Hate Lenny?

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Let me kick this off with something I found which I think sums up why I became a Shenny shipper and never even considered Lenny.


Bad Behavior is OK, If Leonard Does It.
- By Rachael Lefler.

"Oh, Leonard. I wanted to be able to like you, I really did. I mean, you are the obvious hero of the show, right? Destined to get into Penny's panties instead of anyone else, because you're the main character. Always right in an argument, even when you shouldn't be, because you're the main character.

Hey, I get it. I've tolerated lots of douche-ish behavior from main characters before. Harry Potter's father, James, was a bully. In My Little Pony, Twilight Sparkle sometimes seems paranoid, alarmist, and obsessive, and would be so if the plot didn't usually prove to the audience that her hunches were right (like when she accused Cadence of being evil, for example). But when Leonard can get away with things like lying to a long-time friend about Penny just to sabotage the friend's chances with her, or, idk, jeopardizing another long-time friend's entire research career just because you found him a little annoying as a traveling companion? That's a little harder to swallow. I also hate how Leonard is the designated love interest for Penny, when she has greater chemistry with Sheldon, and seems to understand him better than, and have more patience in dealing with him, than anyone else does.

Furthermore, Leonard's personality is not that good. He's whiny, and always focused on himself, even when his friends are having real problems and his are relatively minor. He also whines way, way too much about not getting laid. He also admits in one episode that his entire relationship with Penny was at one time all founded on lie after lie after lie; he admitted to pretending to like things she liked to do, and generally enjoy her company, solely as a deception to get in her cooch. I feel that a relationship should be based on honest communication and a real understanding of each other as well as a real mutuality of beliefs, values, and interests. Even if you don't like the same things as your significant other, you still owe them to be honest about it. For example, I never give my boyfriend the impression that I like baseball, and he never pretended to like anime. Why should the audience of the show be sold on one hand the idea that the Penny/Leonard ship is seaworthy, even romantic or cute, and on the other hand be told that the times they were together almost everything Leonard said to her was a lie so he could have sex with her? I mean, if all that matters to Leonard is sex, why doesn't he just rent it."

[Nostalgia]

THIS. So this. I mean, my god. The very fact that he admits in canon, in front of the AUDIENCE and several others that his whole relationship with Penny was built on a house of lies, you would think that people wouldn't like Lenny. But NOOOOOOOOO. Somehow, that very fact escapes every Lenny shipper out there. And when it's brought up, it's waved away, /somehow/. Would you, as a real person/individual, like the fact that someone lied to you about dang near EVERYTHING just to get at whatever's in your pants??? I think not. Relationships need trust and honesty to work or else they crash and burn horribly. Yet due to contrivance by the producers and writers, Lenny manages to survive all freakin' 12 seasons(And we might've had a 13th hadn't Jim finally said "no"). I'm pretty sure if this was an actual real life relationship, Penny would've dumped his butt within the first week of them getting together, if not the first time they had sex(I mean, consider the disparaging remarks she made in the later seasons about his sexual prowess) or the first DAY.

Then there's the fact that he's such a whiny little &%$#@, that everything has to be about him and if it isn't, he'll quickly find a way to make it about him. Heck, he even uses his mommy issues and psychological tricks he picked up from his mother and therapy to trick Penny into sex at one point! Anything and everything is fair game for him in the pursuit of Penny's V. And this guy is "friends" with who exactly? Oh, only a foreigner with selective mutism towards girls yet still desperate for sex, a guy who's just as desperate for V as him but somehow dressed /worse/, and an asexual who's not interested in sex. That basically screams to me that he looked for guys who were just as desperate as himself but worse, to look better and be seen as the 'head' of a group(Even though we all know that's Sheldon). Sheldon being an asexual was just icing on the cake(The actual cake being the apartment), since even though Sheldon is better looking and more interesting to girls, Sheldon isn't interested and as such, no hurdle in his quest for sex.

And then... Then there's the Arctic experiment. Oh boy. This guy has lived with Sheldon for how long again??? And yet it takes only about, what was it, 3 months before he snaps and gets Howard to fake the results? How exactly did he know the electric can opener would work anyways(I confess, if it was explained in the show, I have forgotten)? And that particular can opener too? And then there's the fact that no consequences fell on any of the 3's heads because the writer's made Sheldon fall on his sword and then leave for freaking Texas after he had contacted everyone at Caltech and then finds out the experiment results were faked and his experiment messed up due to forcibly introduced outside factors. That's tampering with another scientist's work, which I imagine, would basically lead to excommunication either by the faculty or by public opinion. Had Sheldon even brought up the fact that they admitted such to his face to his boss, those 3 would've been screwed six ways to Sunday. To make things /worse/, in a later season, it turns out Raj doesn't even have a green card without his work in the US, so Sheldon gives him a job to help him stay in the country even though Raj had screwed him over! And Raj basically thanks him for a minute, then continues to be a jerk in season after season after that.

