Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 9 The Ornithophobia Diffusion

Episodes like "The Ornithophobia Diffusion" feel like tests. In the case of this week's episode, the writers are testing the boundaries of how antagonistic Penny and Leonard can be with each other and how nonsensical, illogical, and silly Sheldon can be. If you usually like these things, then the episode was probably fine. If not, the episode is painful.

The Leonard and Penny stuff I could live with. Though on the mean side, the plot did explore their relationship which was sorely unexplored when they were actually together. From the way they were acting, they probably won't be getting back together anytime soon.

The Sheldon plot, however, was pretty dumb. Sheldon's supposed to be neurotic genius whose intelligence is often overshadowed by his social awkwardness. Here, he's just neurotic, devoid of any character besides his phobia.

Score: 8.4/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 8 The Isolation Permutation

While things rarely change on The Big Bang Theory, and even less for the male characters, the addition of Amy to the show has been great. She can be equally annoying as Sheldon, but she has girly qualities which make her seem more human and likable.

"The Isolation Permutation" puts her on full display when she's left out of trying on bridesmaid dresses. She cries, cuddles with Sheldon, and gets drunk outside a liquor store. It's all very funny, yet cute, behavior. At the end of the episode, she gets to be maid of honor, so we actually get a good indication the wedding is coming sooner.

Score: 8.7/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 7 The Good Guy Fluctuation

The most generic Halloween plot is when a character gets scared and spends the rest of the episode getting back, and that's exactly what half of "The Good Guy Fluctuation" consists of. Sheldon is turned into a stock "Halloween character," who makes himself into a fool trying to scare others.

The other plot was a bit better since it dealt with a serious matter and was funny in its own right. Still, it didn't negate how useless and dumb the other plot was. Hopefully Priya and Leonard are done for good. Leonard made out with a girl and Priya slept with her ex. The story has gone on far too long already and needs to be over. I'm not confident it is over, though.

Score: 8.0/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 6 The Rhinitis Revelation

Character growth may or may not be possible for Sheldon--who may or may not have learned certain lessons in the episode, as the show tends to reset back to equilibrium--but his mother, played by Laurie Metcalf, is guaranteed to by funny as she is in "The Rhinitis Revelation." With her around, Sheldon is still crazy but kept in check, making him more endearing than obnoxious. Mary herself is very pleasant, with her Texasisms coming off rather sweet.

There was a surprising amount of continuity in this week's episode. Howard going to the International Space Station is still on, Priya is mentioned several times in the episode, and Sheldon's weird relationship with Amy is at the forefront. Alas, when Mary talks with Raj, the writers already forgot about Raj's relationship a couple episodes ago.

Score: 8.7/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 5 The Russian Rocket Reaction

I think this is going to be the last time I review The Big Bang Theory on a regular basis. It's a lot easier to watch the show without thinking too much. Take "The Russian Rocket Reaction, " a decent episode by TBBT standards. Howard and Bernadette dealing with their problems together and Sheldon vs. Wil Weaton actually getting a resolution--all more than what's usually in an episode.

But while those things happens, I can't help but notice how unlikable the characters are half the time. Howard's yelling mother has been completely oversaturated at this point, and the yelling, by Howard, his mother, or Bernadette, is quite off-putting. Finally, there's Sheldon, whose supposed intelligence is overshadowed by the fact that he's stupid at times, like when Leonard is haggling. If he's going to be so annoying and arrogant about everything, he should also back it up by never being dumb.

Score: 8.7/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 4 The Wiggly Finger Catalyst

Sometimes you want to have sympathy for Raj, but the writers make it so damn hard. On the first date with the deaf girl, Raj is already an obnoxious prick, slinging deaf jokes left and right. It's hard to feel bad for him in the end since there wasn't anything to like about him in the episode. We truly are laughing at him, not with him. Raj is just a pathetic character the writers make fun of constantly without giving him any positives.

The B-plot wasn't much better, with Sheldon being weird as usual. His die rolling wasn't over the top enough to breach the realm of funny and it was hardly intelligent. I'm fine with Sheldon doing weird things, but it has to be something more substantial than rolling a die all the time to determine what to do.

