6.13 The Bakersfield Expedition
In this week's episode of The Big Bang Theory, the boys get lost and demoralized at Vasquez Rocks and the girls get sort of geeky. Finally.
I don't read spoilers for this show, so I honestly have had no idea
as I wrote previous reviews that this episode was coming. And while I
don't think it was done perfectly (I really could've lived without every
guy in the comic book store staring at the ladies as they entered and
then gawping at them throughout the rest of the scene), it was certainly
an improvement.
First off, we need to take a moment to address the fact that Jim
Parsons looked uncanny as Data once he was in the makeup. It's not just
me, right? He was eerily reminiscent of a younger Brent Spiner. (And
Kunal Nayyar wasn't too shabby as Worf, either. Kudos to the makeup team
this week. They really brought it with that cosplay.)
I particularly enjoyed the way the argument snuck up on the girls; it
felt very much like how similar arguments start with my friends. One
minute you think you're making a totally obvious statement and the next
you're digging through volume upon volume of canon trying to prove who's
right.
I would absolutely love it if the writers chose to remember that the
girls had this experience; I'm not saying I want them to suddenly become
non-stop obsessed because I think that would be disingenuous, but I
think this definitely lays the groundwork for them to at least start
enjoying a few fannish things every now and then. (Ex: next time the
boys want to watch a geeky film, maybe one of the girls could enjoy it
for reasons other than an off-handed comment about the attractiveness of
any actors involved; that would be awesome.)
I think the thing I enjoyed most in this episode, though, was the
scene in the diner where the boys decided not to go to the con after
all. Leonard isn't that hard to discourage and has a history of getting
his feelings hurt easily and Howard does too (to a much lesser extent),
so it's sad but understandable when the two of them want to go home. But
when Sheldon, who barely has feelings at all (much less hurt ones, when
it comes to his passions), says that he wants to go home, it really
demonstrated just how badly what that jerk in the passing car had done
had hurt them. It brought to mind a few choice memories of my own life
when I felt similarly and I think it's something a lot of geeks can
relate to, even if our experiences didn't involve garbage and having our
car stolen.
I really enjoyed this episode. It had a lot of moments that reminded
me of my own geeky life, and I feel like this show is at its best when
it can reflect experiences real-life geeks can relate to. I'm looking
forward to the next episode with an eagerness that I haven't felt for
this show in quite awhile.
However, The Big Bang Theory finally managed to make me feel
bad for Sheldon and that's a pretty impressive accomplishment. The women
discovering comics storyline also wasn't the foaming-at-the-mouth
affront to television and society that the episode promo (and the
internet) led us to believe it would be. I count that as a win.
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