Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)/WMG

Bertie isn't as nice as he seems.

In reality, he's a twisted version of The Pollyanna. His cheerful demeanor is due to some serious repression, resulting from a lifetime of mistreatment by his friends and relatives. The reason he goes along with whatever his aunts/the Drones/Jeeves say is that, if he examines his own desires too closely, his wall of repression will collapse and he'll end up going on a murderous rampage. In all likelihood, his apparent stupidity is also a front to protect him from the reality that everyone he knows is a Jerk Ass. This explains why someone as "mentally negligible" as Bertie is such a brilliant writer.

• Until he becomes so wearied with the act that he completely sheds his cheerful persona, moves to America, and becomes a brilliant, JerkAss, diagnostician.
  • He'd be at least one hundred by then. House, however, would not be... Maybe if Bertie found some way of traveling in time?
• I have to say, I half believe this theory. It seems even more plausible in the books, and I find myself reading between the lines for Bertie's hidden angst.
• My own theory holds that tea works on Bertie like a drug. You know how he acts before he has his tea? That's his real personality. Notice how it's a lot more imperious and self-assertive.

"Leave me. I would be alone."

There is no Jeeves.

He's just the Imaginary Friend of a sad, lonely man who lives alone-- a kind of Anti-Tyler Durden, if you will.

The books are a tribute to all the author's dead friends.

The books are in Christie Time- and full of feckless, foolish, harmless, silly, innocent men. Since the great war didn't happen, they happily avoided dying in charges on entrenched positions, choking on mustard gas, and suffering from PTSD. Instead, shenanigans and fancy clothes. Sort of an Alternate Ending for the Edwardian era.

Jeeves is robbing Bertie blind.

What other reason would Jeeves benefit from serving Bertram Wooster? It's obvious he has aptitude for The Plan (pretty much every story is solved thanks to Jeeve's pulling one of this behind Bertie's and the reader's) and he has admitted that has accepted the fact he will have no other job after this one... one has to wonder who manages Bertie's finances...

• Highly plausible. I might add that Bertie is pretty free with his money and can't say no to anything, so Jeeves probably does this with his master's permission. (In one story, Jeeves owed someone money and asked to borrow fifty dollars. The answer was, of course, yes.)

Jeeves is a Time Lord.

He is intellectually superior to everyone in the universe, has a prescient knowledge of how Bertie's plans are going to turn out, enjoys helping people, and seems to have all the answers. He also manages to convince everyone that he is in fact a woman in one episode, and moreover one attractive enough to be hit on multiple times, despite the fact that he does not look like one.

Jeeves is Iago

And Bertie is Roderigo. Both are brilliant manipulators who are capable of controlling the slightest actions of every other character. Both play Batman Speed Chess with their social superiors and employers. And Jeeves has a history of manipulating Bertie for purely selfish reasons- the very first story he appears in has him breaking Bertie's engagement because the girl would have fired him. The only difference is the character's self images, which makes Jeeves after he worked out the inferiority complex.

Jeeves is an Igor

A la Discworld. He disdained the family history for surgery, as well as the name, lisp, limp, and appearance, but has kept up being an extremely smart and efficient servant. He's always there when called for, never questions the Master, and is two steps ahead of the wildest scheme.

Honoria is a closet lesbian

The more likely a man is to say yes, the more terrifying she becomes. She is also known to be fond of active pastimes with female friends which would provide cover for other pursuits.

Reggie Pepper is Bertie's son

They have the exact same personality, what? And Reggie = Reginald = Reginald Jeeves! Obviously, Bertie named his son after his best friend.

Why, then, is he Reginald Pepper and not Reginald Wooster? There are any number of possible reasons for this. Wooster could be a pen name. Alternatively, young Reggie could simply be using an alias to get away from his dad's embarrassing reputation. (As of The Inimitable Jeeves, rumors that Bertie is insane have been flying free and fast--who knows how much that line of thinking has skyrocketed since?)

• This all begs the question, who is Reggie's mother? One of Bertie's harem?

Bertie has dependent personality disorder.

Let's run through the symptoms. Extreme Doormat, unambitious, zero confidence in his own abilities, openly lets his valet run his life for him. (His reasoning being that, after all, Jeeves is better at it, right?) Afraid of what will happen if he ever loses Jeeves. Constantly seeks sympathy. Stays at the houses of people who can take care of him when Jeeves isn't around. In something of an Establishing Character Moment in "Extricating Young Gussie", he drifts around New York City looking for someone to help him, despite not knowing anybody there, and proceeds to "put [him]self unreservedly into the hands" of some random bartender.

Yes, I got the link to the Wikipedia article from the Living Emotional Crutch page, but it seems to fit like a glove.

Bertie is an Unreliable Narrator.

He's Obfuscating Stupidity; Jeeves, if he exists, is actually just an ordinary, unremarkable valet. Bertie is just reattributing a series of schemes that he thought up himself.

This can easily lead into the next WMG...

Bertie is secretly Batman.

The very first. He uses his Rich Idiot With No Day Job persona to hide the fact that he goes out at night to catch criminals. Jeeves is, of course, the forerunner of Alfred.

Jeeves is a TV Genius.

We're seeing him from Bertie's perspective, after all. In reality, he's smart, but not quite to the level he is in the books. (For instance, it may actually take him a little thinking before he whips out a scheme, and he doesn't always talk in that formal, casual manner.)

Bertie really is insane.

Seriously, this isn't that much of a stretch; it's probably canon. What sane person would act like him? And note that this explains his writing. "Insane" does not equal "stupid".

The only reason he hasn't been scooped up and tossed into "some sort of a home" is that Jeeves keeps his reputation up and takes care of him. In one story, Aunt Dahlia goes so far as to tell Bertie that the only reason he's not in a padded cell is that she has "influence with the lunacy commissioners."

In Thank You, Jeeves, Jeeves was planning to go back to Bertie all along.

He initially gave his notice because he hoped it would make Bertie change his mind about moving to the country. When that didn't work, he signed up with Chuffy, having deduced that Bertie wanted to rent a house from him and knowing that this would guarantee his (Jeeves's) presence exactly where he'd be needed. He knew enough about Bertie's psychology to realize that the banjolele obsession wouldn't last, so he set everything up so that he could keep an eye on Bertie and rejoin his service as soon as the hated instrument was retired.

Brinkley was in league with Jeeves.

Jeeves knew him from the valet agency and told him to act as insane and unreliable as possible so that Bertie would have second thoughts. Brinkley also did Jeeves the favor of burning down the house that contained the banjolele.