TBBT 7x11: The Cooper Extraction

Hey look, Kaley Cuoco's in her underwear.

What I Liked
-Without Sheldon, Bernadette never would've dated Howard, because he and Raj are kind of a couple. Makes sense to me.
-Everyone pees themselves in the world without Sheldon. The man is the source of bladder control for an entire universe.
-The guys all want to hear Amy's sexy story. Erotic fantasy stories are almost always more interesting than decorating a Christmas tree.
-Stuart inappropriately inserts himself in Amy's sad story.
-More Zack. Idiotic characters can be fun.

What I Hated
-Leonard says 'Welcome to the Thunderdome!' The Thunderdome has a very strict -if barbaric- set of rules, it's not some do-what-you-want devil-may-care land. Two men enter. One man leaves.

Final Thoughts
I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life. I've seen many spoofs, parodies, and ripoffs, but never the actual movie.

There are a lot of nerds out there who look like fat Leonard.

You don't want to know how many.

As far as Christmas episodes go, this one was pretty good. Not a lot of new ground was broken, but it had some good gags.

TBBT 7x10: The Discovery Dissipation

What I Liked
-Penny's jealous of Sheldon for being tall, thin, and famous. It's what all actresses aspire to be. Funnily enough, Jim Parsons is those things in real life, too.
-Sheldon gives Wil crap for his tweets, and Amy gives him crap for his web series about board games. That's what you get for quitting TNG.
-Kripke's superhero name for Sheldon: The Retractor. Not the best superpower in the world, but still better than Aquaman.

What I Hated
-Sheldon's yodelling. Why? Just why?

Final Thoughts
This is the second time they've had Ira Flatow on the show. I still don't know who he is.

It's rare for this show to reference something from a previous episode. Earlier this season, Amy went to work at CalTech, and they haven't spoken of it since. But I suppose something that could've potentially earned Sheldon a Nobel prize is worth revisiting.

TBBT 7x09: The Thanksgiving Decoupling

What I Liked
-An animal can be both sacred and delicious. Exactly. Just because something is sacred, it doesn't mean you can't eat it.
-Sheldon would love to go to Thanksgiving dinner, but it sounds awful. That kind of honesty would make the holidays a lot more pleasant for everyone.
-Bernadette with a marshmallow in her mouth.

It's a simple gag, but a good one.

What I Hated
-Sheldon compares himself to a slave... a lot. Not cool.
-Howard's stupid enormous belt buckle.

It's like he's the featherweight boxing champion or something.

Final Thoughts
Honestly, when I first read the title, I thought Penny and Leonard were going to split up. Then, as the episode went on, it seemed more likely. But they worked it out in the end, which is good, because they've already broken up a couple times, and doing it again would be boring.

Drunk Sheldon is best Sheldon. They should really have him drink more often. Maybe turn him into an alcoholic or something. It would give his character more depth.

It was good to see Zack back on the show. He's one of the recurring characters that I actually like. Not like Lucy or whatsherface in the HR department at CalTech. And I don't just hate them because they're women; it's because they suck.

I think this is the first time we've seen what the gang gets up to on Thanksgiving. Considering how much Sheldon and Leonard loathe their families and the fact that Raj's parents are in India, it makes sense that they'd spend it with Howard's mother. But I have to say that no self-respecting overbearing Jewish mother would let gout stop her from cooking on Thanksgiving. Of all the things this show does, that was probably the least realistic.

TBBT 7x08: The Itchy Brain Simulation

What I Liked
-Amy and Bernadette get their own drinks because Penny is slow. That's one of the perks of being friends with the bartender... sort of.
-Raj wonders why the key is always confidence and not love handles and flop sweat. A lot of men wonder that at some point in their lives.
-Raj loves Penny because she gets him dates. It's weird to love a woman who gets you dates with other women, but I suppose it's a different kind of love.

What I Hated
-They brought Lucy back. That was completely unnecessary; she was a terrible character, and Raj had achieved closure, more or less.
-The itchy sweater is way too itchy. Like ridiculously, comically so. But it wasn't funny.

Final Thoughts
It was a bit strange to see Sheldon actually be devious and vindictive. Normally he's above those sorts of things. Perhaps he's not a robot after all.

TBBT 7x07: The Proton Displacement

Bob Newhart, everyone.

Bill Nye the Science Guy, everyone else.

What I Liked
-Sheldon brought Bill Nye in to "teach someone a lesson" which Bill misinterpreted as speaking to a class. Heh.

What I Hated
-Arthur's a bit of a lecher. No one wants to see that sort of thing.

Final Thoughts
I don't think they really needed to bring back Bob Newhart. Professor Proton worked perfectly well as a one-off character.

Much like Wolowitz, Bill Nye is a mechanical engineer who sometimes gets a gentle ribbing from his peers for not having a doctorate. Which makes it a bit strange that they didn't have the two of them in a scene together. Seems like a wasted opportunity.

While he's still funny and his comic timing is more-or-less there, Bob Newhart's certainly not as quick as he used to be. Which is saying something, since his delivery has never been what one would call swift. So, I would encourage anyone who hasn't seen them to check out his two successful sitcoms: The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart.

