S08.E09: The Septum Deviation

[shapeshifter]

Leonard and Sheldon end up in the hospital. Raj has to deal with the divorce of his parents.

I got a lot of laughs out of this one--probably because I often joke about my own demise--sometimes even out loud. Heh.

Very tired of Howard and Bernadette bickering. Not funny to me. Mileage varies.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Very tired of Howard and Bernadette bickering. Not funny to me. Mileage varies.

IMHO, they run the risk of making the question "What does Bernadette see in Howard again?" have no conceivable answer.

 

Bernadette's muffin puns were bad, but her delivery was adorable. Raj has a heart of stone.

 

As a side note, does Tesla cross over from under-appreciated genius to genius appreciated just the right amount at some point? He's got a band, a unit of measurement, a comic book, and car company named after him. He's cool and all, but being the go to under-appreciated nerd has paradoxically made him very appreciated. How about we give Rosalind Franklin or Emmy Noether a turn?

[Gulftastic]

I was glad when Raj turned up to eat with Howard & Bernadette, because until he did, all I could think was 'how are they going to eat all that food?'.

 

Has Jim Parsons been bulking up again? He looked rather muscular this week, I thought.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Amy: "5...6."

I liked Sheldon asking about the hospital treating Penny's burns.

Sad. The woman who inspired the Mrs. Wolowitz character died.

[EVS]

Hoodoos, she didn't inspire the character. She played Mrs Wolowitz. It was her voice we heard. I wonder if they will have someone else play Mrs Wolowitz or if they will kill off the character? I'm not sure which one I would prefer. It is definitely sad.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I didn't care for this episode. It was just ok for me. I did watch it kind of late so I'll probably watch it again and see if I change my mind. I get that Sheldon was worried about Leonard, but he just annoyed me most of the episode, and I guess stupidity is contagious because last season Penny couldn't use glue and this season Sheldon can't figure out a revolving door.

[Frost]

I enjoyed this episode.  I loved Amy's justification to Penny about blabbing because Sheldon had put on an extra dose of baby powder.  She was helpless, I tell you!  Helpless!

 

The conversation about Leonard's swim shirt reminded me of the middle of the night conversation between Leonard and Sheldon about going down to the gas station to use the bathroom and not buying anything.  Alas, with a different result.  Leonard could produce his asthma inhaler to 'prove' his story but Amy had no swim shirt to back her up her story.

[Runningwild]

I didn't care for the episode that much. I was too distracted by the continuity issue. Leonard doesn't snore. Penny does.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Hoodoos, she didn't inspire the character. She played Mrs Wolowitz. It was her voice we heard. I wonder if they will have someone else play Mrs Wolowitz or if they will kill off the character? I'm not sure which one I would prefer. It is definitely sad.

Thanks, EVS. I should have googled it. The actress was on Seinfeld, right?

[peeayebee]

I probably should have given the ep my complete attention instead of futzing around on my computer while I watched because I ended up not liking the ep. I shouldn't judge when I'm distracted.

 

One bit I did enjoy was when Leonard and Sheldon were post-op sitting on the couch and talking. Funny voices. Hee.

[Skycatcher]

I haven't been a regular watcher of TBBT for a while now.  Last night's ep reminded me why.  I absolutely hate Howard and Bernadette.  Their relationship has become nothing more than moving back and forth between the sicky sweet to bitch-mode (both of them). They're why I stopped watching, and after last night, I'm done.  I'd like to stick around and see if Raj grows through his parent's separation, see if he becomes less of a douche.  But.....no. Can't do it.

[Oldernowiser]

I probably should have given the ep my complete attention instead of futzing around on my computer while I watched because I ended up not liking the ep. I shouldn't judge when I'm distracted.

But how can you NOT be distracted when there are 972 commercials interrupting it?

I actually watched the episode in prime time last night and reminded myself why I usually don't--the commercials are RIDICULOUS. I lost count at 11 commercials in one ad break. The hell?

