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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