What is the worst thing each character has done?

[JohnPhD]

Sometimes threads get quite judgemental, so I thought it might be worth bringing some of that together to identify the single worst thing each main character has done. To qualify an act must involve either malice or betrayal, and have at least one victim who is another character (so Bernadette's depriving "wheelchair Cathy" of bathroom access fails on all counts). The effect doesn't matter, nor does whether the victim seems particularly upset.

I'll start with the easy one. Penny has only done one really bad thing. In the much-loved 308 The Adhesive Duck Deficiency, Sheldon drove Penny to the ER in her car. In 316 the Excelsior Acquisition, it emerged that the car had been detected shooting a red light and Penny had informed traffic enforcement that Sheldon was driving. This has no malice but scores high on betrayal. Presumably Penny thought that as Sheldon didn't have a licence it wouldn't hurt him, but instead of asking if he'd mind she did it behind his back. When the consequence was Sheldon  missed Stan Lee's signing, Penny misled Sheldon into believing Stan Lee had agreed to Sheldon's visiting him at home, and ran away when Lee came to the door. The fact that Sheldon ended up quite happy with his restraining order from Stan Lee is irrelevant.

[djsurrey]

Well there is the classic Betrayal confessions:

 

[JohnPhD]

Sheldon is very often obnoxious, but not so often actually malicious. I think the worst thing Sheldon ever did was in 3.10 the Gorilla Experiment, which was high in betrayal and malice. The victims were both Penny and Leonard. When Penny asked Sheldon to teach her "a little physics" (infeasible as that might be) she was trusting him; and whereas she can usually give as good as she gets with Sheldon, here she was nervously going onto his ground. Sheldon was of course a completely useless teacher, and what we see is Penny being not stupid but completely brain-paralysed by S's intimidating manner. She stares at him like a rabbit caught in the headlights. But the betrayal is revealed later: Instead of teaching Penny anything or explaining why he couldn't, he taught her to say something which she believed sounded like intelligent discussion of Leonard's work but was actually Sheldon's dissing of it. This was malicious towards Leonard and as well as betraying Penny's trust might have harmed L & P's relationship. Leonard didn't seem upset but that's not a criterion.

[SRAM]

Sheldon planned then years later carried out the torture of Leonard with that wool sweater.  It was intentional, (he waited for a 'teachable moment'), he knew how it would hurt very allergic Leonard and he had no remorse.  Sheldon also received no punishment for what he did and Amy kept his secret that it was all planned.

[tallin]

Cheating. As much as I love Leonard, there writers just went way too far.

[djsurrey]

10 hours ago, JohnPhD said:

Sheldon is very often obnoxious, but not so often actually malicious. I think the worst thing Sheldon ever did was in 3.10 the Gorilla Experiment, which was high in betrayal and malice. The victims were both Penny and Leonard. When Penny asked Sheldon to teach her "a little physics" (infeasible as that might be) she was trusting him; and whereas she can usually give as good as she gets with Sheldon, here she was nervously going onto his ground. Sheldon was of course a completely useless teacher, and what we see is Penny being not stupid but completely brain-paralysed by S's intimidating manner. She stares at him like a rabbit caught in the headlights. But the betrayal is revealed later: Instead of teaching Penny anything or explaining why he couldn't, he taught her to say something which she believed sounded like intelligent discussion of Leonard's work but was actually Sheldon's dissing of it. This was malicious towards Leonard and as well as betraying Penny's trust might have harmed L & P's relationship. Leonard didn't seem upset but that's not a criterion.

Actually I think the worst Sheldon has done was what he tried to dish out to Amy when they were broken up.

[Stephen Hawking]

Two Howard instances come to mind.

The first is when he bribed Sheldon into wearing the French Maids outfit, in the cafeteria.

The other one wasn't shown, but was referenced.

It's where he gave Penny a Teddy Bear, containing a concealed webcam.

Edited August 11, 2016 by Stephen Hawking

[Kathy2611]

Bernadette.  When she tried to put Raj & Amy against each other in ping pong just so she could give away something that wasn't even hers.  Howard's Tartus (or whatever the hell it was....sorry, not a Dr. Who fan).

[April]

9 hours ago, Kathy2611 said:

Bernadette.  When she tried to put Raj & Amy against each other in ping pong just so she could give away something that wasn't even hers.  Howard's Tartus (or whatever the hell it was....sorry, not a Dr. Who fan).