Score: 7.5/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 3 The Pulled Groin Extrapolation

The funnest part of The Big Bang Theory these days is seeing Mayim Bialik play Amy Farrah Fowler. Amy has this notion that she should follow societal norms, but doesn't act on the notion actively. In one moment, she's doing her blank stare and in the other, she has a big grin on her face, as dictated by what she thinks she should do in the situation. This leads to a train of laughs when she hangs out with Leonard, and I really liked the main plot.

Of course, it isn't an episode of The Big Bang Theory without some character bashing. The B-plot was one of the worst in a long time, a painful return of Howard being the biggest loser in history. Bernadette sees his behavior in the episode--the weird relationship he has with his mother, references to his weird relationship with Raj, not even cutting his meat--and you wonder why she doesn't run off. The writers cease to treat Howard as a person and instead use him for cheap jokes. As good as Amy was in the episode, I don't think it offsets the awfulness of the rest of the episode.

Score: 8.1/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episode 1 The Skank Reflex Analysis / 2 The Infestation Hypothesis

I haven't felt too strongly about The Big Bang Theory in a long time, and the first two episodes of the season are no exception. While the addition of Bernadette and Amy have been welcome, the show is still riding on its premise, rather than developing something more substantial.

Of all the plots last night, none were particularly good, but Amy's reactions to everything remain golden. And Penny finally got an acting job! One of the most disturbing/funny parts was the incredibly homoerotic scene of Howard and Raj kissing via mechanical proxies. That they did it in the first place was weird, and then it kep going.

The long-term plot developments seem to be headed for Penny and Leonard getting back together. The writers retcon Penny and Raj by making it so that Raj was way too early, if you get my drift, and the long-distance relationship between Leonard and Priya obviously won't work.

Score: 8.5/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Episode 24 The Roommate Transmogrification

Okay, I have a confession to make. I read spoilers about Raj and Penny a couple weeks ago, so I wasn't surprised when they ended up in bed together. But I don't think anyone, halfway through the episode, was too surprised at the conclusion, considering how Penny said she'd have sex with Raj if he wasn't Leonard's friend. However, before the episode aired, the idea of Penny and Raj sleeping together would be out of the question. Raj can't even talk to women without alcohol, has been fawning Bernadette, and Penny didn't really care about him before. It happened, though, and the characters will have to live with the consequences. Then again, we don't actually see the act and the writers could easily pull back if they realize they don't want to go that path.

On a whole, I liked "The Roommate Transmogrification" more than almost all episodes this season. There wasn't a plot that made me cringe, and the dialogue was really fun. Amy isn't a huge presence in the episode, but she remains a fun character when interacting with Sheldon. The whole resolution to Priya was pretty lame, and for plot's sake, she should stick around a while longer. Leonard finds out she's returning to India, breaks up, and it's done. That's it?

Score: 8.9/10

All missed reviews

Here are the short reviews for shows I missed through the week. I included reviews for shows I've stopped reviewing to balance things out. Also, you might have notice that reviews for Breaking In and The Good Wife are still missing. Blogger still hasn't restored them, but since the Glee review was restored, I assume the other posts should follow. If that does not happen by Monday, I repost them. (If you really want to read them, they're on Insidepulse TV.)

Body of Proof Season 1 Episode 8 Buried Secrets: "Buried Secrets" is a reminder that Body of Proof is a mash up of different shows. Every part of the episode has been done before in large amounts, but Body of Proof does them well, which makes the show worth watching.

Modern Family Season 2 Episode 22 Good Cop Bad Dog: I normally find plots of Modern Family to be somewhat realistic, but Jay and Gloria’s plot with Guillermo and the dog seemed like it belonged on Breaking In instead of Modern Family. But Phil and Claire were great in the episode, and realistic, so it mostly balanced out.

The Chicago Code Season 1 Episode 11 Black Sox: I’m not particularly interested in Jarek and his lady problems, especially since it’s been one of the least developed plots. It looks like Gibbons is finally making his move, whatever that they be. We originally thought he put a hit out on Teresa, but that turned out wrong. Is he capable of ordering her murder if she gets too close?

House Season 7 Episode 21 The Fix: It was really out of the blue for House to suddenly decide to fix himself with an experimental rat drug. But this contrivance does put House in some kind of danger. That’s better than nothing, right? OK, maybe not, but we should see what the writers do first before casting too much judgment.

