Electric Can Opener Fluctuation Review by Ria

My review. My cranium. My opinion.

For the season 3 premiere of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj return to Pasadena, scruffy, bearded and haggard. Sheldon is the only chipper one in the group, having successfully proven string theory because of his experiments on monopoles but when Leonard left to rekindle his romantic interludes with Penny, Howard and Raj reveal to Sheldon that they had actually tampered with the experiments to keep him happy and to stop themselves from killing him. Leonard is revealed as the mastermind, and Sheldon marches over to Penny’s apartment, whereby Leonard confirms (in what could’ve been in a less harsher choice of words and tones) the betrayal. Sheldon ends up running away, and the episode ends with the boys managing to bring him home after Sheldon loses a staring match with his mother, which spawned from an argument on Creation vs Evolution.

As always, Big Bang Theory delivered some laughs with this episode, however, the premise is quite unbelievable. The boys tampered with Sheldon’s experiments, which resulted in his credibility and reputation being destroyed. It’s extremely unprofessional of them and the apology was insincere, if not hurried. It’s also hard to believe Sheldon Cooper would forgive and forget just like that. Recall Season 2’s The Cushion Saturation, where Sheldon got even with Penny’s ruining his spot by shooting her during a paintball game. The ruined spot is nothing compared to his friends betrayal. The only way that this plot would become believable is if the writers are actually planning to bring this up in a fture episode, and Sheldon is actually planning something diabolical against the boys, especially Leonard.

Kudos have to be given to Johnny Galecki though. That he was able to evoke such annoyance and anger from fans towards Leonard’s character is a sign that he is a great actor. There is no need to reiterate what a great actor Emmy-nominee Jim Parsons is. He truly made Sheldon human and vulnerable in the episodes, which was why the fans really felt for Sheldon. Simon Helberg as Howard is funny as always, especially with the whole cowboy scenario, and Kunal Nayyar as Raj delivered the best one-liners of the episode.

But perhaps one of the best performances in the premiere were from Kaley Cuoco as Penny. Her acting has come a long way since the pilot, and as always, her onscreen chemistry with Jim Parsons shone through with Penny and Sheldon’s comfort scene.

I wish I could say the same for Penny and Leonard’s chemistry in their throes of biological urges. Their make out scenes didn’t sit well with me, perhaps because it annoyed me how Leonard chose to think with little Leonard than with big Leonard.

Kaley Cuoco brought some heart to Penny when the character kept choosing to disregard her sexual appetite for a moment and comfort a friend in need, that is Sheldon. And to think she didn’t do anything to ruin his experiment, so I suppose the apology pie she bought for him was for spoiling Star Trek. Again, a trivial transgression compared to what the boys did.

So I guess the question in my mind now is when Sheldon will get his revenge. And by what means. I don’t know about you guys, but if I were Sheldon, I’d go for hitting where it hurts most. And maybe, just maybe, it’s why, as stated by the writers themselves, Penny would only be Leonard’s girlfriend for a certain duration ;)