S12.E23: The Change Constant; S12.E24: The Stockholm Syndrome

[ProfCrash]

The idea that Sheldon and Amy were congratulated by tweet from their families was a bit ridiculous. Why not show Sheldon calling his Mom and telling her? Maybe toss in a line that there was some reason why she couldn't be at the awarding, family illness that she was helping with that maybe turns into a long term thing. Recording a 30 second phone conversation should have been possible.

[Homily]

39 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

So not to have her anywhere in the finale, where he's winning one, doesn't ring true for me.

He does get a text from her congratulating him - but I agree it was too little.  If my kid were to win a Nobel Prize I'd be doing a lot more than shooting him/her a congratulatory text!  I do agree with the point others are making though that part of the point of the tie in between YS and BBT finale was to underline the movement for Sheldon from one family to the next so perhaps there was a deeper meaning behind Mary's absence than Laurie Metcalfe being unavailable.

[green]

45 minutes ago, perkie1968 said:

I disagree.  In YS she sees how alone he is because no one showed up, and how important the whole Nobel prize thing is for him, even though he's not the one winning it at the time.  So not to have her anywhere in the finale, where he's winning one, doesn't ring true for me.  They had a Kripke cameo and the facetime with Stewart, they could have had a cameo facetime of Mary  even if it was two seconds.  

But the whole point of the Young Sheldon voiceover at the end of the episode with the montage of his "core" future friends showing what they were doing at the very same moment he is sitting there in the chair alone and upset is that he would NOT end up alone after all because his adult family in waiting was already in place in the world living their lives too.  He just didn't know it yet.

I agree with the first poster that a separate Mary episode would have been nice.  Or if the actress could not take part in anything then a phone conversation seen/heard only from Sheldon's end a la Bob Newart's old method could have been a nice cameo instead.

But I think the "core" should only have been there at the ceremony for their stand-up moments.  It was like a formal curtain call in the theatre and I think that it was meant as such and they got it right who should be there for that moment.  The core "family."

[Bort]

It's certainly keeping with the fact that Sheldon isn't terribly close with his biological family. He was so estranged from his brother that they didn't speak for years and Sheldon wasn't even going to invite him to his wedding, had people not intercened. Their relationship is better now, but I bet they still don't really talk much. Sheldon is meh-close with his mother and sister, but he sees them a couple times a year at best. Maybe they were there at the Nobel ceremony and we just didn't see them, as the point to close out the show was the curtain call for the people he's closest to.

[ProfCrash]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

It's certainly keeping with the fact that Sheldon isn't terribly close with his biological family. He was so estranged from his brother that they didn't speak for years and Sheldon wasn't even going to invite him to his wedding, had people not intercened. Their relationship is better now, but I bet they still don't really talk much. Sheldon is meh-close with his mother and sister, but he sees them a couple times a year at best. Maybe they were there at the Nobel ceremony and we just didn't see them, as the point to close out the show was the curtain call for the people he's closest to.

Sheldon's mother has visited him, his friends have called his Mother for help, and he has gone to visit her. He might not be close to her in terms of interest but he does seem to respect her and understands that she love shim, even though they are very different people. Heck, he went home to help with the birth of his sisters child.

Outside of Raj and his family, Sheldon seems to have the most healthy and robust relationship with his family. Leonard's family is a mess, Penny seems to get along fine with her Dad but not a particularly tight bond. Howard had an unhealthy relationship with his Mom, never fully growing up. Raj had a good relationship with his sister and seems to have a good relationship with his parents, even if they did spoil him.

[PentaHookUp]

On 5/17/2019 at 10:53 AM, Driad said:

I still say this was about 10 years too early for Shamy to get the Nobel.  Winners hear and react in different ways.  One didn't hear his call (if there was one), and rushed to a dentist appointment in the morning.  His dentist congratulated him, and it was the first time he heard.

Rudolf Mossbauer, 32

Tsung-Dao Lee, 31

Carl D. Anderson, 31

 Paul A.M. Dirac, 31

Werner Heisenberg, 31

Lawrence Bragg, 25

[Driad]

I was not talking about Shamy's ages, but how recently they did their work.  For all we know, someone might find a major flaw next week.

[Katy M]

13 minutes ago, Driad said:

I was not talking about Shamy's ages, but how recently they did their work.  For all we know, someone might find a major flaw next week.

