Episodes 7.18 'the Mommy Observation' (March 13)

[djsurrey]

I think that they've always poked fun at Mary's conservative Christianity because it is so strict, but they've mostly poked fun at Mary for being very politically incorrect, partly because of her beliefs, but also partly because of her being Texan, I think.

And what's funny is that although Sheldon rolls his eyes at his mother's comments, he, too, often makes blunt remarks that seem to be from a combination of his singular way of thinking and his Texas upbringing.

 

And actually, I think that Mary is not questioning the validity or correctness of her beliefs.  I think she's simply struggling with temptation.  It is indeed entirely possible for her to be happy in a relationship with this guy Ron without having sex outside of marriage.  So I think her struggle is with her own behavior--giving in to temptation, etc., rather than any struggle with the truth of what she has always believed.  I don't think she suddenly woke up and said, "Gee, you know what?  The Bible is wrong about this fornication thing.  There's nothing wrong with it at all!!"  I think she was simply physically tempted--as many people are--and gave in to that.

 

However this incident may color Sheldon's thinking about sex with Amy and whether or not his mother would approve, etc., I don't think Mary would suddenly say, "It's okay as long as you're in love."  Now, he might say, well, if you're going to say one thing and do another, then you can't say anything against what I choose to do, but I think that Mary's stance might be more like what she already did say--I'm not perfect, I'm struggling, etc.

 

I don't think we need to talk about religious oppression or conflict or blahblahblah, because that's clearly not a factor in this episode and this is not the place to have those discussions.

 

I think this was just about Mary's feet of clay and Sheldon having to deal with seeing his mother in a new light.

 

Yes I agree with what you say here.

 

But, considering Mary's age and faith the scene seemed too extreme. The only place she thought they could sit was the table. Give me a break. It's just stupid. No one from her church drops by unexpectedly?

[Nogravitasatall]

Yes I agree with what you say here.

 

But, considering Mary's age and faith the scene seemed too extreme. The only place she thought they could sit was the table. Give me a break. It's just stupid. No one from her church drops by unexpectedly?

I was waiting for her to pause and consider the table too. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" was my reference. But the thing about Mary living her life was funny. Good on her. And this is why it's always good manners to call ahead. LOL.

[djsurrey]

I was waiting for her to pause and consider the table too. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" was my reference. But the thing about Mary living her life was funny. Good on her. And this is why it's always good manners to call ahead. LOL.

Yea well, we get dropped in on often enough -- one never knows. Some just walk in too once in a while, so... yeah, even if the kids are out of town I'd not assume we have the house to ourselves.

[mjc45]

sheldon/mary talk was great-birds and the bees.

 

poor stuart, came late then he was the victim.

saved l/p from maybe break up.

 

enjoyed it since i wented to the show.

[BipolarBear]

sheldon/mary talk was great-birds and the bees.

 

poor stuart, came late then he was the victim.

saved l/p from maybe break up.

 

enjoyed it since i wented to the show.

I have had the feeling all season that they are setting up another Lenny break up, they have bickered so much lately that I have been on the edge of my seat thinking: Oh no here we go, they're breaking up. But at the last minute everything is ok again. I hope they don't break them up because I love that they are like the mom and dad of the group, I do love them together.

Oh and Stuart was hilarious as usual, I love his character as the dependable yet clingy/lonely friend.

[Convict13]

One thing I forgot to mention, Stuart was actually a good looking 40+ year old

[tmp]

Favorite line in this episode:  "Last week my pharmaceutical company both invented and cured Restless Eye Syndrome.  Ka-ching, you blinky chumps!"

[jellynelly]

Favorite line in this episode:  "Last week my pharmaceutical company both invented and cured Restless Eye Syndrome.  Ka-ching, you blinky chumps!"

I love cute little Bernie's occasional evil moments.

[wanmeii]

I swear this exact moment got a loud "awww" from me. Their relationship gives me the feels! 

 

[cAntonio Santos]

funny to see Raj sitting in Sheldon's spot, I wonder if he finds out, will Sheldon have the couch all cleaned? he is a clean freak.  hilarious nobody showed  up twenty years later except Stuart in front of the building.  Sweet to see Stuart think of Lenny as an awesome couple, making Bernadette and Amy jealous of his opinion. Excellent episode overall.

[Cherry]

a very disappointing episode for me, while I expected it to be very good.

