episodes 1022 'The Cognition Regeneration' (April 27)

[Tripper]

'The Cognition Regeneration' - Season 10, Episode 22 
Airs Thursday, April 27 at 8/7c on CBS.

Leonard isn't thrilled when Penny considers taking a new job offered by her ex-boyfriend, Zack.

[Kev0821]

Was the ventriloquist dummy scene in the taping report? I don't remember reading about that... Perhaps it was taped later.

[joyceraye]

Sheldon said he was baking cr' sants. That's a type of flower here - it's short for chrysanthemums. An actor on Dallas pronounced it Sheldon's way once, so perhaps it's a Texas thing. I'm glad Amy pronounced it normally so we'd know what it was.

[vonmar]

3 minutes ago, joyceraye said:

Sheldon said he was baking cr' sants. That's a type of flower here - it's short for chrysanthemums. An actor on Dallas pronounced it Sheldon's way once, so perhaps it's a Texas thing. I'm glad Amy pronounced it normally so we'd know what it was.

I was born and raised in NYC and have lived in the Midwest for very long time...I say cr'sants also.

[jenafan]

My favorite line in the whole episode was Bernadette comparing Howard to a thin sexy greyhound, and then Penny agreeing that he does reminds her of a dog.  

I have always appreciated how expressive Bernadette is over her love and attraction for Howard despite the fact that the other women find him creepy.

[3ku11]

Overall it was an solid episode, not great. Bullet Points.

• Enjoyed the Lenny story. Thought that was the best they had communicated in a long time. See show how easy is it to give them 2 minutes of isolated screen time. What do you know, they came to a resolution. Change of pace I thought too, with Leonard being right this time. Zac is absoloutely harmless. IT is why I Think they can bring him back, because out of all Penny's exes. He is the one who is the most non threatning
• I felt the Shamy story was a tad unneccessary. The main story was Lenny. And I Felt their story was a bit random, and out of place imo. I don't even know what was the point of their story? Sheldon qutting at things, Amy convincing to not Quit at things. Then the dream sequence of Sheldon on Stilts. I don't know seemed to lack direction most of the episode. I felt maybe they should of scrapped some of those Shamy scenes. And given more time to the Lenny story, which I Think could of been explored more. 
• I did enjoy the opening sequence. Almost old days cold open. The guys playing video games. Loosing to the older teenagers. Sheldon acknowledging how things have changed now. Was Pretty funny. 
• I felt the Dummy sequence, was very cringy. I don't know it just fell flat for me. 

[serena_1995]

Sheldon speaking Hindi at 8 years old  was cool. I don't know Hindi myself. Anyone know if his accent good or not ? nice to see they are highlighting his mental abilities but his motor skills leave a lot to be desired .

Hmmm Raj having orgasms over Sheldon's croissants  ? lol.  And Penny referring to Sheldon as Leonard's ex boyfriend ? Shelnard breakup this season is real.I loved Zack, but i missed his enthusiasm for science in this episode . The wordplay with the menu  was funny, very Zack. 

I liked the Lenny story too . Although, it was a bit pointless, since Penny is still in a job she hates. So in the end , nothing changed.

Raj calling Leonard unattractive and calling Lenny divorce ? So Raj is no different from Sheldon really.

Edited April 28, 2017 by serena_1995

[3ku11]

5 minutes ago, serena_1995 said:

Sheldon speaking Hindi at 8 years old  was cool. I don't know Hindi myself. Anyone know if his accent good or not ? nice to see they are highlighting his mental abilities but his motor skills leave a lot to be desired .

Hmmm Raj having orgasms over Sheldon's croissants  ? lol.  And Penny referring to Sheldon as Leonard's ex boyfriend ? Shelnard breakup this season is real.I loved Zack, but i missed his enthusiasm for science in this episode . The wordplay with the menu  was funny, very Zack. 

I liked the Lenny story too . Although, it was a bit pointless, since Penny is still in a job she hates. So in the end , nothing changed.

Raj calling Leonard unattractive and calling Lenny divorce ? So Raj is no different from Sheldon really.

Well we all know Raj is a douche. But it just screams out to me Leonard and Penny's friends. Still like to mock their relationship. 

