S11.E11: The Celebration Reverberation

[Bort]

Quote

Sheldon and Wolowitz plan birthday celebrations for Amy and Halley, respectively. Also, Leonard receives a Christmas letter from his brother that causes him to spiral out about his own lack of accomplishments.

[CleoCaesar]

Gotta say, this was one of my favorite episodes this season. Especially Amy's utterly delighted reaction to Sheldon's genuinely thoughtful and loving present.

[Spartan Girl]

Sheldon's Little House theme party was so sweet. It's too bad his need for authenticity gave them both food poisoning. Still, it's the thought that counts.

Loved Sheldon's comeback burn to Leonard's joke about their sex being exhausting and short -- "YOU'RE exhausting and short!" Hee.

Glad Howard and Raj seemed to have made up, but would it have killed Howard to just man up and apologize?

[BooksRule]

Poor Sheldon and Amy!  I've had food poisoning maybe once (or possibly twice) in my life and the actors nailed the sick look perfectly.  I seem to remember taking longer than just a few hours to get better, though (ha ha)!  Sheldon was very thoughtful with his gift, even though it ended badly. 

The bounce house scene was funny.

[hoodooznoodooz]

You think you can do it while I lie perfectly still, and you don't touch me?

I can try.

 

Want to do it again?

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Loved Sheldon's comeback burn to Leonard's joke about their sex being exhausting and short -- "YOU'RE exhausting and short!" Hee.

I couldn't stop laughing at that. Is this the first time Sheldon made a "regular" insult rather than an intellectually condescending one?

1 hour ago, CleoCaesar said:

Gotta say, this was one of my favorite episodes this season. Especially Amy's utterly delighted reaction to Sheldon's genuinely thoughtful and loving present.

That was almost tiara-level excitement.

The getting sick after a romantic meal plot is not original, but it was sweet of Sheldon to make such an effort. I want more of this Sheldon and less of Bitcoin-relocating Sheldon.

I loved Raj and Howard making up after realizing how much fun it is to shove each other in the bouncy house.

Penny and Leonard are just depressing. I've been rewatching S2 episodes, and even when they weren't together there was so much sweetness between them. It's like they're completely different characters now.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Instead of:

Walk slow; it takes a while to get this bra back on. 

Closed-captioning read:

If you also want to change the birthday girl, you're in luck.

 

This was a really nice episode. Flirty Sheldon is adorable. 

[biakbiak]

As a severe emetophobe I could not enjoy this episode.

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Instead of:

Walk slow; it takes a while to get this bra back on. 

Closed-captioning read:

If you also want to change the birthday girl, you're in luck.

I noticed that also.  Maybe that was a deleted line that they changed.  I like to keep the closed captioning on, picked up the habit from a friend of mine.  Let's you read it if there's a distraction like someone talking.  You don't miss as much.  Sometimes the closed captioning is so bad (usually on live events) you wonder who they have doing it.

[Browncoat]

I laughed out loud at the bouncy house scene even though I'd seen it forty-seven million times in previews.  If anything, I wish they'd shoved each other simultaneously a few more times.  It was hilarious!  Not sure how they kept straight faces.

[hoodooznoodooz]

On 12/15/2017 at 2:24 AM, rmontro said:

I noticed that also.  Maybe that was a deleted line that they changed.  I like to keep the closed captioning on, picked up the habit from a friend of mine.  Lets you read it if there's a distraction like someone talking.  You don't miss as much.  Sometimes the closed captioning is so bad (usually on live events) you wonder who they have doing it.

I wonder if they sometimes have to submit the episode to the CC service before they have completely finished post-production, editing, and then eventually decide which line seems more effective, entertaining? CC for live shows is sooooo bad. But it's funny how you see the CC-er sometimes baffled by what someone said-- it was either not audible or unintelligible -- so the CC just kind of hangs. Or you see the CC-er backspacing and revising frantically.   

I keep it on because usually the laugh-track or music is way too loud for me, so I have to lower the volume of my TV. Or the characters speak too quickly for me to understand.

