as I don't watch interviews but if I had a guess as to what I heard last night it was Jim doing an impression of what he thought a 'more mature' Sheldon would sound like as opposed to him transforming himself into Sheldon and acting accordingly. Sheldon Cooper has passion, whether it's for trains, his Meemaw or his science. Jim is capable of generating this spark with adversaries like Kripke or Wheaton or Leslie and most definitely with Penny but seemed lost when he delivered his monumental line to Amy. There was no passion. And no, I don't mean the "oh Marsha!" "Oh Bob!" kind. I mean there was no *connection* between Mayim and him.
To be fair, Mayim did her best with the scene. She knew it was a BIG MOMENT for Amy and she expressed shock but it seemed overacted because the chemistry between her and Jim was all wrong. She was left to fend for herself as she had to react to his lack-luster 'I love you, too' pitch.
I remember Jim once saying that he does his best to play Sheldon the way he's written and directed only I find that he's playing less of Sheldon and more of what I expect is 'Jim Parsons'. The writing has shifted from demonstrating nuances of characterization to keeping characters in line so as to fulfill the conditions necessary for the romantic 'master plan' of the show. This wouldn't be so problematic if the writers were actually good at the romance part, but they're not. What strikes me most about this episode is that it tries so hard to be significant, to be a moment, and it fails miserably.
Amy did get what she wanted and by extension the pro-Amy fan base, but the writers messed it up. For me it had the same anticlimactic feel as Leonard and Penny's engagement. The writers seem to have lost the ability to put proper sentiment into 'game-changing' moments. Remember when Leonard asked Penny out and she accepted? The audience was ecstatic. You could feel the relief and joy, practically envision the audience members hi-fiving each other and fist-pumping.
Amy had the Sheldon kiss after an entire episode of being treated horribly. Now after a drawn-out episode with a nonsensical plot about accomplished thirty-somethings wanting to rewrite their prom experiences she had the 'I love you, too' delivered by Jim Parsons instead of Sheldon.
For Sheldon and Penny, all it took was a single napkin to set the audience ablaze.
And they say 'Shenny' is a forced, unrealistic relationship....
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