The Big Bang Theory: The Allowance Evaporation (10x16)

Huh. A good episode. A genuinely good episode.

Cons:

I mean I guess I wish Leonard and Penny had more to do on this show... but this week we focused on Raj, and on Sheldon and Amy, and both of those stories were so successful that I don't really mind putting everybody else on the back-burner.

Pros:

Raj, after talking to his father, realizes that he is too dependent on his parents for money. His father pays his rent, his car payments, and his credit card bill. He decides he wants to strike out on his own, and so he says he'll stop taking his parent's money. This means a lot of lifestyle changes for him. I'm so happy that we're giving Raj a plot with some substance for once! It's enormously refreshing. I like the idea of examining some of his many shortcomings. A few weeks back, there was the rather unsuccessful attempt to look at his failed relationships with women. This episode is a much more successful version of that, as we examine Raj's inherent selfishness. I can't wait to see how this continues to play out.

Favorite funny moment: Raj is sitting around with the gang in Penny and Leonard's apartment, and Leonard helpfully suggests that perhaps Raj could move in with Howard and Bernadette. Howard's reaction is so great. "What are you doing?" he asks. He brought the kid over, he's being nice to everybody, so... "why don't you like me?" Later, Howard turns it around on Leonard by remarking that Sheldon's room is currently empty... however, to everybody's relief, Raj says he needs to make it on his own.

Another great joke is when Raj tells his father he won't be accepting any more of his money: "Dad, I'm trying to tell you off, and you're ruining it with your delight and relief!"

In the other plot, Amy learns to her horror that Sheldon has shared personal details about their sex life (or lack thereof) with multiple people. Sheldon doesn't understand why Amy is upset at first, but later he gets that he embarrassed her. He creates a chart called "zones of privacy" with circles on it growing out from a circle in the center reserved for just Amy and Sheldon. The next branch includes the rest of the core group, then the next circle has Stuart in it, then after that is where co-workers and casual acquaintances go. Sheldon wants to work with Amy to figure out which topics belong in which circles, so he can avoid making a mistake like this again.

See, this was really sweet. It was a plot thread about how Sheldon sometimes doesn't know how to navigate social situations, but it actually provided a lot of comedy and avoided being disrespectful to anybody. The fact that Sheldon doesn't understand Amy at first does not mean that he gets let off the hook. Amy doesn't let Sheldon invalidate her feelings, and Sheldon works hard to understand her and make a plan.

There was also a great deal of comedy here, what with the presence of Bert, this show's latest sad-sack character. I love his deadpan delivery, and his general easy-going attitude. The guy sure does forgive a lot of crap that I'm not sure I could get over!

That's all I've got. A good episode of The Big Bang Theory! Color me surprised!

9.5/10