Jim Parsons was robbed of Emmy glory. How can the voters be serious about praising Alec Baldwin? Is Jack Donaghy really funnier than Sheldon Cooper? Alec is played out. He’s ought to be wearing a Mike Mussina jersey. But at least they remembered to nominate Jim Parsons this time. At least Jim can share the runner up status with Jon Hamm and Stephen Colbert. If you got to drown your sorrows, those would be two amazing drinking buddies.
It’s been a good summer for The Big Bang Theory since it was moved to 9:30 p.m. slot after Two and a Half Men. This could be a recipe for disaster since the show was growing a junior high following. But the show has done extremely well with its hit lead in. Quite a few times it had a higher ranking that Charlie Sheen show. How exactly are these two shows from the same company? It’d be like finding out that She’s the Sheriff was also being made by The Wire creators.
“The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation” opens with a recap of how Sheldon dragged the geeks to the arctic to work on his research project. Right before they left, we get the idea that Penny (Kaley Cuoco) still has feelings for Leonard (Johnny Galecki).
Three months later the geeks return to the apartment lobby from the North Pole. They’ve all grown beards. Everyone is beat except Sheldon. He’s juiced. He swears on the phone to his mom that he’ll win a Nobel prize. Leonard splits to let Penny know they’re back. Sheldon reacquaints himself with his special spot on the sofa.
Penny opens her door, sees the bearded Leonard and jumps his bones. She drags him inside. Howard (Simon Helberg) declares he should have knocked on her door. Raj (Kunal Nayyar) doubts it was first come, first served with the waitress.
So far this episode is playing better than the premiere of Fringe. And I don’t have to keep cranking up the volume. Did someone at Fox not understand that people like to listen to the words coming out of actors? Can you get this blog as an iPhone App? Hmmm. They aren’t being coy this season about Sheldon and Penny hooking up.
Sheldon lets Raj and Howard know that he won’t forget them in his research. He might forget them in his acceptance speech, but they’ll be a big footnote in his memoirs. Howard and Raj debate telling Sheldon something. He thinks it’s about the time the heat went out and they all slept together naked. Howard reminds Sheldon of the time they finally got data and how happy it made him. Turns out Howard triggered the data by using the electric can opener near the pole. Turns out the scam was Leonard’s idea.
Penny and Leonard are still making out and still clothed. Sheldon bangs on the door. He’s irritated. He won’t go away. Leonard wants to go to third base. Penny opens the door. Sheldon is furious at the “grand deception.” Leonard begs forgiveness and wants to get back to making out with Penny. Sheldon tells Penny about the false data. It was only done to make Sheldon happy since he was driving them nuts. They had worse plans to kill Sheldon. Sheldon can’t deal with this fraud since he told everyone in an email that he has verified String Theory. He storms off. Penny doesn’t want to keep making out with Leonard. She must comfort the confused Sheldon.
The uber-genius is curled up on bed. He’s crying cause he was betrayed and didn’t get to go to Comic-con. She sings the soft kitty song. He tells her to stop. That’s only good when he’s sick. She claims to understand what he’s going through. He ponders if she lost the Nobel Prize for waitressing. She relates his problem with the new Star Trek movie. This upsets Sheldon since he hasn’t seen that film cause he went to the arctic.
Leonard, Raj and Howard eat at the lab. Howard has a big bushy mustache. They think he looks like Super Mario. Sheldon refuses to sit with the guys and uses the evil force to choke Raj. Barry Kripke gives Sheldon the business for his retraction email. Sheldon tells the room that this isn’t a set back to his career. He sounds defiant as he quotes Einstein thinking he was wrong. Kripke (Jon Ross Bowie) points out Einstein was right – unlike Sheldon’s research. Raj points out that they will always have their naked night together.
There’s an ad for the second season boxset. Please read my review in the movie section to get the inside scoop on the bonus features. If you somehow didn’t see all of last season, pick it up. It does make a nice holiday gift for your nerdy relatives that don’t watch TV. During the summer they ran ads for Progressive Insurance featuring Kripke without the speech impediment. Wonder if he hooked up with Flo, the Progressive cashier? The idea of bogus research almost hits close to home. I had a pal who worked on a project that realized the lead researcher was faking the data in order to keep up the research grants. When he attempted to expose this scientific truth, he was promptly fired. The ultimate truth is if it makes money, it must be real.
Leonard gives Penny a snowflake from the North Pole that’s been preserved. She sees it as romantic. He babbles on about the science behind it. She shuts him up by kissing him. Howard and Raj race up the stairs in a panic. Sheldon has run away. He’s resigned from the school. His stuff is gone. Leonard doesn’t want to hunt for him. He wants to hang out with Penny in her apartment. Sheldon’s mom calls Leonard. She needs him to come to Texas and talk with his friend. Leonard tells Raj and Howard to go. He wants to be with Penny. She won’t put up with Leonard abandoning his friend. He agrees to go, but he’d rather be shagging.
Back in Texas Sheldon eats lunch with mom (Laurie Metcalf). She wants him to pray since this isn’t the heathen California. Sheldon reluctantly finishes the lines in her meal prayer. She asks what happened with him and her little friends. He doesn’t consider them his friends anymore.
The guys drive down a Texan street. Howard wears a red cowboy hat to match his red turtleneck. They all think he’s nuts. Raj doesn’t think it’s really Texas since there’s no cattle drive like he saw in the movies when he was in India. They knock on Mrs. Cooper’s door. When they come inside, the mom asks what they want. Howard asks for a Lone Star beer. She informs him that there’s no alcohol in the house and he needs to take the hat off. He obliges. Sheldon isn’t happy to see his friends. Leonard apologizes and wants him to come back. Sheldon says Texas is home and he’ll spend his life teaching evolution to creationists. He argues with mom about evolution being an opinion and not a fact. He decides he needs to get back to California.
So is this episode going to be protested in Texas for daring to talk about evolution? Will Gov. Rick Perry demand Sheldon Cooper be deported from the future country of Texas?
Leonard is finally naked in bed with Penny. He’s happy that he finally got a break. He’s unsure why things get weird when friends have sex. He kinda debates why this happens. As he bats it around, she admits that it’s weird.
Compared to the season premiere of Fringe, this new Big Bang Theory ought to win the Nobel prize. This is how to start a highly anticipated new season. The Big Bang Theory remains the top comedy dog of Monday night on CBS. Fittingly it is now the headliner. They better start mining the ore for Jim Parson’s Emmy. He ought to win the Nobel prize for sitcom actors!
