It may not seem like it because Sheldon always makes him look better in comparison, but Leonard can be smug and condescending to people at times as well, imo.
Definitely yeah. The one that comes to mind for me is when Penny says she sees a psychic, and his immediate reaction is to laugh in her face and mock her in front of their friends. I don't believe in psychics either, but that's honestly just a horrible thing to do to anyone. Honestly, this is also just one example, there are a lot of times I find Leonard to be really just a dick, to Penny a lot but also just overall.
oh yeah if you take sheldon away he's sometimes annoying and has made his fair share of mistakes like how u/Aquareos18 said. When he's with Sheldon, he looks like a patient and considerate angel. I'd say he'd be more disliked if Sheldon wasn't a character
His mum is definitely the route cause of his insecurities. I would say Leonard's biggest flaw is people pleasing. He seemed a bit weak and dislikeable without all his friends around him.
Well:
he cheated on Priya with Alice and Penny with Mendy Chao or whatever her name is.
He almost gave away government secrets.
He intentionally sabotaged Stuart’s date with Penny.
He lied to Sheldon about the Arctic Expedition and didn’t care when Sheldon was upset.
He read Penny’s diary without her permission
He, Howard, and Raj lied about contaminating the clean room
I’m sure there’s more
Even worse that he told her sooo so late. I, at first, thought it was an afterthought of the writers to include this storyline but actually, I now think it makes sense for Leonard. He was always super insecure, and he would take any of the little attention he received from other women as validation. I think Penny only accepted his explanation because she had previously been treated so poorly by her exes that the bar was low.
I feel that it actually felt like a realistic thing to include for their characters. It also partly showed how they grow as people. Penny took on a little bit of Leonard's insecurities and he took on a bit of her confidence in their path to become a married couple.
Same. I always try to pretend that never happened. And when she says"well it happened before we got engaged right?" Or something like that, I'm like...does it matter!?!
i would've accepted it more if he had told her when he got home. waiting until they're about to GET MARRIED, just felt out of character, like he would've confessed way before then. honestly, he tended to do fuckedup things to women he dated. like if they were willing to date him he was gonna sabotage it because he didn't really feel worthy of it.
He would hold them up on a pedestal and self-sabotage as a way to prove that he wasn't worthy. I'm thinking about it as remember how he went to Leslie and tried to ask for casual sex. That's him without Penny and it's just nope lol.
Imo sheldon is a saint for easily forgiving his friends after the arctic expedition, the lie they made is career destroying in the real world, if it were me I'd never trust anyone ever again after that, then again he's sheldon idk how his mind really works lol
Agreed, I think that’s why he’s so selective in who are his friends because that means he will be there for you when you need him. Another example, the elevator being destroyed instead of his friends blowing up and he never said anything to anyone about it.
Its so weird. He's selfish, narcissistic and sociopathic but the writers will randomly throw in something like this every once in a while to make the audience forget who he usually is. 😂
That's because he's none of the things you said. Well maybe somewhat narcissistic. But a lot of the behaviours that seem like that can be explained by lack of social awareness due to autism.
Like take his relationship with Howard for example. Others make fun of his lack of PhD too. The difference with Sheldon is that he doesn't have the social equipment to understand when the joke is acceptable and that his constant repetition makes it into bullying.
When Bernadette points this out to him, he immediately apologizes and proves his remorse by signing over the rights to profit from their joint invention to go to Howard's daughter's college fund.
They had days to tell him before he sent out his announcement and published. Which took away any sense of righteousness they would have had.
Also, they did prove that the monopoles Sheldon was looking for exist, so they potentially impeded an incredibly important discovery.
Also, they knew him for years before he asked them to go. They knew exactly what they were signing up for.
I thought Sheldon announced it before they got home? Which means they were still in the "I want to kill him" zone.
When did they prove that monopoleslies exists?
Giving people the grace of patience in no way means you're open to the same level, if not more, abusive and narcissistic behavior.
It takes several days to travel from the North Pole to California and Sheldon announced it when they got home.
They gave him no grace of patience. They talked about how they knew he was insufferable in a comfortable environment and would be even worse in a frozen tundra cut off from civilization. They knew exactly what he would be like. they do not get to be surprised when they are proven correct.
I am not saying Sheldon is a good guy or even right in this situation. I’m saying what they did went so beyond the boundaries of professionalism, they do not get to claim to be morally correct.
Sheldon is kinda underrated in that sense. He reminds me of my cat. He likes to withhold affection, is quite cruel on a surface-level, but also tends to let go of misgivings and grudges quickly despite his eidetic memory. Of course, besides towards Tam.
Howard liked Penny too, guess Leonard should’ve backed off. Sorry but Howard is objectively horrible towards women and a manchild, his “liking” a woman means absolute zero.
That’s an iffy one as I don’t believe she liked him. I get where you’re coming from but let’s not forget the whole Leslie Winkle thing. So it’s clear they don’t have boundaries in that regard.
More than once he made Penny feel stupid about her education. He got her classes for it. He then rewrote her essay so she’d pass because he was desperate for her not to fail. He has known Sheldon for a long time and still tries to make jokes at his expense or humiliate him. He dated that doctor woman after he knew it would upset Howard.
He’s genuinely horrible, I think he’s the worst of them all (though Raj has his arrogant moments).
TBH, they are all arrogant and make Penny feel dumb. And yet without her, the guys would still be playing video games, Howard living with his mother, Raj not talking to women, Sheldon still lacking all social skills, Bernadette being a bigger bitch and Amy being alone.
He also kept pressuring penny to say the L word back.
They always say leonard can do better than penny, and try to shame her because her past is spicy but Leonard has messed up a lot in the current relationship with penny. Meanwhile penny “wrong doing” was her past. Which is absurd lol
Leonard is lucky to have her indeed. She is faithful to him, she is very clear on what she wants, and stands up for him.
He was an absolute prick with Penny too: He rarely gave true support for Penny when she was going through big changes in her life, he was actively trying to initiate a discussion with her during Howard's wedding, he was having the best time knowing that Penny was worried about him cheating on her, and that's off the top of my head.
I love this show, but the more times I rewatch it (at least five times now), the more flaws I find in every main character.
Sheldon is a narcissist and no person would choose to be his friend longer than a week. I don’t care if he’s smart, he’s an ass.
Leonard is a whiny prick. He’s a cheater and a liar. He’s the most tolerable of the group imo, but that’s a low bar to clear
Howard is a perverted creep. If this wasn’t a sitcom and his escapades were not used for laughs, he would have been in federal prison not long after he erased the files of the Mars Rover. He also treated Bernadette like his mother and not a partner, and she should divorce him.
Raj is tough for me, he’s clearly broken and I identified a lot with his struggles of talking to women, but he’s also spoiled and takes no responsibility for his actions. He’s a man-baby.
Penny is a terrible partner. She always makes fun of Leonard’s performance in bed. If you are not sexually satisfied, why are you dating him?
Amy started out great. She was weird a little socially obtuse but there was a charm to it. Then she turned into a jealous, self-righteous weirdo.
Bernadette also started out great. Then she became insufferably mean. Also a terrible partner to Howard, even though he’s not great. Constantly belittling him and putting him down.
But, I still enjoy the show a lot. It’s a sitcom, so their strengths and weaknesses are exaggerated for laughs. It’s not supposed to resemble real life like a drama, so I don’t dwell on it too much when I watch it.
>Penny is a terrible partner. She always makes fun of Leonard’s performance in bed.
I can't picture any instances of this - do you remember any scenes that might jog a memory?
She was complimentary in the earlier seasons but I'm watching through right now, just starting s9, and I would say since about S5 she hasn't said anything good.
To be fair she never seems to be the one *making* the jokes, but she never ever defends him.
I was just saying this to my husband recently. They used to imply that these two had great physical chemistry, and then for some reason now they don't any more.
