The Big Bang Theory: The Hofstadter Isotope
By fred | April 14, 2009
(S02E20) Because of the way it looks, that it comes from Chuck Lorre and/or is about a group of geeks, it could be easy to see The Big Bang Theory as a stupid sitcom, one that’s not really funny, that makes fun of its characters and goes for the cheap joke anytime they can. But overtime they’ve proven to be more than that, to have actual characters who are more than caricatures and stereotypes, and that jokes can be really funny.
But sometimes, it’s as if the writers can’t help themselves, and they go back to the clichéd/cheap joke instead. It happened tonight, and it’s unfortunate. It’s like when they introduce something new, either a new character or a (major ) change in a character’s life, only to drop it and pretend it never happened by the next episode. They often do that, and it just makes the show looks bad, while it’s better than that.
This week opened good, with the boys in a typical geeky discussion, talking complicated equations regarding going to a bar or not, and while it was a little on the cliché side for a moment, the look of Sheldon’s face at the end of it, having observed Leonard, Howard & Raj and simply to conclude “Fascinating” as they all decide to eventually do nothing, but next time…
It’s like for this one time Sheldon was like us, an external element of the group just observing its odd behavior, and it made the whole thing work. Then we got some typical Sheldon move as Penny asked for a “comics” and, because she knows them good enough now and has been more accepting that she used to be back in the days, she didn’t even fight it and came along to the comic book store with them.
Past the obvious & obligated joke about her presence there, and Raj & Howard making fun of who they usually are, we got to see how much Penny has evolved from her very superficial self when she first moved in, and much to Leonard’s despair she eventually gave her number to another geek, the owner of the comic book store. I’m sure there was a time she wouldn’t have even considered going out with him, but now she was in for coffee even, and that didn’t change when he thought coffee was just coffee.
(And, expect maybe for his interest in girls/Penny, I’d say that he was actually closer to Sheldon than to Leonard, just see their all night long arguments or how they didn’t know what “coffee” really meant. That goes to say eventually, Penny & Sheldon might be a couple…)
Of course, if Leonard didn’t like that one bit, because Penny isn’t just going out some some guy, but someone just like him, making it harder for him to understand why they didn’t work out I guess, but in the end the one who ruined things for her was Sheldon, though inadvertently/unknowingly. I guess it’s the thing when you date a geek, he might not get what you mean by coffee and argue all night long about Batman-something.
Because it bothered Leonard though, he eventually decided to screw their routine plans and go out to a bar, much to Howard’s joy. I found odd that we just saw them change underwear and hit the bars like that, because I would have expected Sheldon to oppose resistance to the idea and be mad at how much it would disrupt everything, as I’m guessing he wasn’t planning on playing vintage video games by himself, but apparently he was fine with it.
If their time in the bar was pretty much what you’d have expected, Leonard not doing a thing and Howard being a creep who can’t get to talk to any girl, I thought going for the “fat joke” the way they do with Raj was just kinda lame, and beneath the show.
Still a fun episode though, and as for quotes, there are many I could go for, but here’s one: “Got it, got it; Got it, got it; Got it, got it; Got it, got it; …”
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Big Bang Theory
I was disappointed with this week’s episode. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this was an episode written for season that was scrapped and then brought back with little revision. The characterizations were very similar to the first season when Leonard was still unreasonably jealous due to his hopeless infatuation with Penny, and Sheldon’s neurosis were not as well defined. Over the past several weeks it’s seemed like the writers were giving Leonard some interesting character growth and allowing him to move at least slightly past being pigeonholed as “that nerdy guy that’s obsessed with that hot girl”. This episode was a definite backward step for him. Even Howard and Raj seemed like caricatures of themselves. While there were some funny moments, I’d really love to see the writers pay better attention to continuity and consistent character growth in a show with such an intelligent demographic.
When it comes to plot, the whole Bar part was a little predictable. I’ve never really paid attention to Howard’s character too much. However, Sheldon was funny still as he always is. His jokes are still funny and the jokes did weigh out the bad in this episode. If I’m laughing with the jokes, it’s still good. Unlike family guy, this show does have good jokes despite the plot. I can relate to Sheldon when it comes to habit. I turn rigid and it’s funny how technical he gets on Spiderman. I am much like that. Overall this was still funny despite the plot.