Driad March 25, 2017 Share March 25, 2017 (edited) Raj moves in with Leonard and Penny and a period of adjustment begins for the three, while the usually self-centered Sheldon shows surprising interest in Amy's work. Edited March 30, 2017 by kariyaki Fixed episode numbering Link to comment
PinkRibbons March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 I loved everything Sheldon and Amy, I suppose because it hits home for me. My mother and grandmother have been a collaborative team since Mama was an infant -- single mother and daughter vs. Soviet Life. To this day every time they do anything together, they spend the entire time fighting. They pretty much always get the result they want. I once commented to my mother that when I woke up on the weekend, I knew it was Saturday instinctively because of the yelling match Baba and Mama were having over the arrangement of the flower pots in our shared backyard. They don't even realize they're fighting, asfaik. Mama says they only realized they were doing it when someone else pointed it out. And I may or may not admit that I might lean towards this in collaborations with my own mother. I like to think of it less as fighting and more of a loud productive dialogue with the odd off-topic slide here and there. I think this is why we very rarely get into "real" fights in this family. We're all to tired from the yelling we normally do. 17 Link to comment
clarkbar March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 1 hour ago, PinkRibbons said: And I may or may not admit that I might lean towards this in collaborations with my own mother. I like to think of it less as fighting and more of a loud productive dialogue with the odd off-topic slide here and there. Pink Ribbons, I find this incredibly sweet. I really did like this episode. 3 Link to comment
Rascotes March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 Raj living with Penny and Leonard has proven to be even more tedious than I feared, which is saying something. It's like the writers are actively trying to make me dislike all three characters at this point. Sheldon and Amy were pretty funny, anyway. I do like that she seems to be the only person that won't put up with his BS. 11 Link to comment
SmithW6079 March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 As if I couldn't detest Raj any more than I already did. What a useless character. Deport him back to India already and just focus on the three couples. 3 Link to comment
shapeshifter March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 This was the first episode in a really long time (years?) that I enjoyed the way I did the early episodes. Sheldon and Amy's plot was full of sciency science. Raj and Penny being gal pals was fun too. 10 Link to comment
kat165 March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 I found their theory really fascinating. I'd love to see how far they go with it but this was probably a one off. 1 Link to comment
Driad March 31, 2017 Author Share March 31, 2017 Can someone who groks neuroscience please tell us how much sense they were making? (I know physics but not squishy stuff.) 1 Link to comment
zxy556575 March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 It fits with their characters, but I liked that Penny was pretty much doing the downward dog pose correctly while Raj was just sort of making a bent-back push up shape. Now that Amy mentions it, Howard should definitely have fixed the elevator by now! 3 Link to comment
wknt3 March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 7 hours ago, shapeshifter said: This was the first episode in a really long time (years?) that I enjoyed the way I did the early episodes. Sheldon and Amy's plot was full of sciency science. Raj and Penny being gal pals was fun too. I liked it a lot too. They've been giving us more science and nerdy stuff this year and I hope they push even further in that direction. Lets get back to the university! And it shows why what they did with Raj was the right choice and fans need to put away their calculators and parsing every line of dialogue he's ever uttered about money in the past. It puts him in the middle of things and it works. Let's get Amy at the school with the guys permanently too so you have the best set up for the shorter episode times (you can have a university plot and a Penny/Bernie at work plot or a building plot and Howard's house plot). Forget about relationship drama and give us fun, light, funny shows. 7 hours ago, Driad said: Can someone who groks neuroscience please tell us how much sense they were making? (I know physics but not squishy stuff.) I assume that it made as much sense as any other science on the show. And by that I mean presented in a way accessible to a general audience and that sets up the best jokes, but not completely made up and firmly based in reality. My neuroscience knowledge isn't completely current, but they've always been really good and accurate on everything I remember from my classes. Which makes sense because they do have an actual neuroscience PhD delivering the material. 6 Link to comment
