THE BIG BANG THEORY: 3.23 “The Lunar Excitation”
JC is a big fan of B-plots in his sitcoms. It’s something he missed in last week’s episode, and I guess the writer’s staff noticed. Why? Because it looks like they made up for it in this episode.
What do I mean? Well, basically, nothing in this episode really felt like THE PLOT of the episode. First, they’re doing an experiment on the moon. Then Penny’s upset about who she’s dating. Then Leonard is trying to find out when it’s ok to sleep with an ex. And meanwhile, Raj and Howard are putting Sheldon on a dating site.
That “meanwhile” is supposed to be the B-plot, I’m sure. But it was probably the most interesting of all. After all, it led up to that awesome moment when Sheldon meets his “perfect match”–someone I hope we’ll see more of next season. Sure, I knew it was coming (the interwebs have been publicizing Mayim Bialik coming on the show for a good number of weeks now), but I certainly enjoyed it.
But Leonard? Well, not so much. I felt like we did this before. Didn’t some of this awkwardness happen the first time Leonard and Penny broke up? You know, when she thought he was being insulting about her not having a degree?
Personally, I found Penny’s date to be more entertaining than anything Leonard was doing. And do I really think that Leonard is the one that made Penny realize her date was dumb? No. I’m pretty sure she’d get there anyway. I almost wish they’d surrounded the episode with Leonard dealing with Penny dating someone so dumb after him, trying to figure out why now she wants the complete opposite of him.
Now there’s an A-plot.
It’s not that it was a bad episode. I laughed and enjoyed. But it’s a little disappointing to realize that the season finale isn’t pushing anything forward and is rather ho-hum. It’s not like the writers were afraid of cancellation after all.
I’d say, they really should have just focused on Raj and Howard’s michievious online dating plans and ignored the Penny/Leonard equation. They’re no Ross and Rachel–and even they got annoying.
Good point. There wasn’t an A plot at all, really.
I am getting worried about this show. I’m afraid its success has made the writers complacent. It’s been far more uneven lately than it has been in the past.
It’s a fair concern. I’m not sure how it will hold up against Thursday competition if they’re not willing to make the effort.
For the first time ever, I actually fell asleep while watching this episode, I know it wasn’t so bad, well, I don’t know, I was sleeping, but I got to see Sheldon meeting his perfect match, so, after reading this I realize I did see the good stuff.