Edited December 17, 2017 by hoodooznoodooz

[greekmom]

It was a sweet episode.

I loved the effort that Sheldon made. But what bothered me was the fact that I thought they have grown over the time that Sheldon and Amy have been living together and been having a bit of coitus here and there. My bad for assuming that Amy would have convinced Sheldon to more frequent coitus.

I was hoping that Penny and Lenonard would start making stuff up. 

Raj's hair looks so much nicer.

[hoodooznoodooz]

30 minutes ago, greekmom said:

I was hoping that Penny and Lenonard would start making stuff up. 

 

That would have been really funny!

[TigerLynx]

What is Leonard and Penny's problem anyway?  If they wanted to go and do anything of the things they suggested, they could.

I prefer this Sheldon to selfish jackass Sheldon.  It was great he wanted to do something special for Amy on her birthday even if it didn't work out like he planned.

[libgirl2]

I loved the Little House jump at the end!! 

 

Sex and the City did a food poisoning storyline with Charlotte and Harry. Guess being sick brings you together. 

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, greekmom said:

I loved the effort that Sheldon made. But what bothered me was the fact that I thought they have grown over the time that Sheldon and Amy have been living together and been having a bit of coitus here and there. My bad for assuming that Amy would have convinced Sheldon to more frequent coitus.

Well, they did have unscheduled coitus before Amy went off to Princeton.

But, otherwise, I actually just accept the fact that it's a birthday thing with them.  Although, as much as Sheldon seems to like it, you'd think he'd want it on his birthday, too.

[chitowngirl]

59 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

 

What is Leonard and Penny's problem anyway?  If they wanted to go and do anything of the things they suggested, they could.

 

Sometimes, you think about doing stuff and the little life things get in the way- like laundry, bill paying cleaning, season two of The Crown dropping... The times I mostly do the fun things where I live is when company visits. 

Edited December 15, 2017 by chitowngirl

[TigerLynx]

3 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Sometimes, you think about doing stuff and the little life things get in the way- like laundry, bill paying cleaning, season two of The Crown dropping... The times I mostly do the fun things where I live is when company visits. 

But Leonard and Penny both specifically said they have the money and time right now to go and do any of those things if they wanted to, and Penny was right that they should do some of those things before they have children.

[Bort]

If they really want to get out of their rut, they need to take vacation days and go somewhere. Go on a cruise, go to Cabo, just go somewhere. They keep planning those day trips and not going, they need something that they have to book and pay for, that way they’ll go.

[Zoe]

It probably just never occurred to them that they weren't doing all the things they had thought of doing.  This was the kick in the ass that they needed.

[MissLucas]

I thought this was a mixed bag. Sheldon/Amy were great and I'm glad Raj kept the curls. Raj and Howard trying to clear the air was also great but I'm somewhat disappointed Howard is such a sh**** Dad. Soon there will be two kids and it looks as if he's still not ready to do his part. I hope that in the future the show's not going to let him off the hook as easily as it did with this episode.

Penny and Leonard were boring.

[Dakisela]

9 hours ago, rmontro said:

I noticed that also.  Maybe that was a deleted line that they changed.  I like to keep the closed captioning on, picked up the habit from a friend of mine.  Let's you read it if there's a distraction like someone talking.  You don't miss as much.  Sometimes the closed captioning is so bad (usually on live events) you wonder who they have doing it.

A MAJOR pet peeve of mine.  My husband is hearing impaired so we use closed captioning often.  It infuriates me when they either eliminate dialogue completely or change the wording SO MUCH that it changes the actual meaning of the exchange.  It's become very distracting to me.   Who do I write to about this???  Seriously!!!  I would absolutely offer my time for free to do this closed captioning service.  I'm an excellent typist.......

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

I thought this was a mixed bag. Sheldon/Amy were great and I'm glad Raj kept the curls. Raj and Howard trying to clear the air was also great but I'm somewhat disappointed Howard is such a sh**** Dad. Soon there will be two kids and it looks as if he's still not ready to do his part. I hope that in the future the show's not going to let him off the hook as easily as it did with this episode.