I laughed out loud exactly once...when Raj said, "Oh, just like we did in couple's counseling," because I was thinking it had been Howard and his Mom, too.

Other than that...haven't we already done this shtick when Leonard went on the research ship? Sheldon frantically trying to prove why he would be in terrible danger, blablabla. Yawn.

And yes, the continuity thing bugs. I found myself telling the television, "Leonard has ASTHMA. Penny snores!!!!"

My OCD with this show is somewhat embarrassing and it's not even winter yet.

[Enjay]

I was glad when Raj turned up to eat with Howard & Bernadette, because until he did, all I could think was 'how are they going to eat all that food?'.

 

I spent that entire scene watching Bernadette push food around on her plate without ever taking a bite.  It actually distracted me.  Well that, and two people making such a production of what I assumed was a work night dinner.  Cloth napkins and everything!

 

I enjoyed this episode.  Sheldon's love and concern for Leonard was sweet (though Penny's lack of concern bugged) and Raj reacted like most adults would when parents split up.  It at least temporarily shatters your world view.

[buffynut]

I didn't really enjoy this one.  Following last week's episode, which I loved, this one seemed off to me.  

 

Maybe I was just dwelling on the Mrs. Wolowitz actress's death, at the same time Sheldon was joking about Leonard dying.

 

I also thought there was weird editing or timing or something.  Especially when it went from the lights going out at the hospital due to an earthquake (morning right, as Amy was driving Sheldon to work), to Howard and Bernadette eating dinner.

[Runningwild]

Also, the hospital would have generators to maintain power.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Also, the hospital would have generators to maintain power.

I'm not sure how that works though. Generators take a little time to get going. When I worked at a company that had generators (for the servers) they had battery back up for critical systems only (the servers) to tide them over until the generators were fired up. So I could imagine the waiting room  losing power while the operating rooms and intensive care wards maintained power.

 

Of course, even my company had emergency lights for the area inhabited by non-critical systems (the humans). So the waiting room going dark like that was still unrealistic.

[Taylorh2]

I usually mute the sound when Bernadette is speaking. That voice she uses makes me want to poke out my eardrums with an icepick. lol

[Jack Kerouac]

As a side note, does Tesla cross over from under-appreciated genius to genius appreciated just the right amount at some point? He's got a band, a unit of measurement, a comic book, and car company named after him. He's cool and all, but being the go to under-appreciated nerd has paradoxically made him very appreciated. How about we give Rosalind Franklin or Emmy Noether a turn?

 

Their names aren't as cool, sorry. 'Tesla' is just a cool name. 'Franklin' isn't and 'Noether' is slightly hard to pronounce. Lesson learned - if you want to be famous years from now, your accomplishments do not matter - but your name does.

[Katmai]

Cosign on the hating of Bernie & Howard, Bernie's voice, their constant arguing and the yelling, the YELLING! With that, I'm sorry the actress who yelled Howard's mom died, but I hope they don't recast it and let both of them rest in peace, finally. I liked Howard much better when he was a single hound dog...can't believe I wrote that.

 

I didn't find anything funny about Sheldon purchasing an urn for Leonard.

 

I find myself missing the slick, understated humor TBBT used to have.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

As a side note, does Tesla cross over from under-appreciated genius to genius appreciated just the right amount at some point? He's got a band, a unit of measurement, a comic book, and car company named after him.

In the fictional world, he made numerous appearances on Sanctuary and was credited with quite a bit over at Warehouse 13, although it was sometimes hard to tell the difference between real and fictional accomplishments.

 

 

Sheldon's love and concern for Leonard was sweet (though Penny's lack of concern bugged)

Penny took him at his word that it was no big deal. Sheldon knows too much about what could have gone wrong.

[mojoween]

I was so nervous Raj was going to say that one of his parents died and thought that was going to be most unfortunate timing. I'm curious how many episodes she had done for this season and if she is going to pass away on the show, that's a bit heavy for a comedy.

RIP Mrs. Wolowitz.

I was surprised that the fact Raj's parents marriage was arranged wasn't mentioned at all.

