The Big Bang Theory: The Conference Valuation (12x17)

I'm just bored.

Cons:

Episodes like this really emphasize how much this show doubles down on gender roles. Of course Howard calls taking care of his own kids "babysitting." Of course Amy would need to trick Sheldon into being interested in kids. It's all just so... predictable.

Also, if you're going to do a story where there's experimentation on kids, why not get more creative and funny? I'm a broken record, but this show never does enough with its concepts. The same goes for the conference with Penny and Bernadette. There was plenty that was theoretically interesting, but it didn't go quite far enough.

Pros:

When I saw Sheldon's book about experimenting, at first I thought that Bernadette was going to find out and get all pissed off, and that was going to be the big joke. I'm glad they didn't go that route, and instead we see Sheldon actually having fun with kids, even if he has to contextualize it in a different way.

I also thought Leonard realizing his own life had been a series of experiments was pretty funny. Maybe a predictable joke, but still. Leonard's mom actually does something similar to Sheldon, contextualizing the facts in a different way. She wasn't totally heartless, but she approached her mothering instincts through science, and it brought her closer to her son. Obviously she's not a great mother to him, but in this instance, Leonard was actually touched.

My favorite joke of the night, one that actually made me crack a smile, is when Bernadette asks Howard where the kids are as a test, he knows the right answer, then she tries to trick him by saying they're at daycare. That was funny on its own, but the real humor comes when Howard does the same thing to Stuart, freaking him out by saying "I thought the kids were with you!" I know that this show isn't nearly creative or daring enough to go all the way with a concept like this, but I do kind of love the idea of Howard and Bernadette's kids having this extra parental figure in their lives.

Like I said, they could have done more with Bernadette and Penny's medical conference, but I like that we were actually at a different setting, and that we had a plot thread focusing on the careers of these women, with really no mentions of their husbands. I wish that Bernadette and Penny could have worked together to leverage Penny more money at her current job. That would have been hilarious. As it is, I liked the fact that Penny was flattered by being courted by another company, but ultimately she wants to stay with her friend and the job she already likes. It's nice to see that Penny has grown into her position, and that while it might not be her dream job, she takes it seriously, seems to get real fulfillment out of it, and is doing a great job.

That's all for the time being. We're truly in the home stretch, people!

8.5/10