10-22-2014, 09:01 AM
Okay, thoughts on the episode. Gamma pretty much hit the nail on the head so I'll keep this short and sweet. Once again the Lenny 'plot' is such a non-plot. The writers seem to take one interaction and stretch it out over 22 minutes. And the moral of their 'story'? 'Yeah, we're screwed up but Howard and Bernadette are worse. As long as we're not them we'll be fine.' It seems as though the Howardette is going through a devolution in order to give the illusion that the Lenny has elevated.
And the way in which Howardette imploded was beyond yetch. Bernadette's actions were the nastiest of the season. Forget my usual musings as to why these people are still friends, what she did to Howard was emotional abuse, plain and simple. She stepped on Howard's self-esteem and ego and relished smushing them into the ground with her heel right in front of their friends. BUT, fret not children, TPTB solve this awkward and serious slight the best way they know how--avoid the consequences and have the characters skip to the makeup sex.
For me, the problem with this cause and effect of humiliation-->sex is that we have the nastiness and the makeup but beyond the lack of a consequence we're also missing the HUMOUR. Was I supposed to find Bernadette's emasculation of Howard funny? If I didn't find it funny (which I didn't) the ending is unsettling as Howard's 'oh boy' reaction to his birthday party is meant to reinforce his 'childish' obsessions and therefore justifies Bernadette's belittling point of view.
As much as I've lamented the deaths of my beloved characters from the early seasons I now mourn the wit and humour of episodes past. I miss the inclusiveness of the jokes, the gentleness and the wit. The nastiness is repugnant. More importantly, it isn't funny. And what is a sit-com without humour? We call it season 8, gentle readers....
And the way in which Howardette imploded was beyond yetch. Bernadette's actions were the nastiest of the season. Forget my usual musings as to why these people are still friends, what she did to Howard was emotional abuse, plain and simple. She stepped on Howard's self-esteem and ego and relished smushing them into the ground with her heel right in front of their friends. BUT, fret not children, TPTB solve this awkward and serious slight the best way they know how--avoid the consequences and have the characters skip to the makeup sex.
For me, the problem with this cause and effect of humiliation-->sex is that we have the nastiness and the makeup but beyond the lack of a consequence we're also missing the HUMOUR. Was I supposed to find Bernadette's emasculation of Howard funny? If I didn't find it funny (which I didn't) the ending is unsettling as Howard's 'oh boy' reaction to his birthday party is meant to reinforce his 'childish' obsessions and therefore justifies Bernadette's belittling point of view.
As much as I've lamented the deaths of my beloved characters from the early seasons I now mourn the wit and humour of episodes past. I miss the inclusiveness of the jokes, the gentleness and the wit. The nastiness is repugnant. More importantly, it isn't funny. And what is a sit-com without humour? We call it season 8, gentle readers....
Let's go exploring!