The Big Bang Theory: The Champagne Reflection (8x10)

Ughhh why do I watch this show?! This episode pissed me off because it was mostly pretty funny, and I was chuckling at a lot of the jokes, but then there were two moments of utterly infuriating and offensive humor, and it just makes me too angry to enjoy any of the episode. Grrr. Let us start with the plot.

Sheldon and Amy record Sheldon's very last "Fun with Flags" episode. Sheldon shows past highlights and brings on guest star LeVar Burton. He continually brings up an incident in which Amy forgot to hit "record" on the camera, so that one of the episodes was never recorded at all. Amy says she's sorry, but she gets more and more frustrated with Sheldon's passive-agressiveness. In the end, nobody seems to care that "Fun with Flags" is over. That is, until one comment on YouTube laments the end of the show. Sheldon instantly decides to bring it back.

Most of this was so funny. Sheldon and Amy's bickering, the highlights of past episodes, Sheldon using the "white flag" for one of its uses, as a hankie, as he says goodbye, etc. However, there were two horrifically offensive things in this plot thread. The first was when Sheldon asks LeVar Burton if something is racist or not. Basically, although we don't see it, the implication is that Sheldon dressed in black face or in some other racially offensive way. I'm sorry, but jokes like this are not funny. The only way this could be okay is if Sheldon came to a realization about how horrible he was, and apologizes for his error. But no. He just brushes it off and says it wasn't racist. Later, he asks Burton if he would like to dress up as a swastika while they talk about German flags. What the ever living Hell, you guys. Not okay. Not funny. Seriously. It's possible to be funny without being horrifically offensive. Wow.

While Amy and Sheldon work on "Fun with Flags," Raj, Howard and Leonard are all helping to clean out the office of a professor who has recently died. Leonard is disconcerted by the fact that Roger Abbott lived his whole life without seeming to make any real impact on the world. They briefly think they may have discovered some of Dr. Abbott's research, but when they talk to his old colleague, they learn it's just his food journal. The three guys find a champagne bottle that was meant to be opened when Dr. Abbott first discovered something. It was never opened. The guys resolve to open it and drink in his honor whenever one of them has a breakthrough. Later, to celebrate the return of "Fun with Flags," Sheldon pops the champagne, to Leonard's horror.

This plot thread was good. I liked the joke about "Roger Abbott" sounding like "Roger Rabbit," and I liked the way the humor of the episode was interspersed with a few more touching moments of reflection. It reminds me of the Friends episode, "The One Where Heckles Dies." The best joke of the episode for me was when Raj keeps accidentally sticking his foot in his mouth, such as when he asks Abbott's colleague if he was ever successful, and the man sarcastically points out that he lives in a crappy apartment, so he clearly didn't amount to anything. After a few of these moments of Raj saying stupid things, he says that he's "getting a little tired of everybody's sarcasm." That was pretty funny.

Lastly, we've got Penny and Bernadette. The two of them have a banquet to go to for the pharmaceutical company. Penny and Bernadette's boss, Dan, doesn't want to spend time with Bernadette because she scares him. Penny decides to confront Bernadette about the way she sometimes comes across. Bernadette seems horrified to discover that she's a bully, but when she starts breaking down and crying, Dan hurries to reassure her, and Bernadette ends up keeping all of the perks she had previously had due to her coworkers' fear of her.

This was such a funny little plot thread. Although it wasn't the focus by any means, I was glad to see that Penny has been doing well at work. It's so important to me to see her grow as an independent woman and find her own footing in the world. Setting that aside, though - Bernadette was the highlight. She was absolutely hilarious, especially when she started manipulating Dan to give her what she wanted. She used to do this by being mean, but now she'll do it by playing the vulnerability card. I love that Bernadette has her own private bathroom because everyone was too afraid to tell her it was meant for the whole floor. Too funny!

So, there you have it. I simply cannot condone this show for its terribly insensitive jokes. If they were ever to use the insensitive jokes to make Sheldon learn and grow as a character, it might, maybe, be excusable. But that's not what seems to be happening. It's just. Not. Appropriate. Okay? Ugh. However, besides the terrible jokes, there was nothing particularly bad about this episode. How's that for frustrating?

5/10