episodes 923 'The Line Substitution Solution' (May 5)

[Tripper]

'The Line Substitution Solution' - Season 9, Episode 23 
Airs Thursday, May 5 at 8/7c on CBS.

Sheldon hires Stuart to spend the day with Amy when he'd rather go to a movie screening. Also, Leonard's mother, Beverly, comes to town and Penny struggles to make a connection with her.

Rate This Episode

 

[stardustmelody]

ICYMI:  Preview for this episode is up!

[djsurrey]

Just three hours to go......

 

Looking forward to the new episode.

[PatsyR]

OMG, I loved this episode! It was funny and sweet--the qualities that made me fall in love with it in the first place. 

[RoRo]

I liked the episode! I found it entertaining,sweet,funny.

[Earnie]

Beverly has feelings who knew but I can't believe she was surprise that she was not invited with the way she treats Leonard and Penny I really liked tonight's episode

Edited May 6, 2016 by Earnie

[RoRo]

I liked watching Sheldon teach Penny science and she was teaching him pop culture (I watched the episode today where Sheldon thought the Jersey shore were her friends)

[Shelldon]

-"Who is mic drop?"

-Didn't even know Bill Nye was on Dancing With the Stars.

-"No cuts, no butts, no coconuts".

-"There's a long line he'd rather stand in". "Lady I just work here".

-Reverting to old patterns. Something this show loves doing.

-Stuart sure is a ping pong ball. How dare he lay it on thick.

-"You look like Tigger if Tigger looked like a jackass".

-Sheldon's rant is perfectly justified. It's a shame he couldn't do more.

-I guess I should say something about the Penny/Beverly plot that sets up next week.....there I said something.

[Earnie]

Penny knows more about science after being around the guys for nine years and the guys know more about pop culture because of Penny

[4everlenny]

Bev said she's still human, really, could have fooled me. Of course she treated Penny badly, that's in character. What's not is that she suddenly cared about something concerning Leonard, her 'under achieving' son. Suddenly she cares about the non invite to his wedding. Reaching a little far, even for these writers. Sometimes it almost seems like they read fan forums and see what they're complaining about and do it. Let's see, some Lenny fans are upset about their wedding. Ok, what's the way to fix this. Shazzam!!! Look it's fixed. I know this DOES NOT happen, but there are times I wonder.

Ok the episode. Penny was great in this one. Wanting to bond with her difficult MIL is admirable. No snark comments from her about Leonard, just hurt that mean old Bev has no repect for her, the man she loves, or their marriage. Even though Bev has a comeback, I love how Penny stands up to her.

Not sure about the Sheldon part. Seems he's done a lot of reverting to his old ways, since making progress early this season. Wasn't nice hiring Stuart as a stand in date. But when Amy shot back the same way it was sort of cute. The prolonged carrying on about the line jumping seemed immature, even for Sheldon. As with most of the characters, the writers seem perplexed about how to move Sheldon's character forward, without losing what fans loved about him. Not trying critical of the character, just some off the top of my head observations after just watching the episode.

Overall, not the worst episode. But didn't laugh a lot. Just don't think Bev hating on Leonard, his wife, and his life is all that funny. Obviously TPTB do.

[meka3000]

18 minutes ago, 4everlenny said:

Bev said she's still human, really, could have fooled me. Of course she treated Penny badly, that's in character. What's not is that she suddenly cared about something concerning Leonard, her 'under achieving' son. Suddenly she cares about the non invite to his wedding. Reaching a little far, even for these writers.

Maybe her last appearance in season 8 where she said she wanted to be more unconditional towards Leonard had more of an affect than we thought?  Not that she would necessarily be good at it.

[serena_1995]

I LOVED that Beverly, Amy and Bernie were talking about pediatric anxiety and TED talks.  Nice to see the girls talking about something other than their relationships.- even if it was for 5 sec. LOL. I would have loved more. 