[No Regrets]

Haven't watched it, but body shaming Leonard again, huh? Oh my gosh, so funny. I find that about as funny as the prospect of characters calling Amy unattractive over and over and over. Their blatant hate for Leonard is so transparent. 

[CarlLMartin]

7 hours ago, Kev0821 said:

Was the ventriloquist dummy scene in the taping report? I don't remember reading about that... Perhaps it was taped later.

I had a flash back to "Miss Quiznos 1999".  The dress was very similar.

[April]

4 hours ago, serena_1995 said:

Sheldon speaking Hindi at 8 years old  was cool. I don't know Hindi myself. Anyone know if his accent good or not ? nice to see they are highlighting his mental abilities but his motor skills leave a lot to be desired .

Going by the show's history with foreign languages I'm gonna go with "probably not" and "we're lucky if the actual words are correct".

[Jonny]

Solid but not spectacular I thought.

Lenny storyline was interesting I guess but I am one of these that wants to see a resolution to her career situation and though it was raised yet again there is still not solution on the horizon, so kind of frustrating. Good to see Zack again, technically he is her ex-husband right? Wonder why they went with ex-boyfriend in all the dialogue, surely the writers remember they were married? They seemed to get on better in this one, actually communicate a bit more but I didn't like Leonard at all in this one, not in his dialogue with the guys and not some of his dialogue with Penny. Jealous Leonard or smug Leonard is never a good look for him.

The guys played a game! Though my fear is that them realizing they are getting older and getting beaten by younger players (happens to us all lol) might put them off in the future doing a fun activity they used to enjoy. I laughed at Sheldon playing as Winston in Overwatch and it looked like Howard, Raj or Leonard was playing as Mei. I know this because I play the same online game as them! Pretty cool!

In terms of the Shamy scenes wasn't a huge fan of Sheldon once again overreacting to something and the whole learning juggling, uni-cycling etc. But at least there was a scientific study he was trying to prove or disprove. I did really enjoy their conversation in the bedroom as usual those scenes are great in there and with such a range of type of scenes. Loved the Sheldon/Raj/Amy baking scenes in 4B, kind of wished we saw more Raj/Sheldon interactions this season.

Really enjoyed the Howardette scenes, that Jewish Greyhound joke was hilarious. Bernadette was a Ventriloquist! I was shocked at first but then I realized it made perfect sense (she explained it perfectly) with her beauty queen background and having to have some kind of act. LOLed how she turned the tables on Howard. Fantastic season for them!

The girls scene together was brief but great, better than the guys gaming scene. But that is no surprise to me at all.

Overall it was solid, not the best not the worst this season.

Edited April 28, 2017 by Jonny

[bfm]

I liked the episode and I think I will like it even better in second watch because I was busy analyzing the Lenny parts, I wasn't "free" enough to enjoy it to full extent. So I'll rate it after I watch it again. I think it was better than a lot of episodes in the second half of the season, about as good as the Comic-Con for me I guess, better because of Lenny but perhaps a little worse because the rest wasn't as funny.

 

So Lenny (Some more on the Lenny thread): Finally we see them talking and resolving an issue! Is it really that hard TPTB?! I didn't like Leonard implying the idea was stupid but they needed a source of conflict that would postpone their talk, otherwise they would have talked it through that night and we wouldn't get the consulting scenes. Also, Leonard not picking the right words is not new (e.g., saying the truth about the odds of succeding in acting but in the wrong way at the wrong time, thus coming across unsupportive). He got it at the moment he said it and really beat himself up over it, in front of Penny too (saying he doesn't shine at the talking to me was conveying the message "I'm sorry, I was very wrong and I didn't mean it") so I forgive him and Penny seemed to forgive him too. I didn't like that he kind of said it again by not responding to what Zack's fiancée said, he could have said it was not stupid, just unconventional or has potential for problems... This brings me to one of my main disappointements of the episode: They didn't use a take when Lenny hug/kiss after his joke!!! We know they shot these options. Actually I had a feeling they might drop this. In the final cut I think it was clear that Penny is laughing (trying to prevent it but not fully succeeding), so his use of humor to cheer her up did work. However, I think it would have come across as much more supportive (from him) if they hugged or kissed, thus showing he is sad for her. Another thing that I liked is that even though everybody went on about how insecure Leonard was, it turned out that they too thought it was problematic. Howard and Bernie would forbid their partner from taking the job, and Raj only said he should let her because she would leave him anyway (Didn't he say that he was jealous of their happy relationship just a few episodes ago?) and because he thought that was a better way to manage Penny. However, Leonard didn't want to control Penny, he was bothered by the potential of her leaving him. Like in "The Comic-Con Conundrum" this episode showed that Lenny care and consider each others feelings a lot. This is perhaps their greatest strength but, ironically, it sometimes causes them difficulties. When they have to make decisions that will make one of them uncomfortable they really struggle because it makes the other almost as much as uncomfortable. In this episode they talked it through. It showed that they CAN communicate. We even saw Penny initiating a calm talk where she manages to remain calm and doesn't get mad and blows it up, some maturation there! But are we suppose to believe that every time they fought in previous episodes they resolved it this way and everything is okey dokey? I don't buy it, for them to have so many recurrent fights there must be an underlying source of stress, not necessarily from their relationship.  Unfortunately, the writers refuse to go there and just keep the continous fighting unjustified. Also, they kept Penny in her current job. My other main dissappointment. 

