The Big Bang Theory: The Anxiety Optimization (8x13)

Okay. Cute. Nothing outstanding, but cute. I hate that there's never anything exciting in this show anymore. I hate that when an episode doesn't out-and-out offend me, I have to be grateful. But in any case... let's take a look.

Sheldon is trying to come up with a way to research proton decay and get to a breakthrough. At first, he tries to block out all distractions and make himself comfortable. This does not yield any results. He sees Penny doing a workout routine, and Penny says that her hatred for the routine is what motivates her. Sheldon decides that maybe he'll get more work done if he is being held in a state of agitation. He tells the guys to bug him, which they enjoy doing. He also asks Amy to help track his brain activity to help find the ideal level of agitation. Eventually, however, Sheldon starts to go off the rails. He's hallucinating and refusing to get any sleep. Amy gets angry at him when he refuses to stop working during their date night, and she kicks him out of her apartment. Leonard and Penny are able to get him to bed and asleep with a rendition of "Soft Kitty."

Meanwhile, Howard plays a game with everyone called "Emily or Cinnamon." He says a quote that he heard Raj saying, and everybody has to guess whether he was talking to his girlfriend Emily or his dog Cinnamon. Raj is not amused by the game, as it comes across like he loves his dog more than his girlfriend. Emily appears at the end of the episode to say that she thinks Raj' sensitive side is really sexy. However, when she kisses him, she is disturbed to find dog hair in his mouth.

There was one scene in this episode that was borderline offensive. Now, I'm not sure if I'm just overly sensitive to it when it comes to this show or what, but it did irk me. When Sheldon is looking for things to irritate him, he goes and talks to Penny, Amy, and Bernadette for a while. He makes tons of jokes about how they're all PMSing. These jokes weren't particularly funny, and they also annoyed me because while I can see how the joke is more about how insensitive Sheldon can be, I still get uncomfortable with how sexist he is. The show just throws in lots of details that show Sheldon to be sexist, and then never qualify it or show him learning or growing in any way. It just drives me nuts.

There were some funny things going on in this episode, though. I was mildly amused by Aramdillo Isaac Newton, and I absolutely cracked up when Sheldon was using a mix of scary sounds to keep himself on edge. He tells Leonard: "I tried including Taylor Swift in the mix, but turns out I love her." That was pretty funny, and it was actually sort of a cheeky reference to the way the whole world has learned to love Taylor recently, no matter what they may have thought of her before.

I also thought "Emily or Cinnamon" was pretty funny, especially the way everybody kept getting all swept up in the debates.

I guess that's all I really have to say. There's never really much to talk about with this show. It's just... eh. Lowest common denominator stuff.

7.5/10