Penny and Leonard were boring.

I'm not going to condem him yet. It's very hard to gauge his parenting when we never see the baby and by extension see Howard and Hally interacting.  He is clearly pulling his load around the house and I'm not going to hold it against him for not going to Daddy and Me classes. I've been to Mommy and Me, they suck. I wish I'd been smart enough to just go to the movies instead. And he was right about the birthday party. Halley won't remember, he's pulled in multiple directions caring for Halley and Bernie and from the way my nephew reacted to his birthday, Halley might have just started screaming from the over-stimulation anyway.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Leonard receives a Christmas letter from his brother that causes him to spiral 

I'd say "spiraling" is a wild exaggeration. Leonard and Penny have been so marginalized this season it's rare to see them out of the apartment. Everything that's written for them seems like an afterthought just to give them screen time. They haven't had any kind of significant story at all.

Quote

 but I'm somewhat disappointed Howard is such a sh**** Dad. 

Eh. I'm with him on the Daddy and me playgroups. Seems pretentious and not something he'd get much out of. So long as he's spending time with Halley, that's the important thing. She'll get plenty of interaction with other kids once she's in daycare - I'm assuming that's where she'll go since both parents work. I managed to grow up just fine without "play groups." As for the party, both he and Bernadette initially agreed not to make a fuss. It was Bernadette who changed her mind at the last minute then expected Howard to do all the work.

[Bort]

19 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

I'm not going to condem him yet. It's very hard to gauge his parenting when we never see the baby and by extension see Howard and Hally interacting.  He is clearly pulling his load around the house and I'm not going to hold it against him for not going to Daddy and Me classes. I've been to Mommy and Me, they suck. I wish I'd been smart enough to just go to the movies instead. And he was right about the birthday party. Halley won't remember, he's pulled in multiple directions caring for Halley and Bernie and from the way my nephew reacted to his birthday, Halley might have just started screaming from the over-stimulation anyway.

And isn’t the overall point of Daddy and Me that he spend some one-on-one time with the baby, which he is?

Also, the party my cousin threw for her twins first birthday was pretty much an adult party. She rented a margarita machine. And a bouncy house, but that was primarily to function as a babysitter for her friends older kids. But even if she hadn’t wanted to throw a party at all, that would’ve been fine. It’s a baby it doesn’t care.

[Driad]

43 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

I've been to Mommy and Me, they suck. I wish I'd been smart enough to just go to the movies instead.

A theater near me has daytime showings for parents and babies.  I haven't gone, but the movies are for grownups, maybe just movies that don't have sudden loud noises etc.  Presumably people are not supposed to complain if someone else's baby cries.  Good chance a big city like Los Angeles has something like this.

[MissLucas]

Ah, I've never been to something like Mommy and Me. I thought it was more to create a network for parents and toddlers but if it's that bad I'll give him a free pass. Still taking your baby to the movies strikes me as a bad move (maybe that's a cultural thing - it's frowned upon where I live). I did not mind the party - clearly Hally won't remember. But it was important for Bernadette and that he wasn't even able to pull that off (or rather that he didn't even try) and just outsourced the whole thing was lazy. Make an effort dude.

[Ouisch]

16 minutes ago, Driad said:

A theater near me has daytime showings for parents and babies.  I haven't gone, but the movies are for grownups, maybe just movies that don't have sudden loud noises etc.  Presumably people are not supposed to complain if someone else's baby cries.  Good chance a big city like Los Angeles has something like this.

Back In The Day most movie theaters had "cry rooms" for parents with babies. I agree with previous posters - Halley is one year old; how much is she going to remember of "Daddy and Me" playgroup time, much less an elaborate birthday party.

 

And they did do a great make-up job on sickly Amy and Sheldon....I could feel their pain just by the way they looked! I'm glad Sheldon rushed across the hall to vom in Leonard's toilet....it truly grossed me out when Amy did so in their kitchen sink.

