8.04 The Hook-Up Reverberation (Oct 6)

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Penny tries to figure out why Raj's girlfriend doesn't like her.

We have promo photos folks...

[Tuesday Pajamas]

And more...

[Tuesday Pajamas]

And the sub-plots...

[wellplayedpenny]

Apparently the sub-textual joke for the episode entails how many changes in scenery can they make and yet have the cast remain seated.

[devilbk]

Penny tries to figure out why Raj's girlfriend doesn't like her.

We have promo photos folks...

God I love that photo of Kaley. This woman would crush Leonard like a bug.

[Nutz]

Dear sweet baby Jesus, what the hell are they putting Penny in! Some of those shirts are truly hideous. And for the love of God, stop flattening her hair to her head.

[Louise]

That pic of Stuart at Mrs.W's house speaks volumes. Howard looks like a teenager in trouble with his parents. He's meek and scared and apologetic. B's body-language is very straight and rigid. Stuart, of all people, looks relaxed and confident.

Nu!Howard is bullied, scolded, and dominated by everyone around him. He's the whipping boy, the scapegoat. He'll still talk back to Sheldon, apparently, but his personal life is like a cage. He has no self-respect. He's an easy victim for aggressive and controlling people. And now even Raj can intimidate him, seemingly.

Stuart and B. are Howard's parents now, just like Leonard and Penny are supposedly Sheldon's parents. Does mainstream America really want to watch this psychologically twisted and sinister stuff in a comedy? I am honestly surprised and taken aback by that. I'd sooner watch an infomercial for Shamwows...

How on earth is this "growth"??? He's supposed to be plucky and resilient, the guy who gets knocked down but gets back up again. He's supposed to be smart-mouthed and irreverent and defiant.

SH is so talented and likeable that it feels ungenerous to write him off completely, but I'm getting close. Granted, most of the blame probably lies with the writers. But the idea that this is the same Howard from "the Gothowitz Deviation" breaks my heart. It can't be.

All of these characters need treatment for depression, or something.

ETA: I know nothing else about this ep, and I don't want to. But I accurately predicted the content of the other S8 eps based on screencaps alone. That *really* shows how predictable this show is, when the promo pics tell the whole story.

ETA again: his outfits *are* getting less colorful. Some of them are still cute and seem reasonably IC, but there is not as much variety. "What the heck is Howard going to wear?" used to be an event in and of itself. I don't think we'll see any more turquoise acid -wash or highlighter-yellow, or V-necks that reach his navel.

[Nutz]

I have to say, loved some of the Sheldon moments in this episode. Totally socially clueless, check. Doesn't think that he is in a romantic relationship, check. He was almost in moments, dare I say it....... vintage. I say almost since I can still see "the actor" instead of Sheldon, but for the most part well done Jim.*

As for the rest of the episode blah, blah, blah (girls scene) blah, blah, blah (Leonard jealous) blah, blah, blah (Howard treated as a child) blah, blah, blah (Raj being a jerk). Question, if a lot of the scenes start sounding like Charlie Browns teacher in your head, can you still review it?


* I've also been drinking quite heavily to prepare for watching BBT, so if I imagined vintage Sheldon moments in this episode, please let me keep my delusions. Thank you.

[Louise]

Am I the only one who feels like the humor is getting increasingly dark and this show's subject-matter is getting downright off-putting?

It's always been clear that this show's writers/makers have issues with women, especially mothers, but it now seems like "twisted family dynamics" are the show's central theme, even moreso than romcom.

There were always jokes about Howard's mother, Leonard's mother, etc, from the start, and this show seems to have a weird fixation on "older woman/younger man" scenarios, (there are at least four or five examples of this) but I feel like it's getting worse.

Sheldon is a child (or even a dog, or even an object), Howard is a child, Leonard & Penny are Sheldon's parents, Bernadette is Howard's mother, Amy is Sheldon's mother/grandmother, Stuart is both Howard's replacement and his stepfather (?!?!?) etc, etc.

Sorry to be blunt, but it's almost like the writers have a sadomasochistic kink for seeing certain characters (mainly male ones) be humiliated and infantilized. Again, sorry to be graphic, but this is like some type of incest/BDSM/age-play thing, now. Space's fic of Amy locking Sheldon away in a dungeon was not far off the mark, and it's probably only a matter of time until we watch B. try to stick a pacifier in Howard's mouth.

The Oedipal themes and the dysfunctional families were there from the start, but maybe it was less obvious in the early seasons or maybe it was handled with a lighter touch and this made it more palatable.

Personally, I find this type of thing squicky and upsetting in the extreme, and I'm genuinely surprised that the mainstream American audience is cool with it. (Or maybe it just escapes their notice.)

I have always found the H/B squicky, but they are getting very overt and blatant with these twisted themes, now, it's not just hinted-at.

Again, I think some of these themes were always present, but maybe they were more subtle and now they're more overt. It's like the writers are just spewing their personal neuroses all over the show, and it's almost like they take a kinky enjoyment in placing the characters in these disturbing scenarios. It's sadistic and very, very strange.

What was subtext is now *the* text. (or whatever the opposite of subtext is.)

I haven't watched any of the S8 eps, and I've only read one TR, so maybe I'm off-base, but I'm kind of gobsmacked that the #1 TV show in America is built on jokes about incest.

Somebody really, really, really hates their parents, and/or has dominatrix fantasies that I don't want to see.

[devilbk]

Jokes about incest and child endangerment. Not funny.