While other shows have been sweating out the last few weeks wondering if they’ll be coming back for another season, The Big Bang Theory made bank. They inked a syndication deal with TBS and Fox owned local stations to start airing the repeats in the Fall of 2011. The price is rumored to be $2 million an episode which is a record for reruns. CBS putting the series into the 9:30 p.m. slot for this season turned the show from a respectable critical hit to a ratings monster. The only thing that can ruin derail this freight train of geekdom is the casting of Anthony Anderson. He’s the new Ted McGinley.
Did you notice that Judy Greer dated Ted on tonight’s How I Met Your Mother? That’s right, Dr. Plimpton had gone East Coast frisky after working her way through the geeks. Turns out Greer has guested on the entire CBS Monday night schedule with the exception of Rules of Engagement. How has David Spade not begged her to slap him on screen? Maybe her Dr. Plimpton will return to The Bang in the future to seduce Sheldon.
“The Staircase Implementation” opens with Penny on her sofa doing her toenails. She hears Sheldon and Leonard screaming about the air conditioning level. The level is covered in their roommate contract. He tells Sheldon to go to hell. Sheldon already is in hell with the thermostat at 73. Leonard knocks on the door and begs Penny to let him sleep on his couch. She wants to know why he puts up with his roomie. Leonard tells her about their first encounter 7 years before. The scene flashes back to 2003 when a Leonard has long curly hair. He enters the apartment building lobby. He asks a guy leaving with a box about Sheldon’s apartment. The guy instructs Leonard to run fast and run far.
Did hair look like that back in 2003? Has it really been 7 years since Netscape was destroyed? It was the year of Return of the King. It just doesn’t seem that long ago.
Back in 2010, Leonard defends not listening to the warning because the other guy had a deranged look. In 2003, he knocks on Penny’s future door. A giant black guy putting on a dress answers. He points across the hall to let him know the crazy guy lives there. Sheldon answers the door. He has the same haircut as in 2010. Sheldon quizzes the potential roomie about Noble gases and Picard vs. Kirk. He answers right and gets to enter. The apartment is rather empty with two folding chairs and a TV in the middle of the room. Leonard sits in the special chair. He’s told to move to the other chair. The quiz continues with asking about driving Sheldon to the school. The tour continues to the bathroom and Sheldon wants a bowel schedule. When they enter Leonard’s future bedroom, there’s red paint on the wall saying, “Die Sheldon Die!” Once more he brushes off the warning.
Back in the living room, the duo work out the roommate agreement including how they’ll be watching Firefly every Friday since the show will never be canceled. He even breaks out the apartment’s flag. They agree that if either of them invents time travel, there first stop will be this meeting in five seconds. They pause and stare around. Nobody from the future arrives. Sheldon is disappointed. That’s not the most disturbing part of the deal for moving in. Leonard makes out with Joyce Kim (Ally Maki) in his bed. Sheldon keeps knocking no matter how they ignore him. He comes into the room because he broke the 12 hour advance warning of coitus roommate rule. The girl flees. In 2010, Penny feels sad for Leonard’s suffering.
There is something strange about the quiz since Sheldon never mentions whistling. Wasn’t that part of the ad? Although Kirk versus Picard is always Kirk for me. Which brings me to my beef of the week: Why must BBCAmerica run Star Trek: The Next Generation? How many decades of cool British TV and movies are being discarded to give us an American TV show that starred a few British actors that’s already on WGN and SYFY? Not to mention the complete series is on DVD. Now back to Leonard being ticked off that his roomie scared off his woman. This element comes into play from last week’s “Plimpton Stimulation” when Sheldon gave his warning in advance. The man does play by his own rules and not merely inflicts them on others.
In 2010, Leonard paints Penny’s toenails. Turns out Joyce Kim was a North Korean spy so it turned out it was good that she ran off. Leonard promises to tell Penny what happened to the elevator. Back in 2003 Sheldon returns home to discover a fro Howard and Raj in a Miami Vice outfit. Leonard met them at the school. They’re on a sofa playing videogames. Sheldon flips out because they moved his lawn chairs. He demands that he be notified by email about such an action under the roommate agreement. Turns out he had received one, but it ended up in the spam filter. Sheldon tells Raj that his iPod will be outmoded by Microsoft’s Zune. Leonard wants to watch Babylon Five, but is overruled by Sheldon. Howard suggests they go to his place to get away from Sheldon. Sheldon wants to come until they tell him no. He agrees to stay. He’s consoled by finding his spot on the sofa.
Every time I go to Apple Store, there’s about three people at the Genius bar discovering their iPod has either fried or the battery is toast. I’ve never trusted them. Of course the Zune didn’t make me rush down to the store. Babylon 5 is such a great Sci-Fi punching bag series since it did star Jeff Conaway (Taxi).
Over at Howard’s house, Raj and Leonard hear Howard’s mom shriek. She thinks it’s a playdate with his little friend. They see Howard’s model rocket. He needs fuel to launch it. Turns out Leonard has rocket fuel at the apartment. He was going to show it to the North Korean girl.
Back at the apartment’s kitchen, Leonard carefully prepares the fuel in a tank. Sheldon pushes his way into the table. He quizzes Leonard about what he’s doing wrong. He tells his roomie that he knows what he’s doing. But it quickly turns out he’s screwed up the mixture. He grabs the tank and heads out of the apartment. Instead of taking the staircase down, he gets in the elevator. Sheldon grabs the container, puts it in on the floor and yanks Leonard out of the elevator. The doors shut. Leonard says he had time, but then the explosion goes off. Turns out Sheldon saved his life. He was also loyal enough to not rat him out to the landlord, the cops or homeland security. Penny insists back in 2003, she was doing plenty of important stuff. We flashback to her with a guy in her bedroom. She stares at a wand. She’s thrilled to not be pregnant.
In 2010, Sheldon sits on the sofa praising his laptop’s operating system. Leonard apologizes. He turns on the TV set. It’s Babylon 5. Back in Penny’s apartment, she hears the two arguing. She seems happy that the boys are being noisy.
Finally we get the reason for the elevator being broken and why the landlord refuses to have it fixed. That must have been one major league mess inside that shaft. All these seasons, there was a sneaking suspicion that Sheldon was the cause. But it was Leonard that made everyone take the staircase. Far as origins stories go, this keeps gives us the meat of the meeting without relying on too much cheese. For all the times we ponder why Leonard remains pals with Sheldon, it’s easy to see that their friendship is keeping him out of prison and an early grave. Next week is the season finale.