I liked Zack! I usually do He is stupid but also, to me, very likeable. IMO a great character to enjoy in low doses. 

The greyhound joke LOL  The manequin...a little funny but not that much, I LOLed when I first saw it but the continuation was redundant to me (they could have used this time for a Lenny hug/kiss!)

I liked the opening sequence and had good laughs but the rest of Sheldon's plot felt to me like a desperate attempt to get laughs with very simple humor. It was quite a bore for me. Laughed a little. Didn't like the "Sheldon can do everything" jokes, even hated them! Uggggh let's all bow to the golden boy.

 

Overall a good/very good episode, somewhat dissappoiting though.

Edited April 28, 2017 by bfm

[3ku11]

You know the alternative options to resolving Penny's career. Was her working with Zac. I think Leonard was entitled to be smug, or insecure. I am sure if the roles were reversed. Ahem Mandy....

[bfm]

3 hours ago, Jonny said:

Solid but not spectacular I thought.

Lenny storyline was interesting I guess but I am one of these that wants to see a resolution to her career situation and though it was raised yet again there is still not solution on the horizon, so kind of frustrating. Good to see Zack again, technically he is her ex-husband right? Wonder why they went with ex-boyfriend in all the dialogue, surely the writers remember they were married? They seemed to get on better in this one, actually communicate a bit more but I didn't like Leonard at all in this one, not in his dialogue with the guys and not some of his dialogue with Penny. Jealous Leonard or smug Leonard is never a good look for him.

The guys played a game! Though my fear is that them realizing they are getting older and getting beaten by younger players (happens to us all lol) might put them off in the future doing a fun activity they used to enjoy. I laughed at Sheldon playing as Winston in Overwatch and it looked like Howard, Raj or Leonard was playing as Mei. I know this because I play the same online game as them! Pretty cool!

In terms of the Shamy scenes wasn't a huge fan of Sheldon once again overreacting to something and the whole learning juggling, uni-cycling etc. But at least there was a scientific study he was trying to prove or disprove. I did really enjoy their conversation in the bedroom as usual those scenes are great in there and with such a range of type of scenes. Loved the Sheldon/Raj/Amy baking scenes in 4B, kind of wished we saw more Raj/Sheldon interactions this season.

Really enjoyed the Howardette scenes, that Jewish Greyhound joke was hilarious. Bernadette was a Ventriloquist! I was shocked at first but then I realized it made perfect sense (she explained it perfectly) with her beauty queen background and having to have some kind of act. LOLed how she turned the tables on Howard. Fantastic season for them!

The girls scene together was brief but great, better than the guys gaming scene. But that is no surprise to me at all.

Overall it was solid, not the best not the worst this season.

Leonard didn't come across smug to me, he immediately regreted his (very unfortunate...) comment about the idea not being smart, he understood it came across very bad. I think he was aware that this feelings may be unjustified and was willing to cope with them for Penny's sake. Was he able to control these feelings? No. But when something makes us very uncomfortable, even if it rationally ot shouldn't, it is hard to be all fine with it so quickly. It takes effort and he was willing to make this effort. Like Sheldon tries to overcome his difficulties for Amy, Leonard was willing to overcome his difficulties for Penny. Sheldon is not the only one who has and is allowed to try and overcome difficulties.

