and BAM! Howard Wolowitz

[Wisp]

Simon Helberg and Kevin Sussman's characters are the only two that still hold some interest for me. But I completely, aggressively agree that Howard's newly softer and more downtrodden way of speaking and generally behaving is offputtingly subtle but glaringly obvious at the same time. All the characters have lost their spikes. Even Leonard had some pleasingly sarky moments early on.

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Nothing makes me angrier than people who think the pre-Bernadette Howard was a one-dimensional character or a bad person. The post-Bernadette stuff makes me so uncomfortable that I find it unwatchable.

Simon H's acting can't be faulted, but that singing episode? Definitely a shark-jumping moment and a low point for the series. I couldn't bring myself to watch that whole scene. Saying that B. is his best friend? Raj is his best friend. Nice Soviet-style revisionism, writers...

Also, the "letter" episode? Disturbing. Unsettling. So much like the daytime soap operas my Grandma used to watch. I mean, really, could anyone have predicted the show would turn out like this? It's like a bad dream. It's unreal.

This video is what I mean when I talk about "emotional Howard." Not the saccharine stuff from later seasons. If you recall, in the early seasons, it was kind of a running theme, this idea that Howard's moods change quickly and his emotions are always close to the surface. He cries easily:

Howard's first love song: " *Epic badly played intro* BERNADETTE. I AM SO SOOORRY FOR TRYING TO PROPOSE TO YOOOOUUUUU.... WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH....." was frigging adorable (I thought) because it was still naff and vaguely pratty, but very Howard in its dorky suaveness. That second song was sappy, overlong and depressingly fawning. How does this show now manage to be misogynistic (I hate dropping the M bomb but this is TBBT, so...) and ball-busting at the same time?