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[adamant_turtle]

You know, the further into the seasons I get, the more I cringe watching the interactions between Carmine and Shirley. She totally uses him, and they just play it off like it's oh-so-cute. It seems clear to me that she really does love and care for him; but as a boyfriend or potential life partner, she always thinks she can do so much better. (He

Comments

[santaburger]

The Shirley/Carmine relationship is, for a number of reasons, one of my not-so-favorite things about the show. On the one hand, I felt like there was a great deal of potential there - the scene at the end of "A Date With Eraserhead," for instance, where they both say how much they care about the other, always struck me as wonderfully genuine and sweet. But, on the whole, I think you're absolutely right that she often treats him like a "backup" - she talks about marrying a doctor or other professional constantly, and we can imagine that if a doctor was to come along and propose marriage, she'd leave Carmine behind in a heartbeat (well, actually, we don't even have to imagine - we see it happen!) I suppose to be fair though, there were times when Shirley wasn't a priority for Carmine either (think Lucille Lockwash

[one_more_cherry]

The whole Shirley/Carmine thing is pretty fraught with problems, I think - there's no real fidelity when it comes to either of them, and the relationship was so on-and-off all of the time thattheir rooting value got compromised over the years.

Jamie points out a lot of issues the relationship had, and all of this because of the wildly inconsistant writing afoot.

Wait until you get to California and they riochett between being portayed as the Ultimate Ideal of a couple and being just friends to suit the plot at hand.