Originally published September 30, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
Tom Beasley reviews the second episode of the new season of The Big Bang Theory, with relationship problems dominating things once again. There are spoilers ahead…
After last week’s surprisingly dramatic and laugh-free episode of The Big Bang Theory, it was something of a relief to see this week’s episode open with Sheldon putting his tongue down Penny’s throat as Leonard watched. It was, of course, a dream sequence but nonetheless one that set the tone for an episode in which the ongoing relationship issues between two of the show’s biggest couples continued to rumble. Penny and Leonard were still living apart despite their recent marriage and Sheldon was in denial over the end of his relationship with Amy.
Things were considerably rosier for Penny and Leonard when the episode came to a close, but Sheldon had only succeeded in making things worse with Amy. When she spurned him yet again, he was forced to present his ‘Fun With Flags’ YouTube show alone and soon turned it into a bitter tirade of thinly veiled personal attacks. It’s still slightly uncomfortable to watch this bitter, angry version of Sheldon, but credit must go to Jim Parsons for continuing to give the role his all and finding some comedy in this utterly unlikable shift for the character. As I said last week, this storyline continues to allow Mayim Bialik to convert Amy into a person rather than a Sheldon 2.0 caricature. She just gets better and better in the role.
Elsewhere, Howard and Bernadette were struggling to deal with the fact that they had actually learned of Leonard’s infidelity several months ago and had been hiding it from Penny ever since. Not only does this threaten to drive a wedge between BFFs Penny and Bernadette later in the series, it also riled up Raj, who demanded to know why his best friend hadn’t shared this enormous secret with him. Raj was underused again this week and he definitely has the whiff of a character for whom the writing team has no ideas.
On the evidence of ‘The Separation Oscillation’, what we are getting this year is, for better or worse, a series of The Big Bang Theory driven by drama rather than carried along by comedy. That may be a welcome change for those who dislike the easy nerd culture references that dominate the show’s humour, but it does raise a crucial issue with the format of the show – episode length.
Like many US sitcoms, The Big Bang Theory is somewhat hamstrung by its own brevity, with most episodes barely hitting the 20-minute mark. This often leaves self-contained stories feeling unfinished and doesn’t allow the episodes breathing room, which can result in rushed developments like the reconciliation of Leonard and Penny this week. If the writers of the show want to move into more dramatic storytelling and a focus on characters over jokes, then they need to find a more creative way to do that within the confines of the timeslot. At the moment, they’re trying to have their cake and eat it, leaving stories to go untold.
This may seem like a downer of a review, but this show still excels when it relaxes and allows its characters to be funny. The running gag about the cost of marriage counselling and the brief sequence in the staff canteen in which Leonard is teased by Howard and Raj before spilling his heart out to Mandy in humiliating fashion were the show at its best – loose, funny and oddly relatable. It deserves to be lauded for taking a risk and pushing the drama and stories harder, but it needs to find a way for them to work.
Tom Beasley – Follow me on Twitter for movies, wrestling and jokes about David Cameron.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=qvTY7eXXIMg
