913 The Empathy Optimization (January 14th)

[SRAM]

40 minutes ago, 3ku11 said:

But why should she have to? She lives at 4A too. She has every right, and is Entitled to privacy. Yes I know it's Sheldon lol. But doesent excuse it imo.

Now that I think about it, it is so very inappropriate for a grown man to walk into the bathroom while his friends wife is taking a shower, to talk to her.  It was sort of funny watching but creepy when you think about it, Sheldon's lack of boundaries aren't as funny as they use to be, now that Penny and Leonard are married.

[Chrismo]

7 hours ago, kelliluvtbbt said:

Simply because that's what the writers want. there's nothing any of us can do about it. Yes, she could have showered in her apartment. 

That's easy to say since Lenny is not your ship. I'm not sure everyone was buying that line the first part of this season.

[MarkT]

Sorry to disagree, this episode was mediocre at best. The writers were running thin on ideas with this one, really thin. The girls arguing about comic books/heroes (not about Thor's hammer this time, but the guys are impressed - again), a Vegas road trip (yawn), Sheldon being sick and a major pita (with Amy hiding in Detroit instead of the guys in a theater during a "code milky-green"), Amy on Skype, Stewart not getting invited, a t-shirt designed by Sheldon (Council of Ladies, anyone), and probably a bunch more I forgot. That was a lukewarm and lame refresh of about a half dozen previous episodes. Plus half the cast were phoning it in. Mediocre.

Also what's up with Johnny Galecki, did he quit smoking and now he is putting on weight?

[3ku11]

17 minutes ago, MarkT said:

Sorry to disagree, this episode was mediocre at best. The writers were running thin on ideas with this one, really thin. The girls arguing about comic books/heroes (not about Thor's hammer this time, but the guys are impressed - again), a Vegas road trip (yawn), Sheldon being sick and a major pita (with Amy hiding in Detroit instead of the guys in a theater during a "code milky-green"), Amy on Skype, Stewart not getting invited, a t-shirt designed by Sheldon (Council of Ladies, anyone), and probably a bunch more I forgot. That was a lukewarm and lame refresh of about a half dozen previous episodes. Plus half the cast were phoning it in. Mediocre.

Also what's up with Johnny Galecki, did he quit smoking and now he is putting on weight?

Well your entitled to your opinion. But yes its been done before. But ppl like continuity. And nostalgia in sitcoms. I though the flashbacks were newish. I enjoined the episode. Im sorry you diddnt. And yes Johnny has a pot belly lol. I guess after nine seasons, its hard to be completely original.

Edited January 16, 2016 by 3ku11

[luminous]

1 hour ago, MarkT said:

Also what's up with Johnny Galecki, did he quit smoking and now he is putting on weight?

Well...more Leonard for Penny to love. :D

[veejay]

1 hour ago, luminous said:

Well...more Leonard for Penny to love. :D

Haha, you made my day.

[Lionne]

7 hours ago, MarkT said:

Sorry to disagree, this episode was mediocre at best. The writers were running thin on ideas with this one, really thin. The girls arguing about comic books/heroes (not about Thor's hammer this time, but the guys are impressed - again), a Vegas road trip (yawn), Sheldon being sick and a major pita (with Amy hiding in Detroit instead of the guys in a theater during a "code milky-green"), Amy on Skype, Stewart not getting invited, a t-shirt designed by Sheldon (Council of Ladies, anyone), and probably a bunch more I forgot. That was a lukewarm and lame refresh of about a half dozen previous episodes. Plus half the cast were phoning it in. Mediocre.

Also what's up with Johnny Galecki, did he quit smoking and now he is putting on weight?

I enjoyed the episode and laughed several times at it, and I found that the show did try to push this over to a new idea about Sheldon actually really latching onto the concept of empathy, something which the show is way overdue in coming saying right to his face and trying to get him to think about.

That said, the fact that this episode was a mush of reheated leftovers from previous episodes was not lost on me either. I am ambivalent about it - this late in the show's run you are going to get some things repeated simply because they make sense, or are the character's well-established habits and personalities. We're not going to complain every time Sheldon does his 3-knock thing, that's actually rather important to the set up of his character. If you know LA and how things work culturally in the southwest of the US, you'd know that impromptu Vegas trips are incredibly common, so much so that the writers probably don't even think twice about it when they write one into an episode.

