The Big Bang Theory: The Comet Polarization (11x21)

Okay, not bad.

Cons:

There's this one joke where Sheldon starts to compare the comic-book shop to Wakanda from Black Panther, and Amy worries he's going to say something "offensive to certain groups of people." She is then relieved when he doesn't. This wasn't an egregiously bad joke or anything, but sometimes I just wish people would tell it like it is? Instead of saying "offensive to certain groups of people," couldn't Amy have just said "don't be racist"?

Howard and Bernadette trying and failing to have a date night didn't offer much in the way of good comedic material. It wasn't bad, it just didn't really go anywhere. They want Stuart to babysit, but then he gets busy with the store, so they can't leave... just nothing much going on with all of this that I really cared about.

Pros:

I liked the main plot quite a bit. The new assistant manager at the comic book shop is kind of fun, and I hope she sticks around. There was also a lovely subversion of my expectations. Amy gets mad that Sheldon seems to be bonding with this woman, and goes marching in to the store. I thought she was going to warn her off of Sheldon, but instead she asks for her help in pretending to be interested in comics. Of course, it doesn't work out the way Amy had planned, but I liked that we didn't get the typical pitting girls against each other thing. There's even a moment where Sheldon complains about Stuart hiring "some woman," and Amy is frustrated by this. Sheldon tries to say that he's not annoyed that she's a woman, he's just annoyed, and this person happens to be a woman. Amy replies that she gets it, she's also a) annoyed, and b) a woman. That was actually a rather subtle comment.

Neil Gaiman's cameos were quite hilarious. There are lots of ways to do celebrity cameos in comedies, and one of my favorites is when the characters in the show have no idea they're talking to someone famous. I also liked the running gag of Stuart being overjoyed and delighted by mundane things like the fact that the store actually had a line in it, or that he had "high double-digit" followers on Twitter.

The subplot was actually interesting as well. Penny sees a comet when the gang is up on the roof looking for Mercury. She is the first person to see this particular comet, but Raj takes credit for it because it was his equipment and he was the one who identified what it was. Penny resents that Raj is getting credit. She feels like she has good ideas and makes valuable contributions, but that nobody takes her seriously. Leonard tries to make peace, but he's too much of a pushover. In the end, Raj agrees to put Penny's name on the registration of the comet. This subplot was actually a commentary on casual sexism in the workplace, as Penny laments that she feels belittled at work by all of the doctors. And Raj wanting to take credit for something for work makes a lot of sense. He does try to guilt Penny in to letting him take all of the credit, since it will be good for his career, but Penny stands her ground, which I also quite enjoyed. We even got a hint of an examination of Leonard and Penny's dynamic, as Penny gets angry that Leonard is so afraid of people not liking him that he won't even take Penny's side.

All in all, this was a pretty pleasant outing for The Big Bang Theory. Nothing pissed me off, and for the most part I wasn't bored.

8/10