Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

The Big Bang Theory: The Workplace Proximity

"Did you know Los Angeles has a Little Sri Lanka?"

The men are annoying their womenfolk again - except for Leonard. Meanwhile, Amy's got a new job. And a new monkey. And whatever happened to Raj's job. Let's put this episode under the ol' microscope and over-analyze it Sheldon-style.?

So, I liked the storyline in this one between Sheldon and Amy. Yes, in a way, it did rehash the same "He treats her like bleh/she gets mad then his awkward non-apology somehow makes her forgive him" kind of scenario. But I liked how this was about her work and while I'm not really sure at all what emotion made him go interrupt her lunch with colleagues and introduce himself as her boyfriend, there was an actual emotion! And he seemed not in control of it. That was fun and interesting. This was Sheldon being socially inappropriate in a whole new way.

Though, I have to wonder how Amy so fluctuates between lusting after SuperNerd and being annoyed by him to the point of dumping him. There's sometimes something too, I dunno, uncomfortable about their relationship. I may have mentioned this before. It's like his line about her being so weird - though it was meant to show his utter lack of self-awareness- was kinda true. She's an odd duck, and as much as Sheldon is her soulmate in weirdness, sometimes he's pretty mean to her to the point it's uncomfortable to watch her accept it.

Eh, it's a comedy. I'm overthinking.

Bernie had a right to be angry at Howard - not for not wanting to work with her, but for lying about it in such a dumb fashion. Though it did give us the very nice Raj and Leonard bit about here only being two ways Howard could get out of this situation. And I like how she apologized for overreacting and confessed her true fears. And then Howard almost overcame his Howardness, but ultimately, did not. Hah... nice. It was realistic that Bernadette might be insecure and that Howard, at heart, still has his kid-like desire to play with his buddies. Overall, despite the outlandishness of the characters, these couples on BB are pretty realistic in their ups and downs.

Speaking of couples, where was Raj's beloved dog? Is she banished when Howard comes over?

I guess my issue with both of these plots is they both, again, felt undercooked--both could have gone further and been a little more original. There was a lot of repeat material here, and the new stuff wasn't pronounced enough to pack many surprises. And I'd have liked more on why Sheldon was so insecure just because Amy had friends. He knows she has friends. I'm not sure I got that. Thoughts?

And that thing with the monkey was only sort of funny. The monkey itself: awesome. Heh. (And nice line from Bernadette about prisoners on death row, etc. That made me "lol". Her company is so shady and they've done well not overusing that so it's still funny.

Doesn't it seem like quite a few of Big Bang's episodes revolve around lying and/or keeping secrets and/or one person ratting out another? Person A lies about something to Person B, and then mutual friend C blabs to Person B or occasionally person D, but eventually, Person B finds out It's a little bit overdone, I think. Let's find a different scenario through which hilarity might ensue. I think some very nice and funny conflict can come from this work scenario switch, and I hope they continue with it. I also hope they keep Sheldon Sheldon but find a way to dial down how he treats his woman. And, no, please, not another game role playing on his bed. Yikes...

I loved the part about Raj's parents meeting. That was a fine bunch of lines.

I think in general, everyone on the show could use a little shaking up. Let's keep it fresh, people.

Comments? Reactions? Thoughts?

Leave them in the suggestion box.

See you next week!

4 comments:

  1. Great review, and I don't think you're overthinking, Beth. I usually enjoy this show, but I didn't like this episode at all. In fact, it might be my least favorite of any so far.

    The Sheldon/Amy thing is funny most of the time, but it's also frustrating because I want to take her aside and shake her and tell her Sheldon will never give her what she wants and needs, give up on him and go home, don't waste any more time on him. Yes, she's odd and occasionally creepy, but he lives on a completely different level of weirdness. It's often cute and funny, but in this episode, it kinda bugged me. And what Howard did to Bernie ticked me off, too. He's incredibly lucky to have her. If this weren't sitcom-world, he probably wouldn't.

    The only thing I liked about this one was the monkey and Sheldon reacting the same way to Amy's experiment.

    Oh, well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I felt much better after I read this review. I have loved the Sheldon/Amy relationship from the start, but this season it seems to have gone a step too far. He was truly awful to her this week and I wanted to break the fourth wall and give her a huge hug. I think it's time for the writers to have Amy use some of that new self-worth that hanging with the girls has given her and dump Sheldon. The fallout could be gold.

    Like Billie, this will rank among my least favorite episodes of this series.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree that I feel increasingly bad for Amy each week. She looked so sad and defeated much of this episode. Sheldon's behavior has become less endearingly annoying for her, and more actively hurtful. And it's hard to watch. Even with the interesting twist of his inappropriate behavior coming from a place of trying to reach out, and not from him just being a big old selfish jerk.

    Re: the Bernadette-Howard thing --- I thought it was completely ridiculous for her to get ticked about him not wanting to work together in the first place. She's a very smart woman, and I would think she'd recognize that spending that much time Howard would not be ideal for their relationship. They tried to explain it away later with her being insecure about him wanting to spend so much time with friends but not with her, but I just find that hard to buy for this character. She knew what she was signing up for with Howard's relationships with his friends and his mother, and I don't like the writers painting her as insecure with all that now.

    Seems this was an episode for over-analyzing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel so at home on this site. lol.
    I agree that Bernadette conflict was a little much, and really, as you said, Jess, if she puts up with her mother-in-law and that whole creepfest...:)

    Here's a thing, too: doesn't it seem like in almost every episode, it's about the women trying to deal with the men and their lives and not the other way around? I like Amy, Bernie and Penny, and I think they are well-drawn characters, but maybe it's not true that they're equals to the guys in this ensemble? I dunno.

    Maybe the show's biggest issue is they have three couple that are never gonna break up, so all the conflict is kind of like when the lead in a show gets shot -- we know he's not gonna die, sooo...? It's time for the show to move on to other angles...like what happened to Raj's dog! :)

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.