I also think that the show knew that Sheldon being sick was a repeated plot, but they definitely took it further and there was a different point to it this time. Sheldon's been sick several times, and each time there's been a different purpose to the plot and effect on the other characters about it, and the same happened here. We have seen Sheldon get sick before, but we've never seen him apologize to people afterwards before. We've seen Amy confront Sheldon about his behavior and get through to him in ways no other character can before, but we've never seen anyone manage to crack him on the idea of empathy before.

So all of that was new and I found the results amusing and interesting. Amy was the blend of unapologetically snarky, funny and caring that makes me love her as a character. The stuff with Emily definitely was a huge part of the point of this episode, though, and her and Sheldon fighting was new and there's a big hint in there that she might not necessarily fit in with the rest of the gang. She might be Raj's girlfriend, but she's not necessarily family as of yet.

As for Johnny...I really hate making commentary on the actor's personal appearances. However, I will say that if he has quit smoking and that's part of what's going on with him, then good for him.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Lionne

[kelliluvtbbt]

9 hours ago, Chrismo said:

That's easy to say since Lenny is not your ship. I'm not sure everyone was buying that line the first part of this season.

Lenny may not be my ship but I still like them. I just happen to like the stuff they write for Sheldon/ Shamy better. 

[Chrismo]

59 minutes ago, Lionne said:

The stuff with Emily definitely was a huge part of the point of this episode, though, and her and Sheldon fighting was new and there's a big hint in there that she might not necessarily fit in with the rest of the gang. She might be Raj's girlfriend, but she's not necessarily family as of yet.

 

I think you were spot on with the rest of your post but disagree on this part.Her apparently now going out on girls night, which seem out of left field, has made her part of the family. The feud with Penny over. Emily's attitude towards Sheldon's apologizes was like the others at various times during the show. (Howard and the FBI agent for example). I think the key was at the end. The group left it up to Emily to let Sheldon on the bus or not. When she did it Penny basically said to her now you see what we go through with Sheldon. Basically saying you're like one of us now.

[Kasey]

29 minutes ago, kelliluvtbbt said:

Lenny may not be my ship but I still like them. I just happen to like the stuff they write for Sheldon/ Shamy better. 

I agree.  The writers do write Shamy better than Lenny...

[hokie3457]

19 minutes ago, Chrismo said:

I think you were spot on with the rest of your post but disagree on this part.Her apparently now going out on girls night, which seem out of left field, has made her part of the family. The feud with Penny over. Emily's attitude towards Sheldon's apologizes was like the others at various times during the show. (Howard and the FBI agent for example). I think the key was at the end. The group left it up to Emily to let Sheldon on the bus or not. When she did it Penny basically said to her now you see what we go through with Sheldon. Basically saying you're like one of us now.

Completely agree with this.  Add to it the manner in which Sheldon was speaking to Emily in the tag, I believe that shows she is part of the group now.  This makes the upcoming episode all the more interesting.  Howard & Bernadette questioning Raj's actions with a "you already have a girlfriend"--not sure of the exact wording....

[Kasey]

21 minutes ago, Chrismo said:

I think you were spot on with the rest of your post but disagree on this part.Her apparently now going out on girls night, which seem out of left field, has made her part of the family. The feud with Penny over. Emily's attitude towards Sheldon's apologizes was like the others at various times during the show. (Howard and the FBI agent for example). I think the key was at the end. The group left it up to Emily to let Sheldon on the bus or not. When she did it Penny basically said to her now you see what we go through with Sheldon. Basically saying you're like one of us now.

I get the feeling that the writers don't think anyone delves into the characters and relationship like we do.  It's like they think we wouldn't mind or notice the change in Emily's character because it fits into what they want to do.  Logical progression be darned..

[Chrismo]

11 minutes ago, Kasey said:

I get the feeling that the writers don't think anyone delves into the characters and relationship like we do.  It's like they think we wouldn't mind or notice the change in Emily's character because it fits into what they want to do.  Logical progression be darned..

I disagree and agree with this. I think they know people delve into the characters and relationships of the characters. I do agree it fits into what they want to do. Also I don't think the writers care about what we think.

[Kasey]

1 hour ago, Chrismo said:

I disagree and agree with this. I think they know people delve into the characters and relationships of the characters. I do agree it fits into what they want to do. Also I don't think the writers care about what we think.

Well I kind of get why the writers do and don't care about what we think only for the simple reason that you can't please everyone.  And while not defending them, I have to wonder if I was a writer on the show would I want to curb my creativity to please so and so.  I mean I'm only an amateur fanfic writer for the past 8 years and when people tell me that they don't like the direction of my story, I frankly bottom line don't care.  It's not to be mean but it's just how it is.