buffynut March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 The episode was just ok for me. But I loved seeing them in the university cafeteria. It'd been a while, hadn't it. 3 Link to comment
Cowgirl March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 Wow, I hated this episode so much that I was shocked when I read most of the above comments liking it. I'm not someone who thinks the series should end now and I'm not usually negative, but this episode just didn't do it for me. I thought the Penny & Raj plotline was recycling of the episode where Raj's apartment was being fumigated so he stayed with Bernie & Howard. He was much more attentive and thoughtful than Howard and the couple started fighting. In the end, they realized that they were happy "half-assing" their marriage. Then, the shopping excursion reminded me of the episode where Penny and Amy are shopping and Leonard and Sheldon agree to hold their purses in the waiting room. It also really annoyed me how Howard and Bernie made little digs at Leonard in the car about being a third wheel. It's not like he was interrupting a romantic date -- they were on their way to Target to buy diapers, for heaven's sake! The only laugh I got out of the epi was when Howard said the giant box of diapers oughta hold 'em til Wednesday. With the Amy and Sheldon plotline, I wish she would call him out more directly. When he says (as he ALWAYS does) that she (or anyone else) gets to make a certain decision unless Sheldon disagrees, he needs to be told "NO! NOT ACCEPTABLE!! Stop acting like a spoiled child and act in a fair manner like an adult!" 3 Link to comment
MaryMitch March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 I loved Raj and Penny together being gal-pals. At the end when they were wearing the same shirts, I LOL'd. 6 Link to comment
Traveller519 March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 Amy and Sheldon working together was something that was exceptionally done for as "late in the game" as it's been. They were mutually beneficial and the comedy was there from a relatively fresh take. i.e. it wasn't Sheldon bulldozing his way through the impediments. That really made the episode, where a lot of the Raj stuff felt stale. 7 Link to comment
lorbeer March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 I liked this one. The previous ones didn't make me laugh at all and this time I did a few times. Even though I didn't really like the plot.... Link to comment
dungeonwriter March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 As funny as it is, was Sheldon bordering on emotionally degrading in the episode? Some of the lines made me actually want Amy to walk out on him. I know he's "Sheldon" but some of his behavior really made me sick. His constant denigration of her work, his nasty comments when he doesn't get his way, Amy can do better. Seriously. It was a funny episode, though. I did laugh a few times. 2 Link to comment
Twilight Man March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 12 hours ago, Lord Donia said: Now that Amy mentions it, Howard should definitely have fixed the elevator by now! and the professor definitely should have fixed that hole in the boat by now, Gilligan!! 11 Link to comment
hnygrl March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 Amy and Sheldon working together is great. Finally! Someone who tells Sheldon to shut his stupid face when he's being a bully. Love it! I absolutely love it that Amy calls Sheldon out on his shit IMMEDIATELY and doesn't kowtow to him on any level. It's refreshingly refreshing to see someone tell Sheldon to shut it. I mean she gave as good as she got! LOVED seeing the guys in the cafeteria. It has been too long. Okay, so now Raj is Penny's Gay Best Friend. I'm surprised they didn't share a dressing room. They are so gonna make Raj gay. If I were Leonard? I would've been relieved. My wife has her built-in girlfriend and I don't have to pretend to care anymore. AND I STILL GET SEX! Win-win. I hate Leonard/Penny, aka Lenny. Hate them with the heat of a 1000 suns. They have zero believability as a happily married couple. 8 Link to comment
shura March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 I liked how Amy said "May I see this?" and tossed Sheldon's stupid contract out the window. Wouldn't put it past her to somehow be the one to have drawn that penis in it, either. 6 Link to comment
