The Big Bang Theory: The Table Polarization (7x16)

Okay! Two plots. Let's dive right in.

Leonard and Penny want to get a dining room table so that they don't all have to eat in the living room and force someone to sit on the floor. Sheldon is distressed by this possible change, and he declares that it's all because of Penny. Penny has changed Leonard, made him more assertive, and it makes it more difficult for Sheldon to always get what he wants. When Penny points out that Amy has changed Sheldon, too, Sheldon decides he must break up with her straight away. He goes over to her apartment to do so, but Amy manages to manipulate him into staying in a relationship with her by saying that Leonard is only trying to ruin their relationship to make him forget about the table. Sheldon and Amy accuse Leonard of just that, but when Amy pushes too far and suggests that Sheldon move in with her so he doesn't have to put up with Leonard, Sheldon concedes that the table can stay. When the group all try to have a meal around it, Sheldon and Amy stay over by the couches. Feeling bad, the rest of the group goes over to join them, thus reinstating their normal seating arrangement. Sheldon gleefully exclaims that even if he is acting like a baby, sometimes the baby wins.

In subplot news, Howard gets a call from NASA that he should go back up into the International Space Station. He's excited to go, but Bernadette thinks this is because he can't remember how traumatic the experience was for him. Bernadette, her father, and Raj hold an intervention and tell him that going back into space isn't a good idea. Howard, upon learning that he'll be put through survival training again, decides he can't go back to space. He calls his mother during his medical exam, which causes his blood pressure to raise. He fails the medical test and is thus spared going back to space.

I'll be honest with you. I didn't like this one. Nothing about it really grabbed my attention, and some parts were actually insulting. Let's list some of the elements that I really did not enjoy.

- Sheldon being treated like a total idiot. I guess maybe I'm just getting more sensitive to it lately, but the way Sheldon's mental illnesses are treated on this show is not okay. It's insulting to imply that Amy can so easily change his mind on these things, and when Leonard makes a quip about him not having a personality... ugh. That's just really awful. This was really my main complaint it seemed to taint much of the rest of the episode for me.

- Howard's subplot had its moments, but over all it didn't do much for me either. It seems like there was absolutely no point in revisiting the NASA thing if they were just going to move past it so quickly.

There were some humorous moments, though.

- The remote control wand! I want one of those.

- Howard's blood pressure going up after talking to his mother.

- Raj's refusal to move from the table at the end. He's tired of sitting on the floor!

I know this is a fairly short review... I just really didn't like this episode, and I don't want to keep talking about it.

4/10