The Big Bang Theory: The Bad Fish Paradigm [season premiere]
By fred | September 23, 2008
(S02E01) Watch out, the geeks are back! I’ll be honest, I didn’t really miss this show over the summer. Or so I thought… But the fact and the matter is, as soon as I started watching this episode, I realized how wrong that statement was. Damn, how much I’ve been missing those funny geeks!
This show doesn’t try to be anything new, it’s a typical show about a bunch of geeks and a hot girl living next door, it has all the usual cliché of the genre and many reasons it probably shouldn’t work or make you laugh, but then there’s Jim Parsons and his oh-so perfect interpretation of Sheldon. Let’s be clear, as far as I’m concerned this guy is the show, he’s the reason it’s funny and why I watch, and I’m so glad he’s back!
While this episode was of course all about Leonard and Penny, the new couple in town, the real central character was no other than Sheldon. And really, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is true that unlike Howard or Rajesh, Leonard and Penny aren’t just side-kicks, they’re also main characters on the show and gets to be developed a little more, but – and this is a totally biased opinion obviously – the pivotal character is Sheldon.
So while looking at the new relationship between Leonard and Penny, it only makes sense that they put Sheldon right in the middle of it all. That was the right thing to do, if you ask me, and what’s why this episode was the perfect season premiere for The Big Bang Theory, it was absolutely everything you could expect from the show — hilarious.
That the relationship between Penny and Leonard doesn’t seem to be going all that well isn’t so surprising really. There’s that he’s a geek, that he’s absolutely fine that she’s “not smart”, that they do belong to two different worlds, but also despite Leonard’s crush they never really looked like a couple to me, I don’t think there ever was that connection, especially on her side. Plus, it’s a TV show, and that just can’t happen.
But the important part is how Sheldon was involved, his chat with Penny in the laundry room was hilarious, so was his reaction to the pressure of having to keep a secret or his (failed) attempt at making jokes. And while the whole process of being unable to manage such a giant secret, deciding to move out, only to be sent from one side-kick to the other to eventually be returned to sender with enough Valium to spill everything out wasn’t really what you’d call new or the least surprising, who cares?!
No one does, not when Sheldon is passed around among friends, counting catwomen, or revealing all the secrets in the world :
- “Mom smokes in the car. Jesus is okay with it but we can’t tell Dad!”
- “I’m Batman! Shh…”
Here’s a few more great lines from this excellent and hilarious episode :
”
Leonard: Sheldon, how could you just sit there and let them spy on me?
Sheldon: They were clever Leonard. They exploited my complete lack of interest in what you were doing.
“
”
Penny: Sheldon, can I ask you a question ?
Sheldon: I would prefer that you not, but I won’t go so far as to forbid it.
”
”
Penny: Has [Leonard] ever been involved with someone who wasn’t a brainiac ?
Sheldon: Oh, well a few years ago he dated a woman who had a PhD in French Literature.
Penny: How is that not a brainiac ?
Sheldon: Well, for one thing she was French. For another, it was literature.
”
”
Penny: Sheldon, will he get bored with me ?
Sheldon: That depends.
Penny: On what ?
Sheldon: Do you have a working knowledge of quantum physics ?
Penny: No.
Sheldon: Do you speak Klingon ?
Penny: No.
Sheldon: Do you know any card tricks ?
”
”
Sheldon: Why would you lie about that ?
Penny: Well he was going on and on about this college and that grade school, and I didn’t want him to think I was some kind of stupid looser!
Sheldon: And you thought the opposite of stupid looser was community college graduate ?
”
”
Sheldon: This is a classic example of Münchhausen-Trilemma. Either the reason is predicated on a series of sub-reasons leading to an infinite regression, or it tracks back to arbitrary aximatic statements, or it’s ultimately circular, i.e. I’m moving out because I’m moving out.
Leonard: I’m still confused.
Sheldon: Leonard, I don’t see how I could have made it any simpler.
”
”
Leonard: He’s just gone insane.
Rajesh: We all knew this day was coming.
Leonard: That was fast!
Sheldon: It’s my pre-packed disaster evacuation bag. It’s recommended by Homeland Security. And Sarah Connor.
”
“Sheldon: I drank milk that tasted funny.”
”
Leonard: Penny thinks I’m too smart for her, that’s ridiculous!
Sheldon: I know! Most of your work is extremely derivative. But don’t worry that’s not a secret. Everybody knows.
“
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Big Bang Theory