Like that Russian guy 50 years ago or whatever that already disproved it, until it was proved by two people who clearly had no idea what they were doing. 

[Homily]

In a world where Howard Wolowitz can become an astronaut I have no problem believing Sheldon and Amy can win a Nobel prize 😃

[Driad]

My local station, at least, is re-showing these two episodes tonight, 8-9 PM. 

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, Driad said:

My local station, at least, is re-showing these two episodes tonight, 8-9 PM. 

Thanks for the heads up, @Driad! Re-airing here too!

  
  
  

5 hours ago, Homily said:

I wonder if the same thing happened with this episode as with the wedding from last year and they did have cameos from Laurie Metcalfe any others that ended up being cut for time because of course it wouldn't be BBT without a boatload of commercials.

But they did have more time by making it a double episode, so, if Mary was filmed (or just written) and cut, it must've been a creative choice.

[Homily]

5 hours ago, DarkRaichu said:

Agreed.  Some makeover is fine, but I do not think it should have been a focus for her character (she was crying about her looks etc)

I had mixed feelings about that.  I guess they mainly did it so there would be one more change for Sheldon to freak out over but I do think in some ways it was very true to life.  Women can be successful in their field and still care about their appearance which I think is a valid thing to convey.  And yet it was also chalk on the blackboard a bit in the sense that whether intentional or not they made Amy obsess more over her appearance than her success on what should have been one of the biggest days of her life in terms of her career.  And yet I can also see how someone can not even really think about their appearance until they see themselves on TV or in the newspaper and that can be a real wake up call that perhaps you don't look the way you thought you looked.  Been there, for sure.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Homily

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Homily said:

I had mixed feelings about that.  I guess they mainly did it so there would be one more change for Sheldon to freak out over but I do think in some ways it was very true to life.  Women can be successful in their field and still care about their appearance which I think is a valid thing to convey and yet it was also chalk on the blackboard a bit in the sense that whether intentional or not they made Amy obsess more over her appearance than her success on what should have been one of the biggest days of her life in terms of her career.  And yet I can also see how someone can not even really think about their appearance until they see themselves on TV or in the newspaper and that can be a real wake up call that perhaps you don't look the way you thought you looked.  Been there, for sure.

I feel the same way about the makeover. I really wish they had gone a different direction with the scene where Raj finds Amy crying. There’s nothing wrong with the idea that Amy saw a picture of herself and deciding she wanted a change but I didn’t like that she felt like a passive participant in the process. This played out too much like Amy was Raj’s creation. I would have found it more realistic if the bathroom scene had ended with Amy taking Raj’s suggestion and enthusiastically running with it. 

[Katy M]

37 minutes ago, Dani said:

I would have found it more realistic if the bathroom scene had ended with Amy taking Raj’s suggestion and enthusiastically running with it. 

But, I like that Raj and Amy had bonding time, even if we didn't get to see it.  Out of all the members in the main group, I think those two have interacted the least.

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, Katy M said:

But, I like that Raj and Amy had bonding time, even if we didn't get to see it.  Out of all the members in the main group, I think those two have interacted the least.

Me too. I was still thinking they go shopping together.  I really hope there is deleted scene of their shopping trip that will be released at some point. 

It’s unfortunate that the show didn’t take better advantage of how well Mayim works with the whole cast. 

[J-Man]

Quote

  On 5/17/2019 at 5:28 AM, Katy M said:

Quote

Dick and Joanna on Newhart.  Come to think of it Bob and Emily on the Bob Newhart Show.  

Before my time.  Never watched it.  But glad to hear there was one. 

Then you missed the single best series finale EVER. (Or at least the final scene.) Fun fact: a then-unknown Lisa Kudrow was in that episode..

Quote

The fictional character of Sheldon Cooper is one of the finest in TV history and I shall miss him greatly.

You will still be seeing him in new episodes every Thursday night at 8:00 PM beginning in the fall.

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, Homily said:

n a world where Howard Wolowitz can become an astronaut I have no problem believing Sheldon and Amy can win a Nobel prize 😃

Before Challenger blew up what was going to be the first teacher in space, they were giving joyrides to Senators, so it was plausible to send Howard  to watch over the important piece of equipment he built in case it turned out to be just as reliable as his space toilet.

