10-01-2015, 06:31 PM
It does indeed do a disservice to both characters. And whilst I only care about Sheldon, it's still irritating to see a potentially good character (like AFF might have been, and was, briefly) go to waste.
After an interesting first year (although I fast-forwarded through the "girls night" scenes) for Amy's character, she went through a strange, Flanderized stage of faintly amusing panto behaviour in Season 5, then settled into "Put-Upon Girlfriend" for Seasons 6, 7 and most of 8. If she's going to stick around, which she is, though I prefer she wouldn't, she could at least be entertaining in her own plots, without ANYTHING to do with Sheldon.
There's loads of things they could do with her that don't involve being Sheldon's ball and chain. She's a scientist and fairly weird personality in her own right, and yet she's had bugger all to do on this show but be "victimised" and complain about Sheldon BEING SHELDON for the last 4 years.
Mother of god, if I have to see her be miserable with the chap she CHOSE to get into a relationship with, and for whom they destroyed his character to accommodate...
Because, and there's no other way to put this, she's fine on her own, but she RUINS Sheldon. Since they changed her character and made her starved for affection, very very needy, and the Woobie of the piece (bizarrely offset by her acts of sheer obnoxiousness and passive aggression) he's had to be dialed back to childhood, and made a complete arse, so that he can "learn to be a better person" just to make his girlfriend happy. They threw out his character's integrity for a plot device. I get why they did it (ratings, extended contracts, wanting to write for MB and MR) but it doesn't make it less upsetting.
When he's "Sheldony" around Penny it doesn't affect her emotionally. She knows his nature and just passes over his frequently rude (socially) or difficult comments. She's as strong as he is, she can take it, and flings it back at him. They're equals.
But Amy's nature is far more submissive, thus when Sheldon is just himself around her, he's painted as the villain, over and over again, and the villain which must "become good" in whatever Morality Play they're crafting here.
They should have put him with a character who liked him for who he WAS. So he didn't HAVE to change, and thus cripple the show. Or who didn't require traditional romance, or displays of affection. Someone who just got on with her own life, but loved him regardless. A big ole five like Penny, as we always say. But any number of similar characters would have done.
They're at an impasse now. They've turned Sheldon into the sort of person who can't function by himself. He's regressed (under the odd name of "growth") both in intellectual and emotional intelligence and subtlety to such a degree that he seems to need a full-time carer.
Sheldon of Season 1 knew when Leonard was upset, and tried to help. Sheldon of Season 3 put himself out and cared for Penny. He sang to her for heaven's sake. Sheldon of the early seasons was snarky and upstarty and eccentric, but he wasn't Rain Main. Now he's this oddly mawkish, alternately sentimental/rednecky character, who seems a lot LOUDER and more difficult to deal with than he ever was. All idiot, no savant, as we say frequently here. So. Considering that Seasons 5-9 is essentially a different show, and that Sheldon is a completely different character, aye, what ARE they going to do with him now that Leonard and Penny are married?
The original Sheldon would have happily got on with his work, occasionally escaping to terrorize the village, but otherwise he was content with his own company and work. He was CAPABLE of doing all manner of things, he just chose not to. Why would he bother to learn to drive, when Leonard and Penny drove him everywhere? Nonetheless, he DID teach himself to drive (and no, Amy didn't, where the hell did that come from?) and indeed even managed to get a speeding ticket taking Penny to hospital. Point is, he was fine, and indeed extraordinary, with his work, himself, his friends and his passions. There was utterly no artistic need to change him. But they did, and now look where the poor fucker is. And where the ratings will shortly be. And critical approval, and lasting artistic worth.
There is only one way to escape this impasse;
Sheldon must be returned to the contented, eccentric alien of S1-4. NOT the vengeful, angsty creature he is now - That is aggravating the audience. NOT the simpering boyfriend of Season 8 - That bored the audience. Ratings went down horrendously in Season 8. Actually, they started to drop after the Locomotive Manipulation midway through Season 7...It's been a spasmodic but certain decline ever since. Why? Because they're messing with Sheldon's original, intrinsic nature.
Return Sheldon to his old self, but HAPPILY. Move Amy on into a relationship (because sadly she has been written to "need" one, unlike her original Season 4 self) where she can express herself in a more interesting manner. I'd say break up Leonard and Penny, but I really can't ask for TOO much. But that relationship is terribly unnatural. And exhausting.
So I'll stick with my first request - Bring back alien, whimsical, self-sufficient, BRILLIANT, solitary, observer of humanity Sheldon. And let him live out the series with his dignity intact.
