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Leonard Hofstadter started out as the relatable heart of The Big Bang Theory, but by the series finale, he had become one of the show's most divisive characters. While Sheldon, Howard, and Raj all experienced meaningful growth, Leonard seemed to become more jealous, manipulative, and unlikeable with each season. So what happened?
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Well, there was this girl. What did you do? Nothing. Really, it was just kissing
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And then what? And then nothing. I stopped it. Wait, when did Leonard become such an insufferable jerk? Wasn't he supposed to be the likable straight
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man of the group? Let's be honest, every sitcom needs one. An audience surrogate who's at least
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a little grounded in reality. Someone who can shake their head in disbelief at the annoying
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antics of our more cartoonish characters, someone we can relate to. In the case of the Big Bang
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Theory, Leonard Hofstadter was our guy, or at least he was supposed to be. As the years dragged
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on, Leonard's character steadily deteriorated while the rest of the cast was allowed to grow
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into actual productive members of society with healthy, robust relationships. By the end of the
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show's run, though, Leonard was arguably just as annoying as Howard was in the first season
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So how did our most unassuming nerd go from fan-favorite to fan-frustration
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Seriously? You're getting career advice from a psychic? Good job not making fun of her
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We've talked quite a bit about the Big Bang Theory on this channel. We've talked about everything from evolving Raj's character into an actual person instead of a stereotype
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to bringing on Bernadette and saving the show. The Big Bang Theory got a lot right across this 12-year run, but it also got a lot wrong
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And perhaps no sin was so great as the one committed against Leonard's character
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When the Big Bang Theory first exploded onto our screens in 2007
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the character of Leonard Hofstadter, as played by Johnny Galecki, very quickly became a beloved pop culture fixture
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Was he nerdy? Absolutely. Socially awkward? Definitely. Maybe a little too whiny and down on himself
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Yeah, sure. But he was also just a normal, relatable guy, especially when compared to his roommate Sheldon and the rest of his eccentric friend group
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As the only character with basic social awareness and decorum, Leonard provided a bridge for audiences to more comfortably cross over into a world of weirdos
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He could participate in late-night World of Warcraft raids and still managed to say hi to the pretty girl next door
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Kind of. Oh, hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. He anchored the rest of the cast by admonishing the worst of their behavior
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yet still struggling with his own insecurities and indulged in unconventional hobbies
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and that made him endearing, not just to viewers, but to that pretty girl next door
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After several seasons of ups and downs, Penny eventually succumbed to Leonard's dorky charms
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and by the show's finale, they even tied the knot and started a family Is there a better match made in sitcom heaven than the ditzy blonde and nerdy boyfriend archetype It almost sounds like the plot of a happily ever after style fairy tale
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But while Leonard's story might have ended in sitcom perfection on paper
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it was kind of a nightmare in practice. By the time The Big Bang Theory aired its final episode in 2019
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most of the characters had seen some tremendous growth in their personal and professional lives
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Howard and Sheldon saw especially big developments, with Howard maturing out of his pathetic attempts at womanizing
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to become a genuinely loving husband, father, and astronaut, and the socially ostracized Sheldon going on to win a Nobel Prize with his wife Amy
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Sure, both of them got their respective girls in the end, but the real triumph was how their characters changed over the course of the show
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They became robust people rather than dorky caricatures. They learned from their past mistakes and worked on their most negative traits to improve themselves
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And from those improvements came their successes. Hell, even Raj learned to talk to and respect women
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The funny thing about life is that, you know, sometimes something you think is going to be
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going to be great. Does he ever shut up? But what about Leonard? He started the show with
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the most promise. Surely he had nowhere to go but up, right? Well, no. His character actually
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took a major nosedive rather quickly. Yes, Leonard, I am insecure. Happy? No, not happy
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The reality is that Leonard was always kind of a self-important and manipulative guy
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but we could forgive him for his early indiscretions because he was the most normal member of the core friend group. There was still time for him to learn from those moments of
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weakness. Or so he thought. As early as season two, Leonard started to show his true colors when
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he gave Stuart intentionally bad advice so his date with Penny would be a disaster
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It wasn't bad advice, it just wasn't particularly helpful. For what it's worth, my mother says that when we deceive for personal gain, we make Jesus cry
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But at least he felt a little bad about it in the moment. You can't say the same thing about
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Leonard by the end of the series. This sort of thing would become stock standard for him as his
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character regressed into dark places we never could have conceived of in earlier seasons
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The best thing you can say about Leonard is that by the time the Big Bang Theory ended
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he had gained some level of self-confidence. A lot of that had to do with him finally confronting
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his issues with his mother, which was an arc that was definitely a worthy inclusion in the show
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However, more often than not, that self-confidence leads him to say and do some downright cruel things
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And unfortunately, the decline of his character and behavior can be linked pretty clearly