[TheOtherOne]

4 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Sex and the City did a food poisoning storyline with Charlotte and Harry.

And Will and Grace had them repair their friendship after a big fight by throwing down in a bouncy house at a children's birthday party. This episode was full of fresh ideas! (At least they weren't cribbing from Friends like they did so much in Season 7.)

[libgirl2]

1 hour ago, Ouisch said:

Back In The Day most movie theaters had "cry rooms" for parents with babies. I agree with previous posters - Halley is one year old; how much is she going to remember of "Daddy and Me" playgroup time, much less an elaborate birthday party.

 

And they did do a great make-up job on sickly Amy and Sheldon....I could feel their pain just by the way they looked! I'm glad Sheldon rushed across the hall to vom in Leonard's toilet....it truly grossed me out when Amy did so in their kitchen sink.

As someone who has had food poisoning twice, sometimes you can't hold it to find a good place to be sick. I used the bathroom sink. 

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, libgirl2 said:

sometimes you can't hold it to find a good place to be sick. I used the bathroom sink. 

And sometimes, when you've got it coming out both ends, you use the tub because it's closest to the toilet, where you're sitting.  You make do with what you have nearby.  And clean like crazy once the bug has passed.  As it were.

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'd say "spiraling" is a wild exaggeration. Leonard and Penny have been so marginalized this season it's rare to see them out of the apartment. Everything that's written for them seems like an afterthought just to give them screen time. They haven't had any kind of significant story at all.

Leonard has always been kind of a boring character.  He hasn't had that many stories revolve around him that didn't involve him trying to romance Penny or getting sex from someone else.

Chuck Lorre strikes me as the type of guy who believes that life ends when you get married though, so it's no real surprise they seem to have stalled.

[rmontro]

8 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

I wonder if they sometimes have to submit the episode to the CC service before they have completely finished post-production, editing, and then eventually decide which line seems more effective, entertaining? CC for live shows is sooooo bad. But it's funny how you see the CC-er sometimes baffled by what someone said-- it was either not audible or unintelligible -- so the CC just kind of hangs. Or you see the CC-er backspacing and revising frantically.   

Sometimes they get lost or behind and just leave out entire sections altogether.  I watch some pro wrestling shows and it's amazing because the captioners don't even know the names of the wrestlers or their catchphrases.  It's funny to watch their interpretation of what they think was said.  On a sitcom like Big Bang though, there are usually fewer errors because, as you say, they can do them ahead of time and don't have to do it on the fly.  It just becomes part of the process.  Obviously (as we saw this week), there are still mistakes made though.  That line about changing the birthday girl sounds exactly like something Bernadette would have said, so I'm sure it must have been edited out.

[libgirl2]

26 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

And sometimes, when you've got it coming out both ends, you use the tub because it's closest to the toilet, where you're sitting.  You make do with what you have nearby.  And clean like crazy once the bug has passed.  As it were.

Hence, the sink, it was next to the toilet. I honestly prayed for death. 

[Gummo]

My wife and I loved this episode because Amy and Sheldon's situation? We lived it. On my birthday. The only thing that saved us from a real mess was that I ate the offending food 45 minutes after she did, so our bathroom schedules were staggered, as it were. Of course, that meant I knew what was coming for me when she got sick first and I had 45 minutes to anticipate it!

Yeah, the Leonard & Penny characters are in a rut. But that's what's good about an ensemble show -- there's always others to focus on.

On a shallow note, I'm glad Raj is keeping his natural hair, it looks so much better. 

[Angeltoes]

Quote

And they did do a great make-up job on sickly Amy and Sheldon....I could feel their pain just by the way they looked! 

I thought Mayim must be pretty confident about herself because they really made her look like hell.  

I wish the show could get Melissa Gilbert to show up at the wedding.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Angeltoes

[Mountainair]

26 minutes ago, Gummo said:

My wife and I loved this episode because Amy and Sheldon's situation? We lived it. On my birthday. The only thing that saved us from a real mess was that I ate the offending food 45 minutes after she did, so our bathroom schedules were staggered, as it were. Of course, that meant I knew what was coming for me when she got sick first and I had 45 minutes to anticipate it!

