Archive for Recap
We’re getting pretty late in the season, so this flashback episode is an odd choice. It seems like a filler episode stuck in the middle of the season on either end of a hiatus — not one of the last episodes.
The main reason it was so jarring is because it was so innocuous. Leonard and Penny have gone from dueling parents sharing custody of Sheldon, to two people forced into awkward encounters by virtue of the fact that they live in the same building, to giving each other mani-pedis.
I guess I shouldn’t find this too shocking, since the revelation of Wolowitz and Bernadette’s breakup was nothing more than an aside in last weeks’ episode. That should lay the groundwork of, “Oh, yeah. Penny and Leonard are totally cool with each other now,” even though it doesn’t actually make any sense.
If you can get past the clunkiness of the whole plot, the episode is pretty cute. It’s interesting to see that back in 2003, the dude perm was apparently very much alive. That doesn’t seem right to me, but what do I know? I wasn’t hanging out in California with a bunch of scientists. It is very funny, not to mention very fitting, that Sheldon looks exactly the same.
It’s also nice to see the origins of several things that have been talked about throughout the run of the series, such as the origin of the couch and Sheldon’s seat, the roommate agreement and especially the broken elevator. I’ve been kind of annoyed by the gimmick of it being broken this entire time, but I do appreciate that a rocket fuel explosion is what brought it down. It was also nice in that it underscored one of the main reasons anyone puts up with Sheldon: he’s loyal, despite himself. I’m sure he rationalized it in a way that benefited him (after all, it can’t be easy to find a roommate who passes all three barriers), but the fact that he didn’t turn Leonard in was pretty cool.
Some of my favorite lines from this episode:
Sheldon: “Roommates agree that Friday nights shall be reserved for watching Joss Whedon’s brilliant new series, ‘Firefly.’
Leonard: “Does that really need to be in the agreement?”
Sheldon: “Might as well settle it now; it’s going to be on for years.”
Leonard: “What am I doing in your spam folder?”
Sheldon: “I put you there after you forwarded me a picture of a cat playing the piano entitled, ‘this is funny.’”
“I assure you, you’ll be sorry you wasted your money on an iPod when Microsoft comes out with theirs.” – Sheldon
Leonard: “Is that your dad?”
Wolowitz: “If she grows any more hair on her face, yes.”
Sheldon: “That’s not an apology; that’s simply an acknowledgment that I was right.”
Leonard: “Okay, I’m sorry.”
Sheldon: “There you go.”
Watch ‘The Staircase Implementation’ Episode Online
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Wow, Wil Wheaton really is evil. First he plays the dead Mee-Maw card, then he sinks even lower. I mean, he doesn’t sink so low that he’d break up a relationship to win a bowling tournament — or would he? I do love the fact that they used Wheaton for the majority of the episode this time, instead of just having him show up at the end, like they did in his first episode.
He had quite the impact on everyone’s lives, although probably not in the way that anyone would have guessed. I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t have thought that Wil Wheaton was going to alter the entire course of the show. So what do you think about what he did?
The writers seem to have had a bit of a problem with the whole Penny/Leonard relationship this season, and quite frankly, I’ve been expecting the break-up to happen for quite some time. However, having Wil Wheaton rent space in Penny’s head and convince her that she’s just leading Leonard on was a pretty brilliant way to do it.
Although I’m unconvinced that this is truly the end. Sure, Penny may not be ready to tell Leonard she loves him, but she is quoting ‘Empire Strikes Back,’ which is nerd for “love” anyway. I don’t believe she’s actually leading him on; she’s overwhelmed and confused, but I think this pair is ultimately going to get back together. It may take a few episodes, and they may drag it out as much as possible, but this isn’t the end of Leonard and Penny.
A few other things:
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Wolowitz and Raj trying to guess what went wrong with Leonard and Penny was hysterical — and now it’s even easier to see where their relationships have gone wrong.
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How long until we see ‘The Wesley Crusher’ shirts?
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I’m not surprised at all that Raj loved his Catwoman costume so much.
Download ‘The Wheaton Recurrence’ Episode here
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This was one of the best episodes of ‘The Big Bang Theory‘ in a while, not because of all of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ references (I never got into those movies), but because the writers finally figured out a way to get all of the characters together in one plot. Even though Wolowitz and Raj furthered their weird relationship by snuggling during a nap (which was actually only in Sheldon’s dream, which raises even more questions), they weren’t shoved off to the side in a b-plot.
