8.16 The Intimacy Acceleration (Feb 26)

[Trust No One]

Well!
Good lord...That was rather intense, to put it fucking mildly!
Beautifully done!
Utterly fascinating relationship those two bastards have. Brilliant!

Don't drink wine at midday Gripe!

Go away and write something more eloquent! Stop raving!




Who is this, incidentally?



Hey, and it had that Gothowitz woman in it! I LIKE her...


Unless there's more Sheldon & Penny scenes though, I ain't watching any further.
And there WON'T BE. It's coupledom all the way now chaps. To HELL with friendship!
So that was a grand last episode.

Same for me Gripe. No good Shenny scenes no more watching for me. Would love to know who this person is. I also liked that Gothowitz women and Emily was rocking those boots again.

[FlyingSolo]

Gawd, this episode hit me right in the feels! I had butterflies in my stomach during the Sheldon/Penny interactions and staring. Their on-screen chemistry was so electrifying!

[wellplayedpenny]

So this was the 'nail in the coffin' for Shenny. Penny said that she viewed Sheldon like a 'little brother' and he replied that she was 'like a sister' (he did go overboard with 'mother' but even Penny ruled that one out). TPTB couldn't have made it clearer to the audience as to how they want us to view and interpret the Shenny relationship. That should be all she wrote.

And yet....

What had been missing the entire series had come to pass tonight; we've witnessed true intimacy. Sheldon admitted to feeling uncomfortable and not as confident as he seems because he doesn't know if people are laughing with him or at him or if people are mad at what he did or if they are just having a bad day. Penny wished that she could take that discomfort away. Similarly, when Penny wished that she was smart like the others, Sheldon agreed she wasn't academically inclined but that she had social smarts he wished he possessed. A yin and yang.

That's what Shennys have been touting from the beginning—how opposite and yet complimentary Sheldon and Penny are. Having Sheldon tell Penny that her social smarts are appreciated—and envied—shows more respect for her than is given by her 'bestie' who compares her to a chimpanzee and even her own fiancé who constantly shows photographs of her to anyone he can just to prove that someone as hot as her was his girlfriend. Penny's been 'kind and beautiful and perfect'. Sheldon's Penny is real—no bullshit between them as he called Penny out for using humour to deflect uncomfortable topics. He opened the dialogue and, more importantly, really listened to Penny. No agenda to get into her pants. And that was really refreshing.

Then there was the connection between Kaley and Jim. TPTB can only wish that the Lenny or Shamy had that much chemistry. Even Sheldon coming straight out and telling Amy that he loved her lacked the impact of his telling Penny that he could look her in the eyes because he's close with her. Gone tonight was Sheldon's later seasons' manic behavior and childishness. Away from Amy we got to see and hear from Dr. Sheldon Cooper. He took off his Clark Kent glasses and took Penny on a flight through his thoughts and feelings that Amy only wishes she could have. But then again, she thinks comic books are 'lame-o' so probably wouldn't understand the significance of Sheldon's Superman t-shirt—but I do. Remember Panty Piñata anyone?

Because that's the real punch line of this episode—since s5 when Sheldon and Amy became the Shamy we've seen how mean they are to each other what with his selfishness and her screechy sexual obsession. And yet we're to believe that what Sheldon and she have is 'intimate'. But let's call a spade a spade, whatever passes for intimacy takes place off-camera. We're to believe that Amy and Sheldon have a strong relationship because that's what TPTB say they have when we don't see them. Well tonight we got to see Shenny intimacy in all its power—and it is breathtaking in its intensity.

Ever wonder what a Shenny relationship would be like? If tonight was any example it would be just as wonderful as I imagined: the sarcasm, the intimacy, truthfulness, passion, compassion. Each allowing the other to be who they are. This is another Shenny point: Penny and Sheldon appreciate each other for their abilities not their comeliness. When he watched her act, Sheldon realized that Penny was remarkable. She absolutely dazzled him for what she could do, not for how she looked. And Penny knew that with Sheldon on her side during the scavenger hunt they would kick everyone's asses. No sexy toddler bullshit here.

So for me, there was no 'nail in the coffin' that ended Shenny. If anything, tonight's episode managed to hammer home that all the connection and chemistry and intimacy Sheldon and Penny share are not figments of my imagination. I got to see what a Shenny-centric show would be like and I was not disappointed—it was funny and poignant. Deep and satisfying. It confirmed my feelings that the canon relationships are just shells and that this hollowness has permeated the later years of the series as they lack the power of the early seasons.

