S12.E02: The Wedding Gift Wormhole

[AnnaRose]

2 hours ago, MaryMitch said:

I was really hoping they would air it. Surely they could have made the time for it...

I think I saw the cut scene last spring, but I can't recall what the gift was.  Is it something they could still fit into an episode?  Could somebody please spoiler-tag an explanation?  (Spoiler tags just in case it will still air at some point.)

[MaryMitch]

5 minutes ago, AnnaRose said:

I think I saw the cut scene last spring, but I can't recall what the gift was.  Is it something they could still fit into an episode?  Could somebody please spoiler-tag an explanation?  (Spoiler tags just in case it will still air at some point.)

It was in a tweet, and I posted it in the wedding episode thread. Here it is again (I can watch it over and over!):

[ams1001]

16 minutes ago, MaryMitch said:

It was in a tweet, and I posted it in the wedding episode thread. Here it is again (I can watch it over and over!):

 

Thanks! I had seen it (probably when you posted it before) but I couldn't remember, either. I love it.

[AnnaRose]

1 hour ago, MaryMitch said:

It was in a tweet, and I posted it in the wedding episode thread. Here it is again (I can watch it over and over!):

Thanks so much for re-posting it here!  That is such a great scene!  They could slip that in to a future episode, couldn't they?  It's not really unusual for a few wedding presents to be delivered late... especially if they were sent to a different address.

[Yeah No]

This episode reminded me of the one where Sheldon and Amy play this bizarre game they call "Counter Factuals", where they jump from one far fetched conclusion to another and somehow come to the same conclusion, and Leonard (and the rest of the world) just doesn't get it.

[MissLucas]

Well that was very sweet. And since every couple has now received the wand I hope it finds its way back to Raj. The icing on the geek-cake would have been if one of them had called it a 'mathom'. Hopefully Neil deGrasse Tyson never finds out that Raj is into New Age stuff.

Yay for Happy Stuart! I loved how he simply showed up and told Denise the truth. I was expecting some insane shenanigans.

And man, Raj looked really all emo and in need of a hug at the end of that scene with Stuart. If they keep that version of Raj around then maybe things could work out for him too.

[chaifan]

Based on conversations I've had with Indian friends over the years, I always thought it was the mother that was in charge of introductions (whether for traditional arranged marriages, or just setting the kids up in hopes something will stick).  So I was a bit surprised he called his dad on this instead of his mother.  Would love for someone with actual knowledge on the subject to chime in.

What was the reason for having Raj's parents divorce?  Has his mom appeared since that happened?  Maybe she was no longer available for the show so they had to write her out. 

[CherryAmes]

5 minutes ago, chaifan said:

What was the reason for having Raj's parents divorce?  Has his mom appeared since that happened?  Maybe she was no longer available for the show so they had to write her out.

I don't know if they had any reason other than not liking to show happy longer term marriages.  She did appear via skype at least once or twice post divorce - one episode I remember was when Raj was playing one parent off against the other and getting his allowances from each raised.  The idea that his mother was financially supporting him to some degree got conveniently forgotten last season when Raj decided to stop taking  money from his father and there is no mention at all that he was ever getting any money from his mother.

[Ottis]

I don’t watch this show all the time. Doesn’t  Denise work for Stuart? 

Raj is what, 30? And he is tired of being single? Good grief. 

[biakbiak]

35 minutes ago, Ottis said:

I don’t watch this show all the time. Doesn’t  Denise work for Stuart? 

Raj is what, 30? And he is tired of being single? Good grief. 

Yes. 

Raj is in his mid 30s.

[Ottis]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Yes. 

Raj is in his mid 30s.

So no one is bothered that a boss is hitting on his employee?

mid 30s? Same thing. 

[CherryAmes]

27 minutes ago, Ottis said:

mid 30s? Same thing. 

Raj is probably about 37-38,  The youngest age he has ever been referenced to be IIRC is 27 and I think that was either first or second season - so 11 years ago give or take a year or two :).  Anyway he is closer to 40 than 30 and I think it's pretty understandable that he wants to get married now if he wants to get married at all.

[biakbiak]

2 minutes ago, CherryAmes said:

and I think it's pretty understandable that he wants to get married now if he wants to get married at all.

Especially when literally all his friends are married.

[Ottis]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Especially when literally all his friends are married.

