The Big Bang Theory: The Propagation Proposition (12x12)

I'm bored. With this show. Honestly.

Cons:

Leonard is going to be a surrogate for Zack, Penny's ex. I think they've run out of material in a big way. I didn't hate everything this plot thread had to offer, which I'll discuss in a minute, but generally speaking it's just... boring and predictable and nothing we haven't seen before. Zack and his wife didn't make me smile even once.

And then there are Raj and Anu. Again, there were actually elements here that I thought worked pretty well, but the concept itself annoys me. Watching Raj go through with a genuinely arranged marriage, as is common in India but rare in America, would have been an actually cool and different thing to do. Instead, we're taking this middle-of-the-road approach to things. Raj and Anu aren't going to get married soon, but they aren't entirely breaking up either. They're going to try and go out on a date. If I were to tell you the story of this plot thread over the season, this is the exact thing you would expect to happen. I wanted something fresh and unexpected, but I honestly didn't have high hopes, or any hope, of getting that.

Pros:

One thing I was afraid of was that Penny was going to change her mind about wanting kids. Hearing all this talk about Leonard potentially fathering a child, I figured the logical reaction would be that she'd agree to have Leonard's kid herself. I was enormously relieved to see that they chose not to go down that path. It's cool that Penny has decided kids are not for her, and that the show seems to be accepting that as a legitimate choice. I wouldn't put it past this show to suddenly flip things around and have her choose to be a mother. I guess it could still happen, but for now, I'm pleased with the way they're handing things.

I also like that Raj and Anu aren't just over, since I do think they have a genuine connection and their relationship is by far the most interesting thing to happen in Raj's story in... who knows how long. I liked the bit at the end where Anu warned Raj that she might complain about her ex on their "first date" and Raj suggests that maybe her ex feels awkward because he doesn't know how to ask for his ring back. It was cute and it showed their genuine affection and compatibility. I could believe that Raj and Anu would make it as a couple, and as much as I find anything interesting in this show, I do find myself interested in the outcome here.

Watching the guys play D&D is always a bit frustrating, because they're clearly playing it as if it's a simple board game, with Leonard as the DM reading stats off of a clipboard, and it doesn't really resemble what D&D looks like. That said, it's kind of fun to see such an unapologetic display of nerd culture in a context where it's not entirely being mocked.

Finally, I did enjoy that the characters who didn't have big roles this week all acted as something of a "Greek Chorus" for the dramas going on in each story. You have Sheldon's hilarious reaction to Leonard's conversation about being a sperm donor, you have Bernadette and Amy pointing out that the situation might be more complicated than Penny is making it out to be, and you have Raj seeking relationship advice from his friends and getting conflicting information from Bernie and Howard about how to behave. I felt like everyone's reactions were genuine and amusing, and fed the story in a good way.

This was a better episode of The Big Bang Theory than some, in terms of its execution and its pacing. But when you look at the actual stories being told here, I'm still struggling mightily to care at all.

8/10