It’s called the TARDIS, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S. That’s “Time and Relative Dimension in Space”.

[3ku11]

I am generally not bothered by anything the characters have done. Even their worst things. Heres my list of the "worst" things the characters did. 

Leonard: I laughed when he got with Priya behind Raj's back. I also laughed when Leonard got with Stephanie behind Howard's back. I Also laughed when he got with Alicia. She was hot who cares. It's not like him and Priya had a future, so no harm no Foul. 

Penny: I laughed when she told Howard you are going to die alone. IRonically Howard was the first one of the group to have kids and get married. I diddn't laugh when she got with Raj. It was reckless. But it was the middle part of the show, she was at rock bottom then. And techically she did nothing wrong, technically she was single, so no harm no foul imo. 

Sheldon: I kinda laughed when Sheldon dished out to Amy, when they broke up. That was just me though. I iddn't laugh when he constantly degraded his so called bf the whole series run. OR is degrading of Penny too. 

Bernadette: I kinda laughed when she betrayed Howard and told MRs Wolowitz, Howard is going to space. And Howard kicked her out LOL. That is just me though

Amy: PRobably when she told Leonard about the whole roommate agreement thing. That was not her place. I kinda laughed though. Because I like Sneaky and Manipulative Amy. Particularly when she does it with Sheldon

Howard: HE has not really done anything bad, really, that I Can think of. Prob the most harmless, and nicest character on this show

Raj: Where the hell do I begin . HE is just one big douche. In S2 he made LEonard beleive he slept with Penny, like the douche he is. Throughout S4 he fantizised about Berndadette. And hoped she dumped Howard, and was actually upset when they got engaged. Slept with Penny. I don't blame Penny, I blame Raj, He was more lupid. And to me you don't do that, you don't get with your mates EX. Partic when that women is your friend too. And then he keeped bringing up something that never happened reguarly. Lucy is the only character who has made Raj human, she is the only character who has made Raj tolerable and likeable. She needs to return asap. Then of course recently, using Claire and Emily liek objects. HE is just one big douche, and one of the most unliakble characters ever on TV. 

 

 I could go on and on, he is the king of doing bad things to innocent people. The only time I Did not laugh, was S8 finalie. Actually I wasen't laughing the whole season so guess that was no shocker. That s8 finalie officially takes the cake over S4 finalie, as the worst decision the show ever made. WOuld not be surprised if that was Lorre's handy work. S4 was through the middle of the show, Penny was single, so technically she did nothing wrong.

Although techincally the worst thing the character of Penny did. But by S8, when were at the end of the show. Lenny shown to be a mutualyl supportive relationship, with honesty and depth. Then we find out Leonard had been lieing since 7x01. It changed everything for me. LEonard was no longer the hero in my eye, a very flawed one. IT also sucked, he had been working with her. Look whether ot nor you think Leonard cheated (He did). The fact he had a tryst with a women, and decided to work with her? IS Leonard stupid lol? I mean I remember once in S7 was it The Raiders Minimization, Penny visited Leonard in his lab. What if she ran into an asian? Oh Hi, your Leonard's Girlfriend right? Yes I am. How do you know Leonard? Oh we work together. Of course Mandy forgot about the kiss LOL. But you know still. TO me Leonard lieing for two years, was worser then the actual kiss. I mean how many oppurtunities did he have to tell Penny, two years? He decided to drop it the moment before they were getting married? PAthetic Leonard, absoloutely PAthetic. But yeah thats me .

Edited August 12, 2016 by 3ku11

[Stephen Hawking]

9 hours ago, 3ku11 said:

I Also laughed when he got with Alicia.

The girl was Alice, not Alicia.

[Tensor]

Alicia was the woman who moved into 5A.  

[Stephen Hawking]

14 hours ago, Tensor said:

Alicia was the woman who moved into 5A.  

And neither Leonard, nor any of the others "got with" her.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Stephen Hawking

[BlackWhiteRose]

On 10.8.2016 at 9:41 PM, SRAM said:

Sheldon planned then years later carried out the torture of Leonard with that wool sweater.  It was intentional, (he waited for a 'teachable moment'), he knew how it would hurt very allergic Leonard and he had no remorse.  Sheldon also received no punishment for what he did and Amy kept his secret that it was all planned.

