The Bernadette Fan Idea That Makes The Large Bang Idea Into A Sci-Fi Thriller

There are many wild theories about “The Large Bang Idea” on the market (which feels notably bonkers when you think about that we’re speaking a few laugh-tracked multi-camera sitcom created by Chuck Lorre), however this one about Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, the waitress turned microbiologist with a loopy excessive voice who marries Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) through the sequence, is particularly out of left area.

Over on the r/FanTheories subreddit, the appropriately named Redditor u/ConspirOC posited one thing fairly excessive about Bernadette. Titling the publish “Bernadette is a clone,” they have been then cautious to make clear, “Now the title mighty be barely deceptive [–] fairly a sequence of clones and never only a single clone.” The gist of the argument goes like this: Bernadette modifications a lot over the course of the present, and due to her harmful experiments at work — which she usually talks about in passing for laughs — her employers may “do unethical issues to maintain an asset working for them.” Additionally, the “kicker” right here is that, because the present progresses, Bernadette is “imply” to Howard. (In the event you ask me, Howard deserves all of it, however I digress.)

In keeping with this concept, there are two prospects at play right here. “Through the years of repeated cloning, her DNA has turn out to be barely corrupted and she or he is dropping elements of herself in every regeneration” is their first guess, and their second is as follows: “Each time she is regenerated, she remembers that she is a clone and is spliced with the reminiscences of the previous Bernadette, however a part of her remembers and resents Howard for entrapping her in a wedding she did not need and realizing she will not reside lengthy sufficient to develop to like him earlier than she is killed regardless of him being sort of an a**. She at all times remembers that she loves him however cannot keep in mind or really feel it. Or [similarly] she loves him and she or he distances from herself realizing someday they won’t clone her once more.”

With all due respect to this individual posting fan theories on Reddit, that is nuts, and never in a great way. Sure, Bernadette modifications all through “The Large Bang Idea,” and sure, she obtained sharper and pricklier, however that is a part of how character growth works. In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 guide “The Large Bang Idea: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Collection,” creator and showrunner Chuck Lorre truly addressed this actual factor, and author and govt producer Steve Holland principally mentioned that Melissa Rauch helped make the character that significantly better.

“Over time we made Bernadette considerably nefarious,” Lorre informed Radloff. “She was a cutthroat company character. You did not mess together with her. A part of the enjoyment of that was her voice is a superb instrument. It is like a piccolo on acid. After which, she’s tiny. So these two issues juxtaposed with this balls-to-the-wall killer lady who would not even assume twice about chopping some ethical corners to get issues finished … it was joyful to look at. The character grew to become a lot greater than what was initially created.”

Holland, for his half, agreed, saying Rauch’s efficiency actually ended up elevating the whole character. “We hadn’t fairly discovered that character in early episodes. Melissa labored greater than the character labored early on, so we had to determine the right way to make the character work,” he mentioned. “Bernadette did not actually perceive jokes at first, however that is positively not who she grew to become. Melissa simply popped.”

The truth is, Rauch’s portrayal of Bernadette grew to become so well-known that, when followers approached her on the road, they virtually appeared cowed by her. “There was quite a lot of joking from followers, like, ‘Are you going to yell at me?’ Or ‘You appear so good, however we all know how Bernadette is,'” Rauch mentioned within the guide earlier than happening to specific her gratitude for the best way her character advanced. “I used to be so excited to play that edge with Bernadette as a result of it wasn’t there in her first couple of episodes. The layers they gave to her, in the identical method that they gave layers to all of the characters, was so rewarding to play.”

Not solely did Bernadette naturally and efficiently evolve throughout “The Large Bang Idea,” however by means of her, the writers have been in a position to inform extraordinarily actual and human tales — like Bernadette’s struggles together with her first on-screen being pregnant. Within the season 10 episode “The Navy Miniaturization,” Bernadette worries about telling her coworkers that she’s pregnant, afraid that she’ll be faraway from the principle forged … and to say {that a} growth like this comes right down to “Bernadette being a clone” feels absurd and, truthfully, even somewhat insulting.

“Two of our exceptional writers, Maria Ferrari and Tara Hernandez, introduced the factor of a lady whose ardour was work, and the battle between work, motherhood, and cultural expectations of what [that’s like],” Chuck Lorre mused in Jessica Radloff’s guide about Bernadette’s groundbreaking being pregnant storyline (she additionally later worries that she lacks a “maternal intuition,” giving voice to real-life mothers who may need felt the identical method). “These are tales that we by no means anticipated within the creation of the present, however they have been actual. Folks responded to them as a result of they resonated. [Writer] Maria [Ferrari] was very decided to make the ‘mother’ tales one thing we hadn’t seen earlier than. She was a brand new mother whereas we have been doing the present, so these issues have been very a lot in her purview, and I believe helped steer Bernadette right into a a lot richer space, as a substitute of, Oh, here is a humorous scenario. She was conflicted over the place her priorities ought to be and what she was presupposed to be due to sure cultural expectations, versus I am merely who I’m. One way or the other we managed to stumble into making significantly better tales and the supporting gamers grew to become lead gamers, and each bit as vital as the unique forged.”

Bernadette’s non-clone journey is a big a part of “The Large Bang Idea,” which is streaming on Max now.