S08.E11: The Clean Room Infiltration

[PinkRibbons]

Where did Stuart and Debbie spend Christmas?

I kind of assume they were off being Jewish.

[Oldernowiser]

Where did Stuart and Debbie spend Christmas?

Well, they're both Jewish, right?

ETA: PinkRibbons said it better...

Edited December 14, 2014 by Oldernowiser

[shapeshifter]

 

Also, why would Leonard and Howard be working on Christmas Eve? Did they say it and I missed it?

I don't think they did, but since it's easily explainable (Howard being Jewish and Leonard having his whole previously explored history with the holidays use the room when nobody else is so they don't have to wait) I don't mind the lack of exposition. The whole clean room that's not really clean on the the other hand...

 

Also, it was realistic that they would be the only ones there since many would take vacations at that time--which would make it a good time to use the space without having to worry about possibly running over the reserved time.

 

The bird plot would have been funnier if they had kept escalating to bigger and bigger birds. After the raven (or crow-- which was it?) maybe an eagle could have flown in. Then maybe an ostrich walks in. Or a man in a Big Bird costume...Maybe after all the birds are finally removed, someone else down the hall has mice get loose from their study and that person mistakenly opens the door to the clean room and the mice get in and over run the place.....

I wonder if the writers thought of some of these too, but couldn't include them because of time constraints. It is difficult to juggle several plots in 22 minutes.

[DrSpaceman]

Well, this is a university that apparently could not track down Howard as the person who crashed the Mars Rover and let him take a robotic arm home for his own, uh, "amusement," so I'd say the security controls are rather lax.

Good point, the university doesn't seem to have the best security measures. Still seems like they would have some security cameras somewhere.

Another thing about Raj's father being on the show, does he know Leonard dated his daughter? I don't think he ever found out. This would have been the PERFECT set up for Penny to let it slip about that situation, with her and Raj's dad alone with little to discuss. Would have given a more interesting storyline for the two of them than just lame party games.

[jjj]

Um, Priya's parents were witnesses to Leonard's second attempt at virtual sex with Priya, so yes, they knew Leonard was dating her, and probably more than they wanted to know about it all! 

[Meushell]

This was my only quibble with what was otherwise, to me, a very enjoyable episode. I hate that the writers are pulling out the standard Lorre cliché about the grasping, avaricious woman. Clearly either he or people he knows have been divorced and feel like they got screwed, But how dare they go there in a scenario where the couple aren't just rich they're Richie Rich rich and where the couple have been married at least 30 years (at a minimum - probably more like 40 as we are not given to believe that Raj is the eldest child) - where the wife raised 6 children and cared for a household and probably entertained and did all the things an upper class wife would do when her husband has a high status job, I'm not explaining this well but it's not like they were married for a short time and we've never been given to believe she only married him for his money. Ugh, I'm overthinking this but it just bugged me so much!!

I agree. Raj's dad just came off as horrible this episode. Their bickering amused me in the past, and maybe I forgot something, but it never across as hateful before. I thought he was going to brag about flying class, not talk about wishing for a crash just because his wife was there.

Also, if they are Richie Rich rich, that seems to imply they both came from money.

Count me among those who think Sheldon's intent to hurt Amy can't be fixed by a few moments of being nice.

[needschocolate]

I was touched when they exchanged gifts, and I think Sheldon had a few realizations - that Christmas could be good and that he does love Amy.  However, if this were real life, I would sit Amy down and tell her that she deserves better than Sheldon and that if she is waiting for him to become the guy she should be with, then she better plan on living a really, really long time.  In real life, Sheldon would have no friends and would someday be found dead in an alley because he offended the wrong person. 

[DrSpaceman]

Um, Priya's parents were witnesses to Leonard's second attempt at virtual sex with Priya, so yes, they knew Leonard was dating her, and probably more than they wanted to know about it all!

I either didn't see that episode of completely forgot about it

[Pippin]

Bah, humbug! 

 

*Clears throat*  Now that I've gotten that out of the way ... I didn't actively loathe this episode, which is something, but I was less than enchanted with it. 

 

Sheldon was of course the usual arsehole he always is, and a few moments of being halfway human at the end does not begin to make up for his attitude for the previous (what is it - 18 minutes now?)  I keep hoping Amy will wake up and smell the idiocy, but alas, this is a Lorre production.  No character growth allowed.

 

Speaking of character growth (and the lack thereof), I saw a bit of an earlier episode where Bernadette is working as a waitress with Penny at the Cheesecake Factory.  If she is such a bully, where is that side of her character at that point in time?  You would expect to see her bullying the other waitresses into giving her the good tables and doing the scut work, but no such behaviour is evident.  Instead, she's a nice, slightly eccentric with a daffy affect (but smart nonetheless) grad student who seems to be able to accept Wolowitz, warts and all.  Making her a bully does not make her more interesting or funny; it just confirms my opinion that Mr. Lorre has serious problems with half of the human race and expresses said opinions via his writing.  So it was a bit of a relief to see that she had packed the shrew away for the holidays.

It's a pity, though, that Penny could add nothing except to sit, drink and bitch.  She's supposed to be an actress -- couldn't she act as if she were interested? 