Oh man yeah that sweater that was pretty hard I wasn`t a huge fan of that either even for the fact that Johnny Galecki played that so well when his character Leonard suffered so much with that thing (the sweater).

[JohnPhD]

Our little Leonard has given us a surprising choice of misdeeds. The North Sea Snog and its aftermath have been fully discussed. I thought his behaviour towards Penny when Priya asked him to stop seeing her was pretty shitty - and L was to blame, not Priya. But maybe the worst was his betrayal of Sheldon in the arctic expedition. The fake data could have ruined S's rep as a scientist, which was the basis of S's sense of himself - you could call it an existential threat to S. And when H told S , his first reaction was "Surely Leonard wasn't part of this?". The guys had 2 decent choices - refuse to go on the expedition, or go along and work honestly and suck up Sheldon's predictable behaviour. Not what they did.

Not so far-fetched. I remember back in the last millenium there were one or two major discoveries published in physics that turned out to be artifacts of the electronic logic, but I don't know what te effect on the authors' careers was.

[nibbler747]

For me:

Leonard:  Falsifying Sheldon's Data (yes..yes..I know Sheldon should have checked it first), but I think it was a pretty awful thing to do.  They had another choice, of just leaving, but they didn't take it.

Sheldon:  Sheldon's comment about Amy's eggs was probably the cruelest thing he's said, as he knew it would hurt her deeply.

Penny:  Throwing David Underhill in Leonard's face.  Yes she was single, but she showed him that she suddenly had an interest in physics and what David did at Caltech right to Leonard.  That's a mean thing to do to someone you previously dated.

Howard:  I'm blanking...I can't think of where Howard's been terrible.  Perhaps not giving Raj an "out" when his mom kept him captive.

Raj:  Fooling around with Penny in Leonard's bed.  It didn't matter that Lenny were not together, you don't hook up with your friend's ex's.  And IN HIS BED!  Terrible...  Wishing Howard was dead so he could hook up with Bernadette, is high up on my list too.

Amy:  Calling for a break with Sheldon with zero explanation of why.  Hello...do you even know your boyfriend, and how not knowing would make him neurotic? 

Bernadette:  Belittling Howard in front of his friends (allowances, permission to spend money) etc.

[Judith]

I'd say Howard putting a camera inside one of Penny's stuffed bears is the worst thing that anyone has done in this show, ever.

[Stephen Hawking]

9 hours ago, nibbler747 said:

Howard:  I'm blanking...I can't think of where Howard's been terrible.

Making Sheldon wear the French Maid outfit?

[Jonny]

20 hours ago, nibbler747 said:

For me:

Leonard:  Falsifying Sheldon's Data (yes..yes..I know Sheldon should have checked it first), but I think it was a pretty awful thing to do.  They had another choice, of just leaving, but they didn't take it.

Sheldon:  Sheldon's comment about Amy's eggs was probably the cruelest thing he's said, as he knew it would hurt her deeply.

Penny:  Throwing David Underhill in Leonard's face.  Yes she was single, but she showed him that she suddenly had an interest in physics and what David did at Caltech right to Leonard.  That's a mean thing to do to someone you previously dated.

Howard:  I'm blanking...I can't think of where Howard's been terrible.  Perhaps not giving Raj an "out" when his mom kept him captive.

Raj:  Fooling around with Penny in Leonard's bed.  It didn't matter that Lenny were not together, you don't hook up with your friend's ex's.  And IN HIS BED!  Terrible...  Wishing Howard was dead so he could hook up with Bernadette, is high up on my list too.

Amy:  Calling for a break with Sheldon with zero explanation of why.  Hello...do you even know your boyfriend, and how not knowing would make him neurotic? 

Bernadette:  Belittling Howard in front of his friends (allowances, permission to spend money) etc.

I largely agree with nibbler though I think you could find several examples for each of the characters where they have displayed some kind of real shitty behaviour towards another character or let someone down.

Agreed on the Sheldon, Leonard and Amy ones and they are the first ones that come to mind. For Amy you could also add the time when she had Bernadette's feature cancelled on women in science because she thought it was demeaning to women, it wasn't her place to do that. Sheldon's behaviour on the train journey was also really bad I thought and I hated it. Leonard looking at Penny's history paper was also shady.