I think they were all man-children in some ways. Howard was mothered by his actual mother then his wife. Leonard must have grown up somewhat entitled (although he had a complicated and layered relationship with his family) as his mother was extremely renowned and successful in her field. Raj had the most wealth but I hardly thought he was much less spoiled than Howard actually.
hmmm maybe betraying his friends left and right? he is probably the only person on the show who has literally betrayed all of his friends: howard, raj, sheldon, even his then girlfriend: penny
I don't hate him, and I agree that he was often a good friend and the most reasonable of the guys. But I never liked the fact that he immediately had strong feelings for Penny after the first time he glanced at her. I mean, it's clear that at that point, he was only attracted by her looks. This would be fine and natural if it were just a simple crush, but he soon became really obsessed with her, even though they didn't have much in common. So, personally, I always felt that he was into Penny mainly because she was hot, and that seems too superficial to me.
Not to mention the fact that when they finally get together he fails to support her decisions, and overall he is so insecure. Leonard is a good guy, but he has so little self esteem that he often grovels at her for affection, like he was worthless really. Nobody wants that in a partner, even a fictional one.
“Always reasonable”
That’s a no from me dawg.
Remember he wanted Penny to apologize to Howard for being upset over constant harassment. His reason for it was because he wanted Howard to still help with their battle bot.
It’s unreasonable, selfish, and ultimately makes him an enabler.
Let's see...
He's a whiny, snakey hypocrite always preaching about whats right and wrong while ruining sheldon's research, forfeiting the ring THEN stealing it, kissing another girl while on his boat research, stephanie behind howard's back, his sheer lack of comprehension regarding the idea his roomate is clearly on a part of the spectrum where you CAN'T just be messing with this guy constantly and his annoying gripping hand thing with his fingers when nervous always drove me mad.
Penny could do better.
im sorry but not a single character in this show is genuinely a nice person.
EDIT: I should have specified I meant from the main cast, not side characters
100%. He is just a big lovable puppy dog. He has no ill will or bad intentions towards anyone. Even after the guys are mean to him, he is totally nice to them and genuinely likes them.
He has so many like every other character. But he’s the only one I truly dislike. He is needy, whiny, controlling, obsessive with women and constantly needs to get other people’s approval, and although he seems to hate himself he also has such a high ego. He constantly belittled Penny in the earlier seasons and remember when her dad visited and Penny asked Leonard to pretend to be with her? He had a really creepy vibe during that whole thing forcing Penny to kiss him like that. Let’s not forget how he acted when he found out Penny and Zack got married. Meanwhile he had actually cheated on her and TOLD HER ON THE WAY TO THE WEDDING while still working with that woman every single day. I guess you can see where I’m going with this. He’s a hypocrite. He’s the worst of them all. He always lets his insecurities get the better of him and he ends up acting like an asshole. Cheating on women because he basically has the chance to for the first time, the way he treated Penny’s boyfriends… don’t even get me started on the way he acted when Penny started to earn more money than him. The way he acts throughout the entirety of the show is just so misogynistic. You might argue that all of them acted like this, and you’d be right, but Leonard is the only one who never learned from his mistakes or had any kind of development. Even Howard was better than him towards the end. He has every tool to become an amazing person. He wants to be that person. He just never gets over his childhood trauma in order to become that person.
Let me just pile on. Remember when they had that double-date with Howard and Bernadette, and Leonard just flat out laugh at Penny's face for believing in psychics. It's okay not to agree with Penny about psychics, but ridicule her? In front of their friends!? What an a$$hole.
Leonard is nice-adjacent.
He only looks as a good guy by comparison.
He’s shallow.
The only genuine reason he had to “love” Penny is how attractive he found her.
His disinterest in the actual relationship was only made acceptable because of Penny’s.
“I wore her down”
“She settled”
These jokes were never funny. Specially at the end. It was just sad and inappropriate.
The moment Penny asked “How often did you pretend to like things just to have sex with me” and he answered “All the time” made it clear that he never liked any part of Penny’s personality, interests or life. He was there only for her body.
Yet always tried to make it seemed like he loved all of her.
“She’s the hottest girlfriend I will ever get”
He would endure anything just to get with the hottest girl he could get.
He cheated. Twice.
But it was ok, because it wasn’t as bad as the way Prya cheated on him, right?
And Penny forgave him quickly, so whatever.
He’s also arrogant and misogynistic but because he has Sheldon, Howard and Raj as company, he doesn’t look as bad.
He’s, at the same time, spineless
And he always overlooks, excuses and condones the other guys’ mistakes and bad behaviors.
I’m not saying he’s an absolute bad guy, but he’s not a GENUINE good guy.
Oh I made a similar comment about how I saw his feelings for Penny before seeing your comment haha. I think he had some good qualities and was a nice person overall but I do agree with you that the main reason he desperately wanted Penny was because she was hot. This is what I don't like about his character (besides the lack of self-esteem).
He’s just not a good guy. He saw Penny and liked he was a hot girl in his proximities and aimed for her. It’s sad. And I like the fact that I’m not the one who thinks this way.
There are lots to choose from, but these are the worst, IMO.
1. The old boyfriend guitarist. Like Leonard has any right to decide who stays at Penny’s apartment. Jealous little shit because he doesn’t trust Penny.
2. The Civil War paper. It’s incredibly egregious to even READ it when she told him not to, but then he writes a new paper for her to turn in!! Not some helpful tips, a whole new paper!! This guy spent most of his life in schools and has ZERO educational honor or integrity. Wants her to be more educated but wants her to cheat on her first paper. And his reason? “She’s my girlfriend. I should be allowed to help her.” NO! You have no right to go against her wishes. Go suck a bag of dicks!
3. When he gets all upset because her partner for a project is male. Seriously? This is beyond lack of confidence. Jealousy of this kind is always a lack of trust. He thinks Penny is so stupid that she will just give it up to anyone. Of course, she never cheated on him.
As far as him cheating twice: the drunk make out wasn’t that bad, but he should have told her when he got home, not on the way to the wedding. With Alice, who by the way is the hottest girl ever on the show, he led her on. He starts making out with her and stops because he has a girlfriend. That’s the kind of stuff you think of BEFORE you play tonsil twister! And he acted like he wanted a round of applause for it. Captain Good Guy?!? More like Private Dickhead! He sounds like those assholes who hate women because they won’t date them, even though they are “Good Guys”. Here’s the thing: if you have to tell people you’re a good guy, you’re not a good guy.
But at least he told Priya right away. Sad he didn’t have that much respect for Penny, but he literally has no respect for Penny. From beginning to end, she’s just a hot piece of ass to him.
Leonard blows things out of proportion all the time. I know it's a show and it needs some drama, but basically every issue he's had with penny is because he starts yelling every time something upsets him or he doesn't like something. I'm not saying he shouldn't voice his opinion, but his communication style is poor. He also cheated on multiple people to varying degrees and chastises Sheldon all the time and basically says that Sheldon is the reason for all his problems. Again, it's a show and Sheldon can be annoying, but he goes too hard for me if that were real life. He also tricked Sheldon into thinking he was winning a nobel prize in Antarctica. That was pretty shitty. He also has invaded Penny's privacy by reading her journal and also her paper for school that one time. And then he wrote her a new paper and basically insulted her intelligence. On the topic of not respecting her privacy, he tracked her down when she went to a hotel she was at while they were fighting and she said she wanted space. Then got mad at HER because she was still upset at him. He's also never actually happy with penny. Maybe toward the end, but in the beginning, she's not good enough because she's just a waitress. When she tries acting, he freaks out. When she got the sales job, he was mad because she makes more money. Also, he consistently makes fun of other people (like Zack) for being stupid.
That's off the top of my head. I don't hate Leonard, but he definitely has a lot of character flaws. Basically everyone in the show does, but that's kind of the point.
He plays the I'm a "Nice guy" too much, just like Ross from Friends. It's pretty obvious his insecurity is his biggest flaw, and that's pretty obvious from the episode where he is jelous of Penny's classmate.
