If it wasn’t already abundantly clear, last night’s Big Bang Theory locked down this iron-clad axiom: Sheldon + Penny > Practically anything else on the show. This is no knock on Leonard, Howard, or poor Raj, who was especially MIA last night, and especially missed. It’s just that the improbable platonic friendship between this persnickety Texan and down-to-earth Nebraskan is undeniably the show’s beating heart, and any episode that advances that relationship is all the better for it. For one thing, through them, we learned that Fig Newtons were named for a small town in Massachusetts and not Isaac Newton. Go fig. (Sorry, I had to.)
That lovely factoid was the fruit of Sheldon’s agreement to teach Penny physics, so that she could actually understand what it is her boyfriend does for a living. Apparently, until Howard’s new microbiologist girlfriend Bernadette took a real interest in Leonard’s upcoming experiment, this cognitive disparity had never really bothered Penny, but I am beyond grateful that the writers didn’t use this moment to launch into the tired cliché of the-girlfriend-who-gets-instantly-jealous-of-female-competition. Nope, when Bernadette asked Leonard if he’s going to “try to set up the voltages using tunnel junctions” (ahem), Howard was the one with the little green monster — which is as it should be, really.
I’m kinda torn over Howard’s newfound coupledom. On the one hand, I’d long grown weary of his hapless lech routine, and I am thoroughly enjoying Melissa Rauch’s blissed-out line readings as Bernadette. On the other hand, I’m already growing a bit wary of the character’s happy ditz routine, and the sight of Howard fondling and sucking face with her on his bed like an epileptic octopus is something I won’t soon be able to scrub from my brain. That said, if there’s one unambiguous good to come from Howard’s self-described petty, jealous douchery, it’s that Leonard’s (semi-)mature annoyance in the face of it made him seem like an actual adult instead of a geeky kid with a PhD, and all the more deserving of Penny’s efforts to understand his work.
Whether that’s possible is another question entirely, but watching Sheldon try to help her achieve that goal — marking his progress on what he called “Project Gorilla” in his journal like a pseudo-Dian Fossey — sure was fun, and unexpectedly poignant. Overwhelmed by the torrent of physics knowledge Sheldon was heaving her way, Penny ultimately broke down crying, convinced she was too stupid to comprehend anything. Sheldon initially responded as he would in most any sensitive, emotional situation, with completely clueless candor, explaining that feeling stupid is no reason to cry: “One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and it makes me sad.”
But then Sheldon softened, and somehow managed to be, for lack of a better word, empathic — a real accomplishment for someone who’s borderline Asperger’s. He then taught Penny just enough knowledge about Leonard’s experiments concerning the movement of sub-atomic particles for her to perfectly articulate why his work is merely aping what Dutch scientists had already proven. (Um, I think. Honestly, this episode threw so much high-level science at us that I felt just as lost as Penny did, which was probably the whole idea.) I started the season gleefully counting the days until Penny and Leonard’s breakup, but I gotta admit, I’ve actually started rooting for them. Next week, however, comes their biggest test yet: The return of Christine Baranski as Leonard’s mother. I. Can’t. Wait.
Favorite exchange #1
Bernadette [off Howard calling her and Penny "the women folk"]: Don’t take him too seriously. A lot of what he says is intended as humor.
Penny: Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s funny.
Bernadette: Me neither, but he just lights up when I laugh.
Penny: Howard, never let her go.
Best response yet to an ear whisper from Raj
Sheldon: While I appreciate the ‘Oh snap,’ I’m uncomfortable having your moist breath in my ear.
Favorite exchange #2
Sheldon: Howard, your shoes are delightful. Where did you get them?
Howard: What?
Sheldon: [Chuckles] Bazinga. I don’t care.
Biggest disappointment
Whether he’s the official Leonard or not, @leonardhofstadt has yet to tweet anything concerning the word “Tooshie face.”
So Big Bang Theorists, how are you taking to Bernadette’s presence amongst our motley crew? How much of Howard’s unseen screaming mother is too much? Given his usual penchant for full-neck coverage in his sartorial choices and his ethnic/religious heritage, do you really think Howard would afraid of turtleneck sweaters and nuns? Now that both Leonard and Penny have gone to Sheldon for help on how to better integrate themselves into the other’s life, don’t you think there’d be some serious funny in Sheldon seeking one or both of them for advice on his life? Finally, show of hands: How many people really missed Raj?
Image Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS
i loved this episode.
I like howard and his mother and i hope we never meet her. And you’re right i did miss Raj. I’m also not bothered by bernadette.
I like that the show progresses e.g getting penny and leonard together and giving howard a relationship, even tho i don’t see that one lasting.