Loved the Shamy back and forth with Stuart. Good for Stuart to make money off Sheldon and Amy.

Loved Raj's chair .

Loved the opening- the  game Sheldon and Penny played.

Loved the tag- Howard/Bernie were great,

But what  I REALLY wanted the most was to see Joss Whedon do Q&A with Sheldon. Too bad.

Edited May 6, 2016 by serena_nyc1995

[Judith]

Straight from Beverly's mouth: "I'm only human". For anyone interested, here's your fanwanking chance.

The cold open and the tag were funny. Especially the tag  Poor Howard. But poorer Bernie :D

Shamy was fine at the end, which is what matters. I'm OK with the occasional spat, and this is the first time it has happened on this scale after the reconciliation, so I can't complain. The whole thing was resolved faster than I expected and I like how quick Amy was to forgive him, AFTER he got over himself.

I liked the scenes with the girls and Beverly, and Beverly gushing over Shamy. What's up with both S's and L's moms digging the Shamy? :D

When Stuart got into Amy's car I got a little Weekend Vortex deja vu.

The whole scene with Sheldon yelling in line was yawn-inducing.

That's it from me

[legacy99]

Imo it was an ok espiode just seemed like they wasted a lot of time on the sheldon storyline that i didn't fine funny

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[djsurrey]

The interplay between Beverly, Amy, Penny and Bernadette made this episode. A good setup for 9.24. I found the bit with Stuart amusing. The argument about butting in  line kind of fell flat. I think it went on too long.

It was nice to hear Amy give some thoughts on her relationship with Sheldon.

[Lionne]

Meh....?

The first episode where I thought that if you cut Sheldon out of it entirely, I might have really enjoyed it. Even the thing on the couch; have I just gotten bored with his character at this point? This totally clueless Sheldon, combined with that painfully long scene in which he takes overbearing to an overbearing extreme, just made me want to keep yelling at him to shut up. I didn't even get that Kardashian joke, and for the love of Mike, how stale are Kardashian jokes?! How pathetic if you're writing and relying on Kardashian jokes in this day and age. It's not even the low hanging fruit, it's the fruit that fell off the tree 10 days ago and it rotting in the grass. For shame, writers.

Sheldon was my favorite character for a long time. It feels so weird to actually start rooting for the guy with the obnoxious hair to punch Sheldon in the face to shut him up. And yet I was repeatedly rooting for the guy with the obnoxious hair to punch Sheldon in the face to shut him the f*ing hell up.

But the rest was actually fairly comical, and I really liked all the scenes with Beverly. Especially Beverly and the three girls. Beverly and Penny in the car were a little more painful, because it's hard to listen to a character make snarky, exasperated side commentary that the other person can clearly hear, and I just don't believe that Penny would say some of those things out loud. That was not exactly realistic dialogue.

Probably the best gag and jokes were Raj and his stick chair. The insults and his face as he handled them was pretty funny.

It all still feels stale, though. The Shamy stuff was definitely the low point for me. Stuart tried his best, but since all his actions were tied to the same ridiculous premise as well as based on the "Stuart is pathetic and so poor he'll do almost anything for a buck" same old refrain, it did nothing for me. Stuart hit rock bottom with pathetic a long time ago, and he's stuck at pathetic because the writers think that's hilarious, but its never been that funny to me. It was cringeworthy some of the time, and now it's so old, with nothing ever changing or brightening with him, that it's just gotten so boring.

As for Sheldon, I agree with Amy - he's come a short way over a long period of time, so it feels like he's come a long way. But he hasn't really come a long way, or rather, it feels he was making progress but now he's regressed back to an earlier incarnation, and it's one I don't enjoy watching. Sheldon was learning to apologize to Amy back in season 5. I cannot believe how everything about Sheldon in this episode felt so old, so done before, and so predictable I just wanted to tear my hair out.

Which is where it all comes down to at this point - every line, every scene - it's so unbelievably predictable. How can I feel there's any spark to this when you can see all the punchlines coming a mile away?