I guess on a TV show. In an era when people are getting married later or not at all, with a character who is a youthful mid-30s, I cannot imagine going to arranged marriage. Let your married friends be envious of you. 

[CherryAmes]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Especially when literally all his friends are married.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be the only one without a girlfriend? Even if I get one someday, I'll still be the guy who got a girl after Sheldon Cooper!"  Now he has to substitute wife for girlfriend.

 

9 minutes ago, Ottis said:

Let your married friends be envious of you. 

Sure if he was actually dating and having a good time.  But that's not how they've decided to write Raj.  I agree with you, I wish they would go that route.  But they're not going to at this point.

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, Ottis said:

So no one is bothered that a boss is hitting on his employee?

Stuart asked her to go with him to Amy & Sheldon's wedding.  She was going to say no, but then Howard showed up and announced that Mark Hamill would be officiating the wedding, and she agreed to go with him.  It was at the wedding where she found him "hot" while answering all of the Star War's trivia that Hamill couldn't answer.  So in a nutshell, no, it doesn't bother me, given the circumstances of how it played out.  Granted, as an employer, he shouldn't have asked her to the wedding in the first place, but since there was no pressure for her to say yes, I think it's all pretty innocent.   

[SmithW6079]

6 hours ago, Ottis said:

So no one is bothered that a boss is hitting on his employee?

 

Nope, because he's not. Anything between Stuart and Denise has been portrayed as consenual. They were flirting last season, and she agreed to go out with him. Had she shot him down, Stuart would have retreated back to his shell.

[Sarah 103]

6 hours ago, Ottis said:

So no one is bothered that a boss is hitting on his employee?

I don't really think what he did was hitting on her. 

3 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Stuart asked her to go with him to Amy & Sheldon's wedding.  She was going to say no, but then Howard showed up and announced that Mark Hamill would be officiating the wedding, and she agreed to go with him.  It was at the wedding where she found him "hot" while answering all of the Star War's trivia that Hamill couldn't answer.  So in a nutshell, no, it doesn't bother me, given the circumstances of how it played out.  Granted, as an employer, he shouldn't have asked her to the wedding in the first place, but since there was no pressure for her to say yes, I think it's all pretty innocent.   

Agreed. The way he asked, it was clear she could have said no and kept her job. It felt like it was more asking her as a friend than a romantic thing. 

10 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

Nope, because he's not. Anything between Stuart and Denise has been portrayed as consenual. They were flirting last season, and she agreed to go out with him. Had she shot him down, Stuart would have retreated back to his shell.

Yes! Everything that happened was consensual. She could have said no at any point. There was never any indication he put any sort of pressure on her or threatened her/hinted that he would fire her if she said no. 

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Nope, because he's not. Anything between Stuart and Denise has been portrayed as consenual. They were flirting last season, and she agreed to go out with him. Had she shot him down, Stuart would have retreated back to his shell.

I agree and I think the turtle imagery is very fitting for Stuart as I've always thought he looks like one, LOL.

[CherryAmes]

The way Stuart has been portrayed her turning him down, if anything, would have resulted in her getting a raise and/or a promotion.  In many situations the boss flirting with an employee would definitely be problematic - with Stuart though.  Well, no it's just not.  Denise always had the upper hand (in a good way) and unless they really change things up (and hopefully they won't) that's the way it's going to remain.

[Edmond83]

A much better episode than the season opener I thought, that one felt so flat but this one in terms of comedy felt it had more life to it.

Not sure what's going to happen with Raj, wondering if we might see some twist with his plans for an arranged marriage. He's always been looking for the old romantic way of finding someone and settling down (Raj is an old romantic at heart), but that hasn't exactly brought a lot of success so maybe it's time he really tried something different.  But then is that really going against the type of character he is?  We shall see.

Great to see Stuart happy, haven't seen that for a long time.  People forget early season Stuart was a much more confident guy and actually more successful with the opposite sex, he went out on dates with Penny for example.  I do like Denise so I hope we see more of her this season.

[Ottis]

14 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I don't really think what he did was hitting on her. 

Agreed. The way he asked, it was clear she could have said no and kept her job. It felt like it was more asking her as a friend than a romantic thing. 

Yes! Everything that happened was consensual. She could have said no at any point. There was never any indication he put any sort of pressure on her or threatened her/hinted that he would fire her if she said no. 

