S08.E21: The Communication Deterioration

[buffynut]

I came here to read the comments on last night's episode, and not only were there no comments, there was no episode thread. Hope it's ok that I created one.
 
Episode description:
Penny is torn between auditioning for a movie or keeping her successful pharmaceutical sales job, and Raj is asked to create a message in case a NASA mission discovers alien life.

Edited April 17, 2015 by buffynut

[ae2]

Eh, it was an okay episode. Not quite as good as the last four or five episodes that have been more on par with BBT's glory days. A lot of funny moments.

 

Sheldon's "no, it's the wise man" riff was good. But I thought Penny's "dilemma" was simplistic. All you have is a tryout, you've done hundreds of these before without much luck, why would you even consider damaging your pharmaceutical job until you knew you got a role?

 

It was nice to see a Raj-Leonard storyline (a pairing we rarely get!), but everything about it felt like rehashed material. 

[DrSpaceman]

So I assume this means Penny will be offered the acting job and have to decide what to do?  And likely will lead to another fight between her and Leonard?  And I agree, its not really much of a dilemna just to audition.  Its a dilemna if you actually get offered the part. 

 

A so so episode overall, nothing memorable. 

[Kanner]

Sheldon was on fire this episode. From the wise man stuff to the songs (he was ready for the sonar comment) to the advice to Penny (both the acting and the knocking).  I liked seeing the different pairing of the guys too. Amy was hardly in it but she made a great impact.

[DkNNy79]

I thought it was a boring episode.

[peeayebee]

Yes, I thought Sheldon had all the best scenes and lines. Jim Parsons has always been the best thing about TBBT, even in its worst eps.

 

No wait. It's a tie between Sheldon and Amy. She improves any ep she's in.

 

Man, there was one line that Penny had that cracked me up, but now I can't remember.

[WickedTuna]

Kinda boring for me too. Except for Sheldon and Penny. I've always loved those two together. They have tons more chemistry than Penny and Leonard.

The only thing I liked about the other guys is when Raj told Leonard to not pee in his slippers. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around Howard being an alpha male.

[poppy-]

I think this was maybe the first time the show made Raj and Leonard look dimwitted compared to the other two. Isn't this Raj's are of expertise? Why would it take him a partner and a protracted conversation to come up with solutions that Howard and Shelton though of pretty much instantly?

[MDL]

 

now it seems likely that Penny gets the acting gig.

 When she was with Amy and Bernadette in her apt, they were congratulating her on passing up the acting, (in reply to her saying that she walked out on the audition) didn't she say (paraphrasing) "Yup, I did a horrible audition, then I walked out." 

If she gets the job, does it mean that a bad movie wants bad actresses; or that Penny is such a bad actress that she doesn't know when she was good?

Either way, I agree  with the hope that this is not another "separation at the end of a season" gimmick.

[ae2]

There have been signs throughout the show that Penny is not actually a bad actress. But she's a generic, skinny, blonde white girl in a sea of generic, skinny, blonde white girls competing for the same job, as we saw last night. 

[3 is enough]

With "only 3 episodes left!" you know they are setting up for a cliff-hanger.  Penny gets the part and has to tell Leonard...Blah, blah. blah.

 

Definitely not up to the standards of recent episodes.

[sinkwriter]

 

Sheldon's "no, it's the wise man" riff was good. But I thought Penny's "dilemma" was simplistic. All you have is a tryout, you've done hundreds of these before without much luck, why would you even consider damaging your pharmaceutical job until you knew you got a role?

 

It seemed simplistic, but I didn't actually mind it because I think it's what we all do to ourselves sometimes. When we're in our own head about something, we can't see the larger picture (which might be simpler than we think). Instead we get in our heads and start imagining what could happen or what might happen, and then that spirals into "Well, what do I do if that happens??" and "I can't do that!" or "If this doesn't happen, then what will I do?" until we're paralyzed with indecision because we're stuck in what might or might not happen. Since we can't predict the future, it's not necessary to freak out about all the possibilities. We might be working ourselves up about something that never comes to pass, and then it's wasted energy we could have used elsewhere. (I'm so guilty of this that it's ridiculous. I really have to learn to stop obsessing over what if's and instead just relax and focus on what I can do.) In Penny's case, she has no idea whether or not she'd be offered a role, so why obsess about a future where she has to give up her pharmaceutical career when that's not necessarily even a question that will have to be dealt with? 

 

Nevertheless, I can see why she got caught up in the what if's and couldn't see the larger picture. Sometimes you need to verbalize things with someone else in order for everything to become clear.

Edited April 17, 2015 by sinkwriter

[LoneHaranguer]

 

If she gets the job, does it mean that a bad movie wants bad actresses; or that Penny is such a bad actress that she doesn't know when she was good?