Edited May 6, 2016 by Lionne

[camelliayao]

What I like: 

Amy was angry for the right reasons. Sure she was angry that Sheldon hired Stuart to go shopping with her, but she was mostly upset because they weren't honest with each other. She hoped Sheldon would've told her the truth.

Sheldon massaged Amy once, even if it only lasted for three minutes and I'm sure it happened because Amy was practically begging or she manipulated him again. But it was still kind of sweet because even if with clothes on, I can't believe Sheldon would agree, just think about the amount of touching Sheldon would have to do and how much he hates to touch another human being. 

Amy called Sheldon babe once. Even though he told her to get a drug test. It's still super cute.

The above two may also be horrible if you see things from another perspective. But I'm gonna stick to cute for now, otherwise there really will be nothing good about Shamy in this episode.

Penny tried hard to bond with Beverly. It's nice to see her finally doing something for her own husband, not someone else's boyfriend.

Beverly said she had never seen Leonard more happy than with Penny. It just warmed my heart. I hope they could show us more in the future that Penny feels the same about Leonard.

Stuart was hilarious. Raj' chair made me laugh.

What I don't like:

Like Amy said, things between Shamy went back to square one.

I was hoping after reading the TR the reason why Sheldon hired Stuart was that there wasn't enough time for him to go shopping and came back for the movie, or he had some kind of eccentricity that he had to stay in the line. Neither happened. Well...

I was also hoping Beverly could explain to Amy some of Sheldon's behaviors. But it turned out all she said was how special Sheldon is. Lol I'm special too. But I don't hurt my significant other for no good reason.

The Sheldon yelling at another guy in the line part was a little boring. Not funny, not necessary, just, no.

Edited May 6, 2016 by camelliayao

[djsurrey]

3 hours ago, 4everlenny said:

Bev said she's still human, really, could have fooled me. Of course she treated Penny badly, that's in character. What's not is that she suddenly cared about something concerning Leonard, her 'under achieving' son. Suddenly she cares about the non invite to his wedding. Reaching a little far, even for these writers.

Who can say what really goes on within Beverly. She was introduced in the series after deciding to divorce because of her husbands infidelity with a waitress. From the episode a year ago one gets the impression she has a very clinical view of child raising and we know her husband was away a lot. Perhaps she resents Leonard and having to raise him mostly alone. Perhaps Penny reminds her of the other women her husband left her for.  

[Lionne]

15 minutes ago, camelliayao said:

Sheldon massaged Amy once, even if it only lasted for three minutes and I'm sure it happened because Amy was practically begging or she manipulated him again. But it was still kind of sweet because even if with clothes on, I can't believe Sheldon would agree, just think about the amount of touching Sheldon would have to do and how much he hates to touch another human being. 

Amy called Sheldon babe once. Even though he told her to get a drug test. It's still super cute.

The above two may also be horrible if you see things from another perspective. But I'm gonna stick to cute for now, otherwise there really will be nothing good about Shamy in this episode.

Unfortunately, I see things from the other perspective. The story about Sheldon massaging her only once for 3 minutes, setting a timer first, topped off with the fact she "felt like a soft boiled egg," was so sad. It's another area where, like Stuart, pathetic is supposed to be funny, but I only see what it is - pathetic. Between that story and her ranting to Beverly, apparently at length, it just came off as Amy sitting and moping and complaining about her relationship. There was nothing uplifting about it; it was just dour. It definitely kicks me in whatever shipper feels I have left, which I admit are not many, and since the whole episode kicked off with Sheldon and Penny having another entertaining moment on the couch by comparison, I really feel down about the whole Shamy affair. I kinda wish I had just stopped watching and hearing about the whole show at Opening Night, and walked away from it there.

