Episodes 6.02 The Decoupling Fluctuation (Oct. 4)

[Europa]

Nah, I find I enjoy it more if I'm surprised. I ventured in there once and was shocked at how in-depth the spoilers are - I like a hint of what may be coming but not an entire, full-length synopsis of the entire episode!

[BangerMain]

Nah, I find I enjoy it more if I'm surprised. I ventured in there once and was shocked at how in-depth the spoilers are - I like a hint of what may be coming but not an entire, full-length synopsis of the entire episode!

That's for sure, episode six replies go on for pages.

Here's a very slight hint just for your shipping:

Edited October 5, 2012 by BangerMain

[Aevitas]

I agree with the comments so far. I LOVED Sheldon in this episode. He's been kinda wonky since the beginning of season 5, but there were so many parts where it shows some of his old habits have stuck around and somewhat "adapted" to the new Sheldon, and it worked really well this episode. Even the bits with just the girls were well done IMO. Heck, everyone was good this episode. Raj and Stuart weren't embarrassingly pathetic (and trying to get some ladies, just like the single Wolowitz days), Leonard wasn't super clingy, Amy wasn't creepy, Bernadette wasn't Howard's mom (don't get me wrong, I find it funny, but they relied on it a little too much in Season 5), and Sheldon wasn't an unnecessary ass. Whoever wrote this episode, get them to do more. The balance in this episode was perfect! I kinda got a bit of the soul of the earlier seasons in this one!

[annieogly]

gosh didn't enjoy this episode at all. I didn't laugh. Howard in space & still nothing about science. As for the rest; the writers are trying to normalize them -they're not the quirky geniuses I adored. It's just not fun.

[MJistheBOMB]

This episode was better than last weeks! :-). LOVED it.

Monique

[Convict13]

This was a great episode,really enjoyed it a lot, rewatched it already too. It was "old" Sheldon too, where has he been I missed him so. Did anyone search Youtube for "astronaut screams for nine minutes"?

Edited October 5, 2012 by Convict13

[netmouse]

Great episode. Plenty of lol moments. Is the Lenny headed for splitsville???

[MJistheBOMB]

This was a great episode,really enjoyed it a lot, rewatched it already too. It was "old" Sheldon too, where has he been I missed him so. Did anyone search Youtube for "astronaut screams for nine minutes"?

Not gonna lie. I thought about searching for it the moment he said it. LOL!

Monique

[Frieda Rainstorm]

This episode was better than last weeks! :-). LOVED it.

Monique

Me too. It was hilarious!

[Grasshopper]

^{I enjoyed this episode but not soley in a comical way Sorry for those who expect every show to be PURE comedy. This episode had a good mixture but some of the comedy was too quirky such as the very begining with [spoilerS]}

^{Sheldon pretending to use an old fashion microphone to communicate in space. That is not his character}

The sheldon and Penny parts were great, as well as the movie theater chatting. [/spoilerS](I have no clue what just happened to my font) I am really worried about the Lenny situation.

I wish these episodes would last an hour. There is too little time to develope a comfort zone while watchong the show. I keep looking at the clock as if I was setting my snooze button after only a few hours sleep.

[phantagrae]

^{I enjoyed this episode but not soley in a comical way Sorry for those who expect every show to be PURE comedy. This episode had a good mixture but some of the comedy was too quirky such as the very begining with [spoilerS]}

^{Sheldon pretending to use an old fashion microphone to communicate in space. That is not his character}

The sheldon and Penny parts were great, as well as the movie theater chatting. [/spoilerS](I have no clue what just happened to my font) I am really worried about the Lenny situation.

I wish these episodes would last an hour. There is too little time to develope a comfort zone while watchong the show. I keep looking at the clock as if I was setting my snooze button after only a few hours sleep.

I think Sheldon using his "microphone" is very much in keeping with his character, which is very much into using his imagination with role-playing games, dressing up as the Flash, etc. He always insists on getting the full effect of the experience.

I don't know what you found "too quirky" about the beginning. Three women talking about their men and the possibilities of marriage. The bit with the gravy boat also had Sheldon Cooper written all over it. He's nothing if not pragmatic when it comes to gifts.

