The Big Bang Theory – Episode 3-10 Review

Shows

Why did People Magazine name Johnny Depp the sexiest man alive, again? Shouldn’t that title be a one and done honor? Did Capt. Jack Sparrow need a second for a salt and pepper shaker set? Why couldn’t the magazine at least give the title to Jim Parsons? Instead he gets the lame “Sexiest Geek Alive” title. He’s the hottest thing on TV and gets reduced to merely getting the Geek tag. Wasn’t the previous Sexiest Geek Alive the Enigma from the Jim Rose Sideshow?

“The Gorilla Experiment” opens with the gang in the apartment preparing to eat their take out feast. Penny tosses food in the air and eats it. Sheldon is irritated at this trick because she’s messing with his ability to divide up the food. That’s how famines start, he declares. Howard shows up with Bernadette in tow. He constantly repeats, “My girlfriend Bernadette.” He asks if his girlfriend Bernadette can join them for dinner. Sheldon is upset since they did not plan on her. They ordered for five not six. She almost sits on Sheldon’s spot on the sofa. She doesn’t understand why it matters. Penny explains the succinct reasons why Sheldon wants that spot. He looks on rather pleased. “Perhaps there’s hope for you after all,” he declares.

There’s just such an annoying quality to someone showing off their new girlfriend. That needy “look we’re a couple” pronouncements. As if People is eager to splice their names together like Beniffer and Brangelina. It’s like in the NFL when wide receivers would group up in the endzone to do touchdown dance routines. Act like you’ve been there. Or in this case, act like you’ve been married for a decade. Of course your attitude towards these sort of people completely changes when you finally get into a nice relationship. Then nothing you do around friends seems annoying cause you’re in love! Although it is always better if she tells people that you’re in a relationship since it sounds stalkerific.

Here’s a rather long ad for Avatar. I sense this film is going to do more Sphere than Titanic action. Maybe it will revolutionize film, but it looks more like a videogame than an emotional journey. Will you earn credits during the film?

Back at the dinner, Penny and Bernadette gab about their shoes. Sheldon says, “My mom was right. Hell is real.” Howard tells his pal to let the womenfolk chat. Penny is upset. Bernadette tells her to pay no attention. She laughs at his dork moments off and it makes Howard happy. Penny realizes this is the perfect woman for Howard. Bernadette talks to Leonard about his project. She understands part of it. They wander off to talk shop. Sheldon asks Howard about his shoes. Howard starts to answer before Sheldon interrupts with “Bazinga! I don’t care.”

Raj and Sheldon play Mario Cart on the Wii. Raj tells him he can’t drive in reality or on computers. Penny barges in. She wants to talk to him. He will as long as it’s not about shoes. Penny wants him to teach her a little physics. Her exposure class wise was the ones with the frogs. She dissected it. He’s not too impressed until she beg him to treat it as an experiment. He relates it to teaching Coco the gorilla sign language. She accepts the role although he thinks she’s not up to the gorilla since it learned 2,000 words.

Bernadette’s “laugh at whatever he thinks is funny” logic is the sign of a true relationship blossoming. They won’t interrupt what you’re saying even if they haven’t a clue what words are coming out of your mouth. They just like hearing you talk to them. This is not the same as them ignoring your words as they text message with their next conquest. They don’t want you to explain everything since they figure in the future it’ll all make sense and they’ll laugh upon remembering these past lines.

Over the weekend I found myself playing Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on the wii. You shake your controller fast to bubble up a soda, a weird animals drinks and burp off the Arc de Triomphe. Their gas attack causes total destruction of a Paris neighborhood. What an amazing Wii game. It’s more fun than Mario Kart. Sheldon is in top form this episode. His Bazinga still cuts. Is this catching on amongst folks at work and school? Has anyone been the victim of a Bazinga? There’s also a strange date swapping vibe happening. Sheldon will be alone with Penny and Leonard is bonding with Bernadette. Sure Howard has the new girlfriend, but he’s looking like he’ll be stuck on the sofa with Raj.