Yeah, the Leonard & Penny characters are in a rut. But that's what's good about an ensemble show -- there's always others to focus on.

On a shallow note, I'm glad Raj is keeping his natural hair, it looks so much better. 

Yea. Even better when your then family of three (at the time it was me and my husband and one year old) have the bug at the same time with only one bathroom. Good times :) Luckily our now family of five has managed to stagger most stomach bugs and have avoided any food poisoning issues. Knock on wood.

The first birthday is always for the parents. My youngest turned one last March and it was a nightmare. The catering order was not ready and people were at my house waiting for me to arrive with the food and she cried at everyone (family) that attended the entire time. She could only be held by me to stop the crying! It’s definitely a first birthday I’ll remember! 

[CleoCaesar]

5 hours ago, TheOtherOne said:

And Will and Grace had them repair their friendship after a big fight by throwing down in a bouncy house at a children's birthday party. This episode was full of fresh ideas! (At least they weren't cribbing from Friends like they did so much in Season 7.)

Heh when I was watching this episode I kept thinking "This is so cribbed from Friends, namely the episode with Emma's first birthday party. Especially the parts like the gang says it's too elaborate for a 1-year-old and she won't remember it and hijinks with aspects of the party - cake, guest list, etc. - ensue." That episode is on a lot in reruns for some reason.

[Helena Dax]

Last year I had food poisining for the first time in my life and boy, was it awful. I can hear your pain, Sheldon and Amy. Anyway, this episode was delightful, the best in a long time. The Shamy scenes were perfect. I don't want a defanged Sheldon at all; most of the time, his antics amuse me. But it's way better when he isn't acting like a complete jerk. I really loved this Sheldon. And Amy's reaction when she saw the surprise dinner was priceless, of course. 

I've never really understood Leonard/Penny, so when they wonder about their lives or their marriage, I always find myself thinking that they shouldn't have married each other. And yes, one of the reasons might be that they don't seem to do anything together as a couple. A travel would be fine. They could start attending together some sort of class. They could start some silly competition, like who's able to tell Sheldon the biggest lie. I don't know, just a plot for them which doesn't involve a fight or angsting about their relationship. 

Loved Raj and Howard and I'm glad they're friends again. I though it was well done. 

[CleoCaesar]

18 minutes ago, Helena Dax said:

I've never really understood Leonard/Penny, so when they wonder about their lives or their marriage, I always find myself thinking that they shouldn't have married each other.

Their marriage (hell, their whole relationship) seems so...joyless. Like it's a pretty but vacuous girl who settled for a low self-esteem guy who has her on a pedestal. I don't look at them and see true love, just a couple that was together for a long time and took what is seen as the next step. (Even Howard and Bernadette make more sense, even with his manchild tendencies. Sheldon and Amy make more sense - a meeting of the minds, emotional growth, liking spending time together.) Penny and Leonard though...yawn. Sex seems halfhearted (cue joke about Leonard being less than competent in bed and joke about Penny being unenthusiastic). They don't seem to have any big mutual goals. Penny's career (whether it's a waitress or an aspiring actress or a pharma rep) always seems to be a point of contention. Leonard is insecure and jealous.

Do they even like each other?

[Bort]

I think Penny and Leonard’s biggest problem is that they have absolutely no common interests. They used to have Sheldon as a common interest, that’s what drew them together in the first place, but now that he’s with Amy, they don’t deal with his every idiosyncrasy like they used to. So now they seem to have nothing to talk about anymore.

[possibilities]

I appreciated Penny's reaction to the annual letter. She said she was happy, that their life is great. he didn't need to have a lot of stuff to report to others, but she was still happy for and able to appreciate what Leonard's brother's family was doing.

