fitzsimmons

Okay. I promised an in-depth analysis of how I feel about the taping and here it is. I do want to cover both Shamy and Lenny, but I'm going to start with Shamy and then drive home from work and start typing up my Lenny thoughts, but I wanted to get at least this much posted so as not to deluge with too much long-winded opining at once. I haven't read much (or really any) of the commentary here because there's so much of it, so I'm not sure how people already feel about it, so here's my opinion. And obviously this opinion is mine and not everyone will share it when they see the episode, but please do keep an open mind; if you're angry right now, wait and see the episode before you start burning things to the ground. It may play out differently than it reads. You may watch it and say, "Yep, I was right, this is shit." And that's fine. You're entitled to that. But there's no point in being upset and angry for a month before the episode even airs. Don't do that to yourself; you deserve better. We're not all going to agree, and some will love it and some will hate it and some will say, "I wonder if my fucks will come home from the war?" But before you set the village on fire, please allow yourself to see it for yourself and make your own opinion. But here's why I spent the whole taping saying, "This is the best day of my life." I enjoy conflict. I really enjoy conflict. I find it realistic and human and natural and most importantly, necessary. A couple who doesn't tussle is a couple who doesn't progress, at least in my opinion. You need conflict to move the story forward. Even in comedy, that's the cornerstone of storytelling. Every episode there's a conflict, and by the end of the episode, it's resolved. This happens to be a longer conflict that stretches more than one episode. Which means we have a multitude of opportunities to continuously push the story forward. Every episode that Sheldon and Amy are broken up is an episode that progresses them forward. Because there's no point in breaking them up if you're not going to do anything with it, if you're not going to utilize the story potential there. I truly feel bad for both of them. Amy is devastated by what she did because she's loved Sheldon for so long, she doesn't want to see him in pain, and she doesn't want to be in pain herself. But she can't reconcile that with how flippant he is with her at times, or how he appears to not care about her as much as she does about him. She gives him the moon and he gives her an eye roll. So she just asked him for some time to think. Most of the episode is spent with the audience not really sure if it's a break up or not. Sheldon keeps calling it one, but Amy keeps saying all she wanted was some time to think and he's not given her that yet. And for Sheldon, this is the first time we've really seen his confidence rattled. We saw glimpses of it in Zazzy Substitution and Flaming Spittoon, but that was different. This time, he had something and he lost it because of his own actions. The episode opens with Sheldon calling Leonard and frantically telling him not to get married because "women are the worst" and how he "thought paper cuts were the worst, but no paper cut me this deep." That really says something to me because here's what Sheldon just said: this is the most pain he's ever felt in his life. Up until now, he thought paper cuts were the most pain he could feel but now he's had something worse happen to him. He lost Amy. That says novels to me about what she means to him and how much the last five years has affected him. He hasn't noticed it or appreciated it until now because it's been happening so slowly. But this is something major in his life that he's now without and he doesn't know how to handle it. He's lost, he's confused, he's scared, and it's making him angry. He's a brilliant man, he's almost never had a problem he can't solve. And now he has, and this one really matters to him. And yes, it's comedic, but it's also a very real pain that he's feeling. The rest of the scene plays out to Sheldon snapping to attention every time he hears Amy's name. "Why did I just hear her name? Did she ask about me?" And then when he overhears Penny tell Leonard, "Amy's upset," Sheldon demands to know, "Why is she upset? Is it about me? I don't care. Well if you care, you can find out and tell me, but don't be surprised when I don't care." It's funny because he's so obviously lying, but I also love it because it proves how much he still cares and loves her. And then Leonard explains that she's upset because they're eloping and now Sheldon's all about them going through with it because he wants to hurt her. He's like a five year old stomping his feet in the dirt at the playground because someone took his favorite swing. He doesn't actually want to inflict pain on Amy. He just wants to know that she's just as upset about the breakup as he is. Because if she's hurting, then it means she hasn't moved on and he still has time and a chance of winning her back. And then he shows up at her apartment. He didn't waste any time. She broke it off with him last night. It's 11 hours later. He didn't waste any more time before trying to get her back. I love that. I love that he cares enough to make bold moves like this. It's the first time since Flaming Spittoon that we've really seen him take charge and go after her. He thinks eleven hours is enough time, because he remembers her categorizing 11 hours of Lord of the Rings as an eternity. Which, again, is a joke for the audience but it also shows how much he remembers about her. He wasn't trying to invade her space right away after she asked for some time. He truly felt like, "this is what an eternity feels like to her, so I have waited that out." He's surprised to see she doesn't feel that way. He notices she was leaving somewhere and asks to walk her out, and she says yes. Which I also loved because it means she's not really angry at him, not to the point of wanting to cut him out of her life entirely. Even though she wants time and space to think, she's happy to walk out with him. She could have shut him down and said, "No, you need to leave me alone," but she says yes. He either mistakes that as reconciliation or he's playing on the double entendre of "going out" when he says he's glad they're going out again, but she turns right back around and clarifies that they're not and that she still hasn't been given time. And then he's even more distraught to learn that she's going to watch the wedding with their friends and that he wasn't invited. He doesn't understand that when couples break up, it's awkward for them and everyone else to be around them, and Amy has to explain this. The concept of a break up and the social conventions around it is all alien to Sheldon, and he's having a hard time navigating it. And as painful as it is, it's also really fun and interesting to watch him come up against those walls and try to break them down with his usual aggressive lack of grace. He storms after her shouting, "We make everyone uncomfortable, that's our thing!" Because he truly doesn't know why this social division is necessary. Which is only all the more evident when he shows up at the Wolowitz residence and