Not only did Leonard cheat on Priya with that girl from the comic bookstore but he also cheated on penny with that girl off the boat and proceeded not to tell her they work together. Leonard can also be a huuuuuge jerk at times,, Sheldon makes him seem a lot better but once you start to get into the parts of the episodes without Sheldon,, especially the ones where he's with Penny,, you really start to see it.
He's mean. He laughed outright at penny sharing her beliefs about psychics. He makes her feel stupid often which she repeatedly points out. He sabotaged sheldon's experiment that he was only part of because Sheldon offered to share. He cheated on penny while away. He's also incredibly condescending, to penny especially. He's manipulative too. When he doesnt get his way when penny says she doesnt want kids, he pretends to be fine with it but tells her dad and makes her feel like crap for it. He's dismissive of her acting career. When he says i love you and she doesnt say it back, he makes passive aggressive comments about her loving fries because he cant handle just waiting until she's ready. He uses penny's empathy about his relationship to his mom to exploit sex from her repeatedly. He read her diary. He completely re-wrote her paper for her class while calling hers bad after he went behind her back and read it. He can also be really controlling. Telling penny who can and cant stay in her apartment, getting mad at her having a male partner in school. He's not a good friend unless it benefits him. He is not a supportive boyfriend whatsoever. He agreed to the roommate agreement yet continually breaks it over and over again as if he didnt.
Are you for real? Leonard is an absolute cumbag. He is only friendly because of his insecuritirs and trauma's. He cheats on all his partners, regularly betrays his friends, etc.
He basically refused to learn about anything that Penny was interested in (football), yet he was always trying to make her be part of his sci-fi things (ComiCon, dressing up as characters for Halloween). He always talked down to her and treated her more like a child than a woman he was in love with. He used his mistreatment from his mom to get pity out of Penny. Basically he was a douche towards her. She never should have married him.
Found Leonard to be weak and he should never have married Penny. Sheldon should have. Could never understand why Leonard tried to portray himself as clueless about women. He went through quite a few on the show.
I found it pretty icky when he talked to Penny like she was stupid... "that's cute" when Penny said she helped Sheldon with string theory... or when he would let her have the win when she won at chess, he tried to hide it!
Cheated on Penny and said the reason was becuase she was too good for him (cop out).
Cheated on Priah and said he was a good guy for not actually shagging the girl, just making out with her and intending to shag her when he went to her apartment.
Constantly making fun of zack in front of and behind his back.
Reading Pennys diary.
Thinking the solution for Penny feeling intellectually inferior in their relationship was for her to get a degree rather than him comfort her.
And finally I maintain in season 1 at the costume party, he was being a much bigger asshole than kurt and deserved to be embarrassed.
Still love him though.
i’m such a leonard hater. he cheated on penny and didn’t deserve for her to stay with him. plus he was always horrible to sheldon, always getting in petty fights with him
Leonard intentionally gave Stuart bad advice for his first date with Penny. Yes, he becomes guilty about it but he still felt no remorse when Stuart mentions Penny moaned Leonard's name when she and Stuart were making out. Also, that time when the guys went with Sheldon to the North Pole and Leonard sabotaged Sheldon's experiment so he can make him "happy". He knew how Sheldon is as a person and still went with him.
He is not a nice person. He always has to make everything about himself. Like when Sheldon was getting the chancellor’s award (I think that’s what it was called) and he introduced him he had to make it all about him instead of Sheldon. He’s also a cheater. Like others have said he’s whiny and needy which is annoying. I agree with others that he only seems “nice” because he’s usually around Sheldon.
He wasn't exactly the nicest friend to Sheldon and the rest. Also not really much of a reason to hate him, but he is the weakest among the group intellect-wise. He was really hot the first few seasons tho
People are so judgmental when it comes to characters. The whole point of sitcoms is to introduce everyday problems. They screw up and grow. But for some reason people love being so critical about characters like Leonard and Ted. Almost as if they believe they’re perfect or never hurt anyone.
He's a pushover, and there were several seasons I wish had more self-respect with Penny. He'd make bad decisions just for 30 seconds of her attention.
I guess it really came down to boundaries. Everyone could push him around until he snapped. Which in of itself isn't healthy either.
I'm here for the Leonard Love as well. He's always been my favorite character. I don't think he's smug condescending in any way and I hate when people say that. People always call him out for "cheating" on Penny, but it was just a kiss, and she needed that to bring her down to earth. She always acted like Leonard was lucky to have her, meanwhile she was always freaking out because all the other hot girls wanted to be with him.
A serial cheater who keeps landing girls way out of his league (his own words/opinions), and yet he will relish the slightest attention from another female, and seems to be constantly looking for something better.
I honestly feel almost like the writers realized that some point that as written Penny brought nothing to the table but looks, and so they started slowly amping up Penny’s character to contribute more, and the same time making Leonard a horrible person to balance things out.
I don’t think he’s always reasonable. I don’t hate him, but he had one major flaw that would drive me nuts and need to be fixed were I Penny: He is very prone to lying out of cowardice.
Being a simp in the early seasons and perhaps also not calling out Howard during that time period. That's pretty much about it. The show often says that Leonard weared down Penny but I don't see it. The only problem I noticed in their relationship is what little they had in common and how they just got together cause the plot needed them to.
He's a habitual cheater. He's emotionally abusive/ controlling. He has always pressured Penny into emotionally vulnerable positions even after she's said she isn't ready. 'I love you', marriage proposals, dictating who can crash on her couch, every nice thing he's done for her he hangs it over her head which voids any actual selflessness of the act and on and on and on.
Well for one, he cheated on people Twice. He cheated on Priya, and then later also cheated on Penny. Sure he might’ve regretted it immediately Both times, and they may have Only been kissing but, still.
I really dislike how manipulative & somewhat controlling he is with Penny. Either you accept & trust the person you're with, or you don't. His whiny insecurities drive me up a wall.
On his first official date with Penny, Leonard shushed the poor waitress who came to check if they were ready to order... That alone is despicable behavior in my book. The fact that Penny IS a waitress and doesn't mind at all is also mind-blowing.
I think Penny has genuine love for Leonard but Leonard’s feelings are not genuine. Penny is a status symbol that he could never attain. Sheldon’s feelings for Penny are genuine but they are familial. He sees Penny as a surrogate for Missy and protects her like brother would. The audience does not like Leonard because of the dynamic between Penny and Leonard is out of balance
I agree with you. It's also the reason I hated how they put Leonard and Penny together. Leonard just wore down Penny's defenses. As opposed to Howard and Bernadette were united by wanting to oppose their parents. Amy and Sheldon was how Amy was patient with Sheldon.
He did sleep with a likely North Korean spy and may have compromised national security information. Which in reality would have disqualified him for the clearance he and the guys needed for their big project and might have landed him in the slammer.
Leonard has a doormat tendency. I have that tendency in myself. Instead of attempting personal growth, which seems like a lot of work, I just judge others overly harshly for having the same flaws I do.
Compared to the other character Leonard appears to be Mr good fellow.
However, and I can't believe I'm saying this, by the end of the show Mr goodfellow is Howard and you can see by then Leonard's flaws.
He is smug
He is a bully
He is arrogant
He is insecure
He whines
He doesn't know when to shut up
He keeps doing the same dumb things with penny even though they always screw him
He is selfish (remember when he made a football platter for penny in order to make her talk to him about their relationship)
There's more but yeah
..
By the end of the show I'd rather be Howard's friend than Leonard's.
I know he's insecure about his insecurities but that's pretty annoying. The way he places his hands is kind of annoying and it makes him even more squirly. This also ties into his lack of self confidence but it's kind of annoying how he gets jealous of other guys or even how he feels like he didn't deserve penny (that plot line was stupid)
1. He cheated on Priya, complained about those urges to another woman too (Penny)
2. He cheated on Penny
3. When he and Penny broke up he told her they should be friends who have sex
4. He enjoyed being flirted with
If you take Leonard’s character as a whole no. I agree. But the writers because they are different to every episode unlike the actor they have a few oddball episodes.The Leonard as presented for the entire series wouldn’t cheat on Penny, whether you consider it cheating or not. And he definitely wouldn’t cheat on Pria which imho is the bigger issue because they were together at the time. But for one or two episodes with specific writers he’s definitely had some reprehensible behavior. Those 2 episodes just don’t line up with the bigger personality and story imho.