I liked the callback to Amy's love of Sheldon's talc. He's like a sexy toddler!

Melissa Rauch didn't always be this frickin' annoying so I would like to slap whoever urged her to get more and more manic. Her entire delivery is irritating and I resent every time she speaks.

Simon, though I think does a great job with whatever he's asked to do.

Edited November 14, 2014 by mojoween

[Latverian Diplomat]

Their names aren't as cool, sorry. 'Tesla' is just a cool name. 'Franklin' isn't and 'Noether' is slightly hard to pronounce. Lesson learned - if you want to be famous years from now, your accomplishments do not matter - but your name does.

If you say so, though Benjamin Franklin did OK for himself. :-)

Edited November 14, 2014 by Latverian Diplomat

[PinkRibbons]

I was surprised that the fact Raj's parents marriage was arranged wasn't mentioned at all.

 

They weren't arranged, I think that was brought up several years ago. I think his father was commending Raj on not being stupid enough to marry for love and Mrs. Koothrapali went, "We married for love!" Which made his dad seem really uncomfortable.

 

I'm so sorry for the loss of Carol Ann Susi, and for possibly the loss of Mrs. Wolowitz. My father had an extremely (EXTREMELY, it was freaky, us being Jewish, them living together for way too long -- although that was more the soviet union for ya -- and him being an engineer) similar relationship with his mother that Howard does. I still remember that Papa would visit my grandmother every single day, and when he would bring me along I'd see how he'd open the door, yell to his mother that he was there and included an insult, they would bicker good-naturedly and she would feed him. Papa was absolutely devastated when she passed away, even though we had several weeks notice before the end came. Howard losing his mother suddenly would be really hard to watch, I think.

[Enjay]

Howard losing his mother suddenly would be really hard to watch, I think.

 

For that reason I hope they don't kill her off.  I think they could recast the voice temporarily while they resolve the storyline with Stubbie and then simply let the Mrs. Wolowitz character fade away into the background.

 

Darn it, I hate sad Howard.  The episode concerning his father's letter was hard enough to watch.

[MaryMitch]

It might be a while before they deal with how to handle the actress's death. Remember, they lost a friend and colleague.

 

This episode reminded me of the last episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond", where Raymond had minor nasal surgery and had problems coming out of the anesthetic. His older brother Robert tried to get to him, telling the staff "I can wake him up!"  And Sheldon breaking his nose and the subsequent couch scene was pretty funny!

Edited November 14, 2014 by MaryMitch

[CleoCaesar]

I didn't laugh once this episode. It felt like the definition of running a joke into the ground. Seriously, just over 19 minutes devoted to one barely-funny-to-begin-with joke (haha Sheldon is so worried that Leonard will die during nasal surgery! hahaha...). It was so bad.

 

As a side note, does Tesla cross over from under-appreciated genius to genius appreciated just the right amount at some point? He's got a band, a unit of measurement, a comic book, and car company named after him. He's cool and all, but being the go to under-appreciated nerd has paradoxically made him very appreciated.

 

Isn't that sort of what happened with nerd culture in the past 20 years? Before it was considered dorky to like stuff like fantasy, sci-fi, Star Wars/Trek, be into science, superheroes, comic books, etc. Now practically all of pop culture is centered around those things.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Icemiser, i think it said that she could make them laugh every time she opened her mouth.

[Miss Scarlet]

I can't believe we got a whole episode where we didn't have to hear the characters talk incessantly about how "hot" Penny is! Feels like a record.

[supposebly]

I feel like they write the women like shrews in alternation. When Penny and Lenny (hah!) get along, it's Howard who gets emasculated by his shrew of a wife while both are rather passive-aggressive with each other. When Penny and Lenny don't get along, Howard and Bernadette are all smiles and happiness.

 

Apparently, this is how marriages and long-term relationships work in Lorre land. Unless you are weird. Then you have a relationship like Sheldon and Amy.

