[Spoilers] Discussion Topic: Season 9

[mirs1]

45 minutes ago, Lionne said:

Which is why Leonard had surgery on his nose awhile back, isn't it? For snoring and such, even though he didn't snore - Penny did. I suppose either the surgery or the writers ability to care about canon and consistency has failed. Allergies? To what? Leonard is lactose intolerant, and allergic to melon and some other things, but he didn't have a spring pollen allergy before, did he? Or it's just the game of rolling tv allergies?

 

People who have asthma very often suffer also from seasonal allergies...I know because I'm one of them; I sympathized with Leonard so much this episode, I know how he felt! LOL!

Edited April 29, 2016 by mirs1

[Lionne]

 

Just now, mirs1 said:

People who has asthma very often suffers from seasonal allergies...I know because I'm one of them; I sympathized with Leonard so much this episode, I know how he felt! LOL!

Gotcha. 

[April]

In addition, The Clean Room Infiltration gives us this bit:

Quote

Leonard: You know the best part of working in the clean room? No allergies. Check it out. [takes a deep breath] Oh, that, that, that’s a lot of oxygen.

And yes, seconding that asthma + seasonal allergies + cross allergies with food are no fun at all.

[Squidley]

What happen S5-07 Leonard could not drink wine due to sulfides and migranes.  Now going to wine tasting parties????

[Squonk]

3 hours ago, Serena_nyc1995 said:

 That is one way of keeping TBBT fresh, too,  if they want 2 more seasons. JMO ofcourse.

Making tbbt look like friends does not sound very fresh to me. #fishysmell.

btw love friends

[joyceraye]

7 hours ago, Serena_nyc1995 said:

It was just 1 episode where Howard and Amy bonded. Can you honestly say, since the Scavenger Hunt, that Howard and Amy interacted much ? Did they have any funny/memorabe scenes together ? No. Thats the point they are driving home. That they did nothing to keep their friendship alive and are back to awkward again. They were also awkward in The Scavenger Hunt, before they discovered their mutual liking for Neil Diamond.

But when you look at Sheldon/Bernie, they were never awkward. They always got along nicely. Sheldon has scenes with her(and Penny) and you can see that there is comfort, whether Bernie is mad at him for mocking Howard or whether Bernie is trying to give him some helpful advise.

I think its because Sheldon always finds something to talk about with the other person. That breaks the ice, unknowingly.

I didn't think they needed an awkward silence. Howard could have told Amy that Claire was coming and since Amy hasn't seen her he could describe her and they could discuss Raj's attitude and his two-timing. They could have made small talk over what Bernadette couldn't eat and drink and had a laugh about how it coincided with Sheldon's dislikes. Amy was their maid of honour so she could have asked if they've discussed what to do about godparents or alternatives given their situation.

[Judith]

7 minutes ago, joyceraye said:

I didn't think they needed an awkward silence. Howard could have told Amy that Claire was coming and since Amy hasn't seen her he could describe her and they could discuss Raj's attitude and his two-timing. They could have made small talk over what Bernadette couldn't eat and drink and had a laugh about how it coincided with Sheldon's dislikes. Amy was their maid of honour so she could have asked if they've discussed what to do about godparents or alternatives given their situation.

I guess the writers wanted to use the scene as an opportunity to address the fact that they had a bonding moment but then did nothing with it for years.

[Kennykoalabear]

On 27 April 2016 at 10:41 PM, Carlos said:

Did you start watching a short time ago?

No we have watched since it first premiered in the uk.

[nickelette424]

15 hours ago, Lionne said:

Which is why Leonard had surgery on his nose awhile back, isn't it? For snoring and such, even though he didn't snore - Penny did. I suppose either the surgery or the writers ability to care about canon and consistency has failed. Allergies? To what? Leonard is lactose intolerant, and allergic to melon and some other things, but he didn't have a spring pollen allergy before, did he? Or it's just the game of rolling tv allergies?

 

Spoken like someone who's never lived in the South.   We all have allergies here, lol.  While I doubt it is as much of an issue in California, I live in a world where everyone has sinus problems March - May.  Surgery,  no surgery.  Prior issues or not.   We're all screwed.  Someone like Leonard would been really bad off here.