Not only responding to Sarah, just encapsulating this quote in lieu of various, similar responses. Wow, I am amazed at how so many people blow off the fact that Stuart, the owner of the business, is asking out his employee. IRL, people scream bloody murder about this. You can never be sure that the employee saying no would not result in repercussions, much less that if they date and it goes south it wouldn't end poorly. Dating a co-worker is a gray area. The business owner dating an employee is not, at least in my experience. And Stuart is looking at this as a girlfriend thing, not a friend. Otherwise the show wouldn't spend time showing him fretting over looking good for his date.

I know this is a TV show, so it can be whatever the writers want it to be. And I'm mostly just debating the logic here, this doesn't keep me up at night or anything. Many comments on this site are built around real life, so I think there should at least be some connection.  And people are all in on being lonely enough at 35 to seek an arranged marriage, but hand wave the power dynamic of a boss asking out an employee. 

[Katy M]

4 minutes ago, Ottis said:

but hand wave the power dynamic of a boss asking out an employee. 

I don't see it being a big deal unless it becomes a big deal.  If he asks her out on dates and she says yes, I don't see a big deal.  If he asks her to have sex with him, that's when it could get to be a problem.  If he doesn't want to have sex while dating, and nothing more than kissing goes on (with her full consent and no threats from him), I fail to see the problem.  Because we have an all-seeing eye in this case, we can see that he has no intent to harass and she appears to want to go out on this date.   I think it would be very hard for her to bring a harassment suit against him unless/until something more happens than what we have seen so far.

[Browncoat]

She's clearly not worried about her job, or uncomfortable with the situation, or she wouldn't be teasing him about being orange for their date.

[BlossomCulp]

On 9/28/2018 at 6:48 PM, Browncoat said:

And yet apparently Leonard and Penny were not hurt to get the regifted item, and Howard and Bernadette weren't hurt to get it originally from Raj.  If anyone should have their feelings hurt about the gift, it should be Raj!  In the end, though, it's a lovely tchotchke, and it wouldn't actually hurt my feelings to have received it.  However, I would have asked what it was.

I loved that Penny and Leonard knew exactly how Sheldon and Amy would react.  Of course they didn't count on them getting the result they did which made the whole thing all the funnier.

Good job, writers!  This one really reflected the characters well and there were lots of good lines.

[chaifan]

Re: Stuart asking Denise out.  There's nothing to get worked up about here.  It's not illegal for a boss to ask out an employee.  It could open the door for issues down the line, but there's nothing illegal or inherently improper about it.  As someone noted, Denise was eager to go to the wedding when she found out Mark Hamill was officiating.  It was a friends thing at that point.  She made the first move on Stuart because she found his geek cred sexy.  There wasn't even a whiff of any conduct that would fall under sexual harassment laws.  Also, IRL about 30% of couples meet in a work setting.  IRL people don't scream about this, unless it goes horribly wrong.  When it goes right it's met with awww, how sweet.  Sexual harassment isn't the rule when it comes to workplace relationships, it's the exception (it just gets more media time).

[shapeshifter]

On 10/1/2018 at 1:00 PM, Ottis said:

Wow, I am amazed at how so many people blow off the fact that Stuart, the owner of the business, is asking out his employee.

I guess those of us troubled by the boss dating the employee just aren't commenting much because there are so many real, bigger fish for us to fry online right now. That said, I am sort of hoping/assuming the writers have a plan out of this--like make the employee a partner in the business.

[BlossomCulp]

To be honest I do think an employer asking out an employee can be super problematic of course but in this specific situation it's just not an issue.  Well, unless the writers really go wildly off course from the way things have been presented up to this point.

[Ottis]

14 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I guess those of us troubled by the boss dating the employee just aren't commenting much because there are so many real, bigger fish for us to fry online right now. That said, I am sort of hoping/assuming the writers have a plan out of this--like make the employee a partner in the business.

I’d buy that except people had enough time to comment about whether Raj should feel pitifully lonely at 35, so...

I think these threads are a reflection of real life. People support their own view and people hand wave other views if they don’t bother them. There is no consistent perspective on something being right or wrong because it depends on how one feels about it anymore and not data, facts, evidence or perspective. Which is a loss. 

I digress... I hope you are right, that Denise becomes a partner (or buys the business from Stuart?) and not that the boss marries the emoloyee. 

[chitowngirl]

Denise’s job did not hinge on dating Stuart. He didn’t threaten her or her position. 