 

Or you get unhealthily attached to your mother (Howard), your dog (Raj), or your friend's mother (Stewart). I'm with Howard there. It is weird.

 

I will miss Mrs Wolowitz. As much as I miss the show that was.

 

I thought it was a bit of a retcon with Sheldon so worried about the surgery. He was very happy about getting all kinds of procedures done with Leonard's MD  girlfriend back in season 1 or 2.

Edited November 15, 2014 by supposebly

[romantic idiot]

Agreed. Maybe we'll just put it up to Sheldon's resistance to change having gotten stronger recently. He's getting older and more crotchety. 

[shapeshifter]

They did have Susi's picture up at the end of the credits.  It went by so fast, I couldn't really read what was written about her.  Maybe if TPTB had cut back on the absurd number of commercials they stuff into this show, perhaps they would have had time to give her the proper respect she deserved.  As it is, according to my DVR TBBT runs 31 minutes long.

I didn't see it at all. Maybe they didn't have time to do much this week, and maybe the next episode will have more at the end?

[ginger90]

I didn't see it at all. Maybe they didn't have time to do much this week, and maybe the next episode will have more at the end?

This link has the tribute:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2835031/The-Big-Bang-Theory-s-touching-tribute-Carol-Ann-Susi.html

Edited November 17, 2014 by ginger90

[theatremouse]

Maybe if TPTB had cut back on the absurd number of commercials they stuff into this show, perhaps they would have had time to give her the proper respect she deserved.

The people making the show have zero say in how much commercial time CBS sells for it. They know what time they have, and only on very very very rare occasions could they beg and plead to go long. To do some sort of extended tribute to a colleague who passed wouldn't remotely apply. It's still a business. The people who knew her can blog and tweet and title card and do whatever they want in tribute, but airtime is the money end of the business. Whatever they get for the show, they probably want to maximize for the show. 

[Latverian Diplomat]

I didn't laugh once this episode. It felt like the definition of running a joke into the ground. Seriously, just over 19 minutes devoted to one barely-funny-to-begin-with joke (haha Sheldon is so worried that Leonard will die during nasal surgery! hahaha...). It was so bad.

 

 

Isn't that sort of what happened with nerd culture in the past 20 years? Before it was considered dorky to like stuff like fantasy, sci-fi, Star Wars/Trek, be into science, superheroes, comic books, etc. Now practically all of pop culture is centered around those things.

Tesla's reputation with the public definitely benefited from the "Revenge of the Nerds" pop-culture-wise but I'm not sure that even among scientists and engineers there was necessarily a lot of knowledge about Tesla's contributions 30 or 40 years ago. There was a pretty concerted effort to airbrush him out of history by people like Edison and his pals. But there was an admirable effort among many people to raise his profile that was independent of just pop culture (biographers, educators, etc.)

 

Edwin Howard Armstrong (inventor of FM and many other contributions) is another historically important inventor who had made some pretty powerful enemies in the electronics industry that did their best to minimize his importance. "Empire of the Air" one of Ken Burns' earlier works, does a great job of telling Armstrong's story.

[ExplainItAgain]

Tesla's reputation with the public definitely benefited from the "Revenge of the Nerds" pop-culture-wise but I'm not sure that even among scientists and engineers there was necessarily a lot of knowledge about Tesla's contributions 30 or 40 years ago. There was a pretty concerted effort to airbrush him out of history by people like Edison and his pals. But there was an admirable effort among many people to raise his profile that was independent of just pop culture (biographers, educators, etc.)

 

What, haven't people seen The Prestige?! :-)

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

So now all 4 of the guys are from broken homes...WTH? Can't have any enduring marriages at all, I guess. Of course, Chuck Lorre. 

[VillaVillekulla]

Is Sheldon from a broken home? I know his childhood wasn't the happiest (according to him, at least) and his father is now deceased, but I didn't think his parents split up before his father died.