Some well-known actresses have had a similar misbelief after initially auditioning for the big role for which they are known, but it sometimes happens that the producers will change their minds about a character, often because they liked what a particular actress did better than what they had originally envisioned.

[LydiaMoon1]

Kinda boring for me too. Except for Sheldon and Penny. I've always loved those two together. They have tons more chemistry than Penny and Leonard.

True.  That's why I've always loved Penny/Sheldon scenes.  Still, all through their confab I kept thinking that they both look old. In fact, the whole cast looks old.  The silliness that worked for me when they were younger doesn't work for me anymore.  Now it's just annoying. I didn't last the half hour.

[buckboard]

Yes, LydiaMoon1, things that were funny when the cast was in their 20s now seem, at best stale and at worst, scary.

 

Sheldon still acts like a brilliant, but socially awkward 12 year old.  Penny would be good for the part on "Younger" about a 40 something woman passing as a 20-year old, but she's no longer an ingénue.  The cast doesn't seem to have grown with age, just repeating the same mistakes over and over and never moving on.

[SmithW6079]

Only in Sitcomlandia could Howard and Sheldon be considered "alpha males." Penny's first boyfriend on the show -- big muscular Kurt -- that was an alpha male. The quartet of nerds, not so much. Hell, Howard's own wife is more of an alpha male than he is. 

 

They seem determined to make Bernadette a shrew in all her interactions with the other characters (to borrow from "Galavant," Bernadette has drifted sharply bitchward). When she kept passively aggressively pushing Penny to take her out to dinner, I wish Penny had said how Bernadette needed to dial down the bitch factor. I liked Bernadette in the beginning; now, I cringe whenever she's on the screen.

 

Although I liked the exchange between Penny and Sheldon re: the knocking, it's certainly not the first time she's done it. In the "Panty Piñata Polarization" episode, when Penny comes storming up the stairs after Sheldon has stolen her laundry, she does the three-knock "Sheldon."

Edited April 17, 2015 by SmithW6079

[buffynut]

I was sure during the scene with the girls that Penny would get a call saying she got the part.  I also think that will be this year's cliff-hanger, that she does get the part and either needs to go away to shoot the movie, or she and Leonard break up (yet again!) if she accepts it.

 

Was the audition supposed to be the role in the movie referenced in last week's episode?

 

I agree with others that the gang is starting to look older.  I am glad Kaley cut her hair, if only to apparently force the show runners to grow Penny up somewhat. Otherwise I feel this would have been another season of loser Penny.

 

Looks like Raj is never going to have a girlfriend who is a regular on the show. At least not this season.   Her name is Emily, right?   If so, the writers need to get a baby name book to find some new girl's names, because I recently saw the episode where Raj dated the deaf girl, and her name was also Emily.

[iMonrey]

I half expected the phone to ring right as Penny, Amy and Bernadette were leaving, and Penny finding out she got the part. If they're saving that for a later episode, there's going to be a disconnect. 

 

I also wondered where Raj's dog was when Leonard came to his apartment.

[OakGoblinFly]

I also wondered where Raj's dog was when Leonard came to his apartment.

 

 

Peeing in Raj's slippers?

[bichonblitz]

I also wondered where Raj's dog was when Leonard came to his apartment.

His Dog. And his girlfriend. 

 

There have been signs throughout the show that Penny is not actually a bad actress. But she's a generic, skinny, blonde white girl in a sea of generic, skinny, blonde white girls competing for the same job, as we saw last night. 

i thought it was funny when she walked in to the room full of look- a- likes and realized she wan't so special after all. 

[sinkwriter]

 

His Dog. And his girlfriend.

 

Why would his girlfriend be there? They don't live together, do they? 

 

It would have been nice, however, to see her in this episode, if only to show that Raj has a supportive girlfriend who was happy for him at getting this honor in his work.

[bichonblitz]

Why would his girlfriend be there? They don't live together, do they? 

 

It would have been nice, however, to see her in this episode, if only to show that Raj has a supportive girlfriend who was happy for him at getting this honor in his work.

My point was that we never see his girlfriend. It's as if the writers gave him one then decided they didn't want him to have one. 

[CherryAmes]

Still, all through their confab I kept thinking that they both look old. In fact, the whole cast looks old.

 

Maybe it's because I'm older than the entire cast, including Jim Parsons, but I don't see the cast looking older as a bad thing.  Actually there's nothing creepier IMO than insisting that 30 and 40 somethings keep trying to look 25.  Sometimes that can work for a while, but sooner or later it gets sad. 

 

I am glad Kaley cut her hair, if only to apparently force the show runners to grow Penny up somewhat. Otherwise I feel this would have been another season of loser Penny

 

Same here.  Penny looks great and she looks her age which is not a bad thing!  If they'd kept trying to make her look 22 and an airhead that would have really made for some terrible TV.