We got back to the season one dynamic of the four guys having a story, while Penny interacts with them on the periphery. Since Penny has become such a big part of the show, this won’t work for every episode, but it’s nice to see what made us love the show in the first place. Especially since we needed all the happy thoughts in the world to replace the image of Sheldon as Smeagol. Congrats to the makeup crew, but dear God, I never want to see that again.
This episode also illustrates my point about last week’s Stan Lee episode: if you’re going to have one of the gang’s idols guest star, then use them. This entire episode managed to revolve around Peter Jackson and his films, yet it worked perfectly well without him in it. The Stan Lee one could have been the same, instead of just sticking him in toward the end.
But let’s get to the important part of this entire thing: Sheldon’s twin sister. Apparently, we met hr in season 1, but I somehow have absolutely no recollection of this. Maybe we should pretend it never happened and just proceed as though she had never been introduced. That way we can let our imaginations run wild and imagine Sheldon’s perfect twin. All I can picture is a female Sheldon, but I wonder how much alike they would actually be. They don’t get along, so does that mean that she’s completely different from him? Maybe more like Penny? Or do they not get along because they’re too much alike? Which do you want to see? Something new, or do you think the show should just stick with what they’ve already introduced? I feel as though the comedic possibilities are endless here.
Watch ‘The Precious Fragmentation’ Episode or download it right now
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I’ve got to say, I would have enjoyed a little bit more of Stan Lee in this episode. He didn’t really get to interact with anyone except for Penny. Even though Sheldon was in the scene, he just kind of hung back before dashing into Stan Lee’s house. Instead of seeing another, “what crazy situation can we put Sheldon in” scene, I would have much preferred seeing the events that transpired that ended up leading to Wolowitz and Leonard having gelato with the comic book legend.
In fact, the episode left me with more questions about Stan Lee than it answered. Namely, would he really answer his own door, and do he and Hugh Hefner go pajama shopping together? Because that is a reality show I would be interested in watching.
When a show like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ has a guest star as huge as Stan Lee, we really shouldn’t have an episode that not only centers on Sheldon, but centers on a completely different storyline from the one Stan Lee is in. Take, for instance, Wil Wheaton. He wasn’t in the episode very much, but he at least seemed like he was part of the action instead of a random famous guy wedged into the show.
While I wouldn’t say that this episode was bad (I’d be hard-pressed to find more than one or two actual bad episodes from the series’ entire run), it wasn’t one of my favorites. The writers have done a great job with Sheldon, and Jim Parsons absolutely deserved his Emmy nomination.
However, they seem to be leaning on him more and more, at the expense of the rest of the cast. This episode veered dangerously close into the category of, “we have a bunch of people on the show who just set up jokes for Sheldon” territory this week. I sincerely hope that they can back away from this and find their way back to the ensemble comedy that we all fell in love with. Otherwise, I’m not sure how much I’ll really look forward to season four.
Watch ‘The Excelsior Acquisition’ Episode Online
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I’m pinch-hitting for Kona this week due to technical difficulties at the Gallagher homestead. Not sure if I can be the quote machine she is, but you can always add your favorite quotes from the episode into the comments.
You know, I’ve never been one to take Sheldon’s side a lot of the time. As much as I love the character and how Jim Parsons plays him, the fact that a guy who’s such a pill can have four people in his life who like him and tolerate his weird, Aspberger-like selfishness should be enough for me to connect to as a viewer. Most of the time, when Sheldon is wreaking havoc over his friends’ lives, I’m usually feeling bad for whoever it is — usually Leonard — that’s getting the brunt of Sheldon’s utter Sheldonness.
But this week, I was on Team Sheldon. Why? Because Leonard knows Sheldon would appreciate a trip to the CERN super collider a whole lot more than Penny would, even if the lure of Penny in a snow bunny outfit is a strong one to resist.
Forget the ever-present Roommate Agreement for a second. Sheldon’s a physicist. To him, the CERN super collider is akin to a baseball fan visiting Wrigley Field; a near-religious experience that may just give a person new insight. For Leonard to deny him that just because it’s Valentine’s Day and he wants to get laid is kinda douchey on Leonard’s part, image of Snow Penny notwithstanding.
