Tom Beasley reviews the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory’s ninth season, which foregrounded relationship faux pas and a pair of guest stars…
After a solid episode last week, The Big Bang Theory continued to revitalise its rather slow ninth run with another stellar episode in ‘The Mystery Date Observation’. Like many of the previous episodes in this season, the narrative was split in half, but slight variants in the two halves of the cast made this a more engaging and interesting episode.
Sheldon, reeling from seeing Amy kiss a mystery visitor last week, decided that the time was right to get back out into the dating world. Naturally, Sheldon’s logical mind deduced that he should return to the formula that helped him find Amy – the help of Howard and Raj. The trio decide that the ideal way to discover Sheldon’s perfect match is via a Craigslist ad that contains an elaborate puzzle, leading one lucky winner right to Sheldon’s front door. The scenes in which this idea comes to fruition finally allowed Howard and Raj to work their double act magic this season, genuinely excited by their “social experiment”.
Meanwhile, Amy was set to go on a third date with new beau Dave, played by a guest starring Stephen Merchant. Bernadette and Penny, desperate for gory details about Amy’s new relationship, decided to visit the restaurant themselves and watch Amy from the street, with Penny dragging her somewhat reluctant husband along for the ride, with the promise of a documentary on aluminium can recycling afterwards.
It was the second slice of this story that was the most compelling, with Melissa Rauch revelling in Bernadette’s dark side, which deserves to be explored more thoroughly. Mayim Bialik once again proved that she is the MVP of this season so far, with her terrifically underplayed reactions to Dave’s hero worship of Sheldon. The final moments of the episode, in which Penny and Bernadette smashed into Dave’s car after attempting a panicked escape, were awkward comedy gold and it will be great to see how Amy deals with their continued interference into her romantic dealings.
The Sheldon arc also got an incredibly satisfying comedy payoff in the shape of the show’s second guest star – Analeigh Tipton, best known for her role in Crazy, Stupid, Love. She arrived at Sheldon’s door around a minute after the advertised deadline and, in a very short dialogue scene conveyed her utter perfection as a potential partner for Sheldon. Of course, Sheldon being Sheldon, he admonished her for missing the deadline and closed the door in her face. It was a beautiful moment and it did a nice job of undercutting the stupidity of Sheldon immediately happening upon another woman as tolerable of his quirks as Amy was for so long.
‘The Mystery Date Observation’ didn’t quite have the gags or the heart to match last week’s high watermark for this season. It was, however, a very good half hour of comedy that proves there’s still plenty of life in The Big Bang Theory. If the writers keep producing material this good for her, Mayim Bialik could really break out from the rest of the cast this year.
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 17, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