I often have nothing to put in a letter like that, and in fact when I'm happiest there is often no "news"-- just the everyday stuff that constitutes a happy life when you're not so much doing anything flashy, but can still savor your everyday life and what you are doing may be meaningful even if it's not heroic.

Leonard seemed more insecure than actually unhappy, like he had to prove his worth to his brother, which is typical for him. I got the impression that they didn't really have a major desire to go to the mountains or the beach, they just felt like they SHOULD.

[AnnaRose]

I think you're right about Leonard and Penny, @possibilities.  Your post was very insightful.  :)

[theatremouse]

I thought Bernadette had a ton of siblings. Does only the one sister Howard said wasn't coming live near enough to even consider attending?

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, CleoCaesar said:

Their marriage (hell, their whole relationship) seems so...joyless. Like it's a pretty but vacuous girl who settled for a low self-esteem guy who has her on a pedestal. I don't look at them and see true love, just a couple that was together for a long time and took what is seen as the next step. (Even Howard and Bernadette make more sense, even with his manchild tendencies. Sheldon and Amy make more sense - a meeting of the minds, emotional growth, liking spending time together.) Penny and Leonard though...yawn. Sex seems halfhearted (cue joke about Leonard being less than competent in bed and joke about Penny being unenthusiastic).

I do agree that Penny settled for Leonard.  She couldn't tell him she loved him for the longest time, and when she finally did it was in an indirect way.  Look at how she arrived at the decision to marry him - she was depressed and drunk, realized her career wasn't going anywhere, so she decided to marry Leonard, who was the one constant in her life.  I agree that Sheldon and Amy seem to appreciate each other more.  

As for Penny and Leonard having sex, I don't know if it's halfhearted or not, but look at the entirety of the show.  They've had sex a LOT.  Some of the novelty has to have worn off by now.

[Tosia]

I threw up out of the car window at a parking lot of the store when i was going  to get meds for nausea. 

I couldn't get the door open fast enough to get out and do it.  

A guy coming to his car near by probably thought i was hungover as it was a Saturday morning. I wish. 

I love Amy.  Mayim really brings the pure joy to this show.

[wendyg]

I think the problem with Leonard and Penny is that the writers are bored and out of ideas, and so, by extension, there is nothing to inspire or challenge the actors. You can't entirely blame Lorre: Steve Molaro has been running the show ever since about season 6 (and, IMO, that's why the show became a lot more like FRIENDS, WILL AND GRACE, etc.).

[BlossomCulp]

8 hours ago, rmontro said:

Some of the novelty has to have worn off by now.

Yep and the same goes for the idea of joy in their marriage as far as I'm concerned!  Penny and Leonard have been together as a couple for a while now.  Do most couples after 5 or 6 or 7 (or whatever) years still feel that intense rush of "ooh my heart is skipping a beat in your presence" that a newly minted couple would feel?  I'd like to think most couples are still happy together but feeling joy?  Not so much.

[OtterMommy]

I don't think that Penny and Leonard are unhappy in their marriage (right now...they definitely were last season), but I do think they've become, for lack of a better term, "an old married couple," which isn't especially entertaining to watch.  Neither character is really strong enough on their own--Leonard, after the first few episodes of the series, is really nothing more than a foil for Sheldon (I'd make an Odd Couple comparison, but I can't remember the names of the characters.  But you get the idea) and Penny was always the non-genius blonde across the hall.  Now, with Sheldon living with Amy and Penny living with Leonard AND no longer working as an actress, their characters just aren't interesting. And putting two uninteresting characters together does not actually make either (or both) of them more interesting....

[MissLucas]

In a way both Penny and Leonard's characters suffered from the addition of Amy. For the first couple of seasons Leonard played the straight man to Sheldon's shenanigans and some of Penny's best scenes involved her interacting with Sheldon and humanizing him. Those are both parts that Amy has taken over (to a certain degree at least). And since their romance has also come to its conclusion by finally getting married they're both drifting a bit without any good plots. The lazy solution - i.e. baby - is also not an option since we already have not one but soon two babies on the show.