TBBT 7x06: The Romance Resonance

Sheldon is in the zone.

Which leads to him discovering a way to synthesize a stable, super-heavy element.

The Chinese use his method to successfully create the element, but later Sheldon realizes he read a table wrong and just got lucky.

Everyone heaps praise upon him, except Amy, who tells him she feels embarrassed for him for being lucky. It's the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for him.

Elsewhere, it's the anniversary of Howard and Bernadette's first date, but she gets exposed to a raccoon virus and has to go into medical quarantine.

So Howard, the gang, and Penny's boobs come by to sing her a song he wrote about how much he loves her.

What I Liked
-Sheldon can't listen to Howard because he's in the zone. Also, he doesn't care. I sometimes wish that I could use that excuse, but people don't like it when you tell them you don't care about their stupid crap.
-Discovering a new element gives Sheldon the right to steal Leonard's cookie. Damn right it does.
-Sheldon's mistake is proof that Americans can't handle the metric system. They sure can't.
-After he realizes his error, Sheldon tries to get people to stop praising him. That includes no "Woo!"s.

Except Dr. Wu. He's still fine.

-During Howard's song, Sheldon reluctantly rocks back and forth with the beat. It's very subtle, but little bits of characterization like that are why Jim Parsons has two Emmys.
-Amy gets in the zone herself and daydreams about making out with Sheldon. That's a zone that a lot of ladies get into.

What I Hated
-As a romantic gesture, Raj suggests that Penny stand outside of Leonard's window, holding up a boom box. Everyone seems to forget that didn't actually work. Ione Skye was ice cold and just left John Cusack standing out there by his car. If you're going to suggest a grand, romantic gesture, it should be something that actually has a chance to succeed.

Final Thoughts
Howard's song was good, not great. It went on a bit too long and some of the lyrics were a bit of a stretch. I predict an Emmy nomination, but not a win.

Again, the show didn't do anything particularly new this week. Sitcoms have been doing stories about how the man in the relationship is romantic, but the woman isn't for decades. They're still managing to put a bit of their own spin on things, but that merely makes this a good show, not a great one. There's little chance for failure since they're repeating bits that have been done successfully many times before. Without risk or danger, the show is just entertainment, and not art. Perhaps that's all they're striving for, which is fine because it's still a funny show, and at least they can say they're entertaining, which is more than most shows can say these days.

A bonus half-star for having a song with Klingon lyrics.

TBBT 7x04: The Raiders Minimization

Amy watches Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time. When explains how Indy has no effect on the outcome, Sheldon's jaw drops.

Since she ruined Raiders for him, he has to ruin something for her. First he tries Pride and Prejudice, but he finds it too perfect.

Then he tries to ruin Marmaduke and Garfield, but winds up falling in love with the latter.

He does a good job of ruining Little House on the Prairie, but Amy gets wise to his tricks and tells him that they're in a relationship, so he should talk to her and not just try to seek vengeance.

He agrees and they talk it out. Then he gets revenge by telling her Garfield has no reason to hate Mondays, since he's a cat and doesn't have a job.

Meanwhile, Penny is reading Leonard's mother's book for her psychology class. He's not happy about it, because it's about his childhood.

The book brings up lots of painful memories that make Leonard sad, so Penny does what she can to make him feel better.

Then he gets greedy and lies about being sad so he can get out of going to a sports bar.

And to get some at-work sex.

Eventually, Howard spills the beans to Bernadette, who tells Penny, who tricks Leonard into talking to his mother. She wants to talk about his sex life, which makes him sad for real.

Elsewhere, Raj needed something to do in this episode, so he and Stuart make online dating profiles. They get a lot of views, but no messages.

So they go to a bar and get shot down by women in real life. It feels even worse.

What I Liked
-They remembered that Penny's going to college. I thought they totally forgot about that.
-One of the chapters in Leonard's mother's book is about how Leonard favoured her left breast when he was a baby, and he still goes left today. Hee-hee.
-On his dating profile, Raj puts down "My parents' money" as his best feature. In reality, that probably would get him a lot of girls. The ladies love a guy with money, even if it's not really his.
-Sheldon's mom got revenge on his dad for staying out all night by putting hamster poop in his chewing tobacco. That's some good vengeance right there. Not too punishing, but fairly disgusting.
-The faces Stuart makes for his profile picture.

I've seen worse.

What I Hated
-Somehow, Amy made it into her 30s without seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark. For someone who hangs out with enormous dorks on an exclusive basis to have not seen that film is preposterous. TV shows do that sort of thing with some regularity: Someone's favourite movie is a hugely popular thing that everyone has seen, and yet their boy/girlfriend has never seen it.
-Bernadette would rather take a bath alone than have sex. That's not a good sign. Her relationship with Howard is about to become one of those stereotypical TV relationships where the man wants sex, but the woman doesn't. It happened to Ray Romano, so it can happen to them, too.

Final Thoughts
Geez, Kevin Sussman really is on the show more when he's in the end credits than he was when he was in the opening credits.

