The Big Bang Theory: The Confidence Erosion (11x10)

.... A good episode of The Big Bang Theory? What the heck!

Cons:

Penny and Leonard continue to feel very sidelined this season, and Penny's realization that sometimes she's mean to Leonard doesn't really go anywhere, because Leonard is content to take the abuse. Not a lot of traction there.

I really liked the main story of the week with Raj and Howard, but I will admit it came out of left field. I suppose I shouldn't complain, but it would be nice if this show were capable of some subtlety and buildup. That's probably wishful thinking.

Pros:

So. The main story. Raj realizes that his lack of confidence is due to Howard always putting him down and making fun of him, so he decides they need to spend some time apart. His confidence skyrockets after cutting Howard out of his life, but poor Howard doesn't know what to make of this new change.

There's nothing so remarkable about a plot thread like this, not even for The Big Bang Theory. The remarkable part is that the story isn't resolved in twenty minutes, and it looks like things get even worse in next week's installment. Finally, a story about Raj that I can get behind! Raj's friendship with Howard has long been the most interesting aspect of his character, and a chance to really dig in and explore that friendship is appreciated. Howard was kind of breaking my heart when he came to Raj's presentation and sat in the back, wanting to support his friend but unsure if he'd be welcome. I want these two to make up, but I want to actually examine the complexities of their relationship before we get there!

Sheldon and Amy's plot thread surprisingly worked really well for me as well! The two of them decide to split all decisions about the wedding, but it ends up being a mess, and neither of them are very happy with the full picture. They decide to just go down to city hall instead. When they get there, Amy is excited, but Sheldon realizes that he wants a big wedding because he wants to celebrate how wonderful Amy is and how lucky he is to have found her.

Here's why this worked so well for me: we got to see Sheldon discover something about himself and share it with Amy in a pure, adorable way. He starts comparing Amy to a black hole, saying Amy is even better than a black hole because while scientists are searching for a black hole, he hadn't even been looking for Amy when he found her. He gets more and more excited as he lists all the ways that Amy is better, and it's just so cute. He wants to share his love for Amy with the world, because finding her and actually loving her and wanting to spend his life with her is remarkable. This is actually super adorable. Sheldon has been acting like a bit of an ass about the wedding, but here we see that he really cares. We also don't get any of that stupid gender role nonsense where Amy is supposed to be the one making all the wedding decisions, and in fact it's Sheldon who really wants the big party.

There you have it. I was pleasantly surprised. This is what happens when you have such low expectations for a show. The smallest thing can impress you!

9/10