LeonardAndPenny-related stories
Posted Nov 17th 2009 12:01AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E08) I'm going to just say it right up front: This was the best episode of the season so far, and is neck and neck with the
Leonard Nimoy Christmas episode for title of "best episode ever." Though there were two very distinct stories going on here, they were both hilarious. Too often, when the group is separated, the B plot flounders. However, this week, while Raj, Leonard and Wolowitz in the desert wasn't quite as jaw-dropping as Sheldon grabbing Penny's boob(!), it was pretty damn hilarious.
So, about the desert: Pot cookies. It's amazing to me that something so cliched could end up being so unbelievably funny. While all three of the guys made me laugh, Raj was the real scene-stealer. From his threat to eat all of the lettuce in the world and make his rabbit subjects watch, to the American accent he uses to mock Wolowitz and Leonard, everything that came out of his mouth was pure comic gold.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Adhesive Duck Deficiency
Posted Nov 10th 2009 1:02AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E07) While the actual plot points were different, didn't this episode seem
a lot like last week's? You have Leonard trying to adapt to Penny's outside friends, Raj and Wolowitz marginalized and forced into a weird couples' spat, and Sheldon pretty much carrying the comedy load with his recollections of growing up in Texas.
I'm glad that they're showing Leonard and Penny in an actual relationship and not just finding contrived reasons for them to break up, but as far as relationship storylines go, this was a pretty boring one. I'm kind of on Leonard's side with this one, and believe me, I know how little fights can devolve into something ridiculous, but this whole fight thing was just really shrill and not entertaining.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Guitarist Amplification
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 12:01AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E06) So Sheldon knows football. That is
amazing. I have no idea if the character of Sheldon was originally conceived as being from Texas, or they just wrote him that way because
Jim Parsons was raised in Houston, but I absolutely love when his Texas comes out. The entire sequence of Sheldon teaching Leonard about football and recounting the time he spent with his father watching games was absolutely the highlight of the episode for me.
As much as I adore the cast, sometimes you just have episodes that are about Sheldon and Jim Parson's performance. If you take that out of this one, nothing really stands out to me too much. I wasn't particularly fond of the Wolowitz/Raj storyline, and Leonard meeting Penny's friends was just bizarre.
Continue reading Review: The Big Bang Theory - The Cornhusker Vortex
Posted Oct 13th 2009 1:24AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E04) Wow. I'm pretty sure Raj had more lines in this episode than he's had the entire season -- and he even shared scenes with two different women! It was nice having Leonard and Penny in their relationship, but in the background. Now that they're together, I'm glad the writers don't feel as though they need to focus on them every single episode. It makes sense though: sometimes your friends are going through some things, and you're just off having sex. It happens.
I really enjoyed this episode, but I'm not sure there's much of a need to talk about anything besides the amazing "Eye of the Tiger" montages. Not since, well, ever, has staring at a white board seemed so thrilling. Sheldon, of course, should never be allowed to have employees, as he is in no position to lead anyone anywhere except, perhaps, an insane asylum. But I sincerely hope Raj continues to work with -- er, for, Sheldon for quite some time.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Pirate Solution
Posted Oct 6th 2009 8:36AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E03) So we get our first episode of Leonard and Penny together, and it's... weird. She's in their apartment, making French toast, and somehow I feel nearly as uncomfortable as Sheldon when faced with the prospect of eating French toast on a Monday. It's kind of odd seeing Leonard and Penny acting all boyfriend/girlfriend-y. I've gotten so used to their casual banter, that them talking about breaking beds is kind of weirding me out.
However, what really struck me as odd about the opening scene is how mean Sheldon is to Penny. Now, obviously Sheldon would hate having his space invaded, especially by someone who doesn't understand that Mondays are for oatmeal. But the way he and Penny interacted was like early season one. Since then, between
Leonard Nimoy's DNA and
"Soft Kitty," they have formed somewhat of an uneasy bond. I understand that they need to have conflict at the beginning in order for the rest of the episode to make sense, but it didn't need to be so heavy-handed.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Gothowitz Deviation
Posted Sep 29th 2009 1:32AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E02) I really want to hear from you guys about this episode, because as I was watching it, I was thinking, "Oh, man. People are going to be
pissed." I'm talking, of course, about the fact that for most of the episode, it appeared that once again, after we waited patiently for Leonard and Penny to get together, the writers would find some reason to rip them back apart, only to give us yet another season of, "will they or won't they."