watches from the window. He's still trying to listen to what Amy's saying; "She said it would make everyone uncomfortable if I came in," but he wants to watch the wedding so he's just staring through the window. It's still uncomfortable, which is the point, but Sheldon's having a hard time getting that. He's really trying to listen to Amy and still do what she's asking but he doesn't know how to reconcile that with his own desire to see his friends marry, and to be with his friends, including Amy. In the next scene, their friends are getting married on the screen right before their eyes and Sheldon still can't stop talking about Amy and their relationship. He wants to make sure Raj knows what happened because he still can't believe it himself. It's weird to him to be sitting in a room with Amy and not be next to her. This is the first time in five years of knowing her that this has happened. And it's not sitting well with him. He's a man of tradition and consistency. And this disrupts all the order in his life. It's chaos to him. Even though everyone else seems okay with it, he's not. And he doesn't know how to not talk about it. And Amy is frustrated because he's making this worse for her. She just needed some time away from him, and he's not letting her have that. He finally confronts her in the middle of the vow exchange, "Are we broken up or not? It's like you can't make up your mind." And she finally explains that she asked for time and he's not giving it to her. And that's when he goes on autopilot. What does Sheldon do? Make completely inappropriate jokes that he can't see for how problematic they are. "Well you better think fast because men can have children whenever they want but your eggs have an expiration date." (Not the exact quote, but I can't remember how he worded it.) Amy stands up and says he's making it really easy. "You're immature, you're selfish, and you just insulted me to my face. We're broken up." She storms off into the kitchen, Bernie chases her, and Sheldon's immediate instinct is to spring to his feet. He's almost going to run after her. But then the gravity of the situation hits him and he asks for someone to take him home, and Raj volunteers. That's really all we get on their storyline until he brings Penny tea. To cheer her up? Probably. But he also wants to do a little dirty digging about his relationship with Amy. He finds out that Amy had been thinking about this for a while and Penny gave her advice: to be true to herself and do what makes her happy. Sheldon is starting to wonder why breaking up with him is what makes her happy. And this really hits him when Penny says it's not her fault if Amy thought he was a bad boyfriend. And now he doesn't have to wonder anymore. Now he knows. He didn’t try hard enough (or at least that's Amy's impression) and he didn't do his part. He didn't hold up his end of the relationship in a way that made her happy. Whether or not this is objectively true is irrelevant. This is Sheldon's impression; this is how he feels. And so then in the tag scene, we see Sheldon trying to cheer Leonard (and himself) up by listing all the reasons why men are better than women. He's just doing it to make himself feel better. If you can convince yourself that women suck, then you feel better about yourself. Leonard is man enough to admit that he's the one that screwed up, but Sheldon still can't . His lashing out at Amy and all women is a defense mechanism. He's in pain and so he thinks, "Well, it can't possibly be my fault; it must be hers!" He's completely irrational right now, but it's because he's never dealt with anything like this before. Is he angry, is he hurt, is he sad, is he guilty? He's all those things but he doesn't know how to recognize them because he's never felt them like this before, so he relegates to his default mode: haughty and self-righteous and bitter with the world. He's lashing out to mask his true pain, but he can only keep that up for so long before it'll catch up to him. Not everyone will be happy with this episode, or the trajectory of this storyline. Some fans want sunshine and rainbows. This ain't that. I would argue they've never been about that, but that's my opinion. These are real people with real issues. Amy's been through the emotional ringer and she's finally taking a stand, and I couldn't be happier or prouder. She doesn't like how Sheldon talks to her and she said so. It's the first time anyone's ever really said to him, "That was shitty and you can't treat me like that," and he's finally starting to get it. He's never had anyone stand up to him like this before, so he doesn't know how to react. He's lashing out like she's being unreasonable, but I think with time he'll realize that she's right. He may already realize it, and part of what we're seeing is Sheldon being mad at himself. Deep down, he knows he didn't treat her the best he could. He knows she's justified in her pain and her anger. He knows he could have done better by her. And he's angry at himself for that. He holds himself to a higher standard. He spent a lot of time bragging about how his relationship with Amy was superior and here he was, dumped, and being told he was a bad boyfriend. Ultimately, here's why I'm excited about this: it means so much in the pipeline for Shamy. So many good storylines can come out of this. There is so much material here and I hope the writers mine it for all it's worth. This is the kind of things that makes bonds stronger. You break people down to their lowest point and build them back up stronger than before and they're resilient. They thrive. You need to see people at their worst to see them at their best. Shamy sort of hit a ceiling with their relationship, but this is breaking all of that down and giving them more room to grow. There's so much to do with them now, and it'll all be tragic and wonderful and funny and interesting and sad and brilliant. And this is going to be the best way for us to really see Sheldon's true emotions. He's always been expert at keeping them a complete secret so no one ever knows how he's truly feeling. But this is bringing everything right to the surface for us all to finally see and clear that mystery right up. As I told the girls, I think Sheldon will go through the five stages of grief. Right now he's in denial. He's in denial about his wrongdoing, denial about the relationship being over. And then we also saw a little bit of anger. I wager we haven't seen the end of it. Soon we'll see him bargaining, pleading with Amy (I swear to god, if he shows up at her door and tries to offer her everything he thinks she wanted and she slams the door in his face, I will weep with joy). "If I do this, will you take me back?" And then she can explain that it doesn't work like that. He can't just buy her a tiara and move on; they're more complex than that now. We're going to see an awful lot of depression, from both of them. And then I think we'll finally see acceptance – but not acceptance with the breakup. Acceptance with Amy's terms. Acceptance for how Sheldon fucked up and what he needs to do now to make it up to her. That's what it's going to take before these two can get back together. And then I'm ready to see all of that happen.

