Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory has had one of the most questionable character progressions on the show. When she was introduced, she was hardly the toughest and the bossiest friend on the squad but evolved a lot over the years. Despite being a good friend, a great mom, and a terrific scientist, Bernadette’s meanness has often alienated her fans, who found it unrelatable.
=More importantly, some of her storylines are actually quite wonky and clumsily designed, which offers no real perspective to viewers as to who she really was as a person. Here are just some of the Bernadette storylines which make no sense on the show:
The One With The Dinner
Everyone gets a little silly when they're egged on by friends but Bernadette’s weird and obnoxious behavior at the dinner with Howard, Leonard, and Priya wasn’t something random or even funny. She made up ridiculous and rather bad lies about Penny’s career and her love life, which was quite unrealistic because these lies are very easily proven wrong. It's important to note that Bernadette was not okay with Amy's idea and that’s what makes this even weirder because Bernadette could have put her foot down. Amy got some kind of thrill by pitting Penny against Priya but Bernadette could have easily said no.
When She Shames Penny For Not Wanting Kids
In the fifth season, it’s revealed that Bernadette does not want kids, but she eventually changes her mind about having children. But why then, would she shame Penny for not wanting children? Clearly, she would understand Penny’s perspective since she herself shared her opinion just a few years ago.
Instead of being supportive she actually lectures Penny about how important it is to have kids and how she’s selfish to not explore motherhood. This ill-designed and inconsistent storyline on The Big Bang Theory has been called out by many fans.
The Moving-In Declaration
Bernadette is shocked when she finds out that Howard expects her to move into his mother’s home after their wedding. Bernadette clearly had strong reservations about the idea of her living with Howard’s mom, and would have brought it up as soon as they started discussing marriage considering she’s a forward-thinker and is better adjusted than Howard. She has known about Howard’s living situation all along and was also aware of Howard’s immense dependence on his mom, so it makes no sense that Bernadette and Howard never had the talk about their living situation ahead of time.
The Pre-Nup Storyline
The fact that Bernadette listened to her father about a prenup agreement is just inconsistent with her character. Bernadette has always been transparent about her priorities and if she herself wanted a prenup to protect her finances, she would definitely have told Howard.
But she insists that her father is making her do it, but it’s unlikely that Bernadette, being the strong-willed person that she is, would obey her father in this situation, especially considering it was hurtful to Howard.
Her Ignorance About Howard’s Past
It makes absolutely no sense that Bernadette was so shockingly ignorant about Howard’s problematic history. Right before their wedding that Bernadette was left disgusted by Howard’s past creepy behavior. But considering how the gang constantly takes jibes at one another and there are so many potshots flying around, it would have been impossible for someone as smart as Bernadette to miss the clues. They have been together for a while and Howard’s history as a 'creep' and a womanizer was a matter of public record, and it’s implausible that Bernadette had missed all the clues over the years.
The Kiss Debacle
It’s revealed that Howard and Bernadette knew about Leonard and Mandy’s kiss during the North Sea expedition, which caused a rift in Leonard and Penny’s marriage. Bernadette chose not to tell Penny which is rather strange. It’s entirely possible that she thought it wasn’t a big deal and she could obviously see how happy Leonard and Penny made each other and decided to sit on this information. But Bernadette’s excuse for not telling Penny was very uncharacteristic of her and was quite lazily scripted.
The Symposium Screaming Match
There's no way any scientist would do what Bernadette did during the symposium. To be fair, it’s not all on Bernadette, Howard and Raj were being equally obnoxious. But the whole sequence where Howard and Bernadette have a loud fight during a serious, big ticket science symposium for all the audience to hear is very unrealistic.
There were so many other ways the writers could have depicted existing tensions between the two, but a full-blown fight over a petty romantic jealousy during a major event makes very little sense.
When She Humiliated Amy
Despite her reputation as a toughie, it makes no sense for Bernadette to make so many below-the-belt comments about Amy and Sheldon’s non-existant sex life. Both Penny and Bernadette have often taken potshots at Sheldon and Amy’s relationship which is really uncalled for considering each relationship is different. But more importantly, it’s not a one-off thing, Bernadette has done it more than once, which is weird because she cares about Amy a lot. It also didn’t make any sense for things to get so heated between Amy and Bernadette during the parking lot fight since it didn’t involve them directly.
Her Workplace Behavior
There’s no way a high-flying executive like Bernadette can be such a bully at work and get away with it. Bernadette wasn’t just a pushy colleague and a mean boss but she was also quite nasty to others without any reason which promoted a toxic culture. It’s soon revealed that all her co-workers are terrified of her, and Bernadette was shown to be snapping at fellow co-workers and interns all the time. She would often scream at people at work, and it’s unbelievable that no one ever reported her to HR or even called her out on her behavior.
When She Ratted Out Howard
Bernadette knew Howard and his mother have a co-dependent relationship and he had a lot of anxieties about telling his mother about his first visit to the International space station to install a deep field space telescope. Bernadette herself wasn't comfortable with the idea of Howard going to space, and dropped the news to Howard’s mother which made things much harder for Howard. This was a plot hole because in the same episode Bernadette and Howard talked about how honest communication is important, and it makes no sense that instead of sticking to her opinion and making Howard see her point, she would lie to Howard and go behind his back.