( Shaggy hearts Velma )

You know, I've been wondering about the Shaggy/Velma relationship in Mystery Incorporated ever since they announced the new episode a couple days ago. What was the point of putting them together if their ultimate objective was simply to break them apart? Its one thing to create drama and tension for a romantic relationship on TV to "break up the monotony" of a steady relationship, but it another to "demonize" the female character (Velma) by turning her into a control freak who doesn't seem appreciate the person she's with for who he is (thanks to some bad advice from Daphene for the most part) and appears to despise the close knit relationship between a man his dog (Shaggy and Scooby).

And the worst thing of it, Shaggy is such a push over about everything until she throws down the ultimatum of "The Dog or Me". I never got why they used the Shaggy/Scooby friendship for the basis of some weird ass love-triangle between the three, let alone why they'd make Scooby against the idea of Shaggy and Velma dating (or maybe I'm looking at that particular angle from the real world perspective, as I'm sure your pet really doesn't give a damn about who you date, so long as you continue to love and care for it. Maybe that's the angle they were aiming for, but it didn't come off that way for me), it gave me pause on more than one occasion.