Penny Blossom

[SpaceAnJL]

I miss that happy Penny. She just doesn't smile like that any more. She looked much more relaxed and natural, then.

[FranEssi]

Last season, they gave us an episode where Penny acted on stage and everyone called her remarkable and a star. This season they are writing her failing at acting auditions and being offered roles in cheap porn films and/or commercials. So which is it, Show? Is Penny a good actress or is she not? I personally think they are doing the same thing to Penny's career that they have been doing to Sheldon's. The formula is easy to see:

First, a success or an illusion of success (Sheldon being given the opportunity to go to the Arctic and coming back thinking he has proven String Theory, him doing a national radio interview, doing a joint paper with Kripke, discovering an element etc. - Penny playing a role in a TV series, her quitting waitressing to pursue her acting)

Then, the success gets taken away from them (Sheldon finds out about the guys' prank, he finds out Kripke's work is much more advanced than his, Leonard disproves his element etc. - Penny's part gets cut out of the episode, she fails at new auditions and is offered cheap, porn films and probably finds out that she shouldn't have quit waitressing after all).

And all this leads to a Lenny - and now Shamy - moment where Leonard and Amy get the chance to swoop in and to act as comfort/hero/savior to their (defeated) partners.

I think all these career failures and denying Penny and Sheldon any success and victory is the writers' way of 1) humbling those two 2) creating a "touching moment" for the canon ships and moving the Lenny and the Shamy relationships forward.

But isn't it interesting and sad that for the canon ships to have touching moments and to move forward, Sheldon and Penny have to FAIL?! It's as if the show is saying the only way for Sheldon and Penny to stay with Amy and Leonard is for Sheldon and Penny to become LESS (less happy, less successful, less confident). Hmmm. I wonder why!

[queenoftheDales]

I hate that someone with so much potential to be written into some thing GREAT, gets snubbed out for the sake of writing fodder. Especially such poor writing. Penny could have just as easily been a successful character on this show and still be funny. It is possible to be happy and comedic at the same time. Shit they turned Penny, the terrible singer who got a part for a musical, funny. She was happy and successful and it was FUNNY.

When she had the little successes in her career/school work, she was so bright. Still snarky but not a bitch. Why change that? Leonard could have still got the girl without the writers ruining her.

(I'm watching The Work Song Nanocluster and I laugh every time, even after the millionth time I've seen it. Its still funny. Period)

[SpaceAnJL]

A happy, successful, confident woman would look at the whiny sub-Oedipal mess dragging her down and kick him to the kerb.

Same way as a smart, driven, intelligent man would find his work engaging and fulfilling without needing to be a masturbatory object for a damaged and repulsive person.

They need to be kept broken, in show and out, for the relationships to be halfway credible. Individuals who were healthy, mentally, physically and emotionally, wouldn't put up with the bullshit.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Yes I agree with all the above. Both these canons ships have nothing to justify them, they are built solely on making Sheldon and Penny look as pathetic and needy as possible.

[devilbk]

I think it's because Leonard and now Amy are stand-ins for the writers and Penny and Sheldon symbolize everyone who ever rejected them or was smarter than them. It's turned into a vengeance fantasy.

[FlyingMonkey]

I think it's because Leonard and now Amy are stand-ins for the writers and Penny and Sheldon symbolize everyone who ever rejected them or was smarter than them. It's turned into a vengeance fantasy.

Exactly right.

[Trust No One]

I think it's because Leonard and now Amy are stand-ins for the writers and Penny and Sheldon symbolize everyone who ever rejected them or was smarter than them. It's turned into a vengeance fantasy.

Revenge of the picked on.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

This should probably go in the cast thread but I've put it here because this is the kind of Penny we need... without the special effects.

My first experience of Kaley was as Billie on Charmed. It was a pretty cheesy show about witches that had started well (mindless but entertaining) but really hit a reef. The characters had become too good, sanctimonious and booooooring and then along came Billie. I thought Kaley was a star the first minute I saw her. She was better than any of the other actresses and she kicked everyone's ass. I'm a real sucker for a heroine. When I saw BB, there she was and I knew the show would be a winner.

[SpaceAnJL]

...I have never seen her in that role before. (Only saw very early season of 'Charmed', when Shannon D was in it) How the hell did all that snark and asskicking end up as a dumb slutty drunk with a beige car and a beige douchebag of a boyfriend?