The Big Bang Theory: The Jerusalem Duality
By fred | April 15, 2008
(S01E12) I know not everyone likes this show, and based on its premise only I can see why you wouldn’t be interested in it, but if you do, you’ll probably end up liking it, because as it turns out, it is funny. It’s not a show where you’ll get great character developments and smart complex stories like you can find in The Office or How I Met Your Mother, I would not call it a great show to be honest, but it does makes you laugh, and for a sitcom that’s about the most important thing to do.
As I’m pretty sure anyone who watches the show will tell you, there is one force that actually makes this show work, one guy that stands out above the rest and without whom the show would probably suck incredibly, his name is Sheldon. He’s hilarious, he’s (usually) at the center or everything funny and that’s why it’s not uncommon to see episodes based around him.
This episode was no different, as it deals with his fears to be replaced, and how he would deal with having to face someone who’s both smarter and younger than he is. Sheldon is quite arrogant, but that’s why we like him so much. So when Dennis showed up, all arrogant as well and pointing out endlessly how he was smarter than Sheldon, how he could see the flaws in Sheldon’s work, event though Sheldon wasn’t yet able to see it, how he won the same prestigious awards, only younger, as Leonard said it, “it’s like looking into an obnoxious little mirror, isn’t it?”
But what this also really showed us, is that putting Sheldon at the center of an episode isn’t enough to make it work, because let’s come clean : this episode wasn’t really good.
I love the show, and I usually have a great time watching it, simply because it’s funny and it makes me laugh, but not so much this time. I’m not saying nothing worked, a few things did and I did laugh a couple of times, but overall I was disappointed because if the show has always been flawed, most of this episode was made out of its flaws. And by that I mean relied on some boring clichés, used some lines that were obviously meant to be funny, but I can’t think anyone would actually laugh at them, and it was incredibly predictable all the way to the end, which tend to make things quite boring if you know where it’s going, and it doesn’t even make you laugh along the way.
When Sheldon was complaining that his life was over, now that a better scientist was around, and Penny was giving away lines after lines of “jokes” that were simply not funny, it hurt a little. Except for one line (”I don’t understand, how did he get friends in the first place ? – We liked Leonard…“) is was really not good, and though on occasion he may have had a good line (”Oompa Loompas of science“), Sheldon wandering around only to be told to “go away” over & over again wasn’t working for me.
And by the end, when trying to get a girl for Dennis only realizing one after the other that their plan was highly flawed, because they didn’t know how to get a girl in the first place, that was a very old and boring cliché, and the show should really try to avoid those as much as possible, really, because it’s not good, ever.
Not such a good episode, but I’ll end with what I believe was the funniest moment of the episode : Sheldon having found a new project.
“
- Since my prospects for the Nobel prize in physics have disappeared – *turns to Dennis* Thank you very much! – I’ve decided to refocus my efforts and use my people skills to win the Nobel Peace prize. Look : I’m going to solve the Middle-East crisis by building an exact replica of Jerusalem in the middle of the Mexican desert.
- To what end ?
- You know, it’s like the Baseball movie, you build it and they will come.
- Who will come ?
- The Jewish people!
- What if they don’t come ?
- We’ll make it nice, put on a spread.
“
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Big Bang Theory