At the lunchroom, Howard points out to everyone that he’s with his “girlfriend Bernadette.” They sit down with Leonard. She asks about his experiment. He invites her to see it in action tomorrow. She accepts. After a taste of her frozen yogurt, she determines it’s fatty fat fat yogurt and not non-fat. She goes off to return it. When out of range, Howard goes nuts on Leonard for getting too chummy with his girlfriend. He does not appreciate his using the come see my lab line. That’s his best move. It’s getting territorial in the land of the geeks.

Sheldon types a research journal on teaching Penny physics into his computer. He’s calling it “Project Gorilla.” She arrives and sits down on the sofa. There’s a white board. Sheldon is upset cause she has no notebook. There will be tests so she needs to take down his words. He gives her a college ruled notebook and hope it doesn’t intimidate her. He starts off with the Greek origins of Physika. She’s stunned by the depth of the lecture subject. He keeps reminding her to take notes. He’s going to cover 2,600 years all the way to the Dutch guys Leonard is ripping off for his experiment. She has to take a potty break to make it through all those centuries. Sheldon returns to the computer and enters into the journal that he’s exhausted.

Howard makes out with Bernadette in his bed. He struggles with the back of her bra. She finally tells him it hooks in the front. Before the goodness can happen, Howard’s mom arrives. We just hear her shriek from the other room. Her workout class was canceled. He begs her to make him lamb stew. She has to go to the supermarket, but she’ll do it for her boy. He gets back to business on Bernadette. They’re interrupted by her cellphone getting a text message. Leonard has written that she might not want to come to his lab since it weirded out Howard. They argue about why Howard doesn’t want her hanging out with Leonard. He gets cornered into admitted Leonard needs to ask him first about such things involving her. There’s a turn off in the control aspect. She runs out of the house. He’s in near tears at being stuck eating lamb stew with his mother.

There’s an unwritten rule that you always invite both parties of a couple to any activity. Even if you know that one of them has no interest, they receive the courtesy of attending as a couple. It’s just safer that way. Cause at some point, it will look like you’re attempting to separate and conquer one of them. Leonard being a clueless guy probably didn’t realize he was going for the “Surf City” two girls for every boy dream. Of course he’s also rather clueless that Penny is spending more time with Sheldon than him. Sheldon is going to have one of those Spock goes into heat moments when she’s around. She’s not going to be able to resist.

Sheldon has covered the white board with formulas. He’s in a hyperdrive of history and concepts. Penny’s blinded by science. Her mouth is open. She can’t answer the question about Newton. She wonders if he invented Fig Newtons. Sheldon explains it’s from Newton, Massachusetts. She writes that fact down. She wants to understand, but he’s going to fast. Can he go back? He starts with the Greek opening again. She starts crying because she’s stupid. Sheldon thinks she should only cry when she’s sad. He cries when he’s sad that people are stupid. She just wants to know what Leonard does. He explains it simply.

Howard storms into Leonard’s office. He’s furious at being text blocked. They argue about him. Bernadette arrives hoping she’s not too late. She’s amazed to find Howard there since he called Leonard’s experiment as being stupid. Howard says he just repeated what Sheldon called it. Howard attempts to apologize to Bernadette and Leonard throws in cracks on his pal’s plea. He begs for another chance. She asks Leonard if she should give him another chance. Leonard doesn’t care. She does want him back. She refers to Howard as “Tushy Face” like his mom does. Leonard immediately puts that nickname on Facebook.

The six eat take out in the apartment. Bernadette tell Raj how cool Leonard’s experiment looked. Leonard says not everyone is interested in his experiment. Penny says she is. She gives a technical review of her boyfriend’s experiment. She mentions the Dutch version. Everyone is stunned at her words while Sheldon beams proudly at his student. She follows it up by giving the origins of Fig Newtons.

For the last few weeks I’ve been working my way through all the episodes of Taxi on the season sets. Tonight’s episode of Bang had the quality of the finest Taxi episodes. The situations and the lines struck their targets. The relationships were wonderfully tangled with the jealous moments adding spice. Sheldon once more killed while using his “happy face” on Penny. Not a wasted moment in the 30 minutes. Sheldon was able to come out the complete winner instead of his genius backfiring.

The overnight ratings have “Gorilla Experiment” as the most watched episode of The Big Bang Theory yet. The show is on a creative and ratings roll.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.