Still, it was fun to see some real emotions out of Sheldon for a change, as he rocketed from jealousy and feelings of betrayal — he actually compared Leonard to Darth Vader, and gave him 30 pieces of silver(ware) to indicate how much of a traitor he thought Leonard was — to craven obsequiousness — complete with Frodo-shaped pancakes — to genuine happiness when Penny said she’d talk to Leonard about the trip. When was the last time Leonard hugged anyone? The funniest moment of the night was when he said he was looking to Penny for guidance on when to stop hugging.
The only moment where Sheldon was being pure in his condescension was when he showed Penny the PowerPoint on why he should go to Switzerland instead of her. Though, when it comes right down to it, where is Penny going to have the better time? A super collider or Bath and Body Works?
Anyway, Sheldon really paid for his momentary lapse of personal space maintenance, didn’t he? And Raj ended up being the winner. One day ol’ Raj will be able to talk to a woman without having alcohol in his system. But until then, he’s going to be planning a lot of “me days” on February 14.
Watch ‘The Large Hadron Collision’ Episode Online
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Look, I’m just going to put this out there. It may be weird, but confused, bedraggled Sheldon is a little bit hot. I’ve been watching this show for three seasons, and this is the first episode where I was all, “well helloooo, Jim Parsons.” It’s amazing what a little stubble will do for a dude. Anyhoo, I love the fact that Sheldon got a job this episode. Putting Sheldon in any situation is fantastic, but finding a fairly legitimate reason to make Sheldon a busboy is absolutely golden.
Here’s my main problem: Raj. I love Bernadette, and the fact that she and Wolowitz have had a multi-episode relationship, but it kind of leaves Raj out in the cold — much as he was when his idea to go roller skating turned into a double-date that did not include him. He doesn’t necessarily need a girlfriend (although I would like to see that), but they really need to find something to do with him, so he can do more than just show up at the beginning and the end of any given episode.
My favorite part of the entire show seemed to be the writers’ favorite part as well, as it was put back into the end of the episode: but Sheldon in the ball pit was hilarious. Having him pop up looking exactly like a whack-a-mole and yelling, “bazinga” is definitely the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.
This episode didn’t move the plot along too much, but it was just 30 minutes of funny lines and great Sheldon action. While I’ve said before that I don’t want BBT to become the Sheldon show, sometimes a half hour of funny lines is all I really need. This episode delivered it in spades.
What I really want to know is what you guys thing of the whole Penny/Leonard thing, now that we’re more than halfway through the third season. We spent the first two seasons in anticipation, and the relationships has really had its ups and downs. I’m kind of undecided on it now. One one hand, I kind of like how it’s just a comfortable thing in the background, and it’s cute how they sleep at each others’ apartments. But on the other hand, it’s kind of boring. After the quotes, let’s have a poll!
Watch ‘The Einstein Approximation’ Episode Online
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Leonard’s mother, Mrs. Hofstadter (Christine Branksi) comes in to town to visit and the gang gets to meet her for the first time. Mrs. Hofstadter is a psychiatrist when she meets Penny coming up the stairs, she has Penny in tears by the time they reach Leonard’s. We quickly learn that Mrs. Hofstadter and Sheldon are very similiar and the two quickly bond and we’re even tricked into believing the two are about to get it on (when they end up just playing Rock Band).
Penny and Leonard, both depressed from what Leonard’s mom (she told Penny that she has father issues and she never gives Leonard any affection), end up spending the night drinking tequila together. They end up making out and when they go to Penny’s bed, Leonard manages to blow it by making some inappropriate pillow talk (saying that they’re both having sex with each other as a way of having sex with their parents!). She kicks him out and they choose not to talk about it.
Also, Raj and Wolowitz meet Mrs. Hofstadter at work and she exposes them as having a ersatz homosexual marriage. Very funny.
As soon as I read the episode info and saw that Kripke was going to be making an appearance, I lost all hope of this episode coming anywhere close to matching the brilliance of last week’s. I was not wrong. I don’t like Kripke. I don’t find a speech impediment to be funny, and with him, it’s completely extraneous. Sheldon could just have an enemy (I don’t doubt he had many, in fact). You don’t need to give the character this extra identifying mark.
So not only was I dismayed by Kripke’s appearance, his practical joke was just mean-spirited and again, not something that I found funny. I don’t like watching people getting humiliated. Sheldon dressed up for a radio interview. That’s adorable, and then to not only be embarrassed for absolutely no reason in front of a national audience, but to have his friends laughing at him as well, just made me sad. Luckily, Wolowitz’s uh, love triangle with Bernadette and Katee Sackhoff saved the episode for me.
