The Big Bang Theory: The Perspiration Implementation (9x05)

This one was fine. I was annoyed at some things, of course, but amused by others. As always, I felt there were missed opportunities. Let's take a quick look.

Cons:

The main plot seemed to revolve around the following well-thought-out premise: "lol nerds don't exercise!" That's super annoying. This show can be so insulting to nerd culture, even as it claims to be celebrating it. Aggravating, to say the least. I wasn't at all amused by the list of sports that they couldn't participate in because they were such big nerds. Also, as a big lover of the fitbit myself, I thought Howard's silly trick of making it look like he was moving around was rather stupid. I'm sure he would have gotten thousands of steps just from walking around at work!

Stuart had the beginnings of a real plot thread here, but it was sort of abandoned. He asks the girls why he can't attract more girl customers to his comic book shop. They talk about how creepy he is, and Stuart admits that he's bad at being comfortable around girls. This could have been a chance to explore Stuart's character a bit more, but as per usual they didn't stick the landing. I really wish this show had better follow-through.

Pros:

There was some genuinely good humor with the fencing. When the guys go in to learn fencing from Barry Kripke, they're more interested in making pop culture references than actually learning. Raj declares himself to be "Puss in Boots," while Howard quotes from The Princess Bride. The funniest part was when they kept replacing the name "Inigo Montoya" from the famous line and switching it out with other people, including "Little Orphan Annie." Howard then says "Hello, my name is Darth Vader. I am your father. Prepare to die!" I also liked it when Barry took a phone call and the guys used it as an opportunity to flail wildly around with their swords and pretend to be in a real duel.

Sheldon and Amy's breakup was actually a little bit upsetting today. It was actually sad to see Sheldon's jealousy when he heard that Barry was considering asking Amy out. Amy ultimately turned him down, but Sheldon was clearly upset by the possibility that Amy was ready to move on. Sheldon tries to move on too, asking out random women in a sport's bar. In the end, the two of them have an awkward conversation in the hallway, where they both talk about how they've moved on. It's clear there's still a lot of lingering pain there. I liked this part of the episode because Sheldon didn't act like a total asshole. He was upset, and jealous, but he didn't try to force Amy to listen to him or take him back. He seems to be respecting the fact that Amy doesn't want to be with him anymore, even if it's hard.

One thing I loved about this episode was that Stuart openly acknowledged that women actually read comic books a lot, and that the fact he doesn't have women in his shop isn't because there's no market for female comic book fans. Finally! An acknowledgement that girls like comics! It took them long enough. I wish they could have done more with this, but I liked the part when Penny read online reviews of the shops, all of which told stories of women who came into the shop and were scared away by Stuart's creepiness. Maybe they'll do more with this, and Stuart will learn his lesson? I doubt it, but a girl can dream.

So... yeah. Not a great episode. But not horrible. That's usually as good as we can hope for!

7/10