The Big Bang Theory: The Paintball Scattering (12x11)

This episode is a good study in one of this show's most persistent problems. It's not a terrible episode, not particularly offensive in any way, it's just... boring. Let's talk about that.

Cons:

This is often true of this show, but I found it especially noticeable in this episode: everything that you think is going to happen, happens. Every plot point introduced leads to the most obvious conclusion. Amy gets attention without Sheldon? Well, clearly Sheldon is going to get jealous, and then later apologize or realize Amy was right. Check. Denise wants to move in with Stuart? He's going to freak out and almost ruin things, but then they'll make up. What's the least interesting, most predictable, thing you can do with Raj and Anu? How about have them doubt their relationship? What's the most predictable thing you can do with the setup that Raj has access to an app that shows his fiancee's front door? Have him be jealous of a strange man who turns up, of course! Everything follows the exact predictable beats that we can all see coming a mile away. Jokes are about breaking expectations... and my expectations were not subverted even once in this whole episode. Even Howard shooting Bernadette during the paintball game. The instant Bernie started getting upset, I knew the punchline would be that she was actually turned on.

Speaking of the paintball game, I feel like this episode is yet another example of wasted opportunities. I'm glad they got the whole gang together and actually showed some of the game, but think about what you can do with a paintball episode! This show is never going to be Community, obviously, but couldn't it put a bit more effort into its set-piece episodes? Sigh.

Pros:

One thing I did think was kind of fun was the scene where the whole group picked teams for paintball. You might expect this scenario to play in to cliches about who gets picked first, and people would get mad at their significant others, and all that stuff. Instead, Penny and Denise are team captains, they pick based on who they really want on their team, and nobody is offended in particular when their partner doesn't pick them first. When it gets down to the final two, it's Stuart and Howard, and Denise picks Howard. You might expect Stuart to be hurt by this, but instead he's just so excited when Penny says his name, even though he's the only choice left. See, that's a reasonable subversion of my expectations, and a pretty okay joke.

I do like that Sheldon has grown up at least a little bit, and is honest about his feelings of jealousy mixed with his feelings of pride for Amy. There's a lovely moment when Sheldon is celebrating Amy's accomplishment in doing a good job of promoting their paper. He actually seems proud, and not jealous at all. Things only go sour when he learns about a headline that implies that Amy was the mastermind behind the paper. Wouldn't it be more interesting to forego the predictable trajectory for once? Ah well.

As always, my review for this show has wound up being pretty short. But what am I supposed to do? There's just not enough meat on these bones to write about it for long!

6/10