So ‘Big Bang Theory’ has now aired 3 episodes this season, and while things have not gotten much better, at least they’re not getting worse. On the plus side, this episode at least had some moments of heart and some interesting bonding moments for Sheldon and Howard which we do not often see, and I do always enjoy it when they get Leonard’s mom on the show. I like the way she interacts with all the other characters and her deadpan line reads.
This week was all about the news that Bernadette and Howard are having a boy this time around, which sends Howard to a dark place as he feels he does not know how to raise a man because he was abandoned by his own father, who never taught him things like sports. He, Sheldon, and Raj head out to the garage to discuss model rocket building, a past-time they all had as children, and while Sheldon and Howard bond over childhood pain, Raj excuses himself feeling left out because his parents were surprisingly good to him. He spends the rest of the episode converting Hallie’s old baby clothes into boy clothes with Bernadette, in what is clearly the writers desperate for SOMETHING for those characters to do (never a good sign).
Sheldon and Howard meanwhile head out to the desert to send up one of the rockets, which instead explodes on the ground, sending Howard further into depression and feelings of inadequacy. Sheldon tries to cheer him up, but when he fails, he instead asks if he can drive, revealing to Howard how he got his license a few years back but hasn’t driven much. With Howard at his side, Sheldon feels confident at the wheel, and says so to his friend, telling him that he will make a good father, which comforts Howard at last, right before Sheldon guns it and ends up with a speeding ticket.
Back at the main apartment, Penny strikes up a friendship with Leonard’s mom over Skype, a fact which bothers both Leonard and Amy (though Amy only because she is supposed to be Penny’s ONLY best friend). Leonard is mostly bothered when Penny tells him how often his mom has said she is proud of Penny, so Leonard decides to call his mom himself and ask her why she never told him the same. Though Beverly never directly says it to Leonard, she does say that Leonard chose the best wife of all her children, and she is proud of their relationship, which makes Leonard tear up, and Beverly ends the call in disgust.
QUOTES OF THE NIGHT:
HOWARD: I barely know how to be a man myself.
SHELDON: Well, as the saying goes, those that can’t do, teach.
SHELDON: He’ll have plenty of manly role models. I’m certain whatever Bernadette can’t teach him, Penny can.
PENNY: Leonard just left, he’s gonna be so upset he missed your call.
BEVERLY: (deadpan) Why?
PENNY: I… I don’t know. How are you?
SHELDON: Sounds like it could be a real bonding experience for us…
HOWARD: I know right!
SHELDON: Oh, you see that as a good thing.
This week might have been better than last week, but not to sound like a broken record, but they have to figure something out, and fast, because I’m getting bored, and we’re only 3 episodes in. Speed up the wedding, have Penny get pregnant, or finally have Raj get married, SOMETHING to shake up the status quo because right now there is little keeping the show alive.