Kripke first showed up in the episode that made me uncomfortable for the same reasons: it was the one where Penny was ridiculously mean to Wolowitz. I didn’t like the mean-spiritedness then, and I certainly don’t like it now. However, there were some good aspects, so let’s talk about those:
I’m so glad they decided to bring back Bernadette. Wolowitz actually found a girl who doesn’t think he’s completely creepy, so I definitely wanted to see more of her, and see how Wolowitz was going to screw it up. You knew he was going to ruin it somehow, but I didn’t think it would be because he was cheating on her with Battlestar Gallactica‘s
Katee Sackhoff, and I certainly didn’t think he would ruin his relationship over a fantasy of Katee Sackhoff, but he is Wolowitz after all.
The way they resolved it was very nice: Wolowitz was his super-creepy self, and Bernadette was smart enough to back away. At first, I was afraid that she was going to actually accept his proposal, which would have made me lose all respect for her, but she was smart enough to back away. However, the terrible song in the middle of The Cheesecake Factory was kind of hideously romantic, so I certainly don’t fault her for falling for it.
But now that we have both Leonard and Wolowitz in relationships, will it damage the dynamic of the show? What about all of the Wolowitz/Raj storylines? What about the balance of people eating takeout at the apartment? Surely Sheldon won’t stand for this.
Download “The Vengence Formulation” Episode
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The episode opens with the gang playing a made-up fantasy card game called something along the lines of “Mystic Warlords of Ka’a.” Apparently Sheldon’s photographic, excuse me, Eidetic memory makes him unbeatable at the game. When Sheldon and Raj head to the comic book store, they learn there’s a Mystic Warlords tournament and former Star Trek actor, Wil Wheaton, apparently Sheldon’s big nemesis, will be playing in it.
Raj convinces Sheldon to enter as his partner and they quickly get to the finals where they face Wil Wheaton and Stuart. Just as Sheldon is about to finish Wil off, he tells him the story about how Wil never showed up for the autograph signing, breaking his heart. Wil tells him it’s because his grandmother passed away and he had to go to the funeral. Sheldon, who has a strong relationship with his mee-maw, shows some human compassion let’s him win. Wil then admits he made the whole thing up and can’t wait to tell his grandmother about his win. Oh man. Wil Wheaton, you better watch your back.
Meanwhile, Wolowitz forces Leonard to make good on an old pact that if either of them got a girlfriend, they’d make her set up the other guy with one of her friends. Leonard dumps this on poor Penny after a night of google-induced sex and she reluctantly agrees. She chooses a cute micro-biologist grad major who’s waitressing to pay her way through school, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch). The four of them go on a double date to a restaurant and things start off painfully awkward during the car ride as Wolowitz makes terrible jokes and asks her nerdy questions. Eventually, though, the two miraciously bond over their two over-bearing mothers.
The name of the episode, “The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary,” comes from how Penny describes Wolowitz.
Leonard makes the mistake of telling Sheldon and the boys that his hookup with Penny was “fine.” Sheldon, of course, doesn’t realize he crossed the line when he makes a joke about the mediocre hookup to Penny. Penny gets extremely upset and Leonard goes over to talk to her and she even admits it was just okay. They decide maybe they need to try again and try and find their rhythm.
When that doesn’t work with the kissing, they try again with a little peppermint schnapps, but that just puts them both in the bathroom taking turns hugging the toilet. Sheldon, continues to cross the line, when he talks to Penny outside and suggest they just go back to being friends if it doesn’t work between them. Leonard heads over to Penny’s to talk to her and when they decide to be just friends… instantly they’re both turned on and jump each other. Hey, whatever it takes to keep this awesome couple together.
Meanwhile, Wolowitz and Sheldon make a little bet about Wolverine’s bone claws and that eventually leads to a much more serious bet between the two. When the guys are eating dinner they hear a cricket and decide to bet what type it is. Wolowitz apparently was a bit of a bug collector as a kid and is willing to put one of his best comic books against Sheldon. They go to visit an entomologist at the school (played by guest star Lewis Black) and he confirms that Wolowitz was right. Woh, Sheldon was wrong on something.
The name of the episode, “The Jiminy Conjecture,” comes from the name that Sheldon suggests they give the cricket. Obviously referencing Pinocchio.
CLICK HERE to Download “The Jiminy Conjecture” Episode in HD Quality