[Chaos Theory]

If you want to fanwank they were off to the side just off camera.  Honestly I didn’t even really notice their absence while watching.  I did make note that memaw was still alive.    Honestly it’s a small tiny nitpick.  The show wanted to focus on the main cast and it did so in a heartwarming way.

My understanding of HowRd going to space was that he created this important piece of machinery and yes you can get “someone” to look after it but who better then the designer.  It’s not like Howard was a nobody who won a lottery.  The story on why the space program wanted HowRd made sense.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[Token]

After being really disappointed by the GoT finale, I watched this in the hope that it would be awesome.  I really thought it would be.  I was so disappointed in that expectation.

- Really, show?  A woman can't decide not to have children and be able to stick with that decision?  Why not have Amy get pregnant?  You know, someone who would actually want kids, not the person who clearly decided she did not want kids.

- So, Raj is still single?  Really?

- It took Sheldon 12 years to stop being a dick?  Haven't we seen this before?  And he goes right back to being a dick again.  Yawn, it's boring now.

- Penny Hofstadter?  Really?

- After not being able to speak in front of crowds, Sheldon can suddenly give an off-the-cuff coherent speech, while sober, in front of the Nobel crowd, without passing out?

- I'm sure there was more stuff that annoyed me.  I can't even remember much, besides what I wrote above.  The first half hour was really boring.  They had an hour to do something amazing and this is the best they could come up with?

[Chit Chat]

9 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Why not show Sheldon calling his Mom and telling her? Maybe toss in a line that there was some reason why she couldn't be at the awarding, family illness that she was helping with that maybe turns into a long term thing.

Sheldon has always been close to his Mom (she's his Christian soldier as we learned from YS,) so for her congrats to be a tweet didn't ring true with me either.  I can understand if Laurie couldn't be there, but surely they could've had a quick phone conversation.  One of my disappointments with the last few episodes was that she either couldn't or wasn't asked to make an appearance.   Sheldon has mentioned his love for his mother several times on this show.  He had the utmost respect for her authority, and he knew that she loved him unconditionally.  Before his wedding he thanked her "for everything, my whole life." 

25 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

The show wanted to focus on the main cast and it did so in a heartwarming way.

Even though Laurie wasn't on the show as a regular, she was still an integral part of the cast.  And even though Mary didn't live close to Sheldon, we always knew that with just one phone call she'd be there in a heartbeat, so it always seemed like she could walk through the door at any time!  I understand why she wasn't on as much once Sheldon got married, but I think she deserved a spot in the episodes leading up to the finale, or the finale itself.  

[Stats Queen]

On 5/17/2019 at 8:22 AM, ChitChat said:

As much as I loved Sheldon's Nobel acceptance speech, he really should've said something about his & Amy's research and what led to their discovery, then go into the personal stuff.  I would've found it interesting.  Also, we've seen over the years how Sheldon has been told how his behavior affects others, and in some cases we saw improvement, but then we'd see relapses. 

I think anything about their research ended up being cut out. To me it was Sheldon’s epiphany 12 years in the making - he finally realized that he may be a genius but he could not have achieved his Nobel without his “family”. After all, the enlightenment for his and Amy’s asymmetry came together at their wedding - they achieved it together. 

Also, Amy basically telling him off finally made him snap.

[shapeshifter]

Rewatching now:

I'm wondering if the elevator got fixed because Sheldon and Amy won the Nobel.

[Browncoat]

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

Rewatching now:

I'm wondering if the elevator got fixed because Sheldon and Amy won the Nobel.

I like how they very carefully angled the cameras so we couldn't/didn't see the elevator until it dinged and opened with Penny in it.  I didn't notice that on the first viewing.

[Bronzedog]

On the rewatch- Penny and Sheldon are out having drinks and Sheldon asks if she's going to be ok to drive and later they both order more drinks.  Sooo, she's pregnant and drinking?

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Bronzedog said:

On the rewatch- Penny and Sheldon are out having drinks and Sheldon asks if she's going to be ok to drive and later they both order more drinks.  Sooo, she's pregnant and drinking?

I was wondering about that too.
But I think the next episode is a couple of months later.

ETA: Yes. She gets pregnant that night. Quite possibly Penny did drink while pregnant, but not on screen.
  