 

I loved the part in Texas, the friendship between Sheldon and Howard, and the relationship between Sheldon and his mother. The " Latex " conversation was hilarious.

 

What bothered me was Raj's part. I understand now why they don't like his mystery parties, they're really cheap and boring.

I loved Amy's talking about the Relationship Agreement, of course a control freak like Sheldon would think of everything, even impossible scenarios. I loved Bernie's competitivity.

 

I hated Lenny's bickering... I mean: once again. OK, that's the way it works between them, but it's boring.

I really felt sorry for Stuart, who was almost denied the right to go to the bathroom, and who was left alone 20 years later.

Does that mean that in 20 years, they wouldn't be friends anymore? How sad...

[Martin Pollard]

What bothered me was Raj's part. I understand now why they don't like his mystery parties, they're really cheap and boring.

[...]

I really felt sorry for Stuart, who was almost denied the right to go to the bathroom, and who was left alone 20 years later.

Does that mean that in 20 years, they wouldn't be friends anymore? How sad...

 

Yeah, I mean, isn't Raj supposed to be a master party planner? Maybe he's great at planning for others, but sucks for himself.

 

As for them not being friends 20 years later... "The future's not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

[BazingaFan]

The first half of the episode wasn't funny and fell flat to me.  The second half was okay... I chuckled once when mary sent sheldon to his room.  Then I smiled at the end when stuart was waiting in the future.

 

I liked the idea of Sheldon seeing his mom and the development that means for him and his character for future episodes.  I enjoyed seeing mary again.  But this episode just wasn't written well in my opinion and was boring.  It reminded me of the part in the previous episode with amy and raj which also fell flat, and was boring.

 

Oh well.

[phantagrae]

a very disappointing episode for me, while I expected it to be very good.

 

I loved the part in Texas, the friendship between Sheldon and Howard, and the relationship between Sheldon and his mother. The " Latex " conversation was hilarious.

 

What bothered me was Raj's part. I understand now why they don't like his mystery parties, they're really cheap and boring.

I loved Amy's talking about the Relationship Agreement, of course a control freak like Sheldon would think of everything, even impossible scenarios. I loved Bernie's competitivity.

 

I hated Lenny's bickering... I mean: once again. OK, that's the way it works between them, but it's boring.

I really felt sorry for Stuart, who was almost denied the right to go to the bathroom, and who was left alone 20 years later.

Does that mean that in 20 years, they wouldn't be friends anymore? How sad...

 

IMO, Leonard and Penny weren't really bickering--I mean, they were talking about something they hadn't talked about before, but it was completely hypothetical at this point.  And it's kind of one of those "what if you won a million dollars?" kind of questions.  While it's something they need to think about, it's not a pressing issue.  I think it was mostly brought up so that Stuart could make his point about them being a great couple.  In a way, realy, it kind of puts paid to the idea of whether or not they are a strong, committed couple (even if they're not engaged/living together) and that they've both been positive influences on each other.

 

I think that while Raj is supposedly a good party planner (in his own mind, anyway), they've said before that they don't like his murder mystery parties, so he has to trick them into this one by having Stuart come over and then pretend to drop dead.  The gang could have still refused to play along, but to their credit they at least started to go through the motions, reading their cards and looking for clues.

 

Stuart wasn't really denied the right to go to the bathroom, it was just a funny joke to show that Raj was still playing the game (try not to look too alive or whatever he said.)

 

And I kind of subscribe to the theory that that future meeting was likely Stuart's pessimistic imagination--he assumes that, if his current luck holds, that no one would show up.

 

While the party scene wasn't as funny/interesting as the Sheldon/Mary story, to me, anyway, I don't think it was lame or boring.  There were some really funny lines and I like the way that Penny accidentally blew the mystery--and was truly sorry, even though she hadn't wanted to play--and that Bernie claimed the victory.  Very cute.

Maybe not uproariously funny, but still some funny stuff.

[hokie3457]

Favorite line in this episode: "Last week my pharmaceutical company both invented and cured Restless Eye Syndrome. Ka-ching, you blinky chumps!"

. Bernadette has really had some great one-liners and barbs this season...

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[cAntonio Santos]

I guess there must some writers that like to see Lenny bicker; really boring, annoying and old to see that;  Lenny are much more appealing/sweet when they are not bickering, but romantic.  Hello show writers, they are the heart of the show, why destroy a wonderful thing. 