Thank you, Prady, Lorre, and Molaro for showing me that I'm not 'delusional'. Your attempt at sibling-ating showed that even you were aware of Shenny's power. That you admitted that Shenny was a viable option, not only for 'delusional' Dreamers, because of how listless your canon creations are.

Some may think you've stated your case quite clearly—Sheldon and Penny are siblings. Too bad you can't control the Shenny chemistry because every time Sheldon and Penny share a scene they prove you wrong.

[devilbk]

You nailed it, wpp. The B plot was irrelevant. Kaley and Jim lit up the screen tonight if only to remind us that we could have this every week except for the relationships we keep being told are much more vital to the show. Shenny sends TBBT into orbit. Shamy and Lenny keep it earthbound.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

I haven't watched Intimacy yet but I found this on tumblr.. by yestherdey

[lewstonewar]

Re: B plot (zombies)
Now granted I had my back to the tv during most of the episode as I was assembling new furniture. But I didn't feel like the solution of the Zombie puzzle was dominated by AFF like the TP suggested. It was a team effort. It's true, all four of them are doctors "have advanced degrees" so a bigger brain trust than the average group walking through the experience.

I have noticed now that there is an actual Doctor in the group again there is less harping use of the use of appropriate title. MD's tend to side eye PhD's so hard for insisting on being called "Doctor" . (probably why AFF said 'We all have advanced degrees" instead of "we are all Doctors")

[Toad]

Beautifully worded review, wellplayedpenny! I've read it many times already and will no doubt read it many more times.

But I'm struggling with this one, folks. Quite frankly I'm baffled. Sheldon and Penny, in my opinion the lifeblood of the show, have essentially been sidelined for several seasons now while this Romantic Couples Only agenda has been aggressively pursued. So why, why now, plunk the characters into this very meaty heartfelt plot, exposing vulnerabilities and intimacies (and wonderfully acted by Jim and Kaley by the way), just to step in at the last and qualify it all as a brother/sister relationship?

Move along! Nothing to see here, people. No attraction. Nope. They've been SIBLING-ZONED.

Maybe I'm too hung up on that part. But it was brusque and jarring and I could literally see the puppet strings glinting in the light. It was completely unnecessary too. Lenny and Shamy are clearly endgame. I get that. I don't need it spelled out for me, thank you very much. Yeah, I certainly wouldn't have been averse to a closer relationship being explored, but Shenny exists, for me anyway, as a dazzling "what if", a coming together of two vastly different worlds and all the undiluted exasperation, perplexity, honesty and HUMANITY that entails.

And, no, I don't get that from Lenny and Shamy AT ALL. Sorry, canons, I just don't. I simply can't get past the 100 little skeevy manipulations and the forced attraction, all slicked over with a cringe-inducing mawkishness. Turtles and sex paintings? PLEASE!! Give me warfare, dammit!

Was the spectre of a hypothetical Sheldon and Penny alignment really THAT much of an impediment, THAT threatening? For Pete's sake they've maybe had a total of 4 minutes combined screen time so far this season (not counting the stare-a-thon). Honestly I think I would have preferred if they, the writers, had simply gone on pretending there's no elephant in the room instead of stepping into the narrative and hamfistedly wiping away 8 years worth of subtext.

Oh, that's right, there is no subtext. Never was. I keep forgetting. Grrr.

[wellplayedpenny]

Toad, I think the thing is that TPTB don't want any competition with their canon ships because they know they're weak. As the episode showed with the 'brother and sister' comment they are listening to what the fans are saying and as we've noted this year with reading FB IMDB and other sites comments sections there is a vast amount of non-shippy people who are bored as fuck with the relationships and want the show the way it was and, what a concept, FUNNY!

They've also had a habit of rewriting the early seasons to give the canon ships legitimacy and the illusion that this is all a part of some master plan of continuity. Shenny was a significant part of the early seasons and by putting romantic Shenny to bed they've all but signaled the end of an era in their show. I'm quite sure there will be some canon-shippers who will say Shennys are being sucks for seeing our ship 'stomped out' by canon but for me, at least, the attempt to quell the Shenny is a back-turning on the brilliance of the early seasons--and that for me is the 'nail in the coffin'. There is no way the show will ever be as good as it was and TPTB have turned their backs on it save for the times they mine early seasons for plot ideas in a poor attempt to still give the show 'geek street cred'.