  

I really wish I could wear Amy's linen suit with the crewel embroidery to my daughter's wedding in August. It's not on As Seen On TV yer, but it's probably light years out of my price range anyway.
  
  
[I missed this bit of dialog the first time around, so probably a lot of others did too, which explains] I don't know why there was so much flak about Penny being pg given this bit of dialog:

[SHELDON] What would you like me to say? 

[LEONARD] How about congratulating us?

[SHELDON] Are congratulations even in order? I didn't think Penny wanted children.

[LEONARD] Well, she didn't, now she does.

I'm guessing once this episode has aired multiple times, more viewers will at least shrug off Penny's change of mind. 
 

Also, I can fanwank this bit to imply that Penny's "Do you wanna" was more about having unprotected sex than just sex, even though I wish she hadn't been quite so drunk:

[PENNY] Yeah, well if something else had been wrapped, we wouldn't be in this situation.

[LEONARD] Excuse me, but if I recall, you're the one who went out drinking with Sheldon, then came home and attacked me.

[PENNY] Attacked you? I said, "Do you wanna?" 

Edited May 21, 2019 by shapeshifter

[Browncoat]

3 minutes ago, Bronzedog said:

On the rewatch- Penny and Sheldon are out having drinks and Sheldon asks if she's going to be ok to drive and later they both order more drinks.  Sooo, she's pregnant and drinking?

She gets pregnant later that night after she jumps Leonard.

[Homily]

57 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

The story on why the space program wanted HowRd made sense.

What didn't make sense was that Howard made it into space given the whole trajectory of his involvement in training to be an astronaut.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Homily

[Bronzedog]

7 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

She gets pregnant later that night after she jumps Leonard.

Thanks!  That makes sense!  I thought that was kind of a giant faux pas for no one on the show to catch.

[Stats Queen]

On 5/17/2019 at 9:09 AM, Snow Apple said:

I'm puzzled when people say nothing changed. Rome wasn't built in a day. Look how far everyone's come.

Exactly. I do change management for a living. I said to my husband that getting Sheldon to ride in an elevator, or being able to change and adapt at all was a lot like doing change management for governmental or other large, bureaucratic organization. It can take a really long time but it can eventually happen.

[Stats Queen]

On 5/17/2019 at 6:28 PM, EllenB said:

I never particularly wanted kids.  I also had one of those whoops pregnancies (possibly because 🍸🍹🤔 lol) at about the same age Penny is supposed to be.  After a minor panic moment (or two or three), I decided I was cool with it.  Remember, they didn't show Penny and Leonard's immediate reaction - they'd had time to adjust their feelings (her possible panic, his definite ecstacy) by the time it was shared with the audience.

I hope I understand those who are upset when Penny said she didn’t want kids and yet she ended up pregnant and was happy about it. Women can be truly happy without having kids. For me, I wanted kids but that wasn’t the plan for my life - I wanted kids very badly but I had medical factors that prevented that from happening. I’m blessed to have a wonderful husband for almost 25 years and we didn’t have kids but we are happy with our lives although it ended up being very different than what we expected all those years ago. (We did have a few rough years accepting our new reality).

Sometimes life presents you with pleasant surprises. I’ve known several women who adamantly didn’t want kids and yet they ended with two or more kids. Life takes you in unexpected directions.

And as others have said, her not wanting kids was more of a development in seasons 11-12 and was not a constant theme.

She also had a couple of months to decide if this was a good thing or not.

For a sitcom, it also served to wrap up the series and relate it back to earlier seasons.

I wanted kids but couldn’t carry a baby to term, 

[Stats Queen]

On 5/18/2019 at 8:11 PM, summitsw said:

There is also no universe in which I believe that Mary (and also Georgie and Missy) wouldn’t have attended that ceremony. Ending the show with the idea of them all heading off to watch the award ceremony rather than subjecting us to it would have also negated that ridiculousness.

They never said they didn’t attend,  it it is a sitcom with limited time so they focused on the main characters - the show was about these relationships not show attended the Nobel ceremony 

[Chit Chat]

12 hours ago, Deskisamess said:

I've seen lots of comments about Penny not wanting kids, and being annoyed the show had her get pregnant anyway.