That being said,  the Leonard sinus issues is a kinda played out joke. 

[Lionne]

1 minute ago, nickelette424 said:

Spoken like someone who's never lived in the South.   We all have allergies here, lol.  While I doubt it is as much of an issue in California, I live in a world where everyone has sinus problems March - May.  Surgery,  no surgery.  Prior issues or not.   We're all screwed.  Someone like Leonard would been really bad off here.

That being said,  the Leonard sinus issues is a kinda played out joke. 

Never lived in the south, no. Seattle irks people's allergies a little, but not much, as rain usually washes pollen out of the air. So depends on the Spring we get, but I've never had any allergy problem. I have lived in Newport Beach in Spring, and had no issues, and visit Palm Springs every Spring with no issues, but perhaps Pasadena is worse or....just needed a joke in there? But Leonard's allergies do seem rotating, at times, depending on the joke they want to make. 

As for the difference between "fainting" and "getting dizzy and falling over," that's splitting hairs at it's best. Is there a difference? And does it change anything about the point that the comedic effect of Jim Parsons falling over or removing his pants seems something he's contractor obligated to do every season, with or without a good reason? 

And does this show not reference Scifi enough that it shouldn't have had to work so far to make a lame Star Wars joke with toast? Sorry, but that's gotta be scrapping the bottom of the barrel for your pop culture joke. 

[Judith]

I thought Sheldon falling over...fainting...whatever...was funny. Him dropping his pants has gotten stale, it's true. In Big Bear the joke fell completely flat. And I'm sure there are many jokes that some people find lame and others hilarious. As for Leonard's allergies, they're just one of those trivial things that can change to fit the plot (I'm talking about him drinking wine since @Squidley mentioned that he used to get migraines because of it).

All these things aren't a big deal to me. At most, I might roll my eyes, but the next second I've moved on.

[Tensor]

The sulfites in the wine are supposedly what causes the migraines (although there is a broader problem with sulfites and Asthma). There are sulfite free wines, and low sulfite wines with varying amounts of sulfites(white wine usually contain more sulfites than red wines).  So depending on the wine, and the amount needed to affect him, Leonard could drink wines.  But, I have no doubt that if they needed a joke about  Leonard drinking or not drinking wine, they would bring up or not bring up his problems with sulfites again.  

[April]

2 hours ago, Lionne said:

Never lived in the south, no. Seattle irks people's allergies a little, but not much, as rain usually washes pollen out of the air. So depends on the Spring we get, but I've never had any allergy problem. I have lived in Newport Beach in Spring, and had no issues, and visit Palm Springs every Spring with no issues, but perhaps Pasadena is worse or....just needed a joke in there? But Leonard's allergies do seem rotating, at times, depending on the joke they want to make. 

Okay, since you have no idea let me tell you what it's like living with allergies and asthma and a metric ton of other related issues: It can be super random and it sucks! There is no telling if any year will be easy breathing or living hell. I've had years in which the spring/summer season completely knocked me out and I've had years in which I barely had any symptoms naively hoping that maybe I've been freed from this curse - just to find out during the following year that nope, it's still there! There are a gazillion seemingly random factors that drastically influence the severity of the body's reaction ranging from obvious ones like the weather or your physical condition to psychological factors like "How's your mood today?"

For example, I'm slightly allergic to apples but I love them anyway. I actually can enjoy an apple every once in a while but I have to make sure they're from a specific variety and preferable organic. Anyway, while I usually have no to little problems with that there are still the odd days that eating the same kind of apple I usually eat will result in a rather unpleasant allergic reaction. By far not as bad as Howard's peanut allergy, mind you, but still something I'd rather not have to deal with.

And of course this also illustrates a somewhat related problem: Why do I eat apples at all if that seems to be a weird game of Russian roulette every time? And why does Leonard drink wine even if he supposedly gets migraines from that? Because apparently we people with allergies are a bunch of dumbasses who'd rather enjoy our forbidden fruits and treat the symptoms with some medication than forgo those little pleasures of life completely. That's why.

TL;DR: Allergies and health issues can be random as fuck, the show doesn't depict anything that isn't true to life in that regard.

