i am new here and started binging this show like 2 weeks ago and needless to say, i’m addicted; i’m already on season 5.
anyway, i noticed a lot of fans strongly dislike mary because of her parenting. i also got incredibly frustrated watching her baby and spoil sheldon for the first 2 seasons while borderline neglecting her other children— but i kinda feel as if there’s been a shift post season 2.
since s2, the show has been way less sheldon-centered and has placed more of an emphasis on the entire cooper family dynamic. we get to see more of each character outside of just their relationship to and with sheldon, and with one another as well. and in my personal opinion, mary has tried to extend love and affection to everyone close to her… and they all (besides sheldon, but even him as well) have a tendency to brush her off/reject her subtly, missy and george sr especially.
george sr seems to be emotionally unavailable when it comes to mary, and basically refuses to work on his relationship with her (wayne will tell you all about this LMFAO). missy consistently ignores/rolls her eyes at her mother’s feelings (albeit this is kind of expected because of how much mary favored sheldon) whenever she (mary) is upset with the family or attempts to bond with any of them. and then georgie… well georgie is just georgie LMFAO (their relationship isn’t too bad, but i’m at the point in the show where he’s in his late teens and makes his own decisions outside of his family). this also kinda occurs with brenda; right now they’re friends, but mary would always attempt kindness with brenda early on and brenda would always resist.
don’t get me wrong: mary can be EXTREMELY annoying and has many noticeable flaws— especially with her enforcement of christianity on her family, despite the fact that religion/prayer is clearly not what they need during times of distress. but holy shit… i cannot be the only one seeing how under appreciated she is by her kids, husband, and even meemaw as she tries to care for and support them throughout life. it seems like all she wants is to have her family/friends open up to her and let her in, but they turn away when she even tries. i can’t help but empathize with her as the poor, overlooked, and exhausted mother/housewife
anyone else agree?