03-01-2014, 07:36 PM
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!
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!