Edited April 30, 2016 by April

[nibbler747]

2 hours ago, April said:

And of course this also illustrates a somewhat related problem: Why do I eat apples at all if that seems to be a weird game of Russian roulette every time? And why does Leonard drink wine even if he supposedly gets migraines from that? Because apparently we people with allergies are a bunch of dumbasses who'd rather enjoy our forbidden fruits and treat the symptoms with some medication than forgo those little pleasures of life completely. That's why.

Lol!  I hear ya!  I have a life threatening tree nut allergy.  Some nuts worse than others.  When I was 13 (old enough to know better), my sister was sitting beside me eating Ferrero Rocher chocolates (chocked full of hazelnuts).  She was going on and on about how amazing they tasted and too bad I'd never know how they tasted.  Basically torturing me cause I love chocolate.  So I ate one, full knowing I would get sick cause I was so curious.  Damn it was good.  I spent the next 4 hours violently vomitting with my mom and dad beside me yelling at me.   But I do know what a Ferrero Rocher tastes like!

[phantagrae]

5 hours ago, Lionne said:

Never lived in the south, no. Seattle irks people's allergies a little, but not much, as rain usually washes pollen out of the air. So depends on the Spring we get, but I've never had any allergy problem. I have lived in Newport Beach in Spring, and had no issues, and visit Palm Springs every Spring with no issues, but perhaps Pasadena is worse or....just needed a joke in there? But Leonard's allergies do seem rotating, at times, depending on the joke they want to make. 

As for the difference between "fainting" and "getting dizzy and falling over," that's splitting hairs at it's best. Is there a difference? And does it change anything about the point that the comedic effect of Jim Parsons falling over or removing his pants seems something he's contractor obligated to do every season, with or without a good reason? 

And does this show not reference Scifi enough that it shouldn't have had to work so far to make a lame Star Wars joke with toast? Sorry, but that's gotta be scrapping the bottom of the barrel for your pop culture joke. 

There's a BIG difference between fainting (losing consciousness) and getting dizzy/falling over.  Have you ever done either?

I've never fainting, though I've come close to passing out on occasion with a blood sugar issue.  But I have a tumor that has affected my vestibular nerve, which means that I can get disoriented (not necessarily dizzy) very easily--like if I look up or around while I'm walking.  It tends to wax and wane a bit, but I don't know if I'd be able to pass a field sobriety test because I can't really walk heel-to-toe or stand on one foot.  If I were looking at some spinning, rotating gizmo that was already making the other guys feel dizzy, I'd probably fall over, too.  Not faint, fall over.

And how many times has Sheldon actually fainted?  In the one with the award.

And yeah, they do seem to have Jim/Sheldon drop his pants at least once a season, but I think that there are probably running jokes for the other characters as well, it's just that Sheldon is the one with fewer boundaries when it comes to that sort of thing and is the one who either deliberately or accidentally ends up in that position, but it's usually for a different reason each time.

I really don't understand why you have a problem with the Star Wars toast joke.  Again, how often have they made a joke like that?  The last time I recall was season 2(?), with the Cylon Toast thing when Leonard went to Penny's football party.  Is one Star Wars toast joke really too much for you that you consider it falling into the toast category joke too much of a lame sci-fi reference?  Some people keep claiming that they no longer reference enough sci-fi stuff because of all the "romance".

What would you have them reference instead, especially with Sheldon coming up with stuff to entertain Bernadette?  Picking out baby names?

I just don't get all the nitpicking over what are essentially typically harmless jokes and humor.  I don't think the show needs to be a soap opera, or have a constant ongoing plot like in LOST or whatever.  Being a sitcom with a determination to move the characters forward in a pretty slow manner, they're more concerned, it seems to me, with just coming up with the "situations" from which to glean the "comedy".

So, the situation--everyone wants to go to the wine-tasting, but Sheldon and Bernie don't/can't.  Raj wants to bring Claire, but isn't ready to talk about the status of their relationship.  Zack shows up and throws a bit of a monkey wrench in there.

Comedy ensues from the conversations and interactions that arise.