 

needschocolate said:

 

In real life, Sheldon would have no friends and would someday be found dead in an alley because he offended the wrong person.

 

 

Y'know, I wouldn't mind seeing that.  Oh, not dead, but with a black eye or something like that.  Do you think that might jostle his learning curve? 

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Also, it was realistic that they would be the only ones there since many would take vacations at that time--which would make it a good time to use the space without having to worry about possibly running over the reserved time.

The local university is officially closed from the day before Christmas through New Years every year. If CalTech does the same kind of thing, the guys' visit may have been completely unofficial for some project of their own and they didn't actually reserve the room. BTW, clean rooms can be designed to different levels, so the lack of anything like an airlock for one at a school is not surprising, and the birds getting in shouldn't be too big of a deal, but the guys are justified in not wanting anyone to find out they were responsible for such a boneheaded thing.

 

 

Speaking of character growth (and the lack thereof), I saw a bit of an earlier episode where Bernadette is working as a waitress with Penny at the Cheesecake Factory.  If she is such a bully, where is that side of her character at that point in time?

Presumably success in her career has changed her, like when Raj's inner jerk flowered when he was selected to be profiled by People magazine.

[ShadySab]

Am I the only one who loves Sheldon when he's a total jerk ? I hate it when he gets all emotional, he loses all his charm, which is to me his weiiiird, scandalous personality that we all love so much ? (Or at least I do)

If he becomes serious, normal and emotional, he's just not Sheldon anymore, but just boring Sheldon.

At least that's how I see things, just sharing my opinion :)

[Skyfall]

Maybe I'm going through a phase of some kind, but I'm just not enjoying the show this season, and I so wanted to!  I can't imagine how they're going to spin this out three more years.  I think they should have found a way to wrap things up and call it quits last season, but of course, it's terribly difficult to walk away from all that money.  I don't want to watch these characters go through a long, protracted downhill trajectory for years, though.

Been downhill for at least two seasons now.

[Chit Chat]

Y'know, I wouldn't mind seeing that.  Oh, not dead, but with a black eye or something like that.  Do you think that might jostle his learning curve?

 

He got bullied and harassed most of his life, so no, I don't think getting beat up now would serve any purpose.  There was an episode in which he mumbled something to the effect that if his death ray would've worked, certain kids wouldn't have bothered him.  It was funny. 

[ShadySab]

 

 

Of course, you're not the only one.  He's hilarious when he's a jerk!  Not so much anymore.

I think all the characters have lost the THING that made them interesting and funny in the first place.  And being a pain in the ass was Sheldon's thing.

 

Oh superversion thank you I so agree with you ! I feel like everyone's thinking the characters should change and evolve, and I so disagree, I loved Sheldon how he was in the first place so I really don't see why he should change in any way ....

I love his relationship with Amy I think they're hilarious but Sheldon is turning into an emotional normal person and I don't like it, I prefered freaky Sheldon who made me laugh so hard ...... 

I'm just talking about Sheldon because he's my favorite but you're right, same for the other characters 

[shura]

The local university is officially closed from the day before Christmas through New Years every year. If CalTech does the same kind of thing, the guys' visit may have been completely unofficial for some project of their own and they didn't actually reserve the room.

 

Or they could have been working on their official, work-related project without reserving the room if they came and found it available. It's academia, everything is flexible. Some people do decide to work when they don't have to. Especially when the alternative is a Victorian dinner party.

 

Were those Victorian parlor games historically accurate? I am trying to picture Dickens and Darwin blowing a wool ball across the table... Did they drink a lot?

[Pippin]

He got bullied and harassed most of his life, so no, I don't think getting beat up now would serve any purpose.  There was an episode in which he mumbled something to the effect that if his death ray would've worked, certain kids wouldn't have bothered him.  It was funny.

 

You're correct.

But I don't think it bodes well for the character or the show that I would pay real money to see someone kick the turkey out of one of the main characters.  And I'm generally against violence ...

[kat165]

This has been a horrible season & so far I think there's only been 1 ep that I've actually liked or laughed with, but apparently even that wasn't so great because I can't remember which ep it was. I got my mom the whole series for Christmas so we've been watching old eps a lot lately and what I notice most is that in the beginning (season 4) Sheldon really seemed to enjoy being with Amy. Not that he was such great bf material then, but he actually seemed to like her more or at all. Now he's basically just a dick and a useless one at that, pun intended.

 

I hated this ep. That bird/clean room was stupid, Mr. Koothrapali's presence was wasted/unnecessary and Sheldon's whole gift giving was horrifying, petty and mean.

 

I started to watch this show because of Jim Parsons who I really enjoyed seeing on Craig Ferguson. He alone convinced me to check out this show and he's always been my favorite character. I hate seeing what they're doing with him. He's always been kind of a jerk but these last few years he's become unbearable.

 

A small thing, the arrangement of Amy's furniture looked really off. Her couch was at a different angle and it bugged me every time there was a scene there. It really didn't look like her apt except for the halfwall separating the kitchen from the living room. It's these kind of things I notice when the storyline isn' t engaging at all. I really would have liked to have seen more of the group together at Amy's than split apart like they were. Although it was great to see Bernie and Sheldon together in the car, not a pairing we see often or ever.

Edited December 31, 2014 by kat165