It wouldn't have been that implausible. Sometimes, if you spend all of your time building something up in your head, it doesn't live up to expectations. It's not completely unreasonable that after years of pining, it turns out that Leonard and Penny simply aren't compatible beyond friendships. That's life -- but it's certainly not satisfying.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Jiminy Conjecture
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 12:05AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S03E01) Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Big Bang Theory. Thank you for not dragging out the "will they or won't they" thing with Leonard and Penny throughout the third season. The guys
return from the North Pole looking like a pack of Teen Wolves (all except for Sheldon, whose goatee was much scarier), and the first thing that happens is Penny sticks her tongue down Leonard's throat. There is no dancing around, no skirting the issue. She missed him and had three months to realize that she wanted to give it a shot, so she did.
I especially love that the writers slyly copped to dragging the whole thing out for two seasons, with Leonard and Penny's constant interruptions. "I just can't catch a break!" Although, come on. They flew down to Texas to go after Sheldon. Are they trying to make me believe that Leonard didn't have a few spare minutes before he went to the airport?
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation (season premiere)
Posted May 12th 2009 12:26AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S02E23) Buzzinga! This episode, which is the season 2 finale, kind of blew my mind. Sheldon is almost a real boy! Not only was he able to correctly identify emotions not once, but twice, but he has started pulling honest-to-goodness pranks. Funny ones, at that! The whole bedtime conversation between he and Leonard about Penny wanting him carnally? You know that wouldn't have happened a year ago.
Speaking of Penny, there was one glaring thing about this otherwise enjoyable episode -- she was practically non-existent! Granted, she played a big role in the over-arching storyline if not the episodic one, but nonetheless, her absence was definitely noticeable.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Monopolar Expedition (season finale)
Posted May 5th 2009 8:44AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S02E22) Space poop! That's really all you need to know about this episode-- oh, and Penny still totally has the geek hots for Leonard. But mainly, this episode came out of the writers' desire to see how many poop jokes they could fit into a half-hour show. The answer? A lot.
The whole thing about Wolowitz's toilet for the space station was kind of great, because it showcased Sheldon's continued evolution. He actually recognized that jokes were being told! And he thought they were funny! In fact, other than the whole "breakdown of the social contract" thing with regards to Leonard's voicemail, Sheldon really wasn't his usual nitpicky, neurotic self. Instead of making everything about his compulsions, he actually managed to fit in and become a member of the group. Sheldon has had a lot of personal growth throughout this season, so it was nice to have it showcased in this episode.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Classified Materials Turbulence
Posted Apr 28th 2009 1:18AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S02E21) It's not often where you have an A and B story that are both hilarious, but
The Big Bang Theory pulls it off in this episode. It sucks that she didn't make an appearance, but I'm glad the show didn't completely forget about the whole Howard and Leslie thing and wrapped up that storyline tonight.
It was a little weird that Sheldon was the one who suggested that they all go to Vegas, but I loved how he didn't even consider for a second actually going himself. I also loved how Leonard didn't even try to convince him. When Raj and Leonard were immediately approached by a prostitute when they got there, I assumed it would be a one-off joke about Raj's inexperience with woman. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be quite a funny storyline.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Vegas Renormalization
Posted Apr 14th 2009 12:48AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
(S02E20) Don't you hate it when a show is so great for the first 29 minutes, but then in minute 30 it all seems to fall apart? That's what happens on this episode of
The Big Bang Theory. Penny falls for a comic book guy and all of the characters show actual growth and development -- until minute 30. That's when they go for the fat joke.
The joke, which was basically just a sight gag that had Raj making out with a rotund woman in a tight pink dress, was obvious and lazy. In and of it self, it makes me roll my eyes, but doesn't really bother me. What bothers me about it is
BBT is better than that. Why would a show that spends so much time humanizing and making us love a group of people who generally gets made fun of, make a thoughtless fat joke?
Continue reading Big Bang Theory: The Hofstadter Isotope
Posted Mar 31st 2009 12:38AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory continues to impress me. With only a few exceptions, it's been consistently strong and is quickly becoming one of my favorite sitcoms. One of the things I enjoy about it so much is that it answers a lot of questions the viewers have in the back of their mind: "What would Sheldon be like if he got a girlfriend?" and "Is Wolowitz just a perv, or is there something more?" And in tonight's episode, "Does Penny realize she's a user?"
Penny having to come face-to-face with a more successful version of herself was a brilliant way to address her relationship with the guys. Even though it's evolved over the past few years, there is still a very definite social hierarchy upon which she finds herself on the top. But now that Alicia is on the scene, she's forced to take a look in a mirror: a very hot mirror.
Continue reading The Big Bang Theory: The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition
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