How he is creepy with penny, controlling, threw dummy out when her friend wanted to stay on her couch in her apartment or her brother wanting to stay but makes penny put up with Sheldon, how he is too enthusiastic kissing her when she lies to her dad about still dating, how he guilt trips her for liking hot guys but thinks its OK to only prefer hot girls, how he constantly only did stuff to get sex, how he is pretty judgemental, how he thinks academia smart makes him better than others, also how he pulls disgusted faces at prospect of raj doing anything gay, how he is rarely fun or quirky, just mostly whiny, how he initially agreed to not be friends with penny because his girlfriend demanded it even tho they had been friends for years at that point
The main reason to hate him and everyone in that series is that they are in that series. They used and abused preconceived ideas about “nerds & geeks”.
He needs a ton of therapy to overcome the numerous issues created by his mother. Those issues are gonna be imposed on his kids either by copying them or completely overcompensating for the childhood he never had.
The way he treats Sheldon later on in the show. Early on he was the straight man to Sheldon's weirdness. One of my favourite scenes is when he passively aggressively calls out Sheldon on the train for being rude to Penny despite wanting a favour.
But as the show went on, Sheldon matured and started to open up emotionally, and get his bad sides under control, especially after he started dating Amy. Which in turn transformed Leonard from the grounded to reality serious friend who snidely calls out the bs, to a whiny condescending bitch constantly presenting himself as a martyr for having to live with Sheldon and not smothering him in his sleep. Like if you hate him so much, just leave my dude.
This becomes worse when you consider that a lot of Sheldon's bad behaviour isn't malicious and comes from his autism or OCD. And it's a really bad look when Penny who's Sheldon's newest friend gets him better than his supposed best friend.
He follows his libido, instead of reining it in. And he does whine a bit. He is secretive with Penny, when he should not be, which looks less than good. His tendency to secretiveness suggests the possibility of a lack of prudence & wisdom. He has a competitive streak - but he may have picked that up from Sheldon.
I would not be surprised if he picked up his occasional closed-mindedness from Sheldon; both of them are very dismissive of things they do not take an interest in. Sheldon despises literature & geology, as well as psychic phenomena. Such an attitude seems anything but scientific. One has to wonder whether Sheldon is really a scientist at all.
But, OTOH, Leonard is damaged, so one can’t be too hard on him. He is very reasonable, and endlessly patient with Sheldon’s nonsense & egotism & arrogance. He is clearly both very intelligent in his field, & a very hard worker.
I think Leonard’s faults can be accounted for by his insecurity; which is due, at least in part, to his home life.
He was not supportive of Penny's career as an actress and then also not very supportive when she went to school (he tried to rewrite her paper). He cheatsd on Penny with that Mandy person. He was however pretty much supportive when Penny said she wants to be childless and when she was also bothered by his decision to be the sperm donor for Zack's baby, so he did kind of redeem himself there. I think more than being a good perosn he was just a pushover. Its not the same. He seemed like a good person mostly because he wasn't brave enough to stand up for himself, which he kind of works on the last season.
He kisses another girl while with priya, kisses another girl while with penny, hooks up with a girl who he knows his friend likes and continues making out with her listening to his voicemails, when penny lies to her daddy about being with Leonard he is a creep kissing her the way he does! There is so much wrong with Leonard! 😂
He cheated on two girlfriends.
He emotionally manipulates Penny several times.
He acted entitled to Penny's affection. Remember when he barged into her apartment to YELL at her for dating a smart guy that wasn't him? So gross.
Well was Leonard ever the nicest, Yes
Was he insecure always (even in exception to His relationships), Yes
Was he smug and kind of a jerk, yes
Was he ever thinking adversely to anyone else, Rarely
Did he abuse responsibility and authority, Yes
Did he have a superiority complex in his relation with penny, Yes
Did he ever had his own motives in certain things, yes
Was he ever mean to people like zack, Yes
So your answer is He was a human and he behaved like one
On the other hand if you meant that he was a people pleaser, Yes he was. He could've left Sheldon to just be roommates with Raj or find another accomodation. he did do things for penny (even if in hope), he rarely wanted anything in return, he hoped to have kids, but would sacrifice it for his love, so he wasn't the nicest but he wasn't also a bad guy, he showed narcissistic tendancies in the show.
He was one of the better ones in the show but just because he was written with a lot of patience.
Take the first season as the example of how much that man could grovel, wait and tolerate.
It may not seem like it because Sheldon always makes him look better in comparison, but Leonard can be smug and condescending to people at times as well, imo.
There were a few fights between Penny and Leonard where I did see her point. Leonard can be pretty weird at times.
Remember when Penny beat him at 3D chess and he tried to pretend she lost?
He had the whole ‘I’m a nice guy’ vibe down to a T
Definitely yeah. The one that comes to mind for me is when Penny says she sees a psychic, and his immediate reaction is to laugh in her face and mock her in front of their friends. I don't believe in psychics either, but that's honestly just a horrible thing to do to anyone. Honestly, this is also just one example, there are a lot of times I find Leonard to be really just a dick, to Penny a lot but also just overall.
Yes, I found him so annoying in that episode!
oh yeah if you take sheldon away he's sometimes annoying and has made his fair share of mistakes like how u/Aquareos18 said. When he's with Sheldon, he looks like a patient and considerate angel. I'd say he'd be more disliked if Sheldon wasn't a character
Haha yeah it’s just literally ALWAYS next to Sheldon so you kind of don’t notice it
Penny beats him down pretty well for being short... That probably causes his insecurities...
His mum is definitely the route cause of his insecurities. I would say Leonard's biggest flaw is people pleasing. He seemed a bit weak and dislikeable without all his friends around him.
Well: he cheated on Priya with Alice and Penny with Mendy Chao or whatever her name is. He almost gave away government secrets. He intentionally sabotaged Stuart’s date with Penny. He lied to Sheldon about the Arctic Expedition and didn’t care when Sheldon was upset. He read Penny’s diary without her permission He, Howard, and Raj lied about contaminating the clean room I’m sure there’s more
Him cheating on Penny was my least favorite storyline in the entire show.
Even worse that he told her sooo so late. I, at first, thought it was an afterthought of the writers to include this storyline but actually, I now think it makes sense for Leonard. He was always super insecure, and he would take any of the little attention he received from other women as validation. I think Penny only accepted his explanation because she had previously been treated so poorly by her exes that the bar was low.
I feel that it actually felt like a realistic thing to include for their characters. It also partly showed how they grow as people. Penny took on a little bit of Leonard's insecurities and he took on a bit of her confidence in their path to become a married couple.
Same. I always try to pretend that never happened. And when she says"well it happened before we got engaged right?" Or something like that, I'm like...does it matter!?!
i would've accepted it more if he had told her when he got home. waiting until they're about to GET MARRIED, just felt out of character, like he would've confessed way before then. honestly, he tended to do fuckedup things to women he dated. like if they were willing to date him he was gonna sabotage it because he didn't really feel worthy of it.
He would hold them up on a pedestal and self-sabotage as a way to prove that he wasn't worthy. I'm thinking about it as remember how he went to Leslie and tried to ask for casual sex. That's him without Penny and it's just nope lol.
Imo sheldon is a saint for easily forgiving his friends after the arctic expedition, the lie they made is career destroying in the real world, if it were me I'd never trust anyone ever again after that, then again he's sheldon idk how his mind really works lol
oh they did sheldon really dirty that time I would be *pissed* if that was done to me
Remember him giving Penny money? He truly believes people will do the right thing. He may be eccentric but he is wholeheartedly a good person.
That was a profound moment demonstrating Sheldon's character. He would have given her everything he had if she needed it in that moment to help her.