 

[Kathy2611]

And to add to the hell that allergies are, here's another interesting (and depressing) factoid.....anybody can develop allergies of any kind at any time for no apparent reason.  On a good point, they can also disappear just as mysteriously.  I've just developed allergies this past fall.  I now have to take an allergy pill every damn day now and God forbid if I forget just one time.  My head will feel like it's swimming in mucas for days afterwards.  I'm in my mid 40's and until now was never allergic to anything.

My cousin knows an elderly man (she's a home health aid worker for him) in his late 70's/early 80's.  Ate oatmeal for breakfast every morning of his entire life.  One day my cousin had to get him rushed to the hospital because he became deathly ill.  Yep, you guessed it.  He had developed an allergy to oatmeal.  No joke!  And kinda scary when it happens suddenly and be life threatening.

Allergies suck!!!

 

[phantagrae]

11 minutes ago, Kathy2611 said:

And to add to the hell that allergies are, here's another interesting (and depressing) factoid.....anybody can develop allergies of any kind at any time for no apparent reason.  On a good point, they can also disappear just as mysteriously.  I've just developed allergies this past fall.  I now have to take an allergy pill every damn day now and God forbid if I forget just one time.  My head will feel like it's swimming in mucas for days afterwards.  I'm in my mid 40's and until now was never allergic to anything.

My cousin knows an elderly man (she's a home health aid worker for him) in his late 70's/early 80's.  Ate oatmeal for breakfast every morning of his entire life.  One day my cousin had to get him rushed to the hospital because he became deathly ill.  Yep, you guessed it.  He had developed an allergy to oatmeal.  No joke!  And kinda scary when it happens suddenly and be life threatening.

Allergies suck!!!

 

Yeah, I was the only one in my family that has never had pollen allergies (I'm apparently allergic to things like adhesives on Band-Aids...), but I grew up in New Mexico.  While living in Arkansas for the past 25 years, I did find I was allergic to the different pollens out there--especially on those days when you walk outside and the world is covered in green dust...

I still never had the worst of it.  When the pollen count was really high, I'd start to get a cough and it would often turn into a chest infection.

Fortunately, that stuff hasn't seemed to follow me out to Arizona so far.

My older sister has always been allergic to EVERYTHING, but she wasn't allergic to nuts--until she was...  She had a bad reaction to some medication she was allergic to at one point, and shortly after that, things like sesame seeds on hamburger buns began to irritate her, and now she can't eat nuts.

[Lionne]

I don't like the jokes - I find them stale, meaningless, weak, and too repetitive - and when I tune in to watch a comedy that brightens my week that happens to be a problem. If you find them hilarious, great, but I am entitled to my opinion on each new episode and development of the show as it goes on. I definitely don't want the show to become a soap opera; I loathe those things, and I don't think that asking for better continuity or storyline follow through suggests I'm hankering for Leonard's secret, evil twin brother named Angelo to show up, kidnap him and hide him in the laundry room, while Penny finds herself pregnant and we spend the season wondering which one is the father!

I like sitcoms because I love comedy and I love to laugh. I used to love this one more passionately than any other, ever, and I have never shipped anything, not even Anne and Gilbert Blythe, until Shamy happened. But I am not feeling it right now, and not being happy or very entertained with the show is different from not caring. I care, I'm upset at what is, to me, incredibly poor writing in the second half of this season after enjoying a really great first half, and I'm kinda in shock, to be honest, at how bad it is. And unless this forum has decided on censoring anything that isn't starry eyed adulation over every single thing the show dishes out no matter what, I get to speak my two cents the same as everyone else. 

As for how many times Sheldon has fainted - well, twice in the episode where he cuts his thumb. In the Halloween episode where Leonard gets him with the alien mask. I know there are others - Jim Parsons is usually great at fainting hilariously, but then you want to make him do it again because it was so funny the first....second....third...well, maybe it starts to get old when it's overused and the set up feels forced? 