[ehsh]

Understood,

But although the show is not sequential, These kind of incongruities/repetitions keep popping up, almost on a weekly basis. The example I cited was just one of many that smacks of unheeded repetition.

 

In reply to the person who was winging about me making criticisms; I made this account specifically because I like the show and want to criticize it. It's getting repetitive and I don't want it to do that. I want it to stay fresh and original, so that I can focus on falling more and more in love with the characters, just like I did watching "Friends". If I ever post a post here, it means something is wrong. I don't particularly expect it to be noted by the people who frequent this board, but I'm guessing that there's one or two people in production who skim it for feedback.

 

Thanking who ever that may be in advance.

 

EH

 

 

The writers very early into the series mentioned that continuity is not of huge importance to them, they write each episode as a separate entity,  It really is only of recent years that story lines pick up on previous ones. And although it is similar to what Sheldon saw, it's not really the same at all, all Howard saw was a guy climbing out of a window in a state of undress, where as Sheldon saw it all,  

 

I like your tag line, that would have been funny.

[phantagrae]

Understood,

But although the show is not sequential, These kind of incongruities/repetitions keep popping up, almost on a weekly basis. The example I cited was just one of many that smacks of unheeded repetition.

 

In reply to the person who was winging about me making criticisms; I made this account specifically because I like the show and want to criticize it. It's getting repetitive and I don't want it to do that. I want it to stay fresh and original, so that I can focus on falling more and more in love with the characters, just like I did watching "Friends". If I ever post a post here, it means something is wrong. I don't particularly expect it to be noted by the people who frequent this board, but I'm guessing that there's one or two people in production who skim it for feedback.

 

Thanking who ever that may be in advance.

 

EH

So your objective is to try to tell the folks who produce the show what they're doing wrong and how they could improve their scripts?

Good luck with that.

[Tensor]

It's getting repetitive and I don't want it to do that. I want it to stay fresh and original,

I happen to think it IS fresh and original, so I'd be quite happy leaving it the way it is.

 

If I ever post a post here, it means something is wrong.

No, it simply means that you don't like something about the show. Others may absolutely love the things you think are wrong.

 

I don't particularly expect it to be noted by the people who frequent this board, but I'm guessing that there's one or two people in production who skim it for feedback.

You'd be guessing wrong. Why bother? They get feedback from the audience reaction. This is one of the more active boards and the number of regular posters here is usually less than the number of audience members on a regular basis. All you have to do is go back and look at where there were a lot of people here who hated the direction the show took after season three. Almost all of those posters left, after complaining loudly about the "problems". The show is still on, it has higher ratings than ever and will be on for another three years and many new members came on board with the new direction. Funny how it doesn't appear as if anyone from production were skimming it for feedback back then.

You still think the writers are job hunting, after the three year renewal? What I find humorous is your comment about hiring writers who have watched the show. Do you not realize that three of the writers who wrote 6.04 The Reentry Minimization, including the scene where Howard's dentist leaves his mother's house (Steve Molaro, Jim Reynolds, Eric Kaplan), were also three of the writers for 7.18 The Mommy Observation?

[rachelshamyfan]

1st showing in the UK tonight

[SoftKitty25]

Another great one. I love Stewart! My heart always goes out to the ones that others might find a little off-putting. Usually. lol. I'm always happy when he's in an episode, always has some great laughs. And Sheldon at his mother's house was a very interesting enjoyable part of the episode. I liked how Mary admitted to not being perfect and for her being with this man Ron is difficult. Hilarious of course that she was able to send Sheldon to his room. No matter how smart he may be, she is always able to get him to do something. :D Overall this episode showed great character growth for Sheldon. Admitting he loves his mother, feels hurt by what she did, but eventually talking things with her with very little put-downs or jokes. It's been so great to see him evolve over these 7 seasons. Also enjoyed the moments with Sheldon and Howard. We know the latter has struggled with Sheldon for years and they weren't very close but to realize Sheldon can't help being demanding and immune to proper human interaction is big on Howard's part. Having him talking things with Sheldon to get him to understand the situation was wonderful.

 

10/10 can't come up with any flaws atm.

Edited July 8, 2014 by SoftKitty25

[Miss Kitka]

I adore Sheldon's mother!