Pop Tart March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 Quote With the Amy and Sheldon plotline, I wish she would call him out more directly. When he says (as he ALWAYS does) that she (or anyone else) gets to make a certain decision unless Sheldon disagrees, he needs to be told "NO! NOT ACCEPTABLE!! Stop acting like a spoiled child and act in a fair manner like an adult!" The thing that gets me is that Sheldon is always bragging about being the smartest of them all (the gang) and always wants to dominate in all work situations, but really hasn't he proven time and again that he's definitely not the smartest? There have been many instances in the show where he thinks he has something, but really has gotten it wrong and the work that has been successful has all been based on someone else's ideas. His not successful efforts: the element he thought he'd discovered, but didn't because he had used the wrong factor for one of the numbers; his mono-polar (?) experiment when they went to the south (north?) pole; his work with Kripke where he realizes that Kripke is leaps and bounds ahead of him; and his having to give up his field of study because he was stuck in a dead end. His successful efforts: the article/theory he and Leonard co-wrote where they were asked to present and got into the fight in front of everyone (early in the series), not clear whose idea it was, but think it was Leonard's; the theory Leonard came up with while having dinner with Penny that Sheldon then helped him with the math and wrote the article (for which he ended up getting sole credit!); I'm thinking the current project he's working on with Leonard and Howard for the military was Howard's idea, so that; and now his collaboration with Amy on an idea that she originated. This isn't all of the examples in either category, I've probably missed some, but I think it's pretty clear that Sheldon - at the least - is not the guy who's going to come up with the ideas/theories, Leonard and the others are. Is he brilliant at helping them with the math and science? Probably. But pretty much anything he's worked at on his own has not succeeded. What I'm curious about is whether the writers know this or not. I'm inclined to think not. I think Chuck and company still think Sheldon is the smartest so it's right that he should get his way, but he's really not as far as what we've been shown. He has an eidetic memory and is very smart when it comes to math and science, but as an original thinker of potentially universe changing ideas, not so much. 8 Link to comment
CherryAmes March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 (edited) I loved how they turned things around a bit and showed that Leonard doesn't always pay attention to Penny and the things she says and is interested in! He didn't even remember that he'd gone to her office Christmas party. It got very tiring long ago that Penny wasn't interested in the things Leonard is interested in. More than time for turnabout to be fair play :). And the scenes with Raj, Penny and Leonard and then Sheldon and Amy and the song "happy together" playing. Loved it! Edited March 31, 2017 by CherryAmes 4 Link to comment
LoneHaranguer March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 39 minutes ago, Pop Tart said: The thing that gets me is that Sheldon is always bragging about being the smartest of them all (the gang) and always wants to dominate in all work situations, but really hasn't he proven time and again that he's definitely not the smartest? In order to appear smart, which he defines as being a literal know-it-all, Sheldon has to sacrifice knowing things in depth. That means he can throw out tidbits to impress casual observers, but can't really function well in those areas. He couldn't even learn enough Mandarin to have a specific argument in a Chinese restaurant. 16 hours ago, Rascotes said: Sheldon and Amy were pretty funny, anyway. I do like that she seems to be the only person that won't put up with his BS. Neither does his mother. Or Penny if he's not striking a sympathetic chord. Have Bernadette or Leslie Winkle ever caved? 5 Link to comment
HawaiiTVGuy March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 1 hour ago, Pop Tart said: The thing that gets me is that Sheldon is always bragging about being the smartest of them all (the gang) and always wants to dominate in all work situations, but really hasn't he proven time and again that he's definitely not the smartest? There have been many instances in the show where he thinks he has something, but really has gotten it wrong and the work that has been successful has all been based on someone else's ideas. His not successful efforts: the element he thought he'd discovered, but didn't because he had used the wrong factor for one of the numbers; his mono-polar (?) experiment when they went to the south (north?) pole; his work with Kripke where he realizes that Kripke is leaps and bounds ahead of him; and his having