Penny and Sheldon together are brilliant and i can’t wait for leonard’s mother. YAY!
I agree Howard’s mom should remain unseen. Like Vera on “Cheers” and Maris on “Frasier”, this character is at the point where no real actress could possibly meet the expectations the audience has created in their minds.
Am I crazy or isn’t tat voice the actress who played Joey’s chainsmoking jewish Agent on Friends? That’s who I picture and she works for me… she could do it. But for the sake of the show, she needs to remain unseen.
you mean Stifler’s mom?
I always think she sounds like George Costanza’s mother from Seinfeld but I don’t think it is her.
I also picture George Costanza’s mom.
IMDb says it’s Carol Ann Susi, and from her pictures she would disappoint as Howard’s mother. She should def stay as only a voice
Strepsi, that is exactly who I thought too (Estelle).
Joey’s agent on “Joey” was Jennifer Coolidge (a.k.a Stifler’s Mom), but Strepsi is referring to Joey’s agent from “Friends”, who was some other actress with a gravelly voice.
Great episode! I am, however, bothered by Bernadette’s see-sawing between being clueless and being super smart. I get that smart people can be clueless at times, but that’s what we have Sheldon for. I was hoping that the text message she got was from HER mother, since the whole reason she and Howard bonded in the first place was over their mother issues. I get why it had to be Leonard texting her to move the plot along, but having a second freak mom is too much comedy potential to just drop. There so needs to be a mother’s day episode on this show: Howard’s mom, Leonard’s mom, Sheldon’s mom, and Raj’s mom need to get together for lunch. LOL!
Such a “lunch” would have to happen via the Internet, since Raj’s mom is in India and Leonard’s mom would see no reason to take away time from her valuable work for a mere social gathering, when she could just use the computer to multi-task. Howard’s mom would attend, but Howard’s home computer would have a broken webcam so the other moms wouldn’t be able to actually see her. And Sheldon’s mom would probably not show up, having decided at the last minute that the Internet is the devil’s playground.
yep..that’s funny
Great idea!
Brilliant! That’s exactly what would happen. I do love Sheldon’s mother though. Laurie Metcalf steals every scene she’s in.
I don’t like the see-sawing of Bernadette either. It started with her being a phd student in micro supporting herself by work at the cheesecake factory. That doesn’t happen. She’d work in a lab doing her thesis work. This is a minor plot point but considering the accuracy of the physics in the show, you’d think they would depict a science graduate student’s life accurately. AND in regard to her comment last night, there are way more interesting things to look at in micro than there are in physics. A real microbiologist would never say that.
The part I loved was in the prologue and Penny explained to Bernadette why Sheldon has to sit where he does. Then to have Sheldon in amazement say “There’s hope for you yet”
I completely loved that. It was a lovely little shout out to the people who have been with the show since the first episode.
That was so funny. I loved the way she just rattled off that explanation. Just like Sheldon. I think Sheldon really does like Penny.
You’ve got it!! One reason I love this show is that it remembers past plots. I loved that Penny recited all the reasons why Sheldon sits there. Having Penny incorporated into the group, long ago losing the cute-but-ditzy-neighbor-next-door sitcom stereotype, was one of the best thing the writers did. PS – Raj is the MVP of this season’s supporting characters.
Kaley did an extraordinary job at the end, not only with the dialogue, but you could see her eyes go in and out of focus and she spouted off those lines… this should be her Emmy tape. Kudos to her…
You’re right, this really is Kaley at her best. Between Sheldon becoming the breakout star of the show, and Raj becoming the best scene stealer (BTW, I absolutely did miss him last night), I sometimes think Kaley doesn’t get as much credit as she deserves. Being the audience’s sympathetic entry point, and playing straight man to the wacky neighbours, she contributes greatly to the show’s success.
I agree, hearing Penny rattle off all that “physics talk” (which i think was actually a diss of Leonards work) was my favorite part of the entire episode! Kudos to Kaley!
It was a dis. And really, if Penny wants to be an actress, it makes sense that, after trying to learn physics, it would be easier for her to memorize what Sheldon told her. But yeah, it was a zing.
sheldon trained her well…he had said it was a duplication and that is what he taught her to say
Howard is Jewish. Why wouldn’t he be afraid of Nuns? I was raised Catholic and I’m a little afraid of Nuns.
Me too .
Exactly. Makes perfect sense to me.
The creators have said Sheldon does not have Aspergers…I think I read it in an interview Jim Parsons did (he asked if Sheldon had Asperger’s and said the creators said no).
I loved the bit at the end where Penny spouted off the physics. She sounded exactly like Sheldon!