Penny's actions at the bowling alley are pretty high on my list, I know she let Will Wheaton get in her head in an attempt to screw over Sheldon but her behaviour I thought was pretty shitty. Then you had Penny mocking Amy during the D&D which caused her to run off.

Like you said Howard is difficult but probably like Stephen said the maid stuff and other things he made Sheldon do when he has already given his paper to Hawking was pretty shady. Maybe his initial reaction to the pregnancy was a bit hurtful to Bernie? That kitchen scene where he freaks out did seem to really hurt her especially as he was the one pushing for kids in the first place.

Raj and his current dalliance with two women is probably Raj at his worst and annoys me more than anything on the show right now.

Bernadette for me is those examples over several seasons where she made a comment towards Amy about her relationship with Sheldon. For example when Sheldon and Howard were fighting over the parking spot she made some really nasty comments towards Amy about her theoretical love life. There were a few other lines in other episodes as well.

The guys treatment of Stuart in the Viewing Party Combustion was dreadful.

I think you could find loads of examples for each character whether it's just a line or something bigger like a scene. None of these characters are saints but they seem to still be friends at the end of the day.

Edited September 3, 2016 by Jonny83

[Stephen Hawking]

4 hours ago, Jonny83 said:

There were a few other lines in other episodes as well.

The one that comes to mind for me, was this comment from The Misinterpretation Agitation:-

Bernadette: And I think you don’t like people expressing their sexuality because no one wants you to express yours.

[Pennyspizza]

First post on here and many of the 'worst' things have been posted already.

I thought Bernie's scratching of Amy's car was a particularly shitty thing to do. It was in the Parking Spot Escalation. There's bickering and assishness and then there's deliberate damage to a friend's car. It was good in terms of character profile because Bernie was shown to have a streak of ruthless loyalty to Howard and it added depth.

Sheldon trying to screw over Kripke was another one that hasn't been mentioned yet. Can't recall the name or season. It was where they both agreed to look at each other's work and Kripke played it fairly. Sheldon tried to trick Kripke by repeatedly giving him blank pages in a brown envelope.  Again, it was good for character development with Sheldon momentarily becoming mortal in his own eyes and more rounded to the audience.

[JohnPhD]

On 03/09/2016 at 8:30 PM, Stephen Hawking said:

The one that comes to mind for me, was this comment from The Misinterpretation Agitation:-

Bernadette: And I think you don’t like people expressing their sexuality because no one wants you to express yours.

In the context where it was said I think that's a fair judgement of Amy's character.

[Jonny]

21 hours ago, Pennyspizza said:

First post on here and many of the 'worst' things have been posted already.

I thought Bernie's scratching of Amy's car was a particularly shitty thing to do. It was in the Parking Spot Escalation. There's bickering and assishness and then there's deliberate damage to a friend's car. It was good in terms of character profile because Bernie was shown to have a streak of ruthless loyalty to Howard and it added depth.

Sheldon trying to screw over Kripke was another one that hasn't been mentioned yet. Can't recall the name or season. It was where they both agreed to look at each other's work and Kripke played it fairly. Sheldon tried to trick Kripke by repeatedly giving him blank pages in a brown envelope.  Again, it was good for character development with Sheldon momentarily becoming mortal in his own eyes and more rounded to the audience.

I didn't find that Kripke thing that bad, there was that one time I recall when he made fun of Kripke's speech impediment that was mjuch worse but as soon as he did it Sheldon apologized as he knew he shouldn't have done it. The Cooper/Kripke enemy/rivalry thing on the whole is pretty tame.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Jonny83

[spidergirl]

Sheldon is usually obnoxious, but not so , how is the corrected word?, offensive, I guess. I think the worst thing Sheldon ever did was , imo, his behavior after Amy left his place in the episode she tried to help him with the sense of closure. I know his thing with closure was driving him mad as she made him to not behave as his usual, but I really hate as he called his girlfriend of s**ker.

Edited September 7, 2016 by spidergirl1975

[nibbler747]

3 hours ago, JohnPhD said:

In the context where it was said I think that's a fair judgement of Amy's character.

Whether you agree with Bernadette's comment or not, it is still a cruel thing to say to Amy.