The Big Bang Theory: The Opening Night Excitation (9x11)

Talk about free advertising for Star Wars, huh? I mean, not that they need it. Record breaking opening and all. I still haven't seen it, but now our characters have! What did they think, and what did I think of this episode? Let's take a look.

Cons:

This week, the guys go to see Star Wars. Sheldon stays behind because it's Amy's birthday, and so Howard, Raj, and Leonard bring Wil Wheaton along with them. Normally I love the simple humor he adds to an episode, but here his jokes fell rather flat. He came to the Star Wars premiere dressed in a Starfleet uniform, remarking that he wanted to maintain his loyalty to Star Trek. He then tells the boys to stop thinking so hard about the new movie. Whether it's great or it sucks, life will go on exactly the same. While I suppose this is sound advice for people who let their emotions become too entangled in pop culture, I can't help resenting the message a little bit. The Big Bang Theory clearly has no real concept of the importance that media can have on the real world. Things like Star Wars do matter, for what they say about the society that produces and consumes this type of media. Why do we, as a culture, feel drawn to this type of story? Should we ignore the reactions from fans to the casting of a black lead, and what that says about the racism still prevalent in American society? I think media often requires deeper thought than most people would like to give it.

Pros:

That being said, I did like the artless enthusiasm of Leonard, Howard, and Raj as they sat waiting for the movie, and their utter joy in finding themselves happy with the final product. This plot line is humorously paralleled with Amy and Sheldon's first physical encounter. Much like the friends at the movies, Sheldon and Amy both find themselves scared about what the night will bring. When it's over, Sheldon remarks that he enjoyed it more than he thought he would, and Amy is clearly in utter bliss. At the movies, Wil remarks that he enjoyed Star Wars more than he thought he would, and the other three parallel Amy's reaction by slumping down in their chairs in near orgasmic joy at the movie. That was quite funny, and a nice way of placing enough importance on Sheldon and Amy without making it seem like sex was the end-all-be-all of their relationship.

There's a part of me that wants to be annoyed that Sheldon had sex in the first place, but it's clear that this one encounter didn't suddenly give him a heretofore undiscovered love of sex, as evidenced by his remark that they can have sex again next year on Amy's birthday. This is nice - I still maintain my head canon that Sheldon is asexual, but it's okay that he's not sex repulsed. He can enjoy the act without having an actual sex drive. It's possible that I've given this too much thought, but I just really wanted Sheldon to remain true to his character, even after having sex for the first time.

On the humor side of this episode, I think the winning element was Bob Newhart, reprising his role as Professor Proton (aka Arthur Jeffries). He comes to Sheldon in his dreams as a Jedi master to give Sheldon advice about his relationship with Amy. At the end of the episode, he reappears to ask Sheldon how it went, and Sheldon misunderstands him, instead talking about how he went and saw Star Wars a few days later and really loved it. Arthur asks "what about Amy?", hoping to hear about the sex, but Sheldon merely remarks that Amy liked the movie as well, although she didn't have the same history with the franchise. Beyond the humor of Sheldon misunderstanding Arthur's question, I actually really liked that Amy's disinterest in Star Wars wasn't belittled. I've complained in the past that none of the women on this show are pop culture nerds, and they all turn their noses up at things like Star Wars. But here, Amy is said to have enjoyed the movie, even if she doesn't have the same connection to it that Sheldon does. It's okay to be a casual fan of things sometimes! I mean, I myself am hardly casual about any fandom I dip my toes into, but that doesn't make my way of enjoying media any better than somebody else's. This is totally a sore spot with me, if you can't tell.

I guess that's all I've got. I haven't seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens yet, but I'm so, so excited to do so. Will I be as impressed as the guys? I hope so!

8/10