[CherryAmes]

I don't think that Sheldon's parents actually divorced but there are several mentions through the years that the marriage was a troubled one.  Two examples that come to mind - Sheldon talks about his parents marriage "imploding" and he mentions that a woman his father was seeing tried to buy his love with action figures (I think it was that, some kind of toy anyway).   If they did reach the point where they  divorced it was never mentioned as far as I can recall.

[Ciarrai]

They must not have aired that card remembering Carol Ann Susi in Canada; I certainly didn't see it and neither did friends of mine in a different province.

[springtime]

They must not have aired that card remembering Carol Ann Susi in Canada; I certainly didn't see it and neither did friends of mine in a different province.

There was a delay following the credits before it was shown (I was waiting and watching for something) - and it wasn't shown full screen - it was on the right side (which I thought was weird)

Edited November 19, 2014 by springtime

[Latverian Diplomat]

I don't think that Sheldon's parents actually divorced but there are several mentions through the years that the marriage was a troubled one.  Two examples that come to mind - Sheldon talks about his parents marriage "imploding" and he mentions that a woman his father was seeing tried to buy his love with action figures (I think it was that, some kind of toy anyway).   If they did reach the point where they  divorced it was never mentioned as far as I can recall.

And of course, families can be unhappy without divorce, and divorce can ultimately be a relatively happy alternative.

 

How much do we know about the ladies' families? We've met Bernadette's dad of course, and I think Penny's too. According to the big bang wiki they are still married to the respective moms.

[ZoqFotPik]

I don't remember what episode it was, but Amy's mom was shown while talking to Sheldon and Amy about their relationship.

[peeayebee]

Here ya go.

[Zoe]

How much do we know about the ladies' families? We've met Bernadette's dad of course, and I think Penny's too. According to the big bang wiki they are still married to the respective moms.

According to Sheldon, Penny's mother is fat.

 

(which really makes me wish Roseanne could play her mother.  And John Goodman for Sheldon's father in flashbacks)

[theredhead77]

But how can you NOT be distracted when there are 972 commercials interrupting it?

And yes, the continuity thing bugs. I found myself telling the television, "Leonard has ASTHMA. Penny snores!!!!"

 

That bothered me too but I wonder if Galecki actually had surgery and they had to write it in.

[buffynut]

There was a delay following the credits before it was shown (I was waiting and watching for something) - and it wasn't shown full screen - it was on the right side (which I thought was weird)

I didn't see it live, but I can't remember if I watched the credits or not.  However, it's not on the online version at CTV.

[Snow Apple]

Finally got around to watching this episode and was bored. The only part I found funny was Amy talking about how many fava beans she can fit into her mouth.

[Hecate7]

I don't think that Sheldon's parents actually divorced but there are several mentions through the years that the marriage was a troubled one.  Two examples that come to mind - Sheldon talks about his parents marriage "imploding" and he mentions that a woman his father was seeing tried to buy his love with action figures (I think it was that, some kind of toy anyway).   If they did reach the point where they  divorced it was never mentioned as far as I can recall.

They have to be divorced, because Sheldon walked in on his Mom with a new boyfriend, remember?

[anna0852]

Sheldon's father died when he was around 12, so his mother's new boyfriend doesn't confirm divorce.

 

Can you really call it 'coming from a broken home' if the parents divorce after the child is grown and out of the house? 

 

Leonard and Raj didn't grow up with divorced parents, just Howard.

[shapeshifter]

Sheldon's father died when he was around 12, so his mother's new boyfriend doesn't confirm divorce.

 

Can you really call it 'coming from a broken home' if the parents divorce after the child is grown and out of the house?

Psychologically, the death of a parent would be like having a "broken home" too. Maybe even more so.

[SmithW6079]

Sheldon's father died when he was around 12,

 

Was Sheldon that young? I was under the impression that the father had died recently before the first season. Isn't it in the first season that Sheldon's sister MIssy comes to visit because she has some papers for Sheldon to sign regarding their father's death/estate? And when Sheldon is fired, Mrs. Cooper replies to the dean's question of how long Sheldon's father is dead with "long enough," also suggesting a relatively recent death.