The Witch-Bang Theory

by JBean210

Penny meets her grandfather Maurice and learns she's a witch. How will she handle her new-found abilities and relatives? How can Leonard help her cope with them? And what will this mean for the future of their engagement and their relationship? A Big Bang Theory / Bewitched (Classic TV series) crossover.

14. Interlude

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Interlude

Some Thoughts on Episode 13

Updated 6/14/2015

Author's Notes—

If you freaked out at the end of episode 13, thinking, "No WAY that could ever happen to Penny and Leonard!" you're probably not alone. I'm sure a lot of people watching the TV show are rooting for them. I am, too. Penny and Leonard look like a dream come true: a pretty, savvy small-town girl and a socially-awkward geeky guy meet and something clicks between them, drawing them slowly but inexorably together over time, until they finally realize they are in love. They get together and live happily ever after.

Okay, now let's get real.

Leonard and Penny are very different people. They have both changed over time, but it seems like that happened despite their better judgements, not because of them. They both have flaws: Penny drinks too much. Leonard is a whiner. Penny is pushy. Leonard is a follower, not a leader, as evidenced by his eternal capitulation to Sheldon's whims and eccentricities. Penny only puts out 100 percent effort on things she's passionate about, and nothing else. She's convinced herself she's passionate about Leonard, but at one point she was ready to break up with him. Leonard lacks foresight, as indicated by his lack of retirement planning. Penny sometimes overreacts to a situation; in contrast, Leonard doesn't know when to shut up about a situation, most notably over the kissing incident in the North Sea. Do we really expect these two to get married and stay married, given these characteristics?

It's a hard call.

I really would like to see Leonard and Penny stay together for the rest of the TV show, but they are about due for another breakup, and the events in the last episode of season 8 may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. If they do break up in season 9, I don't think any hand-waving or smoke-and-mirror work by the production staff of BBT can put them back together afterwards without jumping the shark. That is, if they break up one more time, they're done. After you've broken up with a person at least three times, you might get a clue things aren't going to work out.

So, I don't think they'll break up in season 9, or at least it won't be called a breakup. I dearly hope they don't make the show jump the shark with a contrived situation that somehow breaks them up but gets them back together in an episode or two. If Penny and Leonard don't work things out in season 9 they are doomed to be apart forever.

As for the Witch-Bang Theory, we have one more episode / chapter to get through, and the one thing this story has got going for it is magic. That and Penny's witchy relatives, who aren't about to let anything bad happen to her if they can help it. Hopefully I can think up a reasonably satisfying ending to this tale. I'm starting on the final chapter after I post this short digression.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts or comments on the story, this interlude, or how you think the story could / ought to end, leave me a comment in the reviews section.

John