#pulaski

Honestly, I don't think that Dr. Pulaski's character failed to win over fans because of misogyny. I think she failed because the writers were trying to stick a square peg in a round hole. Like, yes, she has the same basic personality as Bones. But she's missing a lot of the important context that makes Bones work so well as a character. Bones is a grouchy asshole, yes, but he has a longstanding established position on the ship. Pulaski was, by necessity, a newcomer. Where Bones' attitude fit neatly into an established dynamic, Pulaski's felt like a disruption. For Bones, it felt like good-natured banter between old friends. It helps that he literally was best friends with Jim. Meanwhile, Pulaski just came across as outright hostile. It might have helped if Pulaski had had a strong preexisting relationship to someone on the crew. It didn't have to be Picard; Riker or Geordi would also have worked. There's also the fact that the biggest target of her ire, the Spock equivalent, if you will, is Data, who lacks Spock's dry sense of humor, at least in the same form (I would argue that he doesn't lack a sense of humor entirely, but that's a whole other can of worms). Whereas the dynamic between Spock and Bones goes both ways, the dynamic between Pulaski and Data just feels like bullying. I don't think she was ultimately a terrible character, but she definitely wasn't as well-implemented as she could have been.