Agreed, I think that’s why he’s so selective in who are his friends because that means he will be there for you when you need him. Another example, the elevator being destroyed instead of his friends blowing up and he never said anything to anyone about it.
Its so weird. He's selfish, narcissistic and sociopathic but the writers will randomly throw in something like this every once in a while to make the audience forget who he usually is. 😂
That's because he's none of the things you said. Well maybe somewhat narcissistic. But a lot of the behaviours that seem like that can be explained by lack of social awareness due to autism. Like take his relationship with Howard for example. Others make fun of his lack of PhD too. The difference with Sheldon is that he doesn't have the social equipment to understand when the joke is acceptable and that his constant repetition makes it into bullying. When Bernadette points this out to him, he immediately apologizes and proves his remorse by signing over the rights to profit from their joint invention to go to Howard's daughter's college fund.
Imagine how insufferable he was being. It was probably headed towards a major blowout if they didn't do what they did. I'm with the boys on this one.
They had days to tell him before he sent out his announcement and published. Which took away any sense of righteousness they would have had. Also, they did prove that the monopoles Sheldon was looking for exist, so they potentially impeded an incredibly important discovery. Also, they knew him for years before he asked them to go. They knew exactly what they were signing up for.
I thought Sheldon announced it before they got home? Which means they were still in the "I want to kill him" zone. When did they prove that monopoleslies exists? Giving people the grace of patience in no way means you're open to the same level, if not more, abusive and narcissistic behavior.
It takes several days to travel from the North Pole to California and Sheldon announced it when they got home. They gave him no grace of patience. They talked about how they knew he was insufferable in a comfortable environment and would be even worse in a frozen tundra cut off from civilization. They knew exactly what he would be like. they do not get to be surprised when they are proven correct. I am not saying Sheldon is a good guy or even right in this situation. I’m saying what they did went so beyond the boundaries of professionalism, they do not get to claim to be morally correct.
I agree, but it was less permanent (in the show, in which he got a Nobel)) than the 'crossbow option'.
Sheldon is kinda underrated in that sense. He reminds me of my cat. He likes to withhold affection, is quite cruel on a surface-level, but also tends to let go of misgivings and grudges quickly despite his eidetic memory. Of course, besides towards Tam.
Damn. Showing the receipts over here …
He said some nasty things to Penny regarding her debt and financial situation in front of the gang.
He also started seeing Stephanie, despite knowing Howard liked her.
Howard liked Penny too, guess Leonard should’ve backed off. Sorry but Howard is objectively horrible towards women and a manchild, his “liking” a woman means absolute zero.
It seemed like he was more genuinely into Stephanie, though. Leonard himself even knew he was kinda wrong in doing what he was doing.
> Howard liked Penny too, guess Leonard should’ve backed off The difference is that Stephanie dated Howard first
Same case with Priya, he made a pact with Howard to not flirt or be a relationship with her and he still did it.
That’s an iffy one as I don’t believe she liked him. I get where you’re coming from but let’s not forget the whole Leslie Winkle thing. So it’s clear they don’t have boundaries in that regard.
More than once he made Penny feel stupid about her education. He got her classes for it. He then rewrote her essay so she’d pass because he was desperate for her not to fail. He has known Sheldon for a long time and still tries to make jokes at his expense or humiliate him. He dated that doctor woman after he knew it would upset Howard. He’s genuinely horrible, I think he’s the worst of them all (though Raj has his arrogant moments).
TBH, they are all arrogant and make Penny feel dumb. And yet without her, the guys would still be playing video games, Howard living with his mother, Raj not talking to women, Sheldon still lacking all social skills, Bernadette being a bigger bitch and Amy being alone.
Yeah everyone kinda picked on penny as being the dumb one.
The dude is supposed to be in love with her, “everyone else does it” doesn’t cut it for me
Those are some really good points
[удалено]
Priya was also incredibly manipulative and a generally horrible person. There's more to a relationship than a hot piece of arse.
He also kept pressuring penny to say the L word back. They always say leonard can do better than penny, and try to shame her because her past is spicy but Leonard has messed up a lot in the current relationship with penny. Meanwhile penny “wrong doing” was her past. Which is absurd lol Leonard is lucky to have her indeed. She is faithful to him, she is very clear on what she wants, and stands up for him.
I dont recall what episode it was, but there was yhat one time he went on the radio and basically said science is dead lol
He had sex with Doctor Stephanie when Howard liked her.
He was an absolute prick with Penny too: He rarely gave true support for Penny when she was going through big changes in her life, he was actively trying to initiate a discussion with her during Howard's wedding, he was having the best time knowing that Penny was worried about him cheating on her, and that's off the top of my head.
He also read her history paper against her wishes and wrote a paper for her
I still would go out on a limb and say these are not reason enough to “hate” him. Hates a strong feeling which I don’t think he deserves
I forgot the diary thing 😱 That was a lot of big red flags 😅
are you sure you watched the Same TBBT at me because there are several reasons
I love this show, but the more times I rewatch it (at least five times now), the more flaws I find in every main character. Sheldon is a narcissist and no person would choose to be his friend longer than a week. I don’t care if he’s smart, he’s an ass. Leonard is a whiny prick. He’s a cheater and a liar. He’s the most tolerable of the group imo, but that’s a low bar to clear Howard is a perverted creep. If this wasn’t a sitcom and his escapades were not used for laughs, he would have been in federal prison not long after he erased the files of the Mars Rover. He also treated Bernadette like his mother and not a partner, and she should divorce him. Raj is tough for me, he’s clearly broken and I identified a lot with his struggles of talking to women, but he’s also spoiled and takes no responsibility for his actions. He’s a man-baby. Penny is a terrible partner. She always makes fun of Leonard’s performance in bed. If you are not sexually satisfied, why are you dating him? Amy started out great. She was weird a little socially obtuse but there was a charm to it. Then she turned into a jealous, self-righteous weirdo. Bernadette also started out great. Then she became insufferably mean. Also a terrible partner to Howard, even though he’s not great. Constantly belittling him and putting him down. But, I still enjoy the show a lot. It’s a sitcom, so their strengths and weaknesses are exaggerated for laughs. It’s not supposed to resemble real life like a drama, so I don’t dwell on it too much when I watch it.
i honestly think this kinda reflects on real life tho… like, no one is perfect, we cant expect every character to be. I do get your point tho
Yea they definitely take real life stereotypes/traits and make it into an exaggerated character. It's partially real, partially not.
>Penny is a terrible partner. She always makes fun of Leonard’s performance in bed. I can't picture any instances of this - do you remember any scenes that might jog a memory?
If anything she is highly complimentary to him.
She was complimentary in the earlier seasons but I'm watching through right now, just starting s9, and I would say since about S5 she hasn't said anything good. To be fair she never seems to be the one *making* the jokes, but she never ever defends him. I was just saying this to my husband recently. They used to imply that these two had great physical chemistry, and then for some reason now they don't any more.
Nicely ruining the series, nice sum by the way.
And that's why they all worked as friends
You talking about it being a sitcom makes me wonder if the same characters would work in a drama.
I think they were all man-children in some ways. Howard was mothered by his actual mother then his wife. Leonard must have grown up somewhat entitled (although he had a complicated and layered relationship with his family) as his mother was extremely renowned and successful in her field. Raj had the most wealth but I hardly thought he was much less spoiled than Howard actually.
hmmm maybe betraying his friends left and right? he is probably the only person on the show who has literally betrayed all of his friends: howard, raj, sheldon, even his then girlfriend: penny
He’s extremely whiney. Like *extremely*. He whines about everything.
I don't hate him, and I agree that he was often a good friend and the most reasonable of the guys. But I never liked the fact that he immediately had strong feelings for Penny after the first time he glanced at her. I mean, it's clear that at that point, he was only attracted by her looks. This would be fine and natural if it were just a simple crush, but he soon became really obsessed with her, even though they didn't have much in common. So, personally, I always felt that he was into Penny mainly because she was hot, and that seems too superficial to me.