to give up his field of study because he was stuck in a dead end. His successful efforts: the article/theory he and Leonard co-wrote where they were asked to present and got into the fight in front of everyone (early in the series), not clear whose idea it was, but think it was Leonard's; the theory Leonard came up with while having dinner with Penny that Sheldon then helped him with the math and wrote the article (for which he ended up getting sole credit!); I'm thinking the current project he's working on with Leonard and Howard for the military was Howard's idea, so that; and now his collaboration with Amy on an idea that she originated. This isn't all of the examples in either category, I've probably missed some, but I think it's pretty clear that Sheldon - at the least - is not the guy who's going to come up with the ideas/theories, Leonard and the others are. Is he brilliant at helping them with the math and science? Probably. But pretty much anything he's worked at on his own has not succeeded. What I'm curious about is whether the writers know this or not. I'm inclined to think not. I think Chuck and company still think Sheldon is the smartest so it's right that he should get his way, but he's really not as far as what we've been shown. He has an eidetic memory and is very smart when it comes to math and science, but as an original thinker of potentially universe changing ideas, not so much. I think in Sheldon's case, he does tend to go off on tangents that the rest of the group doesn't which lends to the aura of being smarter plus I guess in quantifiable ways like IQ scores, he probably outscores them. In terms of an example of his superiority, I guess you can add that equation that would make their device even smaller? Leonard and Howard pretty much knew from the start they had no idea how to solve it without Sheldon's help. 2 hours ago, hnygrl said: Amy and Sheldon working together is great. Finally! Someone who tells Sheldon to shut his stupid face when he's being a bully. Love it! I absolutely love it that Amy calls Sheldon out on his shit IMMEDIATELY and doesn't kowtow to him on any level. It's refreshingly refreshing to see someone tell Sheldon to shut it. I mean she gave as good as she got! LOVED seeing the guys in the cafeteria. It has been too long. Okay, so now Raj is Penny's Gay Best Friend. I'm surprised they didn't share a dressing room. They are so gonna make Raj gay. If I were Leonard? I would've been relieved. My wife has her built-in girlfriend and I don't have to pretend to care anymore. AND I STILL GET SEX! Win-win. I hate Leonard/Penny, aka Lenny. Hate them with the heat of a 1000 suns. They have zero believability as a happily married couple. IIRC, his complaint to the Bernadette and Howard was that he was friends with Raj first, in other words, his issue was that Penny had now monopolized Penny, not the other way around. In Target he said he knew Raj wasn't a "threat", especially after they started wearing the same shirt. 1 Link to comment
Sarah 103 March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 (edited) 9 hours ago, wknt3 said: It puts him in the middle of things and it works. Let's get Amy at the school with the guys permanently too so you have the best set up for the shorter episode times (you can have a university plot and a Penny/Bernie at work plot or a building plot and Howard's house plot). Forget about relationship drama and give us fun, light, funny shows. I agree with this. It was so nice seeing Raj with Leonard and Penny. Lately it feels like Raj, Howard, Bernie, and Stewart are off on thier own show, and that Amy, Sheldon, Leonard and Penny exist on a different show. It's so great to see the characters interacting with each other again. Edited March 31, 2017 by Sarah 103 11 Link to comment
iMonrey March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 Sometimes I just forget about the elevator having been broken for 10 years now - but I can just picture the very last episode of this series. Everyone moves out and as they exit the lobby the camera pans over to someone fixing the elevator. 18 Link to comment
MissLucas March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 I hail from a long line of mechanics and let me tell you: you don't want Howard to fix the elevator (saying this with love). Amy tossing the notebook out of the window was my favorite moment of the episode. Though a germphobe like Sheldon would never have touched it again after it had been lying on the street and then be defiled by strangers, but maybe he got better. But I loved their collaboration and hope the show brings will not drop that plot completely. The Raj/Penny stuff was exhausting. We know Raj gets along great with women on a platonic level (now that he's able to talk to them), what we don't know is why he turns into douche-bag territory as soon as romance is involved. 5 Link to comment