As for fainting personally - I have almost fainted twice, but managed to sit down or step outside and sit down before losing consciousness. I have also simply gotten dizzy, or nauseated, and I don't see a lot of difference. But splitting hairs about fainting/dizziness or lectures on allergies is sidestepping the point, which we can already agree to disagree about - some people still find this funny, or at least not completely played out yet. I, myself, am tired of the same hackneyed material and I think that the show really needs a shake up to feel fresh and funny again. From the comments here, many of the reviews lately, comments on those reviews, and discussion of the show on other places, I am 100% confident that I'm not alone in that opinion. At all. And even if I was, I would be entitled to it, and you know that, as you also know I'm not going to be attitude policed into being a Pollyanna about it. 

This last episode had no humor, no wit, and no sparkle for me. The spoilers about the last two episodes are pretty "meh," although it's what I predicted given how many guest stars were lined up and who those guest stars play on the show. Going back to season 6, the show has a really weird pattern for me of starting out strong, and having a funny, interesting, dynamic first half of the season, and then it goes weird and "wonky," for lack of a better word, in the second half. That seems to get worse during years when contract renewals are an issue, and you get the sense that things are deliberately being stalled and you're getting a lot of filler to drag things out. It creates a problem with pacing, for one thing, but it also creates forced, inorganic, out-of-character content. Or just plain dislike able content, such as the Ugh!Raj plot line. 

YMMV, which is fine, but critiquing the show's writing is valid. I know I'm being accused of "overthinking," but I don't believe it takes more than two tiny brain cells rubbing together to look at a scene where Stuart has broken into the Wolowitz home to watch them sleep and come to the conclusion that's creepy, messed up, and not really funny. Overthinking - which is a hallmark of humor on this show. You'd think that a show with long conversations about Manbat Batman and featuring several geniuses would probably attract over thinkers to it's fanbase who would be embraced for their overthinking - is not even necessary right now to notice that the show seems disjointed. 

Edited May 1, 2016 by Lionne

[wowbagger]

The fainting thing- okay, let's call it a temporary loss of consciousness that is not sleeping, hmm? I don't really want to split hairs about what does or does not constitute a faint, a swoon or a fugue. 

I get why the show does it - it's a bit of Jim Parsons physical comedy. JP is a gifted physical comedian, but it would be nice to see some variety in the pratfalls/comedy bits. I remember the joyous mayhem of Leonard thrashing about in a ball-pit after a Sheldon who kept randomly popping up and saying 'bazinga'. I remember the AV Club review saying that it was watching that sequence with the awestruck sense that a new and wonderful type pf physical comedy was being born. I remember Sheldon and Bawwy's extended and abortive attempts at playing basketball, and I remember laughing till I cried. I remember Sheldon trying a drink, loathing it, spitting it back, doubling back into frame and trying it again, then spitting it back again.

It's not the physical comedy that I object to. It's the laziness. You can have Sheldon falling/tripping/using his body to get a laugh without going to the same few wells. Between 'beloved running joke' and 'oh God, not this again' there is an apparently fine line. I think the show has gotten rather lazy this season. I thought that there have been seams in the writing throughout the season, but the complacency has, I think, become really obvious in the back half. I can't make any claims about whether that's related to contract renewal, but the last few episodes of the season have very clearly been idling in neutral. And the staleness of specific gags (e.g. Sheldon falls, Sheldon drops trousers to reveal underwear) is part and parcel of the general laziness.

Edited April 30, 2016 by wowbagger

[April]

Lio, if you want to discuss how certain jokes don't work for you and the writing isn't as top-notch as you'd like it to be then by all means let's do that!

But the problem here is that discussions all too often get caught up in petty nitpicks about continuity and spreading misconceptions like "allergies don't work like that" (even though, well, they do) and suddenly everyone is angry at the writers for not giving us a proper documentation about a character's health issues or because a character isn't 100% rational and consumes food that might not be good for them. The horror! Like that would never happen in real life! When you engage in this kind of "Leonard never had allergies before!!" nitpicking naturally the discussion will centre around that cause it's a verifiable fact that it was mentioned before and it even fits the rest of this health issues. In fact it fits so well that I suspect at least one of the writers or someone they know is suffering from a similar hodgepodge of fun immune system features. So the issue is really not about the question of whether or not the writers know their stuff because obviously they do. It's about what they do with that.

