THE BIG BANG THEORY: 2.20 “The Hofstadter Isotope”
I can’t say that I was thrilled with this episode of Big Bang. It just seemed to be a compilation of everything we’ve seen so far.
I mean, Sheldon was being, well, Sheldon with his anti-change rants. Does anyone really believe that this group would come up with “Anything can happen Thursday”? I mean, sure, they could come up with it, but Sheldon would never agree to it. And we’ve all seen that if he doesn’t agree with it, he’ll just fight it and fight it until they eventually give up. I just really didn’t see this happening.
In the meantime, the Penny storyline seemed rather old, too. I enjoyed her coming into the comic store and getting the odd stares (very Claire in Heroes, though I did have to ignore the blatant comic jokes, as I’m one who tends to enjoy them and the rise of graphic novels seems to be putting these jokes on an outdated schedule), but I didn’t believe that she’d instantly give Stuart her number. He was funny, don’t get me wrong, but I just didn’t believe that.
But once she did, it just seemed like something we’ve seen before. Leonard was jealous, of course. We’ve seen it a million times. And in the end, her date was ruined by Sheldon. That was new to the show, but not to our hearts. It just seemed blah.
Meanwhile, Howard was scoping out women and Raj was drunk. The fat joke seemed rather unoriginal for this series, and the only bright side of the episode were the nerdy one-liners about Howard’s desperation.
It’s not that I’d hope that every episode was solid gold, but with such a stand-out series, I guess I was expecting more. I think they need to take the show past dating. Unless they’re planning on setting up further episodes with this one, I’m rather disappointed. Now, if Stuart becomes an important figure, I think it might save some face, but if that were the case, even the setup was weak. I can’t see him reappearing as a significant figure in the first place, so if he does reappear, they didn’t do a good job setting him up.
Anyway, I’m sure the remaining episodes will make me feel better. Every season has a clunker. Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again.
