Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Bones and Penny…A Word

My name is Angela and I am really cool with the giant telescope taking up half my living room sweetie, and I am an Anomaly.

So there are spoilers of the girly kind in this post. If you have not seen the latest episodes of Bones, The Big Bang Theory and the Mentalist (or if you just don’t care, which I get) then move along.

First Booth finally reveals his love for Bones and she just plain rejects him outright basically saying that she is not capable of love. Then Grace decides after Rigsby is willing to sacrifice for her that the situation made her realize that she loves her job more than him. And to top it all off Penny leaves Leonard during a bowling battle that not only was mean and horrible, but completely ruined the amazing comedy moment that followed of all the guys in super-heroine costumes....but I digress.

This is a very serious geek topic for all of us regarding why women are incredibly stupid creatures and why they deserve the creeps that they end up with. And how some of our favorite shows and characters are perpetuating this horrible eventuality. Ooh!! I know what a shocking statement. Now I have a degree in drama criticism so you do not have to explain to me that conflict is drama and without it you do not have a show. I also watched Moonlighting and Buffy so you do not have to explain to me why the couple cannot stay together happily if the show is to continue to be good. I accept all of these things.

As I descend into true geekdom, let me tell you how this all should have played out: Booth realizes on his own that Bones is still not ready, maybe something she says regarding a current investigation. Angela tells Bones what a stupid idiot she is for not ever seeing reality and Booth and Bones continue to fight crime together until the very last episode of the series (in 1 year or 5 years) where Bones makes the move and they live happily ever after. – Grace and Rigsby, after the ultimatum decide that they are so much in love that they cannot bear to be apart so they continue to work together and the audience and the new boss constantly wonders are they/aren’t they until the one episode down the road when one is fatally injured, we find out they were all the time and Jayne also knew the whole time. – And Leonard finds a hot geeky girl (maybe a podcaster :) ) who really fits him much better then Penny and in the end Penny serves as “best man” in Leonard’s Star Wars themed wedding dressed as a hot, gender bending Han Solo (Penny as Han Solo, not Leonard). DONE and DONE people. Writers, you can make your checks out to Anomaly Podcast.

I hate that I had to watch some of my favorite female characters in three of my favorite shows (Mentalist being the most recent) just completely ruin their love lives by rejecting “the good guy”. I know I am skirting the fine line for our geeky blog and I am sorry. I thought at first that maybe I was just upset for the individual characters and felt like an over-invested fan. But when I realized that there was a pattern, I felt compelled to mention it.

Why have we turned even the most macho of guys, Seely Booth, into lovesick puppy dogs? Do we hate men that much? And I know that both sexes participate in the writing of these shows. So I really just don’t get it. Heartbreak is no fun and I do not wish anyone to get hurt, but really Jo, when Laurie runs off with your stupid sister Amy don’t come crying to me about how you had to settle for the German professor. END OF LINE!

5 comments:

Jen said...

Sing it Sister Angela! I say this trend in television should be deemed "cliche". We should poo-poo it every time it happens. Can we have something original now?

I really like your proposed endings. We don't need happy endings, but does the chick always have to reject the good guy? Yes, theoretically a show jumps the shark when two characters get together...Keeping them apart is fine, but allow the romantic tension to remain. That's what I loved about the characters of Picard and Crusher, Mulder and Skully and Mal and Inara. PLEEEASSSE, don't give me another: "Starbuck dumps Apolo then pines for him later". Or, by contrast: "Padme Amadala learns that her Jedi boyfriend believes in dictatorships and then later slays a bunch of sand people (men, women and children), but she ultimately decides that he would make an excellent father for her children." Um, yeah...that was a stupid choice for a supposedly "smart woman".

All that being said, I do need to call you on what you wrote in the third paragraph: "This is a very serious geek topic for all of us regarding why women are incredibly stupid creatures and why they deserve the creeps that they end up with". Perhaps that could have been worded: "This is a very serious geek topic for all of us regarding why SOME women in television AND reality seek out the creeps rather than the nice guys."