[camelliayao]

5 minutes ago, Lionne said:

Unfortunately, I see things from the other perspective. The story about Sheldon massaging her only once for 3 minutes, setting a timer first, topped off with the fact she "felt like a soft boiled egg," was so sad. It's another area where, like Stuart, pathetic is supposed to be funny, but I only see what it is - pathetic. Between that story and her ranting to Beverly, apparently at length, it just came off as Amy sitting and moping and complaining about her relationship. There was nothing uplifting about it; it was just dour. It definitely kicks me in whatever shipper feels I have left, which I admit are not many, and since the whole episode kicked off with Sheldon and Penny having another entertaining moment on the couch by comparison, I really feel down about the whole Shamy affair. I kinda wish I had just stopped watching and hearing about the whole show at Opening Night, and walked away from it there.

I know. That's why I said it might also be horrible. If we pretend coitus never happened, this may count for a little progress between them. The fact that after coitus, there's still very little physical intimacy between them to the point Amy's grateful for Sheldon massaging her for three minutes just makes me sad. But that was basically the only "good" thing about Shamy in this episode. So I'll play along and pretend coitus never happened, just like the writers did.

[camelliayao]

So I watched again and did he really say "Cause there's a Uber downstairs and I don't want to repeat this apology nonsense to my driver." So he didn't really mean the apology. He did it just to stop Amy from getting mad?

Unbelievable.

[Tensor]

 

1 hour ago, djsurrey said:

Who can say what really goes on within Beverly. She was introduced in the series after deciding to divorce because of her husbands infidelity with a waitress. From the episode a year ago one gets the impression she has a very clinical view of child raising and we know her husband was away a lot. 

 

Actually, she was introduced in season 2,  the year before deciding to divorce her husband.    That occurred in season three.  

1 hour ago, djsurrey said:

Perhaps she resents Leonard and having to raise him mostly alone.

That would make sense, except that she had Leonard's brother and sister to raise also and she doesn't resent them.  

[mirs1]

Overall I liked the episode, but the part about Sheldon addressing the guy in line was too long and not very funny, especially towards the end. The cold opening was hilarious. Penny with her mother in law at the airport was a TBBT classic, I can never get enough of the two of them together being awkward, and the girls in 4B with her were the funniest part of the episode. I liked to see Amy and Beverly together (always thought these two could be a hoot if they got a scene) and it was interesting to see Beverly entering in Sheldon's mind and gushing over Shamy as a couple. I liked also all the attempts Penny made during the episode to bond with her MIL, and her admitting that she was wrong and Leonard hasn't ever been so happy was very tender as it was final hug. Bernie was very sweet, she was the one who kept focusing Beverly's attention on Penny whenever she could, motherhood suits her.  Shamy part was ok, it's a good thing that for once the person with problems in communication about how he feels is Sheldon (that was an Amy's problem for a long time) and, as Amy herself acknowledged, it would have been enough for him to say he didn't want to go shopping to solve the situation. The final apology was funny and dry on Amy's part, as I expected, with that "fine" she said everything. I liked the back and forth with Stuart, but the writers gotta do something with him, we get that he is broken and depressed, move on...I didn't like at all the jokes about Raj stick chair and also the tag felt a bit flat.

[djsurrey]

16 minutes ago, Tensor said:

1 hour ago, djsurrey said:

Perhaps she resents Leonard and having to raise him mostly alone.

That would make sense, except that she had Leonard's brother and sister to raise also and she doesn't resent them.  

Good point. Perhaps if Leonard was the youngest and third child  but I checked just now and he was the middle child.

It seems so odd that someone like Beverly would have three children.

[wowbagger]

Kardashians? Oh boy. Show, you need to beg, borrow or steal another trash-culture reference. Sometimes I wonder how old the writing staff is, because I swear, this is truly 'Please, Dad, stop trying to be cool' level.

Look, show, I believe people are trying to find out who 'Becky with the good hair' is right now. That seems like something Penny and Raj would be into......so, by all means, you should feel free to have Leonard and Amy discuss it. Character Musical Chairs seems to be your modus operandi this season.