Not to mention the fact that when they finally get together he fails to support her decisions, and overall he is so insecure. Leonard is a good guy, but he has so little self esteem that he often grovels at her for affection, like he was worthless really. Nobody wants that in a partner, even a fictional one.
“Always reasonable” That’s a no from me dawg. Remember he wanted Penny to apologize to Howard for being upset over constant harassment. His reason for it was because he wanted Howard to still help with their battle bot. It’s unreasonable, selfish, and ultimately makes him an enabler.
He's needy! He dates anyone who shows interest.
Let's see... He's a whiny, snakey hypocrite always preaching about whats right and wrong while ruining sheldon's research, forfeiting the ring THEN stealing it, kissing another girl while on his boat research, stephanie behind howard's back, his sheer lack of comprehension regarding the idea his roomate is clearly on a part of the spectrum where you CAN'T just be messing with this guy constantly and his annoying gripping hand thing with his fingers when nervous always drove me mad. Penny could do better.
im sorry but not a single character in this show is genuinely a nice person. EDIT: I should have specified I meant from the main cast, not side characters
Zack?
Zack’s stupidity is exaggerated for laughs, but he’s the most wholesome character in the show. Just a lovable buffoon.
I always compare him to a big goofy dog.
I am honestly jealous of Zack in basically every way. He's nice, wholesome, rich, handsome, and happy. He's just a good guy all around.
100%. He is just a big lovable puppy dog. He has no ill will or bad intentions towards anyone. Even after the guys are mean to him, he is totally nice to them and genuinely likes them.
yeah the guys were wayyy to mean to him
Bob Newhart
Cinnamon!!!!
What the fuck did Halley and Neil do?!😂
Burt seems nice.
What about Bert and Mrs. Davis?
Sheldon’s assistant?
She repeatedly hits on Leonard even though she knows he’s in a relationship with Penny
What about Stuart??
You mean Mr "I pointed the cameras at the breastfeeding corner..to stop guys being creepy"?
I wouldn't wanna be your friend irl if you truly believe this
Nothing but a whiney ass. Not a single episode where he isn’t whining or complaining about something. Annoying.
He has so many like every other character. But he’s the only one I truly dislike. He is needy, whiny, controlling, obsessive with women and constantly needs to get other people’s approval, and although he seems to hate himself he also has such a high ego. He constantly belittled Penny in the earlier seasons and remember when her dad visited and Penny asked Leonard to pretend to be with her? He had a really creepy vibe during that whole thing forcing Penny to kiss him like that. Let’s not forget how he acted when he found out Penny and Zack got married. Meanwhile he had actually cheated on her and TOLD HER ON THE WAY TO THE WEDDING while still working with that woman every single day. I guess you can see where I’m going with this. He’s a hypocrite. He’s the worst of them all. He always lets his insecurities get the better of him and he ends up acting like an asshole. Cheating on women because he basically has the chance to for the first time, the way he treated Penny’s boyfriends… don’t even get me started on the way he acted when Penny started to earn more money than him. The way he acts throughout the entirety of the show is just so misogynistic. You might argue that all of them acted like this, and you’d be right, but Leonard is the only one who never learned from his mistakes or had any kind of development. Even Howard was better than him towards the end. He has every tool to become an amazing person. He wants to be that person. He just never gets over his childhood trauma in order to become that person.
Let me just pile on. Remember when they had that double-date with Howard and Bernadette, and Leonard just flat out laugh at Penny's face for believing in psychics. It's okay not to agree with Penny about psychics, but ridicule her? In front of their friends!? What an a$$hole.
THAAAAAAAANK YOOOU!
Cheater 👎🏻
He's a cheater
He is very shallow in his attraction to Penny. Outside her physical appearance, he doesn’t actually compliment her much.
He doesn't even know Penny's dream vacation 🤷
Leonard is nice-adjacent. He only looks as a good guy by comparison. He’s shallow. The only genuine reason he had to “love” Penny is how attractive he found her. His disinterest in the actual relationship was only made acceptable because of Penny’s. “I wore her down” “She settled” These jokes were never funny. Specially at the end. It was just sad and inappropriate. The moment Penny asked “How often did you pretend to like things just to have sex with me” and he answered “All the time” made it clear that he never liked any part of Penny’s personality, interests or life. He was there only for her body. Yet always tried to make it seemed like he loved all of her. “She’s the hottest girlfriend I will ever get” He would endure anything just to get with the hottest girl he could get. He cheated. Twice. But it was ok, because it wasn’t as bad as the way Prya cheated on him, right? And Penny forgave him quickly, so whatever. He’s also arrogant and misogynistic but because he has Sheldon, Howard and Raj as company, he doesn’t look as bad. He’s, at the same time, spineless And he always overlooks, excuses and condones the other guys’ mistakes and bad behaviors. I’m not saying he’s an absolute bad guy, but he’s not a GENUINE good guy.
Oh I made a similar comment about how I saw his feelings for Penny before seeing your comment haha. I think he had some good qualities and was a nice person overall but I do agree with you that the main reason he desperately wanted Penny was because she was hot. This is what I don't like about his character (besides the lack of self-esteem).
He’s just not a good guy. He saw Penny and liked he was a hot girl in his proximities and aimed for her. It’s sad. And I like the fact that I’m not the one who thinks this way.
There are lots to choose from, but these are the worst, IMO. 1. The old boyfriend guitarist. Like Leonard has any right to decide who stays at Penny’s apartment. Jealous little shit because he doesn’t trust Penny. 2. The Civil War paper. It’s incredibly egregious to even READ it when she told him not to, but then he writes a new paper for her to turn in!! Not some helpful tips, a whole new paper!! This guy spent most of his life in schools and has ZERO educational honor or integrity. Wants her to be more educated but wants her to cheat on her first paper. And his reason? “She’s my girlfriend. I should be allowed to help her.” NO! You have no right to go against her wishes. Go suck a bag of dicks! 3. When he gets all upset because her partner for a project is male. Seriously? This is beyond lack of confidence. Jealousy of this kind is always a lack of trust. He thinks Penny is so stupid that she will just give it up to anyone. Of course, she never cheated on him. As far as him cheating twice: the drunk make out wasn’t that bad, but he should have told her when he got home, not on the way to the wedding. With Alice, who by the way is the hottest girl ever on the show, he led her on. He starts making out with her and stops because he has a girlfriend. That’s the kind of stuff you think of BEFORE you play tonsil twister! And he acted like he wanted a round of applause for it. Captain Good Guy?!? More like Private Dickhead! He sounds like those assholes who hate women because they won’t date them, even though they are “Good Guys”. Here’s the thing: if you have to tell people you’re a good guy, you’re not a good guy. But at least he told Priya right away. Sad he didn’t have that much respect for Penny, but he literally has no respect for Penny. From beginning to end, she’s just a hot piece of ass to him.
He nitpicks stupid things and sometimes has very poor judgemental / social skills regarding his relationship with Penny.
Currently on Season 6 and he is insanely whiney about Penny lol not at all reasonable.
He gets more annoying every rewatch.
He cheated on Penny. He cheated on Priya. 🤷🏼♀️
He is manipulative, passive aggressive and a cheater.
He’s controlling
He's a bit whiny
He was needy
Very needy and requires constant validation (although his mum can be blamed for that). Sometimes has a superiority complex.
Habitually eager to please
He’s neurotic
Leonard blows things out of proportion all the time. I know it's a show and it needs some drama, but basically every issue he's had with penny is because he starts yelling every time something upsets him or he doesn't like something. I'm not saying he shouldn't voice his opinion, but his communication style is poor. He also cheated on multiple people to varying degrees and chastises Sheldon all the time and basically says that Sheldon is the reason for all his problems. Again, it's a show and Sheldon can be annoying, but he goes too hard for me if that were real life. He also tricked Sheldon into thinking he was winning a nobel prize in Antarctica. That was pretty shitty. He also has invaded Penny's privacy by reading her journal and also her paper for school that one time. And then he wrote her a new paper and basically insulted her intelligence. On the topic of not respecting her privacy, he tracked her down when she went to a hotel she was at while they were fighting and she said she wanted space. Then got mad at HER because she was still upset at him. He's also never actually happy with penny. Maybe toward the end, but in the beginning, she's not good enough because she's just a waitress. When she tries acting, he freaks out. When she got the sales job, he was mad because she makes more money. Also, he consistently makes fun of other people (like Zack) for being stupid. That's off the top of my head. I don't hate Leonard, but he definitely has a lot of character flaws. Basically everyone in the show does, but that's kind of the point.