I missed Raj
I think that was the point. What Sheldon taught her was, in fact, Sheldon’s own criticism of Leonard’s work (which he had stated himself earlier in the episode). Basically, Sheldon settled for teaching Penny to be his unwitting accomplice to his argument that Leonard was simply copying work previously done by the Dutch.
I have a son who has Asperger’s and believe me Sheldon has Asperger’s!! The writers should just admit it and write it into the show already.. PLEASE!! It would be great to have a character to reference when I am trying to explain Asperger’s to someone (even though I already do that with Sheldon)…Jim Parsons is awesome and I absolutely LOVE this show!! The best comedy on TV!
I have a son with autism and I agree – Sheldon absolutely is Asperger’s!
I think the creators have avoided applying that label because once you’ve labeled something that you create, you become responsible for making it an accurate “archetype”, so to speak. They want to have the freedom to make Sheldon his own character and not have to accurately portray a set of symptoms. Sheldon may very well have Asberger’s, but by not labeling him thus he can be a unique person, just as I’m sure your son doesn’t conform to every single listed symptom of the Syndrome.
It dawned on me last night when he was spouting off something about physics that he may be autistic. I was funny that it was in the article.
i agree they won’t label him, b/c as soon as they do, someone will come out and whine about how it is not done correctly
I also have a son with Asperger’s and Sheldon might as well have a flashing neon arrow over his head that says ASPERGER’S NERD
. I love that he is shown to be OCD, yet slowly but surely flexible, and also able to make friends and interact with ‘normal’ people. There are so many misconceptions about Aspberger’s and they could go a long way toward clearing then up.
A couple comments on the teaching scenes: While Sheldon is a horrible teacher (she didn’t need to know the history of physics, just some basics about subatomic particles and such) the one equation problem that he insisted was ridiculously easy WAS ridiculously easy. If m*a=m*g, then a=g.
And Howard and Bernadette have really nothing in common.
Oh, I don’t know. Sharing “mother-from-hell” horror stories can be a GREAT bonding experience. Kind of like the connections that are forged between soldiers in wartime. When you find someone who understands why you react the way you do whenever your cell phone plays that special “mom-only” ringtone, you cherish that friendship, because that person has BEEN THERE and knows all the stuff you can’t talk about with your friends who had “normal” childhoods. And yes, I totally speak from experience here…
The equation Sheldon was trying to teach her was pretty easy. I think the point was that she likely would have been able to learn it had he not bombarded her with so much other extraneous information. Like you said, he’s a horrible teacher.
I really love this episode…..wonderfull……..
I missed Raj as well and I agree with Mark that Howard’s mother should NEVER be on-screen. There isn’t an actress that I can think of who could make her in the image I have in my mind.
Who voiced Howard’s mother? It sounded a lot like “Rhoda” on the Mary Tyler Moore show, eons ago.
It’s actress Carol Ann Susi.
It sounds like the actress who briefly dated George on Seinfeld once (her mother was George’s caseworker at the Unemployment Office).
Elli, I thought that as soon as I heard her the first time too! There’s no mistaking that voice.
Strangely enough, the face I picture in my head turned out to be the correct one, but even after I looked up Carol Ann Susi on IMDB, I still have no idea which show or movie I know her from. It might have been her role on an episode of ER, or maybe Seinfeld.
Kaley shone throughout the episode. From the way she explained Sheldon’s seating and her regurgitation of his views on Leonard’s experiment, to her facial expressions when talking to Howard’s GF, and the way she laughed at Leonard’s remarks while eating, as well as her use of food in her mouth to enhance the scenes. She really did a great job.
I rewound two scenes in this episode…the one at the beginning when Penny explained the importance and logic behind ‘Sheledon’s seat’ and her Physics regurgitation. I especially love that Sheldon had Penny memorize a commentary that basically undermined the concept and relevance of Leonard’s research…Bazinga! Kelly did an amazing job in both scenes and the reaction shots from the rest of the group took them over the edge.
Pretty good recap. I love Penny and Sheldon’s interactions, they’re growing more understanding and tolerant of each other, yet the dagger-eyes continue. It’s great that every character has hysterical lines, but yes, more Raj please.
I love howard and bernadette but there isn’t alot of heat between them, like when they were tryna hook up in his room when his mother interuppted with her yelling. but the lack of it makes for good comedy..also I loved when Howard ‘threatened’ (I’m crazy!) Leonard in the cafeteria…that was the loudest I laughed for the night. Didn’t really miss Raj…there was no way to incorporate him into this episode because it was too girl centric and Raj is pretty useless around girls unless he’s drunk so….
raj’s folks need to come to US…baboo from Seinfield plays his dad…that would rock..how about a holiday ep with all the parent’s..but we only hear Howard’s mom from offstage in ‘OTHER” PARTS OF THE CONDO