After an interesting first year (although I fast-forwarded through the "girls night" scenes) for Amy's character, she went through a strange, Flanderized stage of faintly amusing panto behaviour in Season 5, then settled into "Put-Upon Girlfriend" for Seasons 6, 7 and most of 8. If she's going to stick around, which she is, though I prefer she wouldn't, she could at least be entertaining in her own plots, without ANYTHING to do with Sheldon.
There's loads of things they could do with her that don't involve being Sheldon's ball and chain. She's a scientist and fairly weird personality in her own right, and yet she's had bugger all to do on this show but be "victimised" and complain about Sheldon BEING SHELDON for the last 4 years.
Mother of god, if I have to see her be miserable with the chap she CHOSE to get into a relationship with, and for whom they destroyed his character to accommodate...
Because, and there's no other way to put this, she's fine on her own, but she RUINS Sheldon. Since they changed her character and made her starved for affection, very very needy, and the Woobie of the piece (bizarrely offset by her acts of sheer obnoxiousness and passive aggression) he's had to be dialed back to childhood, and made a complete arse, so that he can "learn to be a better person" just to make his girlfriend happy. They threw out his character's integrity for a plot device. I get why they did it (ratings, extended contracts, wanting to write for MB and MR) but it doesn't make it less upsetting.
When he's "Sheldony" around Penny it doesn't affect her emotionally. She knows his nature and just passes over his frequently rude (socially) or difficult comments. She's as strong as he is, she can take it, and flings it back at him. They're equals.
But Amy's nature is far more submissive, thus when Sheldon is just himself around her, he's painted as the villain, over and over again, and the villain which must "become good" in whatever Morality Play they're crafting here.
They should have put him with a character who liked him for who he WAS. So he didn't HAVE to change, and thus cripple the show. Or who didn't require traditional romance, or displays of affection. Someone who just got on with her own life, but loved him regardless. A big ole five like Penny, as we always say. But any number of similar characters would have done.
They're at an impasse now. They've turned Sheldon into the sort of person who can't function by himself. He's regressed (under the odd name of "growth") both in intellectual and emotional intelligence and subtlety to such a degree that he seems to need a full-time carer.
Sheldon of Season 1 knew when Leonard was upset, and tried to help. Sheldon of Season 3 put himself out and cared for Penny. He sang to her for heaven's sake. Sheldon of the early seasons was snarky and upstarty and eccentric, but he wasn't Rain Main. Now he's this oddly mawkish, alternately sentimental/rednecky character, who seems a lot LOUDER and more difficult to deal with than he ever was. All idiot, no savant, as we say frequently here. So. Considering that Seasons 5-9 is essentially a different show, and that Sheldon is a completely different character, aye, what ARE they going to do with him now that Leonard and Penny are married?
The original Sheldon would have happily got on with his work, occasionally escaping to terrorize the village, but otherwise he was content with his own company and work. He was CAPABLE of doing all manner of things, he just chose not to. Why would he bother to learn to drive, when Leonard and Penny drove him everywhere? Nonetheless, he DID teach himself to drive (and no, Amy didn't, where the hell did that come from?) and indeed even managed to get a speeding ticket taking Penny to hospital. Point is, he was fine, and indeed extraordinary, with his work, himself, his friends and his passions. There was utterly no artistic need to change him. But they did, and now look where the poor fucker is. And where the ratings will shortly be. And critical approval, and lasting artistic worth.
There is only one way to escape this impasse;
Sheldon must be returned to the contented, eccentric alien of S1-4. NOT the vengeful, angsty creature he is now - That is aggravating the audience. NOT the simpering boyfriend of Season 8 - That bored the audience. Ratings went down horrendously in Season 8. Actually, they started to drop after the Locomotive Manipulation midway through Season 7...It's been a spasmodic but certain decline ever since. Why? Because they're messing with Sheldon's original, intrinsic nature.
Return Sheldon to his old self, but HAPPILY. Move Amy on into a relationship (because sadly she has been written to "need" one, unlike her original Season 4 self) where she can express herself in a more interesting manner. I'd say break up Leonard and Penny, but I really can't ask for TOO much. But that relationship is terribly unnatural. And exhausting.
So I'll stick with my first request - Bring back alien, whimsical, self-sufficient, BRILLIANT, solitary, observer of humanity Sheldon. And let him live out the series with his dignity intact.
"WHERE THE HELL'S MY PARACHUTE?"