[Superlovelexi]

Really enjoyed this episode even more than the premiere I rewatched it three times already tonight! Sheldon was adorable in every possible way this week. I love the way he tried so hard to keep his secret promise to Amy and still hasn't told Leonard the truth, but at the same time told Penny not to hurt his friend. That was one of most sincere Sheldon moments I've seen in a long time. I like how Stuart has been intergrated into the group and I love how movie candies keep getting nods on show. Red Vines are Sheldon's favorite, Raisinets are for Howard. Sour Patches cost only a dollar in their world and Milk Duds are for when you owe someone an apology.

I really liked the Shamy handholding and continuity over from season 5 with Sheldon not liking change, but still willing to give just enough affection to Amy to show he cares without looking like a pushover like Leonard or Howard. Sheldon is just made of WIN! I love the Transformers bit too so true he is emotionless robot learning to feel and desire Amy even if he doesn't want to admit it. Leonard really should have been therapist he has a real knack for it and is always funny in scenes when he psychoanalyzes others.

I also glad to see that Bernadette was no longer nagging Howard about moving out of Ms Wolowitz house and now its Howard complaining about the other astronauts hazing him up in space. I like supportive sweet Bernadette so much more than the nagging bitter wife type they keep trying to turn her into last week. I love how she called him a sexy Buzzlight year and Amy calls sheldon a sexy preying mantis.

See this is why average yet still slightly attractive looking nerds dating other smart attractive looking nerds works because they share same interests and want to be together and lead happy boring nerdy lives full of Star Trek conventions and trips to the movies.

Penny on the other hand so gets on my nerves now. I want to like her and Leonard together, but they make it so damn hard. I almost hope Leonard figures out that she wants to dump him and dumps her first then finds a sweet nerdy chick like Bernie or Amy to love instead. I get it happy relationships are so boring and uncool nowadays. *rolleyes* so she'd rather be in a dysfunctional, heartbreaking relationship with a big dumb brute like Kurt cause that worked out so well last time.

He was her long time boyfriend back in high school who she loved and obviously broke her heart so now that is why she can't committ to Leonard even though he treats her like a queen! Her attitude about life is what is wrong with our entire society, the grass is always greener on the other side so dump the one you are with to find happiness with someone else, but oh wait then dump them next cause being happy is too boring and only misery is fun and exciting. THAT IS JUST ISGUIDED AND ORNIC! Penny needs to wake up and realize the reason her life is boring is because she is boring too its not just Leonard's job to make her life exciting maybe if she actually pursued her acting career she have something exciting and wouldn't have to feel the need to change Leonard all the time.

Meanwhile its just another silly annoying stereotype that pretty and attractive people like Penny just want drama in their relationships and tons of sex with different people therefore they can't commit to any one person until their looks go and they are old and then they settle down because with beauty means you shouldn't be tied down. No you should be getting herpes sleeping around with every other sexy looking person cause thats FUN! As SHeldon would say "DEAR LORD!" lol I think thats why the nerds are winning! lol

Anyway, Raj and Stuart I hope they get an episode focused on them cause I want to see them hanging out trying to pick up chicks way Howard and Raj use to and even funnier if Sheldon makes Stuart dress up like fake wolowitz with the tight pants and alien pin lol

Edited October 5, 2012 by Superlovelexi

[LoveShamy]

Just watch this today, I felt sorry for Sheldon when he said please don't hurt my friend.

Anywho I liked it, however I do understand when people say its showing a lot of relationship scenes, Don't get me wrong I loveee Shamy scenes and some Penny and Leonard scenes, but I want more to be going on as well.

[The Jen]

Since the show started, I wanted to see'Leonard and Penny together. But after last night's episode, I went from liking Penny to wanting to punch her in the face. She is a self-centered, spoiled, free-loading little brat. She really made me HATE her.

Leonard has worshipped the ground she walks on and he sure as hell needs to be the one to leave. I don't think there's anything the writers could do at this point to make me believe any storyline about her falling in love with him in the future.

Penny is a loser. ALWAYS the wrong choices. It's time to see Leonard happy..even Priah used and abused him. Enough's enough. Did I mention I hate Penny? lol

[Europa]

That's for sure, episode six replies go on for pages.

Here's a very slight hint just for your shipping:

Hmm. Not sure how to interpret that. Must.try.not.to.overthink...

[Tripper]

The episode poll has been added.