My disappointment is that her biggest dream was to be an actor.  I had always hoped that she and Wil Wheaton might end up doing something together.  I know that it's more realistic that she didn't make it as an actor, but it would've been nice to see Penny achieve what she came out to California to do.  I'm not talking about becoming a mega-star, but maybe some steady acting gigs that she would've been happy with.  We saw an episode where she told Leonard that she wasn't 100% happy with her sales job.  They dropped that storyline and never mentioned it again (that I can recall.)  I guess she was suddenly okay with that too.  

This past season has mostly been about Sheldon & Amy - which is fine in some ways, but in other ways there were a lot of storylines about the other characters that got brushed aside, IMO.  Leonard & Penny took a backseat once they got married.  It seemed like the writers couldn't figure out what to do with them anymore, much like they did with Raj.  

Oh well, at least nothing terrible happened to them in the finale.  I'm happy that we have plenty of re-runs to entertain us in the years to come.  

[ProfCrash]

2 hours ago, Bronzedog said:

On the rewatch- Penny and Sheldon are out having drinks and Sheldon asks if she's going to be ok to drive and later they both order more drinks.  Sooo, she's pregnant and drinking?

I was pregnant for 6 weeks before I knew I was pregnant and had more then a few beers in that time. I was worried when I found out I was pregnant, I had a business trip to Hawaii that involved many a beer or two a night at the begining of my pregnancy. My Doctor was very clear that unless I was drunk on a regular basis, the baby was just fine. 

There are cultures were women drink throughout their entire prgnency and the babies are fine. There are cultures where women eat sushi throughout their pregnancy and they are fine.

The reality is that the rules that most women in the US are given to follow are more over reactions to the damage done by the small percentage of women who drink too much when pregnant or the fish that have mercury in them.

[Token]

Is it just me or was Penny wearing the same T-shirt at the end of this episode that she was at the beginning of the first ever episode?  That turquoise one?

[Bort]

52 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

I had always hoped that she and Wil Wheaton might end up doing something together.

They did. Penny and Wil starred in Serial Ape-ist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill.

[ams1001]

12 minutes ago, Token said:

Is it just me or was Penny wearing the same T-shirt at the end of this episode that she was at the beginning of the first ever episode?  That turquoise one?

She was. I didn't catch it but someone else mentioned it and I went to look at pictures of the two scenes. Sheldon is also wearing a Flash shirt in both scenes (but not the same shirt) and Leonard is wearing maroon (t-shirt in the premiere and button-down in the finale). 

[Sarah 103]

On 5/16/2019 at 9:01 PM, chitowngirl said:

The only surprise is that Sheldon didn’t introduce Penny by her maiden name, solving that mystery.

I was dissapointed too.

On 5/16/2019 at 9:02 PM, Wanda said:

Really disappointing. In a double episode no closure for Raj. I was positive they would have Anu show up from London and stand outside his window with a boom box, giving him the big romantic gesture he wanted so badly. Nothing for Stuart and Denise. 

Agreed. I feel like we got Stuart and Denise closure earlier this season. They were going to move in together, which seemed like a good place to tie up their story for now. It demonstrates that they are in a serious long term relationship.

On 5/16/2019 at 9:31 PM, chaifan said:

I liked this finale.  I loved Amy's makeover, but am sad that we didn't get the Raj/Amy shopping/makeover montage.  Could they at least make that an online only clip?  Please?

I am perfectly fine with Raj ending up single.  In fact, I sort of prefer it that way.  The only change I'd have made to that plot line is to swap out Michelle Gellar for another celebrity who is actually single.  (Summer Glau?  Not sure if she's single, but that would have been a fun callback.)  That way, there would at least be a little hmmmm....  maybe, possibly?  to Raj's story.

I wish we could've seen the shopping makeover montage too.

Did Anu and Raj actually break up and I missed it, or did they leave the relationship hanging/unclear when she moved to London. I would be okay with Raj being single, but it didn't seem like the Raj/Anu story had closure (a break-up counts as closure to me).

On 5/16/2019 at 9:44 PM, marypat57 said:

As I was typing this, I was watching Young Sheldon.  What a lovely bookend to the BBT finale.....

I'll be the TBBT writers told the YS writers, "our finale involves the cast and the Nobel Prize" and didn't give more spoilers so it wouldn't get out, but enough for the YS writers to create something that perfectly tied into TBBT finale. 