[April]

4 minutes ago, bfm said:

Leonard didn't come across smug to me, he immediately regreted his (very unfortunate...) comment about the idea not being smart, he understood it came across very bad. I think he was aware that this feelings may be unjustified and was willing to cope with them for Penny's sake. Was he able to control these feelings? No. But when something makes us very uncomfortable, even if it rationally ot shouldn't, it is hard to be all fine with it so quickly. It takes effort and he was willing to make this effort. Like Sheldon tries to overcome his difficulties for Amy, Leonard was willing to overcome his difficulties for Penny. Sheldon is not the only one who has and is allowed to try and overcome difficulties.

Yes, I gotta agree with you on this. I have many grievances over Leonard's characterisation (or lack thereof) but this episode was actually an effort to have him and Penny work through an issue and I can certainly appreciate that. I wish they'd continue with stories like these in the future. All the characters have their flaws and I would love to see them dissected and challenged to give them an opportunity to grow just as much as they did with, say, Sheldon.

[gsxdoug]

5 hours ago, Jonny said:

Good to see Zack again, technically he is her ex-husband right? Wonder why they went with ex-boyfriend in all the dialogue, surely the writers remember they were married?

I'm by no means a legal expert, but I believe that getting an annulment means the marriage never existed in the eyes of the law. Don't take this as gospel, though.

[Tensor]

8 hours ago, April said:

Yes, I gotta agree with you on this. I have many grievances over Leonard's characterisation (or lack thereof) but this episode was actually an effort to have him and Penny work through an issue and I can certainly appreciate that. I wish they'd continue with stories like these in the future. All the characters have their flaws and I would love to see them dissected and challenged to give them an opportunity to grow just as much as they did with, say, Sheldon.

The really sad thing for me was simply talking through things was something they used to do a lot in seasons six and seven.   But, that has been mostly ignored since early season eight, and it's hard to get excited about one or two episodes a year, at this point.  

[April]

1 minute ago, Tensor said:

The really sad thing for me was simply talking through things was something they used to do a lot in seasons six and seven.   But, that has been mostly ignored since early season eight, and it's hard to get excited about one or two episodes a year, at this point.  

Yes, it's sad to see that the bar has been lowered to "they talk things out for once" oh well...

[bfm]

BTW, I love how TBBT doesn't go with gender stereotypes on driving scenes. Sometimes it's the man, sometimes times the woman. Even Penny, who is known to be a bad driver, drives sometimes :).

[wowbagger]

Agree wholeheartedly with @Jonny about the Lenny this episode, I'm afraid. I'm happy for my Lenny friends that we had some focus on the couple, and that at least it was acknowledged that Leonard was being insecure. But I am one of the people who want an exploration of Penny's career woes without it being so intimately tied to the Leonard of it all. By which I mean: obviously a story about Penny's life will in some measure involve her partner. Obviously. But as a Penny fan, I would like the show to explore how Penny feels about a thing without the lens of 'how does Leonard feel about it?' And if you're a fan of Lenny, surely that disentangling also helps, in that you have a Penny storyline in which Leonard is not a source of conflict. As he was here.

So there's that. And also - ugh, look, insecurity is not a good look on Leonard. I understand that it is in character. I appreciate that the show acknowledged it, and that Leonard talked through his issues. But I hated, hated, hated that the show in some measure validated his insecurity by having Zach's partner throw a hissy and for Penny to say 'you were right, I was wrong'. Leonard was not right, show. When he admitted his issues and was supportive, then he was being right. And in the meantime, Penny is still unhappy, and that issue remains unaddressed. Leonard effortfully and begrudgingly came to the correct decision....and was promptly spared having to follow through on it. And that issue remains unaddressed.

But I will acknowledge that I liked Leonard so much more when he stopped thinking of his wife as a possession that could be stolen, and more as a fellow human being in a difficult position. 

Oh, and I love me some Zach. Sweet Zach with his open-hearted affection for the gang. D'awwww, cutie.