[LoveShamy]

Since the show started, I wanted to see'Leonard and Penny together. But after last night's episode, I went from liking Penny to wanting to punch her in the face. She is a self-centered, spoiled, free-loading little brat. She really made me HATE her.

Leonard has worshipped the ground she walks on and he sure as hell needs to be the one to leave. I don't think there's anything the writers could do at this point to make me believe any storyline about her falling in love with him in the future.

Penny is a loser. ALWAYS the wrong choices. It's time to see Leonard happy..even Priah used and abused him. Enough's enough. Did I mention I hate Penny? lol

I agree, Penny is starting annoy me Does want Leonard or not! Poor guy.

[shamy99]

This was a good episode even by TBBT standards it was halrious poor fruit loops

[MJistheBOMB]

Yeah, I'm pretty much over the Penny and Leonard relationship. Why should I care if Penny doesn't? LOL. Leonard needs to go out with Alice until Penny gets a freakin' clue.

Monique

[Doug]

Did Penny hear Amy’s statement about 4 years to marry Sheldon?

The writers had her step away when she said it and she acted as if she had not hear it

Penny mostly good stuff with the girls and of course Sheldon.

Penny/Leonard for practical purposes ended last night.

Penny is in like not love.

How the writers are going to keep this going till February sweeps is beyond me.

Maybe we will get lucky and they will end it in the November sweeps.

What would the last sweeps episode be 7 or 8?

IMO much better then episodes 15-17.

Wheaton was probably right back in season 3.

Howard in space moderately funny but not very believable.

Bernadette came across as sweet.

Leonard either dense or manipulative.

Stuart sad but likable.

Amy good foil for Sheldon and Penny.

Marriage comment a little stalker like.

Sheldon clearly the saving grace for this episode especially his scene with Penny.

They really need to find more of that old time magic.

I loved the whole shampoo bit and the fish.

Crazy thought last night Penny as Sheldon’s roommate.

Before the Shamy fans kill me I mean largely Platonic.

Does Sheldon like to knock on the wall with Penny but with Leonard the door?

[SodidIwin?]

I agree, Penny is starting annoy me Does want Leonard or not! Poor guy.

Although I was uncomfortable how Penny explained her feelings for Leonard at first to her girl freinds, after watching the episode a few more times I came a way hopeful for the future regarding their relationship. All Penny has ever known are superficial, shallow relationships. What she has with Leonard is much deeper and she doesn't know how to explain it or what it means. However, she doe know that it is different and that she is happy. She thought about ending it with Leonard because this new feeling although it makes her happy it also makes her scared. However, when push came to shove and she was about to end it with him she couldn't do it. Because she knows, whatever these feelings she has with Leonard are, she cares for him deeply and needs more time to sort out these new feelings she's experinencing. Yes she has knownen him for over 5 years now and some say, even Sheldon, why doesn't she know how she feels for him by now. However, when Leonard asked her to marry him, even though it was in an unappropriate time, it has moved the dynamic of their relationship to a new level. A level that she has never experienced before. So this is absolutely new territory which she has been forced to analize. I say forced but she really isn't being forced. Penny could have just broken up with him and not had to deal with it. But she didn't she knew subconsciously that she is taking this as far as it can go good or bad. I'm rooting for a good outcome.

Edited October 5, 2012 by SodidIwin?

[HeWolf]

After seeing this episode I am, to borrow a prominent member’s screen name, Disgusted.

I gave the episode a good rating on the poll based upon the acting and the fact that it contained some laugh out loud moments. Once again my, much better, significant other stated after the show ended, “That seemed like a strange episode.” My disgust is based upon the following:

This is exactly the L/P stupidity that I hoped we wouldn’t see any more of from Penny. Instead, they are ramping it up to a new level of ignorance. This entire internal conflict of Penny’s is made up and unnecessary. She says Leonard is a great guy and she knows he loves her. Does she love him? She says yes. She says she’s not sure. We now have Schrodinger’s Relationship! Holy crap on a cracker! This is absurd. Who do they have writing this, an adolescent girl? Leonard would be better off without this woman. Break them up and ship her pathetic butt back to Nebraska. She can move onto her next career; cooking up meth with a baby on her hip…

Whatever they do with them, do not break them up and then show Penny hanging around the guy’s apartment mooching food like nothing has changed. Some folks keep talking about conflict being part of relationships and telling others to stop griping about them writing reality into the L/P situation. Here’s some reality for you: People that break up with someone that loves them for no reason, causing the other person a lot of hurt and pain, do not get invited to go hang out with that person and his friends like nothing ever happened. Played out realistically, Penny would be persona non grata with Leonard and his friends. Amy and Bernadette might continue to hang with her, but Howard, Raj and especially Sheldon would not. If she breaks up with Leonard, again, he should look her dead in the eye and tell her they are through. That he is done with trying to make something happen with her and that she needs to get on with her life and he will do the same.