The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Episode 23 The Engagement Reaction: Priya wasn’t mean in this episode for once. She talks to Penny without being bitchy and is actually fine with Leonard being near Penny. The Raj stuff was again weak and random, but that’s to be expected. As far as the main story goes, the stuff between Howard and his mother was hilariously creepy, especially when Bernadette yelling reminded me of Howard’s mother while Howard thought it was sexy.

Parks and Recreation Season 3 Episode 13 The Fight / 14 Road Trip: Two episodes of Parks and Recreations!! And if that wasn't good enough, next week has two more episodes! While I enjoyed both episodes, I would give the edge to “The Fight.” There were so many great moments with the actual fight, Snake Juice, and Ron. Ben and Leslie finally make out in “Road Trip,” so there was development on that front for once.

The Office Season 7 Episode 24 Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager: Dwight is a guy who often expresses wacky ideas, but since he’s never in a position of power, nothing really comes of it. Well, this was Dwight’s chance to shine. Unfortunately, his excessive regulation in the office ends up with him shooting a gun in the office and eventually being demoted. The episode has the Dwight and Jim dynamic that was been lessened over the years, so that was nice to see. And as Jim tells Dwight, Dwight did one good thing in making all the orders on time.

The Mentalist Season 3 Episode 22 Rhapsody in Red: Before the two-hour season finale next week, The Mentalist dished up a fairly standard episode. Jane solves the crime while the rest of the team fills in the background. I did like, however, the increased attention on Cho, who is easily the funniest character other than Cho, and he got to tackle something close to home for once.

The Event Season 1 Episode 20 One Will Live, One Will Die: This new plot device the writer are using is the one where they show us part of what’s going on to mislead us. In the previous episode, it was the cocaine trafficker who turned out to be irrelevant, and in this episode, we only hear half of the phone call. To be honest, it’s plain stupid.

Hawaii Five-0 Season 1 Episode 23 Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau: "Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau" heads directly into the season finale, mixing a standard standalone plot with the only search for Wo Fat and Chin Ho’s admission of guilt to stealing the money. The episode is tense, with the whole island potentially in danger, but as always, the day is saved.

Blue Bloods Season 1 Episode 22: The first season of Blue Bloods ended with a resolution to the Blue Templar plot, which chugged slowly along as the season went. It is resolved as expected, with the acknowledgement that the Blue Templars are just a couple of bad eggs in the basket. As always, the Reagans and police department come out looking like the greatest heroes ever.

Camelot Season 1 Episode 7 The Long Night: After last week’s snoozer, Camelot came back with a fairly strong episode. Morgan had some really nefarious schemes up her sleeves, deceiving Arthu and the rest of them, while stealing Igraine’s place at the end of the episode, using her shapeshifting ability. Oh, and gratuitous nudity!

Breakout Kings Season 1 Episode 10 Paid in Full: “Paid in Full” puts all the dirty laundry out there. The cons find out that Ray is not actually a Marshall and the audience and other cons learn that Lloyd was sent to prison for writing a fake prescription which ended in a girl dying. Charlie’s big speech at the end is a tinge disingenuous with his big “revelation” of a congenital heart defect, but it makes a point: everyone has their secrets and problems, but they have to trust each other. Considering what Shea was doing in the previous episodes, there is still a lot to be resolved.

Treme Season 2 Episode 3 On Your Way Down: In an episode riddled with crime, there is an obvious standout, the rape of Ladonna, which was harrowing to say the least. The fallout is executed brilliantly with Khandi Alexander coming through. As the visible crime affects several characters, there is also an undeniable crime in the background being perpetrated against all New Orleans, Nelson’s slimy dealings with the city’s money.

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 22 The Wildebeest Implementation

I don't know about everyone else, but I, for one, am ready for this season to be over. The last part of this season, beginning with the arrival of Priya, is turning into a drag. Episode to episode, there is nothing new going on for Priya, Leonard, or the girls. Priya is pushy, Leonard goes along with it, and the girls complain about it. The details might be funny, but the basic, unchanging format is old by now.

