It's a sitcom; why are you making me think?
So, I've gotten into the Big Bang Theory in a big way recently, and watched the season finale on Monday. I expected to be amused and enthusiastic, but I was actually kinda down. This was partly because since I've been watching the episodes in big clumps since I downloaded Season 1 about a month ago, and now I'm going to have to wait five months for the story to move forward. It's also partly because it ended on a down note, at least for Leonard and Penny, who go a fair way to fuck up their already broken relationship (apparently) beyond repair.
But mostly it's because of the way Penny and Leonard ruin their relationship: Leonard invites Penny to watch them shoot a laser beam off the moon, and Penny says no, because she's with a guy, but the guy wants to see it, so they do go. And the guy reveals that he is only barely intelligent enough to breathe. After their disaster of a date, a drunken Penny comes back and accuses Leonard of ruining her for regular guys before insisting he have sex with her. The next morning, she sneaks out and when confronted tells Leonard it was a mistake. The rest of the A plot consists of Leonard failing to cope with the consequences. (The B plot, on the other hand, was brilliant.)
So it's pretty clear from context that what Penny did to Leonard, using him as a sop and then washing his hands of him, was unfair. And I agree that it was unfair. But the episode didn't seem to deal with the fact that what Leonard did to Penny was likely even more unfair. Even though she initiated sex, she was drunk and he was sober, so it's fair to say that he took advantage of her in a far more blatant way, when the right thing to do would be to put her to bed and talk in the morning (which he did in a similar situation in Season 1).
Now Leonard's failing in this situation can be put down at least in part to his near crippling lack of self-esteem compounded by the fact that he and Penny had recently broken up. But his decision to act "the same way Penny did" kind of undercuts that argument. I'm not sure if it's a mitigating or worsening factor that when he tries to demand his way into Penny's bed (and that of Leslie Winkle, his on-again, off-again sex interest from Season One), he fails ridiculously, and complains that "there's a bit of a double standard here."
So what's underlying this episode? Is it simple misogyny? Or is there a deeper issue within the characters? In a way, Leonard letting Penny drag him off to bed is just cliche male behavior: Dude, this hottie wants to have sex with me! Who am I to say no. It would certainly fit in on Chuck Lorre's other show, Two and a Half Men. But it also betokens a serious lack of self-respect on both their parts. The difference is that Penny rediscovers her self-respect pretty quickly: in this one area, she's got a good sense of who she is. Leonard doesn't; he continues to be pathetic for the rest of the episode. And that's where the season leaves us: with Leonard at his most pathetic and unsympathetic, completely unaware that he's treated Penny worse than she's treated him.
I'm sure that in Season Four, Penny and Leonard will dance around each other and eventually get back together, probably without resolving the issues raised in the Season Three finale.
And whatever happens, I hope they bring Wil Wheaton back.
But mostly it's because of the way Penny and Leonard ruin their relationship: Leonard invites Penny to watch them shoot a laser beam off the moon, and Penny says no, because she's with a guy, but the guy wants to see it, so they do go. And the guy reveals that he is only barely intelligent enough to breathe. After their disaster of a date, a drunken Penny comes back and accuses Leonard of ruining her for regular guys before insisting he have sex with her. The next morning, she sneaks out and when confronted tells Leonard it was a mistake. The rest of the A plot consists of Leonard failing to cope with the consequences. (The B plot, on the other hand, was brilliant.)
So it's pretty clear from context that what Penny did to Leonard, using him as a sop and then washing his hands of him, was unfair. And I agree that it was unfair. But the episode didn't seem to deal with the fact that what Leonard did to Penny was likely even more unfair. Even though she initiated sex, she was drunk and he was sober, so it's fair to say that he took advantage of her in a far more blatant way, when the right thing to do would be to put her to bed and talk in the morning (which he did in a similar situation in Season 1).
Now Leonard's failing in this situation can be put down at least in part to his near crippling lack of self-esteem compounded by the fact that he and Penny had recently broken up. But his decision to act "the same way Penny did" kind of undercuts that argument. I'm not sure if it's a mitigating or worsening factor that when he tries to demand his way into Penny's bed (and that of Leslie Winkle, his on-again, off-again sex interest from Season One), he fails ridiculously, and complains that "there's a bit of a double standard here."
So what's underlying this episode? Is it simple misogyny? Or is there a deeper issue within the characters? In a way, Leonard letting Penny drag him off to bed is just cliche male behavior: Dude, this hottie wants to have sex with me! Who am I to say no. It would certainly fit in on Chuck Lorre's other show, Two and a Half Men. But it also betokens a serious lack of self-respect on both their parts. The difference is that Penny rediscovers her self-respect pretty quickly: in this one area, she's got a good sense of who she is. Leonard doesn't; he continues to be pathetic for the rest of the episode. And that's where the season leaves us: with Leonard at his most pathetic and unsympathetic, completely unaware that he's treated Penny worse than she's treated him.
I'm sure that in Season Four, Penny and Leonard will dance around each other and eventually get back together, probably without resolving the issues raised in the Season Three finale.
And whatever happens, I hope they bring Wil Wheaton back.