Network: CBS
Time: Mondays, 9:30-10:00pm
Cast: Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar
Summary: When Leonard gets invited to see the CERN laboratory in Switzerland on Valentine's Day, Sheldon gets mad because he decides to take Penny with him.
Review: My affinity for Big Bang knows few bounds, but they're starting to do a few things that annoy me. First and most importantly, the Sheldon/Leonard relationship. When the show first started, Leonard regarded Sheldon with tolerant amusement. He accepted Sheldon's antics with good humor and patience. Now, he gets annoyed and lashes out and, more often than not, resembles a four-year-old have a tantrum because his little brother is getting his mother's attention. Out of all the things that I've noticed with Big Bang this season, this is the most troublesome. Where Leonard's comments to and about Sheldon were once light-hearted, they now seem barbed and aimed to hurt (though Sheldon often remains oblivious).
And Sheldon doesn't make it any better. He's always been a selfish character, but it seems like he's gotten worse as the seasons went on (and the writers realized that his selfishness is part of the amusement for the audience). He thinks nothing of bullying, annoying, and guilting his friends into doing what he wants. His selfishness before used to be due to a lack of awareness about his friends' feelings; now it seems to be driven by a lack of concern for them.
Another thing that's started to annoy me is the Howard/Raj relationship. Since Leonard's mother's first episode (and maybe before), there's always been a hint of homosexuality in Howard and Raj's relationship. It seems lately, however, that the writers are building that up so much that it's damaging the other aspects of their interaction. Howard has a girlfriend now, which leaves him with less time to spend with Raj. But he's started to rub that in Raj's face, which I think is both cruel and out of character for Howard. We've had no evidence to suggest that he would ever deliberately hurt his friend, so why is he starting to now?
Raj himself has become a rather pathetic character. Perhaps he always was, but he's doubly so now that his (more normal) friends have girlfriends, and he's left alone more often than not. I miss the days when the boys used to hang around playing geek games and horrifying Penny. Now Howard and Leonard are with Bernadette and Penny, Raj is noticeably absent, and Sheldon is in his own world unless it suits him to come out. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm almost sorry Leonard and Penny got together in the first place.
This episode had some funny moments, but it's far from the hilarious episodes of last season or even the beginning of this one. Sheldon's antics are always funny, and I really like the Leonard/Penny interaction, which was appropriately sweet for Valentine's Day. I wasn't crazy about the end, as well as the things I mentioned before, but I can only hope that some of these things will resolve themselves with time.
Favorite line:
Sheldon: I believe you know why I'm here.
Penny: I always figured it was to study us, discover our weaknesses, and report back to your alien overlords.
Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
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I agree. I completely miss the days where they were, more often than not, sitting on the couch, eating chinese food. I loved them like that. Oh well. But the problem is, they can't break Penny and Leonard up or everything will explode. Perhaps they shouldn't have gotten together...
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