I hope it doesn’t become she marries him, divorces him, gets the business in the breakup and then make a huge success of it.

[BlossomCulp]

3 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

I hope it doesn’t become she marries him, divorces him, gets the business in the breakup and then make a huge success of it.

This is a Chuck Lorre show, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

30 minutes ago, Ottis said:

There is no consistent perspective on something being right or wrong because it depends on how one feels about it anymore and not data, facts, evidence or perspective. Which is a loss. 

Probably true but the point is that on this specific show with these specific characters it is the absolute rare occasion where a woman does not have the upper hand.  I don't know why that is - and agree that in real life it's rarely true - but on Chuck Lorre shows men are almost invariably presented as being the weaker partner and the woman dominates.  If we were commenting on real life situations or a different TV show you'd probably find a different perspective.  As things stand here there is no reason at all to think that Stuart would - or could - use his role as boss to threaten Denise in any way.  It will be a refreshing change if they are presented as being equal.  I'll take that any day over yet another variation on the tough woman/weak man scenario!

[taanja]

On 10/1/2018 at 9:02 PM, chaifan said:

Re: Stuart asking Denise out.  There's nothing to get worked up about here.  It's not illegal for a boss to ask out an employee.  It could open the door for issues down the line, but there's nothing illegal or inherently improper about it.  As someone noted, Denise was eager to go to the wedding when she found out Mark Hamill was officiating.  It was a friends thing at that point.  She made the first move on Stuart because she found his geek cred sexy.  There wasn't even a whiff of any conduct that would fall under sexual harassment laws.  Also, IRL about 30% of couples meet in a work setting.  IRL people don't scream about this, unless it goes horribly wrong.  When it goes right it's met with awww, how sweet.  Sexual harassment isn't the rule when it comes to workplace relationships, it's the exception (it just gets more media time).

And it's a freakin' comedy! Suspension of belief and all. 

[craziness]

I work with a guy of Indian descent, born and raised in the US, who is in his late 20s or early 30s.  He is getting married soon to a woman who he met through an arrangement between his and her parents and a website.  His parents set up his profile (he claims he didn't know about it for about 6 months), monitored the website, and picked the girl for him to eventually meet.  So arranged meetings do still take place, but my co-worker and his fiancee decided to actually get married.

[shapeshifter]

On October 4, 2018 at 10:37 AM, chitowngirl said:

I hope it doesn’t become she marries [Stuart], divorces him, gets the business in the breakup and then make a huge success of it.

Heh. That sure sounds like a Chuck Lorre spinoff to me! 
But I still see a potential Cinderfella ending for Stuart in all of this.

[John Potts]

If you were to give somebody a "marital aid", would you want it to be made of glass (or crystal)? I don't think I'd want anything that fragile or (apparently) angular, anywhere near my... personal areas. Granted it wasn't, but I would have thought that would rule out the idea (please don't enlighten me if I'm wrong)!

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 1:49 AM, Browncoat said:

I loved all the Oompa-loompa and Finding Nemo jokes about orange Stuart.  And I'm terribly glad he decided to just tell the truth about the situation instead of backing out or making up something stupid.

I liked it too. I don't think she's going out with him for his looks, I think she likes him for having nerd connections (through him he's now met Wil Wheaton and Mark Hamill). And it's not like she isn't going to see how orange he is at work (even if it's faded a little by then).

And yes, I thought of Ross (and his luminous teeth) too!

Edited October 26, 2018 by John Potts

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, John Potts said:

If you were to give somebody a "marital aid", would you want it to be made of glass (or crystal)? I don't think I'd want anything that fragile or (apparently) angular, anywhere near my... personal areas. Granted it wasn't, but I would have thought that would rule out the idea (please don't enlighten me if I'm wrong)!

Perhaps retcon it in your mind into a flexible plastic material--you know, just so you don't obsess to the point of nightmares.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 10/26/2018 at 2:29 PM, shapeshifter said:

Perhaps retcon it in your mind into a flexible plastic material--you know, just so you don't obsess to the point of nightmares.

I think you're underestimating the durability of properly tempered glass in the right shapes and thicknesses. If you drop a glass marble onto a concrete surface, it doesn't break. The staff is an orb with a handle. You could snap the handle in two, or break off the orb, with a deliberate effort or by accidentally sitting or stepping on it, but it should hold up to any reasonable usage.