9.07 The Spock Resonance

[Tuesday Pajamas]

It's not the same napkin!!! WAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 

[FlyingMonkey]

It's not the same napkin!!! WAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 

They probably threw away the original because they didn't understand the significance of it.  Just like they did with Vintage Sheldon.

[Idle Miscreant]

Well, that's perfectly fitting, as it's not the same Sheldon either...

He doesn't talk, move, dress, think, behave or even LOOK like the spindly, hyper-strung, whimsical alien who first received that napkin from Penny. So how can there be any sense of continuity?

Jim Parsons' Intel commercial character is more Sheldon-like.

I miss vintage Sheldon dreadfully. Who here doesn't?

As we keep saying, the show can be brilliantly scripted, the acting sharp and subtle, the plots all Vintage, but if Sheldon isn't Sheldon then it all falls away into the sea...

For the sake of Nimoy and Vintage Sheldon, let us revisit that most splendid of scenes...Beautifully written, astoundingly acted. And the most VINTAGE of Vintage Sheldons.







(As for the episode, I haven't watched it yet, but I'm glad the napkin and who gave it to him was mentioned at all. So many Sheldon/Penny scenes keep being rewritten around Amy/Sheldon, I feared Amy had rebuilt the TARDIS she dismantled to lure Sheldon into her bedroom, and used it to go back in time, push Penny out of the way, and give Sheldon the napkin herself...)

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Yeah the writers know they will never write anything that brilliant or original again. It's just horrible when they use the old classic moments to try and prop up episodes that wouldn't even have got past a table read in the old days. Another example was when his mother retold the uranium story. It was almost word for word from Luminous Fish.

[Idle Miscreant]

I find two things particularly baffling about all this.

After a quick scan of social media/review comments;

1) The people who are moved and weeping about Sheldon's "emotions" in this episode (and I'm sure Jim gave a good performance. Whether that performance was as Sheldon or as a completely different character is another matter) are the same ones who think (and sometimes state in the very same comment) Sheldon of S1-4 was a "emotionless robotic asshole". This is particularly bizarre, as the most emotional he's ever been about anything WAS THAT NAPKIN (good christ, see above!), which surely they should have been reminded of? Not to mention the fact that he flounced, wept, suffered, elated and prickled his way through four whole years of this show BEFORE they thrust him into this relationship. He is a highly emotional bastard, but it seems these current commentators just can't see it. So the prerequisite for being moved by this episode is misunderstanding, or even disliking, Vintage Sheldon, if you think he's only NOW showing his emotions.



2) Putting aside my dislike of the character Amy, and the changes in Jim's acting style which has created a Sheldon I'm no longer interested in, on a purely observational level I have no problem with the Sheldon as portrayed in this episode. Sheldon "in love" might indeed behave in such a fashion. This doesn't jar with my conception of Sheldon at all. He's always been a passionate, tightly-wound character. The problem is, this behaviour is in discord with all his other behavior over the past 4 years.

Because I've never believed he was in love with Amy in the first place. And if I must watch Sheldon in a relationship, then I'd LIKE to believe it. This is something that's often overlooked about Sheldon/Shenny fans. Why would they WANT to dislike or disbelieve in the relationship their favourite character is in? Of course we want to be interested in and approve of Sheldon's relationship! Penny might be our first choice, but good lord, any number of other women (or indeed men) would potentially have worked, if Sheldon was kept in character. But he WASN'T kept in character, and that's why this particular woman was the wrong choice. To say nothing of her unsuitability for Sheldon on an emotional level.
I've tried to like her over and over again, but she's cold, selfish, self-pitying and manipulative, and that's the last thing he needs.

So how am I supposed to appreciate Jim's acting, or suffer with Sheldon 2.0, whilst simultaneously not believing in the events surrounding it? If I feel the context and lead-up was unconvincing and implausible, then Sheldon's sudden agony makes no sense, as it comes out of nowhere.

Prior to this point, he's never given any indication, to me, that what he felt for Amy was anything more than a friendly fondness. Indeed, barring Season 8, he was often blatantly hostile towards her. I moreover never got the impression that Amy felt any genuine warmth towards Sheldon as himself, but rather was in love with the concept of love, and of being in a relationship. (Similar to how I feel Leonard has never really cared for Penny herself, but has been stuck in that doorway, transfixed by a vision of smart and beautiful babies for nine years) None of this has really helped me to "root" for the relationship, nor find it believable when it disintegrates, and Sheldon is apparently "heartbroken" over it. Heartbroken over a woman he has never shown any passion towards? And I don't mean Mills & Boon passion, I mean Sheldonic, napkin-frenzy, carbon-atom-ballpit level involvement.

I truly think that's how Vintage Sheldon would have dealt with love, as an overwhelming, and enraging, infuriating scientific problem. With chaos in its wake, and the utmost level of intensity. That's why Sheldon/Penny scenes have the most appeal to me, and why she seems the most viable partner for Sheldon. That 9.02 kiss was fully in-character (even Parsons thought so), because it was the old Sheldon, that's why it worked. The tepid, cloying simpering, and half-arsed make-out sessions of Season 8 Sheldon/Amy (and indeed all their romantic moments) goes against every conception of Sheldon I have, and as that conception was built upon the Season 1-4 Sheldon THEY CREATED, and who launched the show into stratospheric popularity, it's hardly a subjective interpretation of Sheldon. It's WHO HE WAS. Or was portrayed as.

