TVSquad

(S02E13) This episode was much better than last week's, which made me really uncomfortable. It was a Sheldon-centric episode, and while those can be hit or miss, I thought this one was pretty good. I enjoyed the subject of the episode, Sheldon trying to make a friend, because I'm sure that everyone who watches BBT has at some point wondered how this guy has any friends at all.

Sheldon has no idea how he has any friends either, so he has to invest a lot of time in research in order to come up with some sort of answer: the friendship algorithm. He's got some pretty strong science behind it; I may just have to reference it the next time I'm in the market for a friend.

I'm not really thrilled that they brought Kripke back. I still don't understand his character or why they give him a speech impediment. Nobody likes him, but they don't actually flesh out his character enough to make the audience really understand why. All you remember about him is the way he speaks. Everything else about him is superfluous, which makes him a waste of screen time.

Even though this episode did center around Sheldon's adventures, they were able to use the rest of the cast pretty well. As you can see from my favorite lines below, they didn't get many of the jokes, they were all reserved for Sheldon, but they all got to have some nice interactions with him.

Sheldon did the famous "knock knock knock. Penny. Knock knock knock. Penny," and they had a nice little scene together about their friendship when he asked her to fill out the questionnaire asking what about him she likes. Sheldon and Wolowitz also had a nice moment when Wolowitz begged Sheldon to cut him from the group.

All in all, it was pretty funny, but one of the things that bothers me about The Big Bang Theory is how isolated each episode is. There are very few callbacks to previous episodes. When they were sitting around talking about friendship and whether or not Penny is part of the group, wouldn't it have been a perfect time to bring up Leonard Nimoy's napkin? But since it happened a whole two episodes ago, they didn't. It's like the entire Christmas gift exchange never occurred. It's kind of a dumbing down of the show, and while you may not notice it a lot of the time, when you do, it's pretty glaring.

ETA: The bookstore. Oh, man. First of all, where were that girl's parents? Shouldn't someone other than Leonard have been rushing out to put a stop to this? She was way too willing to go to the zoo with a stranger. I'm looking forward to the Very Special Episode of BBT where Sheldon ends up on To Catch a Predator. Poor guy. He just wanted a friend.

Some of my favorite lines from this episode:

Penny: "What's up with Ichabod?"
Leonard: "Oh, he's trying to make a new friend."
Penny: "Well good for him."
Leonard: "Unless he makes one out of wood like Geppetto, I don't think it's going to happen."

Sheldon: "'Coping with the Death of a Loved One.' My condolences."
Woman in bookstore: "Thank you."
Sheldon: "Family or friend?"
Woman: "Family."
Sheldon: "Too bad. If it had been a friend, I'm available to fill the void."

"A fear of heights is illogical. A fear of falling, on the other hand, is prudent and evolutionary." --Sheldon

"What part of an inverse tangent approaching an asymptote don't you understand?" --Sheldon

"Howard. You do not have a PhD. Your cologne is an assault on the senses, and you're not available for video games during the Jewish high holidays." --Sheldon