The Big Bang Theory: The Mystery Date Observation (9x08)

This was a pretty cute episode, actually. It focuses on Amy and Sheldon and their struggles to move on from each other, with humorous results. Let's get started.

Cons:

There are a few jokes in this episode about Penny and Leonard's marriage. Penny says that she was forced to bring Leonard along with her now that they're married, and jokes that she threw away all her high heels because she's married to him now. That wouldn't bother me except for the fact that at the beginning of this season it seemed like maybe they were going to address real issues in their relationship, and now it's clear that their relationship is only being used for humor. For all the jokes that this episode made, it didn't really push anything forward on a larger plot level.

Pros:

Amy is going on another date with Dave. Penny and Bernadette decide to spy on the date, and Leonard is dragged unwillingly along. As Bernadette uses military-grade spy equipment to watch the date, Leonard continually complains, wanting to go see a movie instead. This was pretty funny - Penny and Leonard were basically just there to contrast to Bernadette, whose manic enthusiasm for spying was very fun. She says that before she met Howard, she used to spy on her boyfriends. Yikes!

Then there's the date itself. It seems to be going well until Dave finds out that Amy's ex is Sheldon Cooper. Turns out, Dave is a big fan of Sheldon's work. He asks Amy lots of questions about him, and totally ignores her attempts to change the subject. At the end of the night, Amy says she can't see him again, and Dave realizes that he's made a fool of himself by speaking about Sheldon all evening. However, he's excited to have been rejected by a woman who has also rejected Sheldon. This was funny, too - I admit that I wish there had been more growth in the plot thread, but I'm okay with some simple humor too. The best moment was when Dave remarked that since he and Sheldon had both kissed Amy, it was almost like... Amy cuts him off before he can finish.

Sheldon decides to stop wallowing and move on from Amy, and he enlists Howard and Raj to help find him a new woman. They set up a complex scavenger hunt online, where the last clue leads the woman to Sheldon's door. Somebody actually does show up - a beautiful and intelligent woman who solved Sheldon's convoluted puzzle. Unfortunately, she was a few seconds past the deadline, and Sheldon closes the door in her face. This was pretty great! I loved Raj and Howard's enthusiasm for the project. They said they were almost jealous of the woman who would get to solve the puzzle, despite the fact that they knew what the prize was. Sheldon gave them a very affronted look at that. And then the woman herself, Vanessa Bennett, was just too ridiculously perfect to be true. She was able to translate Klingon to Farsi, which is damn impressive. Just as I was starting to worry that she was too perfect to be at all interesting, the punchline of the joke came. Sheldon slammed the door in her face. Ha! It's just as well. I don't think I could stomach watching Sheldon with another woman right now. His treatment of Amy was bad enough.

I guess that's what I've got. This was a thoroughly unoffensive and pretty funny episode!

9/10