[Trey]

My point was that we never see his girlfriend. It's as if the writers gave him one then decided they didn't want him to have one. 

Ha! And I thought you were referencing the "Emily or Cinnamon?" game Howard made up a few episodes ago.

[SmithW6079]

if only to show that Raj has a supportive girlfriend who was happy for him at getting this honor in his work.

I'm glad she wasn't there. She's never come across as supportive, and she's too snarky and bitchy.

[sinkwriter]

I don't care personally that she wasn't there. I'm not really interested in her character.

 

I'm just saying, if she needs to be mentioned because they have established that he has a girlfriend (and some viewers want the writers to remember that), it would be nice if they'd bothered to show that she was happy for him and understands that it's a big deal for him to get this opportunity. She could still be her snarky self when it comes to suggestions for what message he sends out into the universe. Or, if they don't want to pay for the actress to be in the episode, they could simply give Raj a line about how Emily's planning on taking him out to dinner to celebrate, or something quick and easy like that. But if they're going to conveniently forget Raj has a girlfriend, even in moments of big celebration for him, then why bother having him have a girlfriend at all? It's half-assed.

Edited April 17, 2015 by sinkwriter

[theatremouse]

didn't she say (paraphrasing) "Yup, I did a horrible audition, then I walked out." 

If she gets the job, does it mean that a bad movie wants bad actresses; or that Penny is such a bad actress that she doesn't know when she was good?

Potentially neither? Plenty of good actors do what they consider bad auditions, not because it actually means they're not capable of better, or even necessarily that they actually did badly. They might deem it a bad audition just because maybe they didn't do what they originally intended to, or felt like the room wasn't feeling their take on it, or any number of other options. And then there are some people who always say/think they did a bad audition, no matter what. Thinking you bombed a reading and being talentless are different and separate things. Heck, she might've even just meant she half-assed it.

I'm no scientist, but it's weird to me every time one of them seems to get some new opportunity it's always a "and I can pick you for my team" situation. Does this happen constantly or is it just the writers being super clunky about shoehorning in the whole cast? Surely one scientist gets selected for whatever it is it's because the selecting people wanted him? Seems more likely if they wanted some person+team they'd pick some person who had a team already? I mean, I realize if the opportunity were a just-one-person thing it also would probably not be a plot point, but man is it conspicuous and repetitive when they do this.

Edited April 18, 2015 by theatremouse

[hoodooznoodooz]

Wow. Penny spreading a rumor about another actress? Not cool.

[vibeology]

I think this was maybe the first time the show made Raj and Leonard look dimwitted compared to the other two. Isn't this Raj's are of expertise? Why would it take him a partner and a protracted conversation to come up with solutions that Howard and Shelton though of pretty much instantly?

 

I've always thought it was pretty clear that Sheldon and then Howard can leave Raj and Leonard in the dust intellectually. Not that Raj and Leonard aren't smart, because they are, but Sheldon is next level smart and Howard has always been shown as a brainiac creative who can build things and solve problems. Howard basically built the fighting robot on his own, designed several things for NASA including a satellite. He speaks several languages and has actually made the most career progression of any of the guys since the start of the show. We've seen him go toe to toe with Sheldon and hold his own. 

 

I think its nice that the writers have been very consistent building up Howard's intellect and arrogance about his accomplishments and paying it off here with the parallels between Raj/Howard and Leonard/Sheldon. 

[chocolatine]

[Howard] speaks several languages and has actually made the most career progression of any of the guys since the start of the show. 

 

All the guys speak several languages, if you count Klingon.

[CherryAmes]

It was also very believable to me that Raj and Leonard, despite their own accomplishments and skills, would feel that they are always being eclipsed by Howard and Sheldon.  It's been a continuing theme throughout the show that Sheldon almost always bests Leonard - sometimes because Leonard just can't be bothered to "engage" but often because Sheldon either outwits him or outtalks him.  And Raj, let's face it, has always been the "tertiary friend" even to Howard once Bernadette came into the picture.

[supposebly]

 

if only to show that Raj has a supportive girlfriend who was happy for him at getting this honor in his work.

I don't think she is supportive at all. I didn't miss her. I missed the dog and thought it should be there. And I'm a cat person, so I don't really care about the dog either.

[DrSpaceman]

They really have made Bernadette into quite a shrew lately.

Most of the time despite her attitude its really understandable. The last few weeks though she has been unbearable.

She is crossing into Priya territory now.

[chocolatine]

She is crossing into Priya territory now.

 

She's never told Howard whom he can and can't be friends with or made him buy a new wardrobe and wear contacts, so to me she's still not nearly as bad as Priya.

[MaryMitch]

I think it's telling that Raj and Leonard realized that Sheldon and Howard had a creative spark that they lacked. Some people are just "idea men".  But the world needs people who can take and idea and run with it, following through to completion, and Raj and Leonard are like that. Anyway, I like to see episodes where they're all working together as a team.