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to his relationship with Penny. The more serious he and Penny got the more Leonard started to embody all the worst flaws he used to call his friends out for He was mean manipulative disrespectful unfaithful and whiny through it all And on some level that makes sense
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If The Big Bang Theory were a 90-minute rom-com we all piled into theaters to watch in 2007
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the credits would have rolled after Leonard got back from the North Pole and Penny kissed him
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But this is a long-running sitcom. The writers didn't have the luxury of fading to black once the two leads got together
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The will-they-won't-they dynamic between Leonard and Penny took up the bulk of the first two seasons of Big Bang's runtime
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And after they made things official, the writers had to continue manufacturing new ways to keep the characters and their relationships interesting for viewers
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Now, one of the tried-and-true methods to do that is with an impermanent breakup, which the Big Bang theory gave us in season three and really marked a turning point for Leonard's character
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So while we were going out, how often would you pretend to like things just to have sex with me
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All the time. This is the mindset you'd expect of a character like Howard, not Leonard
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And while your first instinct might be to dismiss this moment as him just being bitter about the breakup
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that argument doesn't hold much water, especially because things only got worse from here
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In season four, Leonard starts up a relationship with Raja's sister, Priya
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against his friend's explicit plea that he stay away from her. And what does Leonard do with his second chance at love
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He cheats on her. I met this girl and I kissed her and I feel terrible about it, but it's done
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It's never going to happen again. and I am so, so sorry. But as frustrating as Leonard is to watch
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his actions are not his fault. I mean, they are, but it's really the fault of the writers
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for making him so annoying. Considering what a middle-of-the-road kind of guy
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Leonard was originally written to be, it's no surprise they struggled to find ways
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to keep his story fresh. It's almost impossible to write your show
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around the straight man after he's achieved whatever goal he's first set up with
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Just look at the Ted Mosby's and Jim Halpert's of the world. Sooner or later, they're either going to be upstaged by more entertaining characters
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or they'll be twisted into unlikable versions of themselves for the benefit of fleeting dramatic storylines
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On How I Met Your Mother, Ted took a backseat on his own show so Barney could step into the lead role
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And on The Office, Jim was made into a corporate drone who belittled his wife's accomplishments and almost ruined his marriage
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And Leonard? Well, he suffered from both of these regrettable phenomena. He was both pushed to the sidelines to make room for the other characters' arcs
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while simultaneously having his own character and relationship assassinated. Presumably, the writers saw the boring path his personal story was headed down and asked
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themselves what would really happen if a nerdy guy stumbled into a relationship with a woman he thought was out of his league And the only answer they seemed to come up with was a disproportionate ego jealousy and infidelity We all know how this ends though After a few tumultuous seasons of
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often insufferable drama, Penny and Leonard did get married, after he admitted to cheating on
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Penny in the season 8 finale. He was unfaithful to Penny just as he had been to Priya. And worse
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He waited to come clean until they were on their way to getting married
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That, above everything else, was the most obvious sign that Leonard was never going to learn his lesson
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The writers were dead set on making him an untrustworthy wildcard. Unlike the rest of his friends, Leonard was never going to make any real positive changes
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If anything, his character would only continue to degrade. Of course, Leonard and Penny's wedding occurred at the beginning of season 9
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which left viewers with four entire seasons of TV to watch their wheels spin
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Even in the best cases, when couples on sitcoms get married, things start to slow down
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They move out of those iconic shared apartments and into single-family homes
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They start to become more insular and focused on themselves and their partners, and less on the friends and social life they had before marriage
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By season 9, there was already increasing atomization on the Big Bang Theory
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and Leonard and Penny's marriage just made things worse. While Penny managed to earn herself a respectable new career, Leonard was left to stagnate
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He continued to make snide remarks about his wife and his friends. He stopped making any real significant career advancements
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And he stayed bitter and stuck in the same place while everyone around him managed to
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grow and change because he'd already fulfilled the role he was written for
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Even his more minor responsibilities had long since been stripped away. Though he was once Sheldon's closest colleague and confidant, those duties were offloaded
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onto Amy when she came into the picture. So much so that at the end of the show, it's Sheldon and Amy who win the Nobel Prize
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not Sheldon and Leonard. Raj eventually became his own person, so he no longer needed Leonard
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as a support structure, and Bernadette became the logical fixer of the group
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who called out bad behavior and encouraged the boys to come out of their shells and grow up
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We're eating the last food his mother ever made, and you are gonna throw it at each other like
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children? Whatever it is you're fighting about, put it aside, go back in there, be a good friend
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to Howard, or there's no desire for either of you! There was simply nothing left for a straight
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archetype like Leonard to do, so they made him into a drama factory instead. And the result is
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that while Leonard got everything he wanted, he also did a major backslide in terms of character
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development, somehow becoming worse in season 12 than he ever was in season 1