Tom Beasley reviews the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory, which finally injected some life into a season that had been variable at best…
Finally! After weeks of bizarre skits and some rather tedious storytelling, the ninth run of The Big Bang Theory has hit its stride with ‘The Spock Resonance’ – a very good episode of a sitcom that seldom reaches above “basically okay” nowadays. At the centre of it all was a terrific performance from Jim Parsons as Sheldon, forced to confront the realities of the facade he has put up in order to conceal his emotions in the wake of his break-up from Amy at the end of the eighth season.
The central thread of the episode focused on Sheldon’s participation in a documentary made by Adam Nimoy, guest-starring as himself, about the cultural impact of his late father Leonard Nimoy and the character of Mr Spock from Star Trek. Will Wheaton had suggested that Sheldon would be an interesting person for Nimoy to interview about his father’s legacy. During the interview, Sheldon produced the napkin signed by Nimoy that Penny gave him years ago (season two episode eight, trivia fans!) and, in the process, inadvertently showed Leonard and Penny the engagement ring he had intended for Amy. Unsurprisingly, Sheldon’s friends forced him to confront the reality of that situation.
It’s about time that this season of The Big Bang Theory made serious moves to address the character turmoil it created at the end of season eight. ‘The Spock Resonance’ finally made noises in that direction, deftly exploring the ways in which Sheldon attempts to model himself on the cold logic of Spock, whilst being unable to admit that he, like Spock, is also subject to emotion. The use of Nimoy and Spock to interrogate Sheldon as a character was a very interesting one, given that it is one of the few ways that the show can legitimately question the very bedrock of Sheldon’s personality. One of the final scenes of the episode, in which he discovers Amy kissing another man goodnight, is a moment that could come to define Sheldon for the rest of this season.
As is becoming a theme this year, the secondary plot of the episode wasn’t nearly as entertaining, but did develop into an interesting aspect of ‘The Spock Resonance’. The story teased tension between Howard and Bernadette over the latter’s desire to redecorate the house in which Howard grew up. This eventually became considerably more serious tension about Bernadette’s reluctance to have children. The prospect of children has been the logical next thread for the Rostenkowski-Wolowitzes for several years now, so it was great to see The Big Bang Theory finally address it.
Meanwhile, Stuart was AWOL this week and Raj was once again relegated to the role of an occasionally quipping side character. Both of these characters have been absolutely gutted by the writers thus far in the ninth season, which is disappointing given how interesting each of them has been throughout the history of The Big Bang Theory. There’s plenty of time left for them to get some sort of meaningful
‘The Spock Resonance’ was a very good episode of The Big Bang Theory and one that has the outlook for the rest of this season looking considerably brighter than a week ago. The show perhaps didn’t have the giggles of last week, but it struck a very good balance between laughter and emotional storytelling. This isn’t to say that The Big Bang Theory is back on form, but it’s certainly good again for now.
Tom Beasley – Follow me on Twitter for movies, wrestling and jokes about David Cameron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=qXJL6jGfZhg
Originally published November 11, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