Edited April 28, 2017 by wowbagger
Vague spoilers removed

[wowbagger]

19 hours ago, jenafan said:

My favorite line in the whole episode was Bernadette comparing Howard to a thin sexy greyhound, and then Penny agreeing that he does reminds her of a dog.  

I have always appreciated how expressive Bernadette is over her love and attraction for Howard despite the fact that the other women find him creepy.

YES! Bernie's unabashed - and creepily-expressed - hard-on for her Howie was so magnificent. Former perve-meister Howard is so tender towards Bernadette, I kinda love that the sweet little lady has such an edge to her desire for her man. It's just...it's beautiful. 

[Capt. Hilts]

38 minutes ago, wowbagger said:

So there's that. And also - ugh, look, insecurity is not a good look on Leonard.

I thought all of his success with women when he wasn't with Penny was supposed to end all that.  

I'd feel better if they'd shown Penny dating a smart/handsome, guy.  But they didn't.  That, combined with his dating success, makes the "I wore her down" 'joke' not funny or accurate.  

[Tonstar17]

I laugh out loud how leonard know he realises where he went wrong, but the excuses are made for the nutjob who spends every episode learning how to be not a better person.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[bfm]

10 hours ago, wowbagger said:

Agree wholeheartedly with @Jonny about the Lenny this episode, I'm afraid. I'm happy for my Lenny friends that we had some focus on the couple, and that at least it was acknowledged that Leonard was being insecure. But I am one of the people who want an exploration of Penny's career woes without it being so intimately tied to the Leonard of it all. By which I mean: obviously a story about Penny's life will in some measure involve her partner. Obviously. But as a Penny fan, I would like the show to explore how Penny feels about a thing without the lens of 'how does Leonard feel about it?' And if you're a fan of Lenny, surely that disentangling also helps, in that you have a Penny storyline in which Leonard is not a source of conflict. As he was here.

So there's that. And also - ugh, look, insecurity is not a good look on Leonard. I understand that it is in character. I appreciate that the show acknowledged it, and that Leonard talked through his issues. But I hated, hated, hated that the show in some measure validated his insecurity by having Zach's partner throw a hissy and for Penny to say 'you were right, I was wrong'. Leonard was not right, show. When he admitted his issues and was supportive, then he was being right. And in the meantime, Penny is still unhappy, and that issue remains unaddressed. Leonard effortfully and begrudgingly came to the correct decision....and was promptly spared having to follow through on it. And that issue remains unaddressed.

But I will acknowledge that I liked Leonard so much more when he stopped thinking of his wife as a possession that could be stolen, and more as a fellow human being in a difficult position. 

Oh, and I love me some Zach. Sweet Zach with his open-hearted affection for the gang. D'awwww, cutie.

I don't think he thought about her as a possession. Remember the whole "controling her" talk came from Raj. Leonard was afraid she might leave him. If he was the possessive type he would have forbiden her to even think about it. That is not Leonard. He was uncomfortable with it, fearing she might leave him. Was it justified? Not so mich because we know Zack is harmless but for Leonard Zack is that tall, handsome, muscular guy that everybody picture Penny with and who she dated when they were broken up (Sheldon then aaid that Zack was a better model Penny replaced Leonard with) and even married. Also, in Leonard's mind he himself is not worth much and is lucky for every second he has Penny. It's not true and he is getting better with the years but apparently these beliefs are still fundamental in him. Since he loves Penny and doesn't want her to be unhappy he was willing to make the effort to overcome his feelings. Was it easy for him? Not at all, but he was willing to. 

I do agree that it's a shame the writers don't explore Penny more. They seem to not care about her or Leonard or the couple they make.

10 hours ago, Capt. Hilts said:

I thought all of his success with women when he wasn't with Penny was supposed to end all that.  

I'd feel better if they'd shown Penny dating a smart/handsome, guy.  But they didn't.  That, combined with his dating success, makes the "I wore her down" 'joke' not funny or accurate.  

Do you really expect a guy who was literally emotionally abused throughout his whole childhood to just be over it when he gets some success though? His scars are much deeper. People seem to forget that. Actually, in real life a guy like Leonard would have so soooo much worse, perhaps hospitalized on and off in psychiatric and/or general hospitals or dead due to overdose or illness.

Edited April 29, 2017 by bfm
typo