You should! We can at least try and get you tickets in case you're able to make it work. Which taping date is it?

I will post a longer explanation of my impressions tomorrow once I've had sleep and time to process (longer than 11 hours!). Both why I'm happy with Shamy and why I'm not with Lenny story (although the first 2/3 of their scenes were lovely af). Huge thanks to Kazzie for the report.

Lots of cute Kaley/Johnny stuff. Their barrier chat with the audience was super early, like after the first two scenes, and when they walked back to the Vegas side of the stage, Johnny had his arm around her the whole way. The scene in the honeymoon suite where they're kissing, they filmed that scene a lot and Johnny said, "I'm messing up on purpose," and Kaley laughed. There were a lot of Kaley/Johnny giggles BTS, actually.

Sorry guys, wish we had better news. As a Shamy fan I'm totally happy. As a Lenny fan, not so much.

Sheldon visits Amy as she's leaving her apartment. He thought 11 hours was enough time. He asks to walk her out and she agrees and he says "I'm glad we're going out again," and Amy turns back and says no. She's going to Howardette's to watch the wedding. Sheldon wonders why he wasn't invited. He shows up uninvited and they let him in to watch. During the wedding, he asks if they're broken up or not and says her eggs have an expiration date. Amy says he's making it easy; he's immature and selfish and insulted her to face and they're broken up.

Lenny wedding is streamed to friends. Amy and Sheldon have heated words and both leave; Bernie follows Amy, Raj takes Sheldon home and only Howard and Stuart witness marriage pronunciation.

Leonard and Penny exchange vows. Leonard says particles traveled so far and long to make them to make each other whole. Penny quotes "You've got a friend in me" which Leonard loves because it's from Toy Story.

Huge guaranteed turnout today. 100 people easy. Fingers crossed for us lowly standby.

Okay cool, thanks for clarifying!

Fantastic! I'm glad they were able to get you guys sorted out. You won't have a ticket for guaranteed, so just bring your photo ID to the line and let them know when you get there that you're guaranteed so they'll sort you into the right line and make sure you get checked in all right. Congratulations!

They don't send anything via email unless the taping is changed. If you submitted via guaranteed and got a confirmation tab but no ticket to load, email AU and see if your names are on the guaranteed list. It's possible they went through but you just didn't get your ticket back in tangible form. The email is [email protected]. Just explain what happened and let them know you're checking to see if the names are on the guaranteed list. This is the first time I've seen this happen, but they did just revamp their site recently so it's possible it's still buggy. It happened to a few other people this morning as well. Just check with AU and see.

Is that from two weeks ago? The ones that went up today were Sept 9, just FYI.

Tickets go up in about nine and a half hours for the September 9 taping. Anyone going for tickets?

I'll be there! (Helping, I mean, not at the taping. )

Sure thing! Twenty bucks.

I believe @batman75 may need one.

Taping: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 Episode: 9.09 Time: 6:30 pm Members attending: @vgg (guaranteed)@AmyCoopers (guaranteed)

Tickets for 8/25 are now sold out. Is anyone going?

Hey Jackie! Tickets are only released on weekdays, so regardless it will always be a Monday (unless the taping is not scheduled for a Tuesday, which is rare). The dates for ticket releases are always listed on the first page of this thread so that you know when they're available for the taping you want.

No, they just weren't ready to put the cameras on the audience questions when Kunal threw it over to us. It's usually not until 30 minutes into the panel but he did it about ten minutes in, so the AV crew wasn't ready. But we were at the mic ready to go.

LOL Totally not my intention. I just wanted to sit near the mic so I could ask a question. Believe me, I wanted to disappear after that.

BRB hiding forever

For anyone who wants to see the panel with close angles, lmfao. Here's the officially released coverage of the full panel.

Taping: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 Episode: 9.08 Time: 6:30 pm Members attending: @Alwayshappy (guaranteed)@[email protected] (guaranteed)