You’ll notice that unlike previous posts about Big Bang Theory this one is not a live blog. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I write about TV and I want to move away from live blogging and more to straight-up writing. Anyway, I still hope to nail all the important points highlighting great moments and quotes. The problem I had with this particular episode is that it wasn’t particularly fun. Penny and Leonard took back seat roles in the episode while Sheldon and his girlfriend Amy dealt with her being horny and Raj and Howard argued about which one of them would be the sidekick if they were to get superpowers. The plot itself wasn’t that bad and I feel like if this was an episode from an earlier season, it would have been better, but many of the parts just fell flat. We open with the guys sitting around eating in silence because Sheldon apparently threatened to kill the next person to talk with their mouth open. He then proposes that they talk about the best number of which he’s convinced the correct answer is 73 while Raj said 5418008 which as any sixth grader knows is “boobies” upside down on a calculator. That actually gave me a chuckle once he explained it. Then we cut to Penny having dinner with Amy and Bernadette where Penny’s former boyfriend Zack happens to be dropping off some new menus. After asking if Penny had sex with him and her answering in the affirmative, Amy spontaneously says “who” and seems to want to jump his bones.

At lunch the next day, Howard’s telling Raj and Leonard about an accident in one of the labs involving radioactive rats. Raj asks if anyone got superpowers, noting that that should be the result when getting bitten by a radioactive animal. I completely agree with him on that point. He even says he’d be okay with being Rat Man and that Howard could be his sidekick Mouse Boy. This kicks off the argument about who would be the sidekick. Leonard seems as bored with this turn of events as I am. Meanwhile, Sheldon has lunch with Amy in her lab where she’s dissecting a brain. She explains the weird feelings she had the previous day (earlier she said her amorous feelings were a combination of the flu and early onset tourettes) to which Sheldon lists off a series of possible causes which include the titular alien parasite and also that she was sexually aroused. Being obtuse, they continue to research the possible causes and Sheldon explains that when he gets such feelings he does what Spock did in Star Trek The Motion Picture. It’s called kolinahr and it took me way too freaking long to find. Amy calls Trek “cheap science fiction” which leads Sheldon to use koliahr. Amy asks if he’s just feeling jealous and he leaves. The sidekick contest heats up as Howard challenges Raj to stick his hand in a jar with a giant spider in it because Raj is afraid of spiders and it’s possible that superheroes would have to fight spiders. Raj asks what would happen if the fate of the world depended on showering with other people. Anyway, Raj puts his hand in but only because the spider is already crawling up Howard’s arm. We get one more scene with Penny, this time in the laundry room. Sheldon’s doing his wash a day early because he got  a new detergent and doesn’t know how it will effect his clothes. He first tells her that he’s thinking of dumping Amy because he thought she was pure intellect and clearly she has human needs. Penny says he could help her, but he says you can’t spay a human. He soon understand what she really means and walks upstairs where he calls all the Zack Johnsons he can find finally finding the right one and asking if he wants to have sex with Amy. Soon, Sheldon and Amy meet Zack at a bar and even though she’s still attracted to him, she can’t handle his dumbness and they walk out. Meanwhile, Raj and Howard have agreed to finally decide who will be the sidekick by wrestling. Of course, they don’t actually wrestle, they just circle each other throwing out insults while Leonard slowly falls asleep behind them. Oi. I really feel like Leonard is the audience entry point in this episode as he spends most of it sleeping or wondering what he’s doing there. I felt the same way not only about the episode as a whole but his character as well. I feel like the show might have too many characters for the writers to handle at this point because too many of them are just sitting there not doing much of anything. I actually like the characters mind you, I’m just thinking that maybe the writers aren’t up to the task. I really love this show and I want it to be great, but I feel like it’s slipping which is a bummer.

HIGHLIGHTS

Bernadette asking Penny why she didn’t just bang Zack and listen to NPR, that’s what she does because she’s much smarter than Howard.

Amy telling Sheldon that she felt throbbing in her ears and vaginal area, to which Sheldon responds that those two areas tend not to work together.

Sheldon almost walking out of the lab with Amy’s sliced brains.

Howard’s reaction to the spider on his arm was pretty great. Good physical comedy.

“Go Amy Farrah Fowler, follow your endocrine system.” – Sheldon

LOWLIGHTS

The boring “Who’s On First”-esque bit between Sheldon and Amy was painful. I love that bit, but it needs to not be referenced for like five decades to be a good reference once again. We were almost there.

An overall lack of laughs.

Not enough Penny or Bernadette screentime, Leonard having no purpose this episode.

Missing the Community Christmas episode.