But you also have to remember that there are probably way more casual fans that don't delve into the characters or even remember what happened two episodes ago.  Because lack of continuity is rampant in most TV shows past and present..

[MJistheBOMB]

21 hours ago, mjc45 said:

glad to see the group going on a trip.

has a outsider emily was great to stand up 

to sheldon.

great laughs all round very good+

When I first heard that she didn't accept his apology I thought, "Who even are you? You don't even know anyone. (exaggeration)" LOL!  But after I saw it play out, I really liked it and it needed to be done. So sometimes, that "outsider" looking in on situations can be a good thing because they can see what those who know Sheldon best don't. Sheldon's apology to her was sweet too.

 

Edited January 16, 2016 by MJistheBOMB
Used the wrong "accept" LOL

[veejay]

5 minutes ago, MJistheBOMB said:

When I first heard that she didn't except his apology I thought, "Who even are you? You don't even know anyone. (exaggeration)" LOL!  But after I saw it play out, I really liked it and it needed to be done. So sometimes, that "outsider" looking in on situations can be a good thing because they can see what those who know Sheldon best don't. Sheldon's apology to her was sweet too.

 

I agree.

[Chrismo]

34 minutes ago, veejay said:

I agree.

I didn't notice this during the episode but it looks as though Sheldon totally sympathized with Emily and the pole dance. In regards to MJ's comments about how the episode made Emily look better it's very hard it to get down every detail about a taping ( as MJ's knows and my wife tried to explain to me from going to a taping). It seems now from this episode Emily has gained a lot more fans.

[veejay]

5 minutes ago, Chrismo said:

I didn't notice this during the episode but it looks as though Sheldon totally sympathized with Emily and the pole dance. In regards to MJ's comments about how the episode made Emily look better it's very hard it to get down every detail about a taping ( as MJ's knows and my wife tried to explain to me from going to a taping). It seems now from this episode Emily has gained a lot more fans.

[kelliluvtbbt]

4 hours ago, Kasey said:

I agree.  The writers do write Shamy better than Lenny...

unfortunately, I don't know why this is happening. Again, it's the writer's call. 

[Kasey]

2 hours ago, MJistheBOMB said:

When I first heard that she didn't except his apology I thought, "Who even are you? You don't even know anyone. (exaggeration)" LOL!  But after I saw it play out, I really liked it and it needed to be done. So sometimes, that "outsider" looking in on situations can be a good thing because they can see what those who know Sheldon best don't. Sheldon's apology to her was sweet too.

 

That is hilarious but so true.  But I do like that they have made her less creepy.  Stuart too wasn't creepy in this episode.  Although he looks so pale and sickly.  I hope that is make up...

[MJistheBOMB]

23 minutes ago, Kasey said:

That is hilarious but so true.  But I do like that they have made her less creepy.  Stuart too wasn't creepy in this episode.  Although he looks so pale and sickly.  I hope that is make up...

Haha, someone posted an article in the Shamy thread in which the author would write something like, "...and so Sheldon went to apologize to his friends (and Emily. Yeah, I said it.)"

I died. LMAO!

Anyway, I didn't notice what Stuart looked like. Hopefully it was just make up and Kevin is doing okay. I only watched the episode on CBS.com so far but did I notice he had a limp to his run??? Anyone notice? Anyway, if so, I figure it's because he broke his foot a while back...

[joyceraye]

On ‎15‎/‎01‎/‎2016 at 1:40 AM, 3ku11 said:

Well 4 + 4 = 8 lol. 

Remember Raj goes to girls' night sometimes and we don't know for certain that Emily hasn't been to any. She works a lot, which has been mentioned before, and I've been assuming we've only seen the girls' nights she's not attended.

BTW I've not read any Batman or Superman comics for years - why would Batman and Superman fight ? They used to be very good friends.

[veejay]

14 minutes ago, MJistheBOMB said:

Haha, someone posted an article in the Shamy thread in which the author would write something like, "...and so Sheldon went to apologize to his friends (and Emily. Yeah, I said it.)"

I died. LMAO!

Anyway, I didn't notice what Stuart looked like. Hopefully it was just make up and Kevin is doing okay. I only watched the episode on CBS.com so far but did I notice he had a limp to his run??? Anyone notice? Anyway, if so, I figure it's because he broke his foot a while back...

 

Let's have a look...

 

[MJistheBOMB]

Yeah, he just runs funny. LOL.

[Kasey]

I noticed that his running was weird.  I thought it was a character choice. 

I read that review where it said "and Emily".  I would think it should be different now since they seemed to have bonded with the looks at seeing Raj on the pole..