LoneHaranguer March 31, 2017 Share March 31, 2017 18 hours ago, Lord Donia said: Now that Amy mentions it, Howard should definitely have fixed the elevator by now! What was essentially an explosive device was set off inside the elevator car. That's not going to be a cheap or easy fix, especially if structural elements of the shaft were also damaged, as is likely. Fixing it would probably also mean a rent increase since the apartments would be more attractive to prospective tenants. 2 Link to comment
hnygrl April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 Fixing that elevator will mean a tear down and installation of an entirely new system from the ground up. LoneHaranguer is right. The rent will have to go up because that's gonna cost tens of thousands of dollars. 1 Link to comment
Bronzedog April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 I assume other people live in the building and the BBT gang walks up more than one flight of stairs, so, it's kind of strange that all the tenants not living on the first floor have been fine with no elevator for 10 years. 1 Link to comment
AnnaRose April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 (edited) 23 hours ago, Driad said: Can someone who groks neuroscience please tell us how much sense they were making? (I know physics but not squishy stuff.) Unlike Mayim Bialik I am neither a neuroscientist nor do I play one on TV, but Amy's original description of her experiments reminded me very much of this. And Sheldon and Amy's collaboration is perhaps representative of something like this inquiry into quantum mechanics and consciousness. I loved all the Amy/Sheldon scenes. They have a great dynamic and I hope they continue to show them working together and talking about science stuff. Jim and Mayim have such wonderful chemistry together, and I love how playful the characters are. They were so cute and flirty at the end when Amy was reading her revised ground rules. Edited April 1, 2017 by AnnaRose 7 Link to comment
HyeChaps April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 With that new shirt, Raj looked so much nicer than usual! 3 Link to comment
rmontro April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 1 hour ago, HyeChaps said: With that new shirt, Raj looked so much nicer than usual! So he looks better wearing a woman's blouse than in his usual middle age retiree getup? 2 Link to comment
CleoCaesar April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 Raj looked cute and, well, normal in the first scene of the episode when he was wearing regular sweatpants and a T-shirt. Then the grandpa wardrobe returned because the writers think it's funny. At least someone does. 1 Link to comment
HoboClayton April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 On 3/31/2017 at 4:55 PM, iMonrey said: Sometimes I just forget about the elevator having been broken for 10 years now - but I can just picture the very last episode of this series. Everyone moves out and as they exit the lobby the camera pans over to someone fixing the elevator. Yeah, I'm with you. They will be moving out in the last episode, and the elevator will be getting fixed. I'm not getting the they are going to make Raj gay thing though. He's a metro guy. I hope they don't go there. I hate Leonard. Wish there was some way to get rid of him. 3 Link to comment
SmithW6079 April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 1 hour ago, HoboClayton said: I hate Leonard. Wish there was some way to get rid of him. Leonard is the anchor of the group. Amy called that years ago. He is the (mostly) straight man to the others' craziness. 8 Link to comment
Sarah 103 April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 23 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said: What was essentially an explosive device was set off inside the elevator car. That's not going to be a cheap or easy fix, especially if structural elements of the shaft were also damaged, as is likely. Fixing it would probably also mean a rent increase since the apartments would be more attractive to prospective tenants. I could see this being part of the finale. The elavator is fixed, and so the landlord is raising their rents. The gang decides to move out for a variety of reasons. I could see Leonard and Penny moving away because one or both of them got a better job offer. Amy and Sheldon decide to move because for what they would be paying they can get better apartments someplace else. Amy will tell him she found a great new place that is closer to his favorite train store. On March 31, 2017 at 5:13 PM, MissLucas said: The Raj/Penny stuff was exhausting. We know Raj gets along great with women on a platonic level (now that he's able to talk to them), what we don't know is why he turns into douche-bag territory as soon as romance is involved. It would be interesting to see Raj deal with this. I could see him asking his friends why he's so great with women as friends, but not as romantic partners. Maybe Amy or Bernie knows someone who's doing research on this and thinks having Raj talk to him or her would be useful. It would be a strange episode, (something like "A My Name is Alex," but less Our Town and melodramtic) but it could work and be interesting. 2 Link to comment