Yet, as I said above, the joke is really on them as the Shenny scene was the most in-depth conversation we've had between two characters that wasn't staged (brother and sister comment aside) to promote an agenda (ditto). Remember the cringe moments like the SIcK and Sheldon's ILY? Or Penny's admission that the only thing she's passionate about is Leonard and her friends? Just horrible stuff. Clunky. OOC. And honestly, kinda sad--not just for Shenny people but for anyone who loves the characters of Penny and Sheldon in general.

To sibling-zone Sheldon and Penny was an attempt to explain their chemistry. To channel what they can't destroy (and is so obvious to the audience). Unfortunately, it makes TPTB look absolutely ridiculous because of what I said earlier--the Shenny conversations were the most sincere on the show and, while Jim doesn't 'do' Sheldon as well as he used to, he did know enough to tone down the childish mania that's become the signature over the past three seasons. Or in other words, Sheldon managed to assemble some level of dignity. And THAT is what last night's interaction really showed me was missing for over three seasons. The same applies to Penny. Sheldon got through her defenses and they got to experience meaningful conversation. They LISTENED to each other as opposed to drowning their sorrows or being badgered into doing uncomfortable things.

Does this boil down to the 'joke's on them?' To an extent. But by no means do I mean to downplay the smack in the face the sibling-zoning was for some Shennys. Outright rejection stings. And I admit that as Penny said the 'brother' line I was like 'here we go--the agenda speaketh'. It annoyed me, mainly because it signaled not just the end of a possible romantic Shenny but also killed any hope at the show regaining even an ounce of its former glory. its playfulness. A time When I really did think 'Anything Could Happen' on Thursdays.

This episode has given me closure. We've spoken about the difference between the old and new show and the Shenny was the last arc between them save for the Lenny, which now stands alone as the central pillar of the show. I'm now over the sadness I had for the loss of possibility for the show but tbh this is less about TPTB being stupid than it is them wanting to be in control.

Well, now they're firmly in the driver's seat. Why do I have the feeling we're gonna go straight into a rock cut?

[Jomi25]

When I read the TR, I have to admit I had mixed feelings about the episode because of the sibling thingy. After watching the actual episode, I'm happy 'coz we got to see Shenny chemistry once again, but disappointed 'coz they just had to deliberately shoot them down then and there with the brother-sister/mother nonsense. It's like they made this episode just to get the actual characters to parrot what TPTB and cast's POV of the Shenny relationship in the end.

Just like the other guys have already said, still, that low-note ending didn't stop this episode from having one of the most sincere Shenny moments. You'll never get something like that from Leonard towards Penny or Amy towards Sheldon 'coz they only care about their own hidden agendas. And the episode just showed once more how much of a wasted potential the Shenny chemistry is at the hands of TPTB.

Anyways, just an observation, Amy's "Forget it!" at the start of the episode sounded so much like how Leonard said it in one of the old episodes.

Oh, and I heard some squeals from the audience after Sheldon's "Okay, babe, let's do this." moment. That moment really made me smile.

[Idle Miscreant]

Having had a chance to muse over all of this in my terrifying bird-ridden mountain paradise, pondering the implications of this episode whilst I fell off the ladder, stepped on my painting, fought a wasp, lost, etc, I'm afraid I'm still not feeling particularly enlightened.

But a few things I DO know. Seeing as this sibling business keeps being mentioned...

Eight years in, having them mouth this little cliché never before mentioned, simply doesn't stick. Particularly when the scene is played out in the most UNBROTHERLY fashion imaginable by Jim Suave-Bastard Parsons. If you're going for sibling warmth, try not to sound like an adult phone chat. Maybe drop the whole "bedroom eyes" thing as well, I don't know...

If there are sisters and brothers gazing at each other in that fashion all over America, then I stand corrected. Corrected and slightly disturbed. But they don't, do they. Partially because brothers generally don't engage in love experiments with their sisters, and with the full expectation of said sisters falling in love with them at the end and thence driving them to Garycon.

As a vague comparison...I have a tall, terribly (and irritatingly) handsome and brilliant friend with a tall, terribly beautiful sister, both of whom I've know for years. Over which time I have seen them engage in prank wars, and bitching and also express deep affection towards each other. Not having either a brother or sister myself, I have relied on their interaction for knowledge of the sibling scenario.