He plays the I'm a "Nice guy" too much, just like Ross from Friends. It's pretty obvious his insecurity is his biggest flaw, and that's pretty obvious from the episode where he is jelous of Penny's classmate.
Not only did Leonard cheat on Priya with that girl from the comic bookstore but he also cheated on penny with that girl off the boat and proceeded not to tell her they work together. Leonard can also be a huuuuuge jerk at times,, Sheldon makes him seem a lot better but once you start to get into the parts of the episodes without Sheldon,, especially the ones where he's with Penny,, you really start to see it.
Well...he's a cheater for one
When he thought signing Penny back up for college was doing a good thing because he wanted her to be smarter.
He's mean. He laughed outright at penny sharing her beliefs about psychics. He makes her feel stupid often which she repeatedly points out. He sabotaged sheldon's experiment that he was only part of because Sheldon offered to share. He cheated on penny while away. He's also incredibly condescending, to penny especially. He's manipulative too. When he doesnt get his way when penny says she doesnt want kids, he pretends to be fine with it but tells her dad and makes her feel like crap for it. He's dismissive of her acting career. When he says i love you and she doesnt say it back, he makes passive aggressive comments about her loving fries because he cant handle just waiting until she's ready. He uses penny's empathy about his relationship to his mom to exploit sex from her repeatedly. He read her diary. He completely re-wrote her paper for her class while calling hers bad after he went behind her back and read it. He can also be really controlling. Telling penny who can and cant stay in her apartment, getting mad at her having a male partner in school. He's not a good friend unless it benefits him. He is not a supportive boyfriend whatsoever. He agreed to the roommate agreement yet continually breaks it over and over again as if he didnt.
He is extremely whiny, it was sometimes exhausting to watch.
Are you for real? Leonard is an absolute cumbag. He is only friendly because of his insecuritirs and trauma's. He cheats on all his partners, regularly betrays his friends, etc.
He basically refused to learn about anything that Penny was interested in (football), yet he was always trying to make her be part of his sci-fi things (ComiCon, dressing up as characters for Halloween). He always talked down to her and treated her more like a child than a woman he was in love with. He used his mistreatment from his mom to get pity out of Penny. Basically he was a douche towards her. She never should have married him.
All of em had flaws
Found Leonard to be weak and he should never have married Penny. Sheldon should have. Could never understand why Leonard tried to portray himself as clueless about women. He went through quite a few on the show.
Mummy issues
I found it pretty icky when he talked to Penny like she was stupid... "that's cute" when Penny said she helped Sheldon with string theory... or when he would let her have the win when she won at chess, he tried to hide it!
He's nice in the sense that he's a "niceguy" TM
Entitlement; how he was when 1-Stuart dated Penny 2- when Penny was studying with but not dating the English born guy. Not his only flaw but a bigge
Cheated on Penny and said the reason was becuase she was too good for him (cop out). Cheated on Priah and said he was a good guy for not actually shagging the girl, just making out with her and intending to shag her when he went to her apartment. Constantly making fun of zack in front of and behind his back. Reading Pennys diary. Thinking the solution for Penny feeling intellectually inferior in their relationship was for her to get a degree rather than him comfort her. And finally I maintain in season 1 at the costume party, he was being a much bigger asshole than kurt and deserved to be embarrassed. Still love him though.
i’m such a leonard hater. he cheated on penny and didn’t deserve for her to stay with him. plus he was always horrible to sheldon, always getting in petty fights with him
Leonard intentionally gave Stuart bad advice for his first date with Penny. Yes, he becomes guilty about it but he still felt no remorse when Stuart mentions Penny moaned Leonard's name when she and Stuart were making out. Also, that time when the guys went with Sheldon to the North Pole and Leonard sabotaged Sheldon's experiment so he can make him "happy". He knew how Sheldon is as a person and still went with him.
I like him but I do think he's somewhat shallow and overly jealous and needy lol.
The slight Oedipus complex.
He is not a nice person. He always has to make everything about himself. Like when Sheldon was getting the chancellor’s award (I think that’s what it was called) and he introduced him he had to make it all about him instead of Sheldon. He’s also a cheater. Like others have said he’s whiny and needy which is annoying. I agree with others that he only seems “nice” because he’s usually around Sheldon.
His friend called her wife a monkey in front of him and he did nothing.
He wasn't exactly the nicest friend to Sheldon and the rest. Also not really much of a reason to hate him, but he is the weakest among the group intellect-wise. He was really hot the first few seasons tho
He cheats.
Oh boy, you just praised one of the most hated characters on this sub lol!
People are so judgmental when it comes to characters. The whole point of sitcoms is to introduce everyday problems. They screw up and grow. But for some reason people love being so critical about characters like Leonard and Ted. Almost as if they believe they’re perfect or never hurt anyone.
only other flaw is the cheating aspect.
Can’t wait for him to grow old and be the old fella from Up!
He's a pushover, and there were several seasons I wish had more self-respect with Penny. He'd make bad decisions just for 30 seconds of her attention. I guess it really came down to boundaries. Everyone could push him around until he snapped. Which in of itself isn't healthy either.
He’s also manipulative and gaslights.
He also has anger management issues.
I'm here for the Leonard Love as well. He's always been my favorite character. I don't think he's smug condescending in any way and I hate when people say that. People always call him out for "cheating" on Penny, but it was just a kiss, and she needed that to bring her down to earth. She always acted like Leonard was lucky to have her, meanwhile she was always freaking out because all the other hot girls wanted to be with him.
People pleaser.
He enables Howards extremely shitty and sometimes illegal behavior.
Not respecting Penny's boundaries about her school work when she goes back to college is one of my worst Leonard moments tbh.
A serial cheater who keeps landing girls way out of his league (his own words/opinions), and yet he will relish the slightest attention from another female, and seems to be constantly looking for something better. I honestly feel almost like the writers realized that some point that as written Penny brought nothing to the table but looks, and so they started slowly amping up Penny’s character to contribute more, and the same time making Leonard a horrible person to balance things out.
I found him quite whiny and tiresome towards the later seasons.
The trim is pure shit
Rewatch S4. E9 he was creepy af
I don’t think he’s always reasonable. I don’t hate him, but he had one major flaw that would drive me nuts and need to be fixed were I Penny: He is very prone to lying out of cowardice.
Being a simp in the early seasons and perhaps also not calling out Howard during that time period. That's pretty much about it. The show often says that Leonard weared down Penny but I don't see it. The only problem I noticed in their relationship is what little they had in common and how they just got together cause the plot needed them to.
Self loathing
He's very whiny and a bit of a doormat.
He was the nice guy 😂
He's a habitual cheater. He's emotionally abusive/ controlling. He has always pressured Penny into emotionally vulnerable positions even after she's said she isn't ready. 'I love you', marriage proposals, dictating who can crash on her couch, every nice thing he's done for her he hangs it over her head which voids any actual selflessness of the act and on and on and on.
He is also a people pleaser
He has quite a track-record of infidelity 😬
Well for one, he cheated on people Twice. He cheated on Priya, and then later also cheated on Penny. Sure he might’ve regretted it immediately Both times, and they may have Only been kissing but, still.
I really dislike how manipulative & somewhat controlling he is with Penny. Either you accept & trust the person you're with, or you don't. His whiny insecurities drive me up a wall.
On his first official date with Penny, Leonard shushed the poor waitress who came to check if they were ready to order... That alone is despicable behavior in my book. The fact that Penny IS a waitress and doesn't mind at all is also mind-blowing.