It's a bit weird how Penny busts Leonard by putting on sexy lingerie and starting a video chat with his mother. Sure, men like boobs, so it's a good trick, but I don't know anyone who would sit around in their underwear in front of their boyfriend's mother just to get back at him. At any rate, as I've mentioned...

Men like boobs.

Raj and Stuart's plot was highly underdeveloped; a casualty of once again having three plots in a single episode. It also wasn't terribly realistic. I've used a couple dating sites in the past and I can say that no man gets 162 profile views in two hours. Men outnumber women to such a great extent on those sites that it's just not mathematically possible. Plus, in general, men have to take the initiative and contact the women first. It's basically the same as going to bars, only faster and more convenient.

The whole three plot thing never really works out right. Seven minutes is not enough time to develop things properly, so at least one of them will always seem half-assed. They've been jamming all seven main characters and Stuart into the show lately, and I'm starting to wonder if there's even enough room for them all. Other ensemble shows tend to write people out for a couple episodes rather than trying to fit them all in. But I understand that can be a bit difficult when you're paying someone at least $60,000/episode. You want to get your money's worth and they want to work.

One final point: If not for Indy, the Germans would have tortured and mutilated Marion. He saved the girl. He's a hero.

TBBT 7x03: The Scavenger Vortex

The gang's having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory when Raj asks everyone if they're coming to his murder mystery dinner party since none of them have RSVPed yet. Leonard says he's coming, but Raj knows it's a lie because the party was actually a week earlier and no one came. Since everyone's tired of his dinner parties, Raj has a new idea: An MIT-style scavenger hunt. Everyone's in, even Sheldon. Which is good, because Raj makes the whole thing seem very exciting.

He's a master showman.

Each team will have 10 puzzles to solve, each of which will lead to the next puzzle, except the last one, which leads to a gold coin. But first, they need to pick teams. Everyone who's playing went to a big, fancypants college... except for Penny, so when Bernadette suggests they divide themselves by couples, Leonard balks. Penny gets miffed and picks Sheldon, but then Sheldon's bummed, so they pick names out of a hat. Sheldon picks Penny.

He's not happy about it.

The first puzzle is a picture puzzle of the comic book shop. Penny solves it quickly, but Sheldon refuses to go until they've assembled the entire puzzle. On the way to the store, Bernadette's hyper-competitive side comes out and she screams at Leonard not to slow down for birds because they can fly. Amy and Howard wind up alone together for the first time and struggle to find something they have in common; they both love Neil Diamond.

The second puzzle comes directly from the Riddler (or at least a standee version of him). Despite arriving third, Sheldon solves the puzzle first, while Bernadette and Leonard leave last, which really ticks her off. Nevertheless, two minutes after they arrive, everyone's gone.

Except Stuart.

As the scavenger hunt goes on, Leonard wants to quit because he thinks he upset Penny, but Bernadette tells him not to because Penny thinks he's a pussy(which is something she made up just to motivate him). Amy and Bernadette sing a bunch of Neil Diamond songs. And Sheldon is vindicated as one of the puzzles leads to a bowling alley, and he brought his own ball.

The last puzzle leads to Sheldon's spot on the couch, but when they get back to the apartment, the coin's not there. Instead, they find a very smug Raj.

A smoking jacket and brandy makes everyone look smug.

He tells everyone to look in their pockets, where he surreptitiously placed a coin earlier in the day. Everyone's a winner! But not everyone's happy with that, so Raj has to flee before Penny murders him.

What I Liked
-Everyone bashes Princeton. Everyone always bashes Princeton. Except on Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
-Raj's smoke bombs. Smoke bombs make everything seem more exciting.
-One of the puzzles is a set of coordinates that leads to a bowling alley. They actually do lead to a real life bowling alley in Pasadena. I like when they don't just 555 something.
-Part of the reason Raj made everyone a winner was because he didn't know who would be on Penny's team.

It was Sheldon, and in the end he was the only one who felt like a winner. Good job, Raj.

What I Hated
-Amy thinks Howard is too old to have Weird Al on his mp3 player. No one is too old for Weird Al.
-A whole bunch of Amy and Howard singing Neil Diamond songs. Ugh.

All the air kicks in the world can't make it better.

Final Thoughts
I ran a small scavenger hunt during my second year of university. It wasn't nearly as involved as the big, fancy ones that have corporate sponsorship and whatnot, but it was still fun. The winner got a trophy I made out of garbage. It may not seem comparable, but I think it gives me a bit of insight into just exactly how much of a pain in the ass it can be to write clues. Even though the scavenger hunt itself wasn't real, the clues were. Good job, Big Bang Theory writers.

This episode stands as proof that it's totally possible to include every character in an episode that only has a single plot line. Hell, they even managed to include Stuart for a minute or two. The whole thing was a lot more cohesive than the show is when the do two or three plots. They still split everyone up into groups whose interactions weren't always related to each other, but there was a singular goal driving them all, and it made the show a lot more satisfying.

Of course, the episode wasn't as funny as the first two of the season were, but I'm not sure if that's a consequence of the plot, or just the fact that I don't think people singing along to Neil Diamond is funny. Regardless, this was still a better episode than last week, and still way the hell funnier than most shows on TV... even most sitcoms.