On 5/17/2019 at 8:33 AM, Tosia said:

I don't think that they intended to show Stuart as an incompetent babysitter ---it was  just that the Wolotots  were especially  rambunctious that day. The actor did a marvelous job on the video with the eye tics and evading the truth. It was really funny.  

Even parents have those days and accidents always happen. 

I agree. Stuff happens, it just happened while Stuart was watching them but the exact same events could have happened when the parents were home. 

On 5/17/2019 at 10:10 AM, DrSpaceman said:

Of course they had to do a whole series recap as a time waster and the usual shortened stuff, so really like 30 minutes maybe total of running time 

That bothered me too. They have so little time as it is, why waste it on something like that? If people want to catch up, there's websites with summaries, syndication, streaming and other ways to catch-up before the finale. 

On 5/17/2019 at 4:37 PM, ChitChat said:

  I would much rather had seen Leonard's siblings, and for Raj to meet the girl of his dreams, given that he's always wanted to meet someone special. 

I wish we had seen those things happen too. 

On 5/18/2019 at 2:28 AM, mammaM said:

I don't think he was (or I'd rant with you). He told Amy she just won the Nobel and what other people thought didn't matter and she was a beautiful woman. It wasn't until Amy said that she "knows she shouldn't care what people think and she never did and it's silly but she does now", that Raj said if she's not happy with the pictures of herself make some changes. 

And as someone upthread said, that's a shopping montage I'd love to have seen😂

Raj was giving her good advice. Be happy with who you are how you look. If you're not happy, you can change your look/style. He wasn't suggesting something drastic like plastic surgery, just buying some outfits and trying out a new hairstyle. 

Also, I loved that Sheldon in his speech didn't mention that Howard doesn't have a PhD and instead used a title that would show respect and something that Howard was proud of. 

[biakbiak]

My issue with Penny being pregnant other than that this show alone has had two woman saying they didn’t want to have children only to end up with children and it’s tired is that they had her husband explain her change of attitude/happiness. 

[Chit Chat]

8 hours ago, kariyaki said:

They did. Penny and Wil starred in Serial Ape-ist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill.

I was talking about something more long-term with them rather than that short-lived project. 

[TigerLynx]

I would rather have seen scenes of Amy and Raj shopping than all the Howard and Bernadette scenes especially the ones with Howard, Bernadette and Stuart.

I'm glad the others acknowledged how much they have been enabling Sheldon, and how it isn't good for any of them including Sheldon.  However, like Sheldon they've had these realizations before, and then they return to the status quo.  This time I hope it sticks.

[Chaos Theory]

13 hours ago, Bronzedog said:

On the rewatch- Penny and Sheldon are out having drinks and Sheldon asks if she's going to be ok to drive and later they both order more drinks.  Sooo, she's pregnant and drinking?

No that is the night she gets pregnant.   Three months later flashes on the screen and Amy talks about her dress being taken in and Penny’s being let out which is about right for three months.    Leonard and Penny then talk about her coming home a little drunk after talking to Sheldon and then having sex.  

[Beden]

21 hours ago, ProfCrash said:

Sheldon's mother has visited him, his friends have called his Mother for help, and he has gone to visit her. He might not be close to her in terms of interest but he does seem to respect her and understands that she love shim, even though they are very different people. Heck, he went home to help with the birth of his sisters child.

All true. But I also point out that Sheldon is a man well into his 30's (or even in his early 40's), a highly respected professional who has lived and worked a good distance from his biological family since he was a young teenager going to university. I agree that Mary should have been in Oslo if she reasonably could and there were a number of dramatically feasible ways she could have easily been more incorporated into the story line--helping with her daughter's young kids for example, a simple and quick explanation. I buy that she would know that he was well cared for by his wife and close circle of friends.

I'm close to my own 30 year old son who has lived/worked across country from me for a decade. While we both have our own lives, we text daily, visit back and forth when we can. While he'll never win a Nobel (and damn right I'd be there if he did), Perhaps this time Mary had a good reason for not being there-yes, more reason should have been given but I'm willing to accept that she knew Sheldon was well cared for without her.

And maybe he and Amy stopped off in Texas on the way home.

[Katy M]

14 hours ago, Bronzedog said:

On the rewatch- Penny and Sheldon are out having drinks and Sheldon asks if she's going to be ok to drive and later they both order more drinks.  Sooo, she's pregnant and drinking?