"The Wildebeest Implementation" is no different, putting Bernadette, Howard, Priya, and Leonard together. Honestly, nothing really happens except Bernadette getting flustered and Penny becoming more worried. Of course, nothing will actually happen until the season finale, so the pieces are all in the same place.

Speaking of pieces, Sheldon's 3-player chess was probably the funniest thing in the episode, although it was amusing at best. As for Raj, "What the hell are the writers doing?"

Score: 8.0/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 21 The Agreement Dissection

Assuming Priya is just a temporary character, she'll probably be gone by the end of the season. Half of the characters--Penny, Bernadette, Amy, and Sheldon--hate her and she doesn't do much but hang around with Leonard and be passive-aggressive (or just aggressive in the case of Sheldon) to Leonard's friends. After pissing Sheldon off with her legal arguments, Priya eventually gets her own dose of Sheldon which requires blackmail and not law. This thing has to end soon, right?

The rest of "The Agreement Dissection" is really funny, with the girls and Sheldon going out and all sorts of craziness happening. We get to see Sheldon and Amy dance, and even kiss later on, as well as a smoking monkey. Since the episode ended on an ambiguous note, it looks like there will be follow-up on Sheldon and Amy.

Score: 8.9/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 20 The Herb Garden Germination

With the season coming to a close, it's nice to see The Big Bang Theory have a good episode towards the end of what is a rather average season. "The Herb Garden Germination" lies in the realm of predictability, as every episode does, but it breaks the mold of what has been pure predictability, episodes following patterns based on overplaying character traits.

Sheldon and Amy dive into the social sciences, and despite their numerous methodological errors (they don't about biases and sample sizes?), it proves to be very funny. Their investigation into the world of rumors is amusing because they aren't openly condescending but enthused about what they are doing, which is a departure from what we usually see. The episode moves quickly, just as the rumor moves quickly, spreading from person to person before Howard's proposal

I'm getting tired of saying this, but Raj has become a ridiculously marginalized character whose lasting traits are that he's a little creepy and very pathetic. Raj and Bernadette barely interact and he has to be all weird about the situation even though Howard is supposedly his best friend.

Score: 8.9/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Episode 19 The Zarnecki Equation

For all the flack The Big Bang Theory gets for its stale construction of episodes (certain characters always being pathetic, Sheldon going out of control etc), at least there is some character development. It's not the priority of the show or probably even the fifth, but it's there and the writers made sure to sneak it in to quite a few episodes this season.

Ultimately, Penny with get back with Leonard (and if they don't, it'll be really stupid), and we're starting to see more and more signs. Aside from the fact that Leonard to a loser who likes Priya because she's hot, Priya is losing interest in Leonard, not knowing about his games and talking to her ex-boyfriend. And Penny is still reliable, helping Sheldon get his game items back. (On that note, how exactly did Sheldon lose the items if most high-level items in WOW are soulbound? Surely he should have gotten his account back after contcting Blizzard.)

The rest of the episode is standard stuff, Sheldon freaking out about the loss of seemingly trivial online goods and the girls teaming against Priya.

Score: 8.3/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 18 The Prestidigitation Approximation

By now, it's clear that The Big Bang Theory is heading back towards a Leonard-Penny relationship. The pieces are set in place--Leonard who rarely gets women and Penny who realizes how great Leonard is--Priya is in the way.

The writers try to set up Priya as a inadequate, bitchy girlfriend, but from my perspective, it reflects badly on Leonard as well. Priya might have been bitchy when she told Leonard not to be friends with Penny anymore, but not all the blame lies on her. Leonard is a wimp who'll do practically anything because she's a girl who has sex with him, so he cows to her every whim without ever pushing back. Once Priya sees how easily Leonard bends to her, she's willing to go as far as telling Leonard to break off ties with Penny.

Sheldon knows how to use the internet, right? A simple search for "magic tricks" would have pulled up many variations of the trick Howard used, and it seems like Sheldon was only curious how the trick was done. If he's willing to outright ask Howard how he does it, what's wrong with the internet?

Even if the plots aren't jelling, I usually find something funny about every episode. "The Prestidigitation Approximation," however, didn't have anything that really made me laugh or even smile.