[amaranta]

A so so episode overall, nothing memorable.

 

I still can't believe it was only 18 minutes long. Cut it three more minutes, Mr. Lorre, and we'll have an even split between ads and actual show time.  Is this like the ultimate network TV dream?  A top rated show where you only have to fill just a little over half of your time slot? Less work, more ads, lots more money?

 

I'm not certain why I'm pissed off about the run time, but I am.  So there you go.

 

But yeah, other than that, an OK episode.  Is that the first time Raj and Leonard have had their own story apart from the others?  It felt like it.

Edited April 19, 2015 by amaranta

[theatremouse]

I still can't believe it was only 18 minutes long.

Wow. It was? This says to me, I wonder if Mr. Lorre wanted/needed an extra minute for one of his other shows on that night and somehow bargained it that way. Either that or this episode was originally even worse and was cut down because of it, which of course the net would be glad to do to have more ad time.

[andromeda331]

I'm glad Penny finally thanked Bernadette for helping her get the job. But it still bugs me that she won't off to take her friends out dinner without prodding. She freeloaded for years. It doesn't even have to be all the time just a dinner here, or springing for dinner for the whole group every once in a while.

[CherryAmes]

When did they start the "Penny is a cheapskate" crap anyway?  In times past there were episodes where Penny was as generous with her friends as her finances permitted.  I'm thinking of the time, for instance, when she got Leonard and Sheldon those Star Trek transporter toys.  She's also thrown parties for her friends and given gifts etc.  Or even this season when Penny seems to be offering to pay off Leonard's student loan when he complains that he still owes money.  I guess the writers got tired of "Penny is dumb" and "Penny is a lush" so they've moved on to "Penny doesn't share nicely with her friends".

Edited April 19, 2015 by CherryAmes

[theatremouse]

I didn't really read the scene as "Penny didn't want to treat her friends to dinner" as much as when Penny started the conversation she wasn't trying to head in the direction of do-this-now and was a little off put by Bernadette suddenly stating as much, and possibly even, Penny wasn't even actually thinking of having dinner right that moment. Who knows, maybe they are going to go in a "Penny is cheap" direction, by I thought her hesitation right there was more about it being one of those "this is why coworkers are afraid of Bernadette" moments.

[shapeshifter]

I still can't believe it was only 18 minutes long. Cut it three more minutes, Mr. Lorre, and we'll have an even split between ads and actual show time...

I didn't notice that, but I did notice that the scifi comedy Other Space, which is free on YouTube, has 27 minute episodes. I wonder if this is another sign of the times for network TV.

I think it's telling that Raj and Leonard realized that Sheldon and Howard had a creative spark that they lacked. Some people are just "idea men".  But the world needs people who can take and idea and run with it, following through to completion, and Raj and Leonard are like that. Anyway, I like to see episodes where they're all working together as a team.

Except just a few episodes ago we saw Leonard as the one with the idea that sparked the paper that he and Sheldon published. Sheldon was the one who ran with it.

I no longer expect character consistency on this show, I just want to be mildly amused. This episode didn't quite live up to that requirement for me, but humor is subective.

[azathoth]

I thought the episode overall was boring, but I really didn't like the alien thing at the end. I figured it would be a nightmare and Sheldon would wake up, but no, NASA apparently sent a probe into deep space with a TV with a self-sustaining power source (I don't think even nuclear would last more than a few centuries) or one that the aliens have to figure out what voltage and frequency to apply to it. I guess a hand-crank generator would work, but these aliens didn't seem to have hands.

[rab01]

Sheldon is supposed to be baseline the smartest - he almost beat the three of them (along with Sara Gilbert's character) singlehanded -- so he always fails to provide the episode's joke: the paper he showed to Hawking had a basic math error, he had to switch fields of study, Kripke had better work than he did when they had to work together, he thought he'd discovered a new element that Leonard disproved, his monopole project went nowhere, 

 

The only time I remember Sheldon got something right was when the Grad student spurred him on.

 

They do it so often that I'd have to say he's not really the smartest.  Leonard might be just as smart but crippled by the inferiority complex his mom gave him.  I do wish, however, that they'd return to the time when Amy was clearly smarter than everybody else. 

[LoneHaranguer]

 

This says to me, I wonder if Mr. Lorre wanted/needed an extra minute for one of his other shows on that night and somehow bargained it that way.

It's possible that the show originally went over and they couldn't trim the scenes any further, so they dropped one completely.

[takalotti]

I'm not one to notice wardrobe type stuff usually, but Penny's sleeves when she went to talk to Sheldon were SO distracting! Annoyed me to no end. The only time I've seen people unbutton their cuffs is to roll them up, not to have them flopping around all over the place. Is this a thing? Do I need to go chase kids off my lawn?