05-06-2015, 02:36 AM
(05-05-2015, 07:00 PM)Berliner Wrote: Howard and Sheldon got domesticated, simple as that.
Plot bunny: Howard's personality got split into two halves. Gothowitz is bold and outrageous, Hubby!Howard is passive and meek.
Gothowitz and Supervillain!Sheldon are a team of...well, supervillains.
On another note:
None of Howard's previous women seemed aggressive and domineering. Leslie was more self-absorbed and indifferent than actively hostile, and the show made it clear that she would've treated *anyone* that way, it wasn't specific to Howard. Stephanie turned out to be clingy, but maybe that was just her reaction to Leonard's weaselly-ness.
This idea of "Howard needs/wants someone like his mother, Howard needs/wants someone who will supervise and correct him" does not hold water. The show did not lay the groundwork for this relationship. It's very obvious that these themes were inserted after the fact. Bernadette had no personality at first, then they retrofitted her to be Bitch!Queen.
Howard does seem to like *assertive* women, because he likes action-oriented female characters like Catwoman and Starbuck and River Tam. The female images in his bedroom look active and heroic, they're not traditional Playboy-style pin-ups. The show seems to hint that his fantasies involve a bit of a role-reversal where *he* is the one being rescued/captured by a female protagonist-figure. But that's not the same thing as wanting to be abused or wanting to give up all autonomy, and assertive isn't the same thing as aggressive.
I could see Howard meeting a woman who is *slightly* older and more experienced than himself; she might welcome his enthusiasm and not be freaked-out by his sex drive, and her confidence might help him feel more at ease. I actually thought Veronica from Vegas seemed like kind of a cool person and it might've been nice to see more of their conversation.
As for the current state of things, this smug and complacent old-married-guy Howard is someone I dislike. Misery loves company, so now the coupled-up characters are pressuring their friends to stay with their sh*tty partners, as well. It's actually easier for me, knowing that this isn't Original Howard being mistreated by Bernadette, it's just some boring old married guy.