Score: 7.8/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 17 The Toast Derivation

As viewers of a television show, we sometimes wonder why someone like Leonard is the main character. He's not that likable and certainly not as funny as Sheldon. But taking a look at the characters as a whole, Leonard is the most normal guy. And as Amy says in "The Toast Derivation," Leonard is the nucleus of the group. Somehow, his relative normalness is where the action is act.

Meanwhile, Sheldon has his own group, a sorry group of misfits who end up having lots of fun but scaring Geordi away. Penny has Bernadette and Amy over, and decides to get a random guy, but we never get to see the actual outcome. That's one of the deficiencies of the show, not following up on certain threads.

As a whole, "The Toast Derivation" doesn't have anything blatantly annoying. Howard isn't a total ass and everything works more or less. The episode could have had something at the end to tie up the three separate groups, but that's the nature of The Big Bang Theory, temporary changes leading to a reset in the next episode.

I already mentioned this on my Twitter account, but I'll repeat it: how did Amy not use Leonardgrad? It's so perfect!

Score: 8.5/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 16 The Cohabitation Formulation

One of the major points for this season is that Penny still has feelings for Leonard. The writers actually know how to handle this, so it's both interesting and funny, unlike when she and Leonard were together. "The Cohabitation Formulation" takes another step forward towards them getting back together, with Penny crying over Leonard and Priya while Sheldon and Amy provide the laughs.

Unfortunately, the other characters are handled badly. Raj is featured a lot in the episode, but instead of doing anything meaningful, he says no to everything Leonard and Priya and tries to control the situation. It is Raj, however, who is too chicken to do anything, so he doesn't prevent anything. In the end, Raj just looks like a fool.

Howard is possibly a more problematic character than Raj. He's a giant loser in the episode, moving in with Bernadette and then expecting her to do everything for him--shopping, washing, driving him places, and the rest of the home stuff--and it's more irritating than funny. But it's because Howard's mother provides everything for him and Howard has depended on her forever that he's like this. Basically, Howard is a big child, and who wants that? Can we fault him for being so insulated? It'd be one thing to dismiss him as a bad person, but we can't do that here because his mother's craziness is, in part, passed down to him.

Score: 8.0/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 15 The Benefactor Factor

"The Benefactor Factor" doesn't have any misplays on the scale of last week's horrendous Raj ordeal, and with Leonard in an awkward sexual situation, the episode is very funny. The story goes as expected, with Leonard getting the funds and sleeping with the older benefactor even though he doesn't have to. But the fun comes from Sheldon's reaction, the acceptance of Leonard trading sex for money. For someone like Sheldon who doesn't really get sex, it's commendable to sell a easily obtainable commodity, sex. Indeed, he praises Penny for her previous trades. Sheldon certainly looks past social norms, but he kind of has a point...

Score: 8.5/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 14 The Thespian Catalyst

"The Thespian Catalyst" is one of those episodes where you ask yourself what the hell is going on. The truth is, not much happens in the episode. People are doing and saying funny things, but it ultimately adds up to a bizarre mash of ideas. Penny's acting lesson with Sheldon randomly goes off to Sheldon breaking down and telling his mother he loves her (since this is TBBT, we don't know if this is sincerity that will carry over or momentary silliness), without a resolution for the class he's teaching. Raj's imaginations go absolutely nowhere, and amounts to more pathetic Raj.

Score: 7.0/10

Review - The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 13 The Love Car Displacement

I like episodes of The Big Bang Theory when the characters are taken out of the usual work/house settings and placed in positions where their problems quickly manifest themselves. "The Love Car Displacement" is exactly that kind of episode with every character going to a science conference.

Although the car ride takes half the episode, nothing really happens and consists of the same Star Wars jokes, Amy being best friends with Penny jokes, Sheldon being in charge of the trip jokes, and Howard and Bernadette being sickeningly sappy jokes.

The conference itself, however, is a complete laugh riot. It begins with Bernadette and Howard sniping each other with subtle penis references before Amy, a drunk Raj, and Leonard jump in while all Sheldon can do is sit there. Practically every line had me laughing because it was at a conference in front of a huge crowd.

I'm guessing we won't see Rick Fox again so he shouldn't be an obstacle for Leonard and Penny. Since Penny clearly is willing to sleep with Leonard at least once and the writers have been heading down this direction for a while, I wouldn't be surprised if they got back together soon.

Score: 8.9/10