Plus, there's the North Sea Expedition. Stephen Hawking apparently hires Leonard for it and he hooks up with a girl on the ship even though he's in a relationship with Penny. But hey, he's a sailor now, so a girl in every port, right?! And later on, after they're married when they go to a convention for Penny to sign Serial Ape-ist pictures, he tells a bunch of nerds how he "scored with the hot actress/girl over there" and that they wound up getting married and everything. Even tells them how to manage it themselves. Like, what the heck?! Not cool, man! Plus, we don't need /more/ Leonards in the world! And then there's the fact that he goes after Raj's sister and scores, Leslie and scores, that doctor chick that Howard had a date with and scored with instead, etc... and yet he always messes it up and runs back to Penny and the writers force Penny to take him back ANYWAY.

Leonard is everything wrong with that relationship, is actively detrimental to Penny, and the Lenny ship only lasted this long with all the holes in it due to the writers and producers forcibly shoving it along. How fans actively bought this for 12 seasons, it still boggles the mind.

[Ratman77]

Although I repeat myself here, I must use the opportunity to explain why I detest this "Lenny"-relationship.


As mentioned, Penny shares Sheldon's fate regarding the long-term disassembly of her character. At the beginning she appeared as an independent and cheerful girl with goals and dreams for her life,was  just nice and cute, and above all, as a one. with honor and morality.
The facts that she threw the i-phone of her lover, because he had published intimate things, out the window and that she gave Underhill a kick , because he made her an advances, even though he was married, showed her as a girl who valued honesty and loyalty in a potential partnership.

Because of this simple things the coming-together with Leonard was already a problem at the root. Leonard was/is a liar, cheater and saboteur. So it was from the beginning an illogical, unralistic affair that she chose for him, because it completely contradicted their originally introduced character. Okay, the writers would probably bring the message "where love falls down", but there must be certain prerequisites for that, which was simply not the case with Leonard.

(In addition, Leonard - at least for me - appeared from the beginning as unsympathetic. At the pilot his reaction in the background when Sheldon Penny explaned his place showed that he thought Sheldon was embarrassing,....although Sheldon owned Penny's full attention.)

The writers realized this and tried to correct this with rewrite-maneuvers, which only did more damage. Some of the members mentioned it, that they wrote, (since season four, I believe) this lines which implied that Penny had already "laid out" the boy-friends of other girls. That should only have one sense: To let Leonard's mistakes apearred as not serious/heavier anymore.

According to the motto "they fit together becaus she isn't so clean either."

But they destroyed with it Penny's character, made it implausible-as to her first appearance- and as if that had not been bad enough, they let Penny mutaten in Leonard's presence, into a mindless toad.

There were this scenes (shame on my head, I didn't remember the titles): The one where they had a dispute and Leonard was, in front of her door, on his knees with a guitar, sang an idiotic line, and she went weak. The second where they were at a restaurant, where also one of Pennys ex-boyfriends was present, they became a dispute again, which continuied at Pennys apartment, Leonard  pretended to leave, turned around again, gave a narcissistic quote and Penny went with fateful face with him into the bedroom. Really, I hate this scenes, because they showed her as a brainless doll with only serfdom and no mind.

At the end she became Leonards wify with no own goals for her life.

The "Lenny" is a patchwork, an unrealistic, stubborn and forced thing, with no respect, tension  and attraction that only exists because the authors did not recognize the potential of  the"Shenny", or were just too lazy to put it dramaturgically into action.

Point.

[CTR69]

There's a reason why Kaley and JG broke up. From this point alone, they're fooling nobody as a married couple. Leonard should stay with Leslie, JG and Sarah fit together much better.
 
Lenny is just a plot armor. An arranged marriage, where the bride has to marry her captor, because the geek writers always wanted to marry the prom queen cheerleader.
A revenge fantasy power trip, both of the ships.

I can't tell what fires me up more, the love for Shenny or the despise of the fake canon couples. How do so many people fall for them, I'll never understand.

And don't get me started on some of the fanatic shippers they have, jeez. PJ gave perfect examples: https://shennyhq.co.uk/dir/showthread.ph...9#pid19139 
I'd screencap that and tag #Unhinged #WalkAway, let them have it. There's so much more hateful posts around, I'd be ashamed if I shipped them canon. Shenny fanfiction is brilliant and professional, there's no reason to receive such hatred, which the usual canon fans aren't even aware of.

So it's really a combination of these things, that amplifies the love and dislike. I wouldn't say hate, cos I don't care that much and the canon couples narrative falls apart very quickly. You don't have to go all crazy to prove your point, like the canon fans do.