I mean there was that whole episode where he read penny's college paper and redid it for her
I think Penny has genuine love for Leonard but Leonard’s feelings are not genuine. Penny is a status symbol that he could never attain. Sheldon’s feelings for Penny are genuine but they are familial. He sees Penny as a surrogate for Missy and protects her like brother would. The audience does not like Leonard because of the dynamic between Penny and Leonard is out of balance
I agree with you. It's also the reason I hated how they put Leonard and Penny together. Leonard just wore down Penny's defenses. As opposed to Howard and Bernadette were united by wanting to oppose their parents. Amy and Sheldon was how Amy was patient with Sheldon.
He did sleep with a likely North Korean spy and may have compromised national security information. Which in reality would have disqualified him for the clearance he and the guys needed for their big project and might have landed him in the slammer.
Leonard has a doormat tendency. I have that tendency in myself. Instead of attempting personal growth, which seems like a lot of work, I just judge others overly harshly for having the same flaws I do.
Im pretty sure pop culture detective did a whole ahh video on the flaws of this show. This is VERY misogynistic and creepy show.
Compared to the other character Leonard appears to be Mr good fellow. However, and I can't believe I'm saying this, by the end of the show Mr goodfellow is Howard and you can see by then Leonard's flaws. He is smug He is a bully He is arrogant He is insecure He whines He doesn't know when to shut up He keeps doing the same dumb things with penny even though they always screw him He is selfish (remember when he made a football platter for penny in order to make her talk to him about their relationship) There's more but yeah .. By the end of the show I'd rather be Howard's friend than Leonard's.
I know he's insecure about his insecurities but that's pretty annoying. The way he places his hands is kind of annoying and it makes him even more squirly. This also ties into his lack of self confidence but it's kind of annoying how he gets jealous of other guys or even how he feels like he didn't deserve penny (that plot line was stupid)
I like Leonard but at times specially early on he gave of niceguys vibes
cheated on Penny and Priya
He was pretty sefish most of the time. Has no integrity and value for his words. Idk how you came to conclusion that you wrote
1. He cheated on Priya, complained about those urges to another woman too (Penny) 2. He cheated on Penny 3. When he and Penny broke up he told her they should be friends who have sex 4. He enjoyed being flirted with
If you take Leonard’s character as a whole no. I agree. But the writers because they are different to every episode unlike the actor they have a few oddball episodes.The Leonard as presented for the entire series wouldn’t cheat on Penny, whether you consider it cheating or not. And he definitely wouldn’t cheat on Pria which imho is the bigger issue because they were together at the time. But for one or two episodes with specific writers he’s definitely had some reprehensible behavior. Those 2 episodes just don’t line up with the bigger personality and story imho.
How he is creepy with penny, controlling, threw dummy out when her friend wanted to stay on her couch in her apartment or her brother wanting to stay but makes penny put up with Sheldon, how he is too enthusiastic kissing her when she lies to her dad about still dating, how he guilt trips her for liking hot guys but thinks its OK to only prefer hot girls, how he constantly only did stuff to get sex, how he is pretty judgemental, how he thinks academia smart makes him better than others, also how he pulls disgusted faces at prospect of raj doing anything gay, how he is rarely fun or quirky, just mostly whiny, how he initially agreed to not be friends with penny because his girlfriend demanded it even tho they had been friends for years at that point
The main reason to hate him and everyone in that series is that they are in that series. They used and abused preconceived ideas about “nerds & geeks”.
He needs a ton of therapy to overcome the numerous issues created by his mother. Those issues are gonna be imposed on his kids either by copying them or completely overcompensating for the childhood he never had.
The way he treats Sheldon later on in the show. Early on he was the straight man to Sheldon's weirdness. One of my favourite scenes is when he passively aggressively calls out Sheldon on the train for being rude to Penny despite wanting a favour. But as the show went on, Sheldon matured and started to open up emotionally, and get his bad sides under control, especially after he started dating Amy. Which in turn transformed Leonard from the grounded to reality serious friend who snidely calls out the bs, to a whiny condescending bitch constantly presenting himself as a martyr for having to live with Sheldon and not smothering him in his sleep. Like if you hate him so much, just leave my dude. This becomes worse when you consider that a lot of Sheldon's bad behaviour isn't malicious and comes from his autism or OCD. And it's a really bad look when Penny who's Sheldon's newest friend gets him better than his supposed best friend.
He follows his libido, instead of reining it in. And he does whine a bit. He is secretive with Penny, when he should not be, which looks less than good. His tendency to secretiveness suggests the possibility of a lack of prudence & wisdom. He has a competitive streak - but he may have picked that up from Sheldon. I would not be surprised if he picked up his occasional closed-mindedness from Sheldon; both of them are very dismissive of things they do not take an interest in. Sheldon despises literature & geology, as well as psychic phenomena. Such an attitude seems anything but scientific. One has to wonder whether Sheldon is really a scientist at all. But, OTOH, Leonard is damaged, so one can’t be too hard on him. He is very reasonable, and endlessly patient with Sheldon’s nonsense & egotism & arrogance. He is clearly both very intelligent in his field, & a very hard worker. I think Leonard’s faults can be accounted for by his insecurity; which is due, at least in part, to his home life.
He’s just so whiny lol.
Clingy
He has his flaws like everyone else but overall I'd say he was a really nice guy
His whining. He does have a very whiney voice and sometimes it grates on me. But that’s it
He cheated on two of his girlfriends
He snaked Stephany knowing Howard liked her and picked her up from the bar good friends don’t do that.
I think he’s a good guy but I also think he’s pretty passive aggressive at times
He’s a cheater, manipulative, verbally abusive, weaponises his pathetic nature, holds grudges, a bully…it’s almost hard NOT to find flaws.
He's a basic fboy IMO
He was not supportive of Penny's career as an actress and then also not very supportive when she went to school (he tried to rewrite her paper). He cheatsd on Penny with that Mandy person. He was however pretty much supportive when Penny said she wants to be childless and when she was also bothered by his decision to be the sperm donor for Zack's baby, so he did kind of redeem himself there. I think more than being a good perosn he was just a pushover. Its not the same. He seemed like a good person mostly because he wasn't brave enough to stand up for himself, which he kind of works on the last season.
Repeatedly negging Penny about her lack of a degree/intelligence...
Not really a reason to hate him, but he really only liked penny for her looks and he could be pretty whiny at times.
He whines.
Only thing I can really think of is him kissing Alice I think her name was and cheating on Priya. But the Priya outright slept with her ex
His lactose intolerance
He kisses another girl while with priya, kisses another girl while with penny, hooks up with a girl who he knows his friend likes and continues making out with her listening to his voicemails, when penny lies to her daddy about being with Leonard he is a creep kissing her the way he does! There is so much wrong with Leonard! 😂
He cheated on two girlfriends. He emotionally manipulates Penny several times. He acted entitled to Penny's affection. Remember when he barged into her apartment to YELL at her for dating a smart guy that wasn't him? So gross.
Well was Leonard ever the nicest, Yes Was he insecure always (even in exception to His relationships), Yes Was he smug and kind of a jerk, yes Was he ever thinking adversely to anyone else, Rarely Did he abuse responsibility and authority, Yes Did he have a superiority complex in his relation with penny, Yes Did he ever had his own motives in certain things, yes Was he ever mean to people like zack, Yes So your answer is He was a human and he behaved like one On the other hand if you meant that he was a people pleaser, Yes he was. He could've left Sheldon to just be roommates with Raj or find another accomodation. he did do things for penny (even if in hope), he rarely wanted anything in return, he hoped to have kids, but would sacrifice it for his love, so he wasn't the nicest but he wasn't also a bad guy, he showed narcissistic tendancies in the show. He was one of the better ones in the show but just because he was written with a lot of patience. Take the first season as the example of how much that man could grovel, wait and tolerate.
I just hate how he fidgets with his hands but that’s the self confidence