02-05-2015, 02:14 PM
This is how I, personally, think the "Raj's muteness" thing should have been handled:
Like I've said before, if this show had ended after just two or three seasons (with the original format and original cast intact), then I'd be in favor of absolutely nothing changing. If it continued beyond that, (again, without losing the original characterizations/style/format), I think Raj could've made some small degree of progress towards being able to talk to girls, but I still wouldn't do away with the mutism entirely, because I think it *is* a funny and endearing thing with loads of possibilities. Having him be "cured" overnight, all of a sudden, because of some vague emotional crisis, is not the way to do it.
By the time of a hypothetical 5th or 6th year, (bearing little or no resemblance to the S5 and S6 we have now), I think it would be very reasonable if Raj was able to talk to Penny and other people that he already knows and trusts, but still not able to talk to strangers, for example. That's the best of both worlds. Or, he might've progressed to the point where he can talk to women over the phone but not in person, for example. This way, the show would have lots of flexibility about how and when to use or not use that joke, depending on the situation. I'm surprised there was never an ep where Raj is somehow trapped in an all-female environment and has to figure out how to navigate that situation. (Poor guy! It would be funny and interesting, though.) Like, say, he's going to deliver a lecture at a college, but doesn't realize until he gets there, that it's an all-women's college.
Or, as I said in another post, they could just sort of gloss-over that issue and give him fewer scenes with women, if people were getting tired of that joke. Really, if viewers were tired of certain aspects of this show (which they weren't), there are extremely simple and easy ways to deal with that, without all the character assassination and upheaval and retooling. If Mute Raj & Flirty Howard was getting stale (which it wasn't), then how about giving them something else to do, like...I dunno...SCIENCE??
Like I've said before, if this show had ended after just two or three seasons (with the original format and original cast intact), then I'd be in favor of absolutely nothing changing. If it continued beyond that, (again, without losing the original characterizations/style/format), I think Raj could've made some small degree of progress towards being able to talk to girls, but I still wouldn't do away with the mutism entirely, because I think it *is* a funny and endearing thing with loads of possibilities. Having him be "cured" overnight, all of a sudden, because of some vague emotional crisis, is not the way to do it.
By the time of a hypothetical 5th or 6th year, (bearing little or no resemblance to the S5 and S6 we have now), I think it would be very reasonable if Raj was able to talk to Penny and other people that he already knows and trusts, but still not able to talk to strangers, for example. That's the best of both worlds. Or, he might've progressed to the point where he can talk to women over the phone but not in person, for example. This way, the show would have lots of flexibility about how and when to use or not use that joke, depending on the situation. I'm surprised there was never an ep where Raj is somehow trapped in an all-female environment and has to figure out how to navigate that situation. (Poor guy! It would be funny and interesting, though.) Like, say, he's going to deliver a lecture at a college, but doesn't realize until he gets there, that it's an all-women's college.
Or, as I said in another post, they could just sort of gloss-over that issue and give him fewer scenes with women, if people were getting tired of that joke. Really, if viewers were tired of certain aspects of this show (which they weren't), there are extremely simple and easy ways to deal with that, without all the character assassination and upheaval and retooling. If Mute Raj & Flirty Howard was getting stale (which it wasn't), then how about giving them something else to do, like...I dunno...SCIENCE??