NEVER, in this time, have I seen one sneak into the other's room at ungodly hours in scant attire, nor does my friend string his sister's panties up on a wire, peek at her naked, talk repeatedly about her genitals, ask her on a date, fondle her breast, know intimate details about her sex life, spend his spare time with her willingly, or refer frequently to her attractiveness. She, in turn, does not wrestle her brother, pin him down and kiss him, and would rather stab herself in the kneecaps with plastic cutlery than gaze into his eyes for four minutes, and I think would turn green if she had to joke to his girlfriend about "tearing his clothes off and taking him right there on the table". I've never seen her implore him to dance with her whilst she's prancing around half-naked making French Toast either. Quite simply, they have a wild aversion to all such things, because they are siblings. They do not engage in love experiments. They do not sing to each other in bed.

If you've noticed any trend in the things I've mentioned my friend and his sister DON'T do...Yes, well done.

I'm not saying TPTB are planning on going anywhere with Sheldon and Penny. That's been quite clear for years.

But BY GOD IN ALL HIS FURIOUS AND VINDICTIVE HEAVEN - THEY DO NOT BEHAVE LIKE SIBLINGS.

Here's a startling thought - Maybe a man and a woman can actually be FRIENDS? Fucking call the police! Inform the authorities! Hangmen, pitchforks! Etc.

Although, I might add, friends behave in the above mentioned, panty-stringing fashion only if they've got a bit of a "thing" for each other...

But why does this "thing" have to go anywhere? And why also, did someone in CBS feel it had to be "stopped"? If that's indeed that the intention was. But who knows. Personally, it didn't strike me thusly.

The old "I think of you as a brother" is one of the hoariest chestnuts of the romantic comedy. The best friend, never considered romantically viable, who magically becomes a love interest when everyone else fails the protagonist, or a volcano is erupting, or some other malarkey.

"Clueless" is an excellent example. I believe they were ACTUALLY related in that, technically. Blondy big-eyes falls in love with her previously utterly UNTHINKABLE step-brother.

Point is, this concept precedes the big love epiphany so bloody often, that all I hear when one attractive, vivid main protagonist tells another, vivid attractive main protagonist that she "thinks of him like a brother" is the sound of goddamn wedding bells or bedsprings in the end game.

The other setup which precedes a hook-up is the old "mistaken for a married couple" schtick. Sheldon and Penny have also had this happen to them. (And let's not even BEGIN to get into everything that was going on in Season 2 and 3...That Vegas episode has more undercurrents than the gulf stream...)

The writers and producers of Big Bang must be familiar with this trope. They know television (and films presumably) inside and upside down.

ERGO -

a) They're planting the seed for the classic "erupting volcano, discovering true love was already there, right where you least expected" scenario, and Sheldon/Penny has been their subtle, classic and marvellous endgame all along.

b) It's a throwaway line, much like the Mexican Peso stuck up Sheldon's nose. There's no "weight" to it (not the Peso), it's merely a set-up and scenery for the following jokes; Sheldon thinks he's "warm and soothing" (he isn't), and Penny doesn't care for his escalating his comparison from sister to mother. Because that's a bit "much". Especially when engaged in a stare-athon with an ostensible adult.

Incidentally, there's no human I've met with whom I could feasibly get through even 30 seconds of direct eye contact, let alone four minutes. My immediate family I think would be almost impossible. The fact that Sheldon and Penny managed this with such ease, after the initial disconcertion, and indeed even enjoyed themselves, I think says quite a lot in itself.

Anyroad, I've talked myself out on this topic for the meantime, mercifully.

As charming as it was to see Jim act so intimately with Kaley, and how startling and heartening to see a Non-Shamy (i.e., non-cloying, non-infantile) adult version of Sheldon, and how genuinely warm and sincere those last scenes were...I would have infinitely preferred the old innocent alien Sheldon and Junior Rodeo Queen Penelope.

The character we loved isn't around anymore. He lives only in Season 1-4, endlessly weaving ponchos, breeding luminous fish, learning Finnish, battling Wil Wheaton, singing sea-shanties with Penny or knocking eternally on her door...

I think instead of trying to catch glimpses of the fucker amidst the baffling hormonal couple-miasma of these last seasons, we should maybe set our sights permanently on the original creation, brilliantly done by the same brilliant people, but perhaps driven by a different duende. We should look at conservation of old concepts not reanimation of lost ones. After all...

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
 Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit,
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
 Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as the moving finger doesn't start rewriting its early work I'm grand with it buggering off and writing a bacchanalian space opera...


tl;dr - The sibling line is lip-service to a concept whilst simultaneously proving that concept wrong, by the very MANNER in which it's played out. To wit - they don't ACT like brother and sister.