So whilst I appreciate how hard comedy is to write (and there's been some CRACKINGLY good lines in recent episodes), and that one could argue that they're still producing something worthwhile in-and-of-itself, if you consider it irrespective of previous characterizations, the fact remains that on a purely artistic level the head honchos are not being faithful to their original creation, and that's not only neither kosher nor cricket, it's extremely unpleasant if you're fond of that original creation, and have to watch it be distorted. As we're always saying, it's not that New!Sheldon is so terrible, it's that he's painted over old Sheldon, who was perfection.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Bravo! Your post raises a point I never considered. Sheldon half-ass kissing is really out of character and his 'dream' kiss may not be in character, but its a lot closer to original Sheldon behaviour than any luke-warm lip-lock with Amy. How do we miss this??????

When Sheldon hugged Penny the very first time, he was all awkward elbows. But when he hugs her the second time in 'The Large Hydron Collider', he literally bounces. THIS is Sheldon. He's made the first connection and is now able to do it again. There's passion and YES emotion. He's so grateful that she agrees to talk to Leonard, so he can go to Switerland, that he reactes in a MORE intense way than anyone else would. This is Sheldon, he holds it all inside but there's more of it. Bursting to get out.

Anyone who thinks old Sheldon is emotionless must be more than blind, the word thick comes to mind because I mean geez. How can anyone miss how extreme Sheldon is over everything.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Now I know what a 'TV kiss' is. The actor will position his bottom lip on top of the actresses top lip. (incase ya didn't know), so that there's less lip-to-lip contact. It's not so intimate that way and they can concentrate on the acting.

Now look at this Shamy kiss. He's barely even on her top lip. I know he's tall but there as little lip contact as possible, without it looking like he's kissing her nose. And some people think these two are having a fling in real life!! Funny!

Link to Shamy kiss

[A.D.A.]

That kiss does indeed look very staged. Not that that's necessarily a problem, whatever the actors are comfortable with, but their scenes are already so stiff and awkward.

I just had this horror scenario idea of the show actually going through with Howardette babies and the plot that they teased in the first episode where they were talking about babies, the one with the magic show, where they decided Howard would raise the kids. Can you imagine what this show would do with Howard having to take care of a baby, given how adult they have been about the idea of a woman earning more than her husband? Or the episode where Howard was getting female hormones and started acting like a mutated Bridget Jones? A MAN DOING A WOMAN'S JOB? THAT'S CRAZY, MEN CAN'T USE BABY BOTTLES AND DIAPERS (you know, never mind that even twenty-five years ago when I was born it wasn't really strange that my dad, who was still at university at the time, took care of me more often than my full-time working mum or that several of my friends have an arrangement where dad stays at home because mum happens to earn more money and no one cares because everyone has to pay bills and understands that problem).

[Tuesday Pajamas]

That kiss does indeed look very staged. Not that that's necessarily a problem, whatever the actors are comfortable with, but their scenes are already so stiff and awkward.

I just had this horror scenario idea of the show actually going through with Howardette babies and the plot that they teased in the first episode where they were talking about babies, the one with the magic show, where they decided Howard would raise the kids. Can you imagine what this show would do with Howard having to take care of a baby, given how adult they have been about the idea of a woman earning more than her husband? Or the episode where Howard was getting female hormones and started acting like a mutated Bridget Jones? A MAN DOING A WOMAN'S JOB? THAT'S CRAZY, MEN CAN'T USE BABY BOTTLES AND DIAPERS (you know, never mind that even twenty-five years ago when I was born it wasn't really strange that my dad, who was still at university at the time, took care of me more often than my full-time working mum or that several of my friends have an arrangement where dad stays at home because mum happens to earn more money and no one cares because everyone has to pay bills and understands that problem).

I can see them doing that to Howard and I can see people watching it. It's 30 years out of date! And that's just for starters... It's so insulting and backward. Hoping they don't do this but they seem to have no ideas of their own when it comes to the relationships. We seem to be able to see everything coming.

[Idle Miscreant]

I watched the relevant scenes of this episode, and Jim indeed gave a great performance. It didn't remind me of Sheldon particularly, but it was very interesting and watchable.

Something that did strike me about this particular version of Sheldon (during his Spockumentary scenes) was how alert he seemed. I could certainly believe this chap was a brilliant physicist, unlike the infantile, gormless Boyfriend!Sheldon of Season 8 (and most of Season 9 up till now). Nowhere near as intelligent as the Sheldon of Season 1-3, but sufficiently so that I found him a believable character again.

He seemed like a highly intelligent and quite normal man. Am delighted about the former, but find the latter mildly upsetting...

Why is Sheldon "growing" and becoming normal seen as a good thing? Again, people who think so, evidently didn't like or understand Sheldon in the first place...

And I'm still rather baffled at the notion (as suggested by the show, and as reported in social media) that Sheldon is only NOW displaying emotions...(and because of a woman, and THAT woman, lord help us...)
What, prithee is this then?



Or indeed

Or


Or this?


In that one scene alone, he goes from smug, to concern and empathy, to hurt and bewildered, to RAGE in about 3 minutes...

He has always been the most emotional character of all, save for perhaps Penny. I don't see anything new in this level of emotion. The arctic betrayal nearly destroyed him, Penny's gift overwhelmed him, he cried for a broken killer robot for godsake.

It is worth remembering that Vulcans only used kolinahr and clung to logic BECAUSE of their intense and often unbearable emotions. They were not emotionless, they were simply in control of them. Sheldon has NEVER been in control of his emotions. He flails around all over the emotional shop. How are we supposed to forget this?

It only really supports my theory that the current audience only watches the current episodes. Because otherwise, thinking Sheldon was ever "robotic" is, as PJ said, bordering on idiotic. He had a C-3PO, protocol droid chirpy campness in Season 4, but that's as close as he ever got.