teh-den said:
Y’know, despite last night’s episode of The Big Bang Theory (The Launch Acceleration), I will always ship Sheldon Cooper and Penny.
Yes, I know Lenny and Shamy are canon, but it feels like (for me anyway) that the writers are telling us that they’re supposed to be together rather than showing us.
That’s what I love about Shenny. Their dynamic is so electric and easy. They never really said anything about their feelings for one another but deep down I feel like they really care about each other. I also feel like it was never actually to get something in return.
Let’s take a look at what the deal is with the spaghetti.
- The Launch Acceleration - Sheldon arrives at Amy’s apartment in order to have their scheduled “date night.” When he arrived, Amy announced that she was conducting an experiment. She was going to make Sheldon increase his feelings for her. After he offered a different option for something else he’s rather do, he finally had a lovely dinner with Amy. However, Amy didn’t cook to make him happy, she did it so he would like her.
In my opinion, Sheldon and Amy make great friends, but they both are looking for and want different things out of their relationship. They also don’t really see their relationship in the same light. After Amy’s blatant statement of doing everything to make Sheldon like her, I just couldn’t take his confessions of his feelings for her seriously. Like their relationship, it felt too forced. I see Sheldon’s feelings as a result of deliberate manipulation by another party rather than coming from his heart.
- The Spaghetti Catalyst - After Penny and Leonard break up, Sheldon is unsure of what is between Penny and himself. They see each other at the mail boxes and it’s clear that they both want to be friends. Then, Sheldon sees the spaghetti sauce and explains to Penny that his mom uses that sauce. Penny suggests that they should have dinner together and Sheldon immediately accepts, despite that he’s supposed to have Chinese food that night. In fact, Sheldon went through great lengths to have dinner with Penny (i.e. lying to his friends, eating before meeting up with Penny and getting chased by a “hell hound”). Additionally, Penny cooked him spaghetti just because he asked.
Admittedly, the first time Sheldon and Penny have dinner by themselves at her place (“The Vegas Renormalization”), Sheldon was less than grateful and put up with Penny’s presence rather then sought it out. However, even then, by the end of the episode you were able to catch glimpses into how fond they are of each other. For me, a big factor in this is that Sheldon went over to Penny’s for dinner spontaneously. Sheldon just doesn’t do that for anyone. So in “The Spaghetti Catalyst,” the make a huge leap into actually wanting to spend time together. Again, they didn’t say those exact words, but you could see it.
I can’t even begin to say how much I dislike Lenny and this episode just affirms it. I just don’t understand how they work together in a relationship.
I know that I’ve said that what I like about Shenny is that they show but don’t necessarily tell their feelings. So that’s partially why I don’t like Lenny. Half of the time it feels forced and/or it comes out of nowhere. In addition, they know that most of the time they know that they don’t work. I just prefer them as friends. I thought they were really cute in “The Bath Gift-Item Hypothesis” when Penny gave him that gift certificate for motorcycle lessons. However, I just don’t like them as a couple.
- Leonard: I don’t want to get back together with Penny. We tried it, it was crazy, it didn’t work… (The Skank Reflex Analysis)
- Penny: See, this is where everything goes wrong, when we talk. (The Recombination Hypothesis) (Admittedly, this was all Leonard’s daydream.)
- Let’s face it, The Recombination Hypothesis was basically an episode in which Lenny knows that their relationship didn’t work well because some very fundamental issues like talking to each other and covering up their problems with sex. But despite all of that, they still got back together and they’re still dating.
- In this last episode, “The Launch Acceleration,” after they agreed that they were still going slow, but Penny just wanted to speed things up a bit, Leonard proposes to her during sex. He also tried to make light of the situation afterwards when he clearly and knowingly crossed some line with Penny.
- This is very reminiscent of the premature “I love you” from Leonard in “The Wheaton Recurrence.” Leonard always wants more from the relationship than what Penny is willing to give most of the time.
I just feel like the relationship issues with Shamy and Lenny are treated similarly. One partner is usually pushing the other one out of his or her comfort zone for their own wants and desires (usually Amy to Sheldon and Leonard to Penny). What I like about Shenny is that they also push each other, but it’s reciprocated in order to try to make the other grow as a person. At least, I believe that Shenny has greater potential for that than Shamy and Lenny. Wouldn’t that be more interesting to write or watch?
I also believe it would be more interesting to see why Penny and Sheldon would actually want to be together because it’s so obvious with the other couples.
Amy wants Sheldon because he’s the first real guy who’s ever liked her. Sheldon wants Amy because he thinks she’s the only person who is almost as smart as he is.
Leonard wants Penny because she’s the hot blonde that all the guys want. Penny wants Leonard because he’s not like any of the other guys she’s dated.
Wouldn’t be interesting to see what Sheldon and Penny, two very different but in some ways very similar characters, see in each other that makes them keep each other in their lives? I think it would be. Since, the differences between the two are obvious, I would like to highlight some similarities.
They both
- grew up in Southern households
- don’t back down from fights
- left home at a fairly early age to go after their dreams
- are very passionate people
- know how to deal with each other i.e. make each other happy without taking the other’s bs
In conclusion, (I honestly did not mean for this post to get so long) no matter what happens on the actual show, I will always root for Shenny.
P.S. I’m not trying to start any ship wars or whatever. I just wanted to get my Shenny feels out there and I don’t mean to offend Shamy and/or Lenny shippers. If I do, I apologize and I hope my analysis shows you that I have taken each pairing into consideration and I just prefer Shenny by a vast amount.
THIS.POST.IS.PERFECT. thank youuu !! I don’t know what else I can add to this perfection, you made great parallels and you analyzed them perfectly. (yeah, I know, key word here is “perfection” xD) Everyone (and I mean even the shamy and lenny shippers) should read your post.