Which brings us to your actual point about how certain jokes just don't land anymore - and honestly, I actually agree! Even though I'm surely not bothered by a lot of little jokes on this show (cause I'm expecting the usual geeky/nerdy stuff as mildly amusing jokes) I'm actually kind of baffled by some of the things the writers come up with the intention to be funny. "Ugh Raj" surely being the prime example of that. Now, that is the kind of storyline that's not only unfunny but also dragging everybody else down as well. What is the purpose of that nonsense??? I don't get it because they don't do anything with it. And just like his relationship with Emily that only popped up every now and then and gave us no useful information about their dynamic, Raj's dealings with her and Claire at the same time aren't exactly explored either beyond "Oh wow he's dating two girls now!!" Yawn.

I also agree that the first half of this season was a lot stronger than the second half and I also have the suspicion that the possibility of a S11 that came up a lot earlier this year, coupled with the spontaneous opportunity to get Judd Hirsch as a guest star that opened up at around the same time probably changed some plans towards the end of the season and pushed some storylines further down the line. We know at least one scene in 9x20 got a complete rewrite and since that was the Lenny talk it really makes me wonder what the original scene was all about cause it could have meant a different trajectory for the finale. We can only speculate, I guess.

[Swedish Chef]

48 minutes ago, wowbagger said:

The fainting thing- okay, let's call it a temporary loss of consciousness that is not sleeping, hmm? I don't really want to split hairs about what does or does not constitute a faint, a swoon or a fugue. 

I get why the show does it - it's a bit of Jim Parsons physical comedy. JP is a gifted physical comedian, but it would be nice to see some variety in the pratfalls/comedy bits. I remember the joyous mayhem of Leonard thrashing about in a ball-pit after a Sheldon who kept randomly popping up and saying 'bazinga'. I remember the AV Club review saying that it was watching that sequence with the awestruck sense that a new and wonderful type pf physical comedy was being born. I remember Sheldon and Bawwy's extended and abortive attempts at playing basketball, and I remember laughing till I cried. I remember Sheldon trying a drink, loathing it, spitting it back, doubling back into frame and trying it again, then spitting it back again.

It's not the physical comedy that I object to. It's the laziness. You can have Sheldon falling/tripping/using his body to get a laugh without going to the same few wells. Between 'beloved running joke' and 'oh God, not this again' there is an apparently fine line. I think the show has gotten rather lazy this season. I thought that there have been seams in the writing throughout the season, but the complacency has, I think, become really obvious in the back half of the season. I can't make any claims about whether that's related to contract renewal, but the last few episodes of the season have very clearly been idling in neutral. And the staleness of specific gags (e.g. Sheldon falls, Sheldon drops trousers to reveal underwear) is part and parcel of the general laziness.

Besides some movement for shamy in the first half of the season not much has happened in season 9. I agrees that there has been poor or lazy writing in season 9.  Lenny and Shamy seems sweet and cute in the last episodes but nothing is going forward.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Lagernisse

[JE7]

7 hours ago, nickelette424 said:

Spoken like someone who's never lived in the South.   We all have allergies here, lol.  While I doubt it is as much of an issue in California, I live in a world where everyone has sinus problems March - May.  Surgery,  no surgery.  Prior issues or not.   We're all screwed.  Someone like Leonard would been really bad off here.

That being said,  the Leonard sinus issues is a kinda played out joke. 

Lol on our calendar February is followed by the month of yellow 

[cAntonio Santos]

On 4/24/2016 at 10:41 AM, legacy99 said:

Stephen Hawking do you really consider sheldon the most romantic guy on the show

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Hahaha very funny the above , perhaps he is the most romantic on planet mars certainly not planet earth

Fellow lennies  , lenny to do wedding redo before end of s9

[nibbler747]

Maybe I'm a big cheese ball, but the most romantic moment on the show for me was when Howard sang to Bernadette in the hospital.  Whenever I watch that scene I get a big goofy smile .

 

Edited April 30, 2016 by nibbler747

[April]

3 minutes ago, nibbler747 said:

Maybe I'm a big cheese ball, but the most romantic moment on the show for me was when Howard sang to Bernadette in the hospital.  Whenever I watch that scene I get a big goofy smile .

I love this so much as well! <3