She got pregnant later that night.

20 minutes ago, Beden said:

agree that Mary should have been in Oslo

That would have been weird.  But, maybe she should have been in Stockholm.:)

[LoneHaranguer]

16 hours ago, Token said:

After not being able to speak in front of crowds, Sheldon can suddenly give an off-the-cuff coherent speech, while sober, in front of the Nobel crowd, without passing out?

How big was the crowd? He originally said it would take "36 adults or 70 children" to have a problem, but that was in S3, so he's had time to adjust (speaking in front of classes and at his wedding may have helped). Also, his chances of getting trampled by the Nobel crowd are presumably less than average, so he may have been okay with more people than usual.

13 hours ago, ChitChat said:

We saw an episode where she told Leonard that she wasn't 100% happy with her sales job.  They dropped that storyline and never mentioned it again (that I can recall.)  I guess she was suddenly okay with that too.  

Bernie gave her a new job.

[PentaHookUp]

On 5/17/2019 at 2:37 PM, theredhead77 said:

In the final scene Penny is wearing the shirt she wore in the first episode.

Reminds me of what she said to her staff about still being able to fit into her high school jeans.

[Beden]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

3 hours ago, Beden said:

agree that Mary should have been in Oslo

That would have been weird.  But, maybe she should have been in Stockholm.:)

Um....well, they're both lovely cities. And if I wasn't brainfarting this morning I would have made a point to stop in Stockholm for the ceremony first.

[willowk]

On 5/17/2019 at 10:08 PM, EllenB said:

I've been retired for about seven years, but I worked in a place chock-full of humanities nerds.  We had each developed some sort of personal "uniform" - mine was pretty extreme because I would buy multiples of the same clothes in color variations, and wear them for years.  Others weren't quite that bad, but still predictable in what they wore.  The weirdest was one day when eight of us spontaneously showed up in khaki pants and black shirts/blouses/tops.

Yes to this. I work on a campus, and many faculty have "uniforms". One Psychology professor here wears tie-dyed t-shirts everyday, no matter what the occasion or season. An administrator I know wears long-sleeved white shirts everyday -again even in summer.

[willowk]

On 5/18/2019 at 2:45 PM, TexasTiffany said:

This is what I hoped, that they are together where I want them to be when I visit the reruns. 

I feared that they would do a Frasier ending (IMO that was AWFUL) Frasier left his family, friends, the home he always wanted, his livelihood, all of his favorite restaurants, theaters, etc. For what? He's so infatuated with Charlotte, who moved back to Chicago, that he takes the job in... San Francisco. WTF? 

I was worried Sheldon and Amy would announce their leaving for jobs across the country. Raj staying in England. Howard and Bernie moving away. Leonard and Penny making new friends which emotionally moves them away from their extended friends/family. I will not fear this episode as something I can't watch later.

On Frasier, in the end he doesn't go to San Francisco -he's on a plane, but it lands in Chicago. He's going to try and win Charlotte for keeps.  In my mind I've always thought that Frasier marries Charlotte and they eventually move back to Seattle, although I don't think he'd go back on the radio anymore.

[perkie1968]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:36 AM, green said:

But I think the "core" should only have been there at the ceremony for their stand-up moments. 

I had no problem with that.  What bothered me is that we didn't see Laurie Metcalf at all this season.  They brought Christine Baranski back and gave her an episode where Leonard finally gets to tell her that she hurts him and they share a hug, but no Laurie, not even in a Facetime shot with Sheldon when he's winning a Nobel prize.  

[SoMuchTV]

On 5/20/2019 at 9:20 AM, Deskisamess said:

wasn't thrilled with Amy's makeover...it didn't seem real to me at all. It was too much of a change all at one time. Amy would have been totally uncomfortable in the new clothes, especially the spiked heels and low cut dresses. It also fed the idea that women/girls have to look a certain way to gain acceptance, aside from the fact that she just won a Nobel, an accomplishment that had nothing to do with how she looked. It didn't feel right to me.

I really liked Amy's makeover. I didn't really notice anything low cut (I didn't go back and rewatch, but I can't imagine Mayim would be okay with anything too drastic), but I'm right there with you on one thing - the spikey heels. If she had had a makeover that included sensible shoes, she'd be my hero for life!