[Nostalgia]

Honestly, if there was no Shenny possibility in canon(ignoring the whole forced "We're just brother and sister" bullshit), I'd have /vastly/ preferred she'd stay with Zack. Sure, he's not the brightest guy around and doesn't get "nerd culture" or any of the things the boys like... But he's very nice, pulled off that superman costume excellently, managed to get married to Penny(even if only by accident) without the whole whiny shtick that Leonard pulled(among the various other bullshit that he pulled and the producers/writers glossed over), seems to have a genuine interest in science even if he's not smart enough to understand the higher/highest levels of it(Now imagine the enthusiasm used elsewhere... /smirk), has a position as a VP from the company that makes the Cheesecake Factory's menus, got along with /Stuart/, etc...

While not smart, a scientist, or the supposed protag(Leonard(We all know that's Sheldon here people!)), he's a /much/ better pick or relationship partner than Leonard will ever be.

[CTR69]

Lenny makes no sense:

https://screenrant.com/big-bang-theory-l...-no-sense/

[Nostalgia]

Lenny makes no sense:

https://screenrant.com/big-bang-theory-l...-no-sense/

I clicked on that link expecting it to be one of those "Here's 10 things wrong/we don't like about Lenny...and 10 things right/we like about Lenny". To my surprise, it actually was all about Lenny making no sense! Nice to see there's some people in the media that actually notice such things, even if this seems more a clickbait-ish article than one most people would actually read. Though I do wonder how many Lenny fans would read this and then send death-threats to the author(Probably be A LOT).

[Tuesday Pajamas]

A great link, and here's the full list.

Some of the highlights for me...


20 LEONARD DOESN’T KNOW PENNY'S LAST NAME

19 PENNY DID NOT CARE THAT HE CHEATED ON HER - Big red flag for me

18 LEONARD HAS TIPPED HER A LOT

17 SHE MISSED ONE OF HIS MARRIAGE PROPOSALS

16 PENNY DID NOT PREPARE VOWS FOR THEIR WEDDING

15 LEONARD CALLED HER STUPID

This is just dreadful and I went off him big time!

"If there is one major difference between Penny and Leonard, it is there interest in academics. Leonard is a published theoretical physicist, while Penny is anything but. Intelligence is certainly not the most important thing in the world - life is more about impacting others positively. In this situation, Leonard does anything but.
The couple's first breakup stemmed from Penny not feeling adequate enough due to Leonard's education. Instead of comforting her and ensuring she knew that it did not matter to him, he brought her a brochure for a city college. To top things off, he also belittled the school and called her unintelligent. Naturally, Penny was very hurt and they ended their relationship. Leonard will not be winning any awards for his awareness of other's feelings, but this was a new low for him."

14 SHE HAS EX-BOYFRIENDS STAY AT HER APARTMENT - but she didn't think it was a problem because she completely trustworthy. He did, because he is not!

13 HE DID NOT BELIEVE IN HER ACTING CAREER - just awful

12 “BUG REPORTS” ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP

"Most couples in the world have their share of relationship issues. However, not each one treats the relationship like a computer program. Upon reigniting their relationship in season five, Leonard and Penny are concerned with how they will deal with the problems that plagued them previously. In order to ensure that these problems do not continue, they agree to provide each other "bug reports" of their relationship.

The reports consist of things that they would like the other to stop doing in order for them both to be happy.

It turns out to be a very big mistake. The reports end up hurting both of their feelings, and wind up being an excuse to just insult each other. Their intentions may have been in the right place, but the execution of the idea was not well done."

11 LEONARD CONSOLES HER DURING BREAK-UPS

10 IT TOOK PENNY SIX SEASONS TO SAY “I LOVE YOU” - because she doesn't!!

9 SHE WAS ALREADY MARRIED TO ZACK

8 SHE IS HIDING CREDIT CARD DEBT

7 THEY MADE A RELATIONSHIP AGREEMENT

"After years of making fun of Sheldon's ways, Leonard decided to take a page out of his wacky book." This does seem weird.

6 PENNY HAS A LOT MORE “EXPERIENCE” THAN LEONARD

5 SHE WAS A BULLY IN HIGH SCHOOL - a total bitch way to try and bring her down by the writers GRRRR!

"Throughout the series, it is revealed that each of the men had a difficult time growing up in school. In a world where noogies and wedgies became a part of their daily routine, they each likely have very upsetting memories of school. This is why it is so surprising that Leonard would marry someone who used to be a bully.

While reminiscing about their time in school, Penny comes to the realization that she would have been considered a bully in school. In doing what she considered "pranking" other girls, it was actually bullying them. The real question is - how can Leonard be comfortable being married to someone who bullied others? Penny may be much more relaxed these days, but Leonard has not gotten over what happened to him in school."

4 PENNY BEAT LEONARD AT CHESS

3 THEY ARE DIVIDED ON HAVING CHILDREN

2 LEONARD’S MOTHER DISLIKED PENNY

1 HER OLD BOYFRIEND BEAT UP LEONARD AND SHELDON - not my number 1

[CTR69]

Now, can anyone come up with 20 things why they should be together? It's so easy to do it for Shenny, but there is nothing to bite into, when in comes to Lenny.

There's much more things that tell the opposite, how this is a failed relationship, held together only by a plot.