In reality there are PLENTY of women looking for the good guy (you and I being two of those women who actually found them). But there also those fellow females who dump the "nice guys" for the idiots who treat them like dirt. I don't get why they do that, but whatever. :D

Again, I totally agree that television writers need to be more creative in their solutions for WHY the women in their scripts don't end up with the good guys.

Well done. Thanks for the blog post. Carry on. :

Hawkeyemeds said...

Hello I'm Simon and I'm a man. Yes it's true and being a geek I also fit in the category if being a nice bloke. I also have in my past ( in my college years ) been dumped for a bloke who's a arse. Of course stereotypically the phrase all girls prefere bad boys gets banded around which of course like many stereotypes is not true.
Thankfully I found a lady who carried on seeing me because I was nice to her even though ( to quote ) I own a film collection that rivals blockbusters a comic collection similar to Marvels vault and several model Tardis's on my shelves. My point though is this. Your fustration and anger regarding this kind of story telling is felt on the other side of the gender fence. In fact I get annoyed when they feel the need to give the characters a romantic/love story anyway. Lets face it we all have friends of the opposite sex and stay just friends with them.
Has there been a tv show that has had two friends if the opposite sex stay just as friends?? I'm really trying to think and I can't think of one. Mash maybe but even then Hawk and Hotlips kissed, TNG well Ryker and Troi, VGR Paris & klingy lady.
Great blog post, being honest I can't comment on the actual shows you mentioned because i'vevnot seen them. Although the mention of moonlighting really cheered me up.

kaseycleon said...

Love this blog post. Love it, love it, love it. I actually have to admit that I stopped watching Bones when they began to add the romantic element to it. Same with Fringe. Because I knew exactly where it was going to go--Boreanaz would basically go through his Angel days again, and Bones does not "compute" emotions. Lame. At least with Leonard and Penny I don't have to put the entire blame on Penny... I could blame Evil!Wheaton. But Penny and Leonard both had a lot to do with the downfall of their relationship. Yes, Leonard too. I know, I know, he said he loved her, but he also pressured her to say it and was very passive aggressive, and that's not cool either.

I've been on all sides of the spectrum--I went after the bad boy and was dumped for a "bad girl," and now I'm dating the good guy. I much prefer this latter scenario and I really wish TV would do the same. Sure, dramas are starting to add marriage, but now a lot of those TV marriages are ending in divorce. Yeah, because that's soooo much better and more realistic yet still serves the purpose of ratings. :P

I definitely don't like watching the televised portrayal of relationships and especially women in those relationships. Romantic tension is good, but it doesn't have to be in all TV shows and/or it doesn't have to be "will they/won't they"... all... the frakking... time.... Angela's blog hits all the points that really irk me, so again, I say bravo.

Sue said...

Okay, so I'll admit I don't watch The Mentalist, and I only catch Bones when flipping channels, but I get it your point. And, I agree with Meds. It makes my CRAZY that every story must have a romantic story intertwined - TV, movies, books, theatre... seeing this is media [imho] is the reason so many women feel like they NEED to be in a relationship all the time, or there's something wrong with them. WRONG!

As for Leonard and Penny, I have to say I'm annoyed. Not that it ended, because I expected that to happen. But that it was Penny that broke it off. Penny is not good enough for Leonard. She might be hot, but what else is there, really? Argh. Every notice how the relationship's power always lied with the woman (on tv), and the man just does whatever she says? Bones is uninterested, Penny runs out of the bowling alley (also - Finish the game!), Beverly rejected our dear captain way to many times... Why can't scifi men stand up for themselves? OR, why can't the woman make the first move, and put the ball in HIS court?

~Stephanie said...

As a single geeky girl who's dated the bad boy and dumped him... I'm sick of the "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" cliche in all the TV drama. Maybe that's why I dumped my TV for my computer?... hmmm

Bad boys are bad. Nice guys are shy, or married. I've also had my fair share of boys see my light saber, broad sword, and costume closet with a worried raised eye-brow... all I can think to say is, "Yes, I like many different kinds of geek and want to share that with an intelligent, active, man but I'm not trying to put you in a pair of tights for the renaissance festival, I promise!"

Keep it coming ladies. I love the laughs and the deep thoughts! :)

You're ever faithful mascot!