They also have Sheldon successfully keeping a secret from Leonard. This is something we know he is totally incapable of doing. “When I try to keep a secret I have more nervous tics than a Lyme disease research facility.” Sheldon cannot keep secrets! Must be Sheldon 2.0… On that subject, Sheldon is still not right. The tone in his voice is wrong. His facial expressions are different and it’s all just off. It almost seems as if Jim Parsons has stopped trying to play Sheldon; and, instead, Jim Parsons is playing Jim Parsons in the role of Sheldon Cooper. Still funny to watch but it is not the Sheldon he played for four and half seasons.

To top it off we have Howard stuck in nerd hell. He’s being bullied and has no way of escape. Something that should have been a triumphal moment and achievement in his life is being turned into ninth grade gym class. Much ado has been made on this forum about how Leonard humiliated Sheldon professionally by manipulating his experiment in the Arctic Circle. At least there isn’t a nine minute YouTube video to preserve the moment for prosperity. Then, they humiliate him in front of his wife. Great job of portraying astronauts as having the ‘right stuff’! The producers of this show claim their objective is to celebrate the beautiful minds of these characters. Add this to the Speckerman episode and it makes me wonder if their true objective hasn’t devolved to making fun of these characters. At what point have they ever portrayed any of the guys as getting the better of one of these bullies? Kurt took Leonard and Sheldon’s pants. Kurt bullied Leonard at Penny’s party. Kurt wrote on Leonard’s forehead with a permanent marker (and then went on a date with Penny). Speckerman chased Leonard and Sheldon out of their own apartment. Howard is being bullied by astronauts. They’re doing a fantastic job celebrating – bullies!

In conclusion, this probably just became the third episode on my ‘won’t watch that one again’ list. The humor just doesn’t trump the storyline. It joins season three’s The Wheaton Recurrence when Penny publicly humiliates Leonard and dumps him for saying he loves her; and season five’s The Speckerman Recurrence where Leonard and Sheldon are run out of their own apartment by a bully.

But, there’s a new episode next week and there’s always hope it will be better than this one…

Edited October 5, 2012 by HeWolf

[Guest I'm not dead Cheryl]

agree with most of you guys, Penny is just coming across as totally unlikeable, and right now, I have no interest in her at all. Which kinda sucks, seeing as she is going to be the focus on pretty much every episode they have shot this season so far.

Edited October 5, 2012 by Sursonica

[CopperZinc]

If they break off the Penny/Leonard relationship, I may just be done. You can yank my chain only so long. I thought she realized that she screwed up by breaking it off (Season 5). I am really tired of the Leonard as the Penny lap dog routine.

At this point, I really don't have a lot of sympathy or empathy for the Penny character. She is just less likable than she has ever been. She has lost most of the original "sweetness" that was written into the character. Instead, she is just self absorbed.

I don't know. I think they are really flirting with jumping the shark with this story line.

Well put. Very well put. Her likablity has diminished over the recent seasons. No longer the sweet girl that she was.

What I really don't understand is why the show runners don't keep them together and have them move forward. The producers have had no issue with progressing Howard and Bernadette's relationship. They're married now! There isn't ripe material for great humor having Leonard and Penny move forward?

Anyone else remember Kieth Carradine guest showing as her dad? That was hilarious. She comes from such a different world than Leonard, that there could be laughs for a whole season (we haven't met her brother...). This is the 6th season, and the majority of TV shows don't last this long, so why are the producers still dragging their feet? Enough already.

[rubyanjel]

Kill me for I like this new disgusting episode. I was expecting I would be wishing for Penny to be prosecuted here but I found her less annoying than after reading the taping report.