BlossomCulp April 1, 2017 Share April 1, 2017 46 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said: Leonard is the anchor of the group. Amy called that years ago. He is the (mostly) straight man to the others' craziness. Agreed. Penny, Leonard and Sheldon are the core of the show. The others are important but these three are the show. I cannot even begin to imagine BBT if any of them were to leave. 6 Link to comment
Literata April 2, 2017 Share April 2, 2017 On 3/31/2017 at 0:32 PM, hnygrl said: I hate Leonard/Penny, aka Lenny. Hate them with the heat of a 1000 suns. They have zero believability as a happily married couple. This. So much this. It's so interesting that Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki were involved IRL because I agree entirely; their being together is unbelievable, and their chemistry is zero. I realize the actors are not their characters, but I'd assume there'd be a bit of a spark. 1 Link to comment
P3pp3rb1rd April 3, 2017 Share April 3, 2017 (edited) On 4/1/2017 at 6:16 PM, BlossomCulp said: Agreed. Penny, Leonard and Sheldon are the core of the show. The others are important but these three are the show. I cannot even begin to imagine BBT if any of them were to leave. Especially in the beginning seasons, Penny was always a bore and often a straight man for the others' funny lines. Permanently pairing her with clinically depressed Leonard as played by Galecki led to complete dullsville. They have so little in common. Penny's lucrative new job was boring and predictable compared to her former job as a struggling actress or a waitress. And truly Galecki has no spark. Additionally, his character's mean mama successfully smothered his self-esteem. Sheldon is being written mostly as an entitled, mean-spirited bully now. Edited April 3, 2017 by P3pp3rb1rd Link to comment
rmontro April 3, 2017 Share April 3, 2017 Leonard may be one of the "big three" characters, but even early on his character got on my nerves. Supposedly he has all these insecurity issues, but he seems to think he's entitled to getting the hottest girl in the room. Because he's the coolest guy in his little group of nerds, I guess. He's also shown that he would be willing to kick any of his friends under the bus in a heartbeat if there was a chance he could get laid. I think the one thing that got on my nerves the most about him was when he bought the time machine. He was all excited about it, but as soon as Penny thought it was childish and made fun of him, wham he dropped all interest in it and was ready to sell off all his collectibles. The dude has no backbone. 1 Link to comment
CherryAmes April 3, 2017 Share April 3, 2017 3 hours ago, rmontro said: He's also shown that he would be willing to kick any of his friends under the bus in a heartbeat if there was a chance he could get laid. The only time I can think of where he did that was with Dr Stephanie who reassured him that Howard didn't have a chance. Leaving Sheldon out of things (of course!!) it is Howard and Raj who have shown on more than one occasion that getting laid takes priority over anything and anyone else. 2 Link to comment
bad things are bad April 3, 2017 Share April 3, 2017 When oh when is Raj going to come out? He's got all the gay symptoms and it IS a Lorre show, after all. I think it's inevitable. Link to comment
LoneHaranguer April 3, 2017 Share April 3, 2017 11 hours ago, rmontro said: Leonard may be one of the "big three" characters, but even early on his character got on my nerves. Supposedly he has all these insecurity issues, but he seems to think he's entitled to getting the hottest girl in the room. Maybe not entitled; it could be that he thought getting the hot girl would prove that he wasn't a loser after all. 2 Link to comment
BlossomCulp April 9, 2017 Share April 9, 2017 On 4/3/2017 at 5:59 AM, rmontro said: Penny thought it was childish and made fun of him, wham he dropped all interest in it and was ready to sell off all his collectibles. The dude has no backbone. I don't think she made fun of him. She was angry, very justifiably angry IMO, and she lashed out at him. Having to leap from my building to the building next door because Leonard bought a time machine would have gotten me pretty steamed too! 3 Link to comment
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