episodes 1121 'The Comet Polarization' (April 19)

[Tripper]

'The Comet Polarization' - Season 11, Episode 21 
Airs Thursday, April 19 at 8/7c on CBS.

Sheldon's comic book store experiences changes when writer Neil Gaiman puts Stuart's store on the map. Also, Koothrappali takes credit for Penny's astronomical discovery, and friendships are threatened.

[chucky]

Really looking forward to seeing this episode. 

[chucky]

Well, 15 hours and 10 minutes.

[Chrismo]

Generally a fairly good episode. If you think raj is an ass this won't change your mind. If you think Leonard's a wimp that's not going to change. Raj and Leonard ended up IMO doing the right thing in the end but it was a little too late.i enjoyed Penny tonight and thought she handle herself perfectly. The rest was a bit filler. Although I liked Denise and am curious what's going to happen with her.

[chucky]

12 minutes ago, Chrismo said:

Generally a fairly good episode. If you think raj is an ass this won't change your mind. If you think Leonard's a wimp that's not going to change. Raj and Leonard ended up IMO doing the right thing in the end but it was a little too late.i enjoyed Penny tonight and thought she handle herself perfectly. The rest was a bit filler. Although I liked Denise and am curious what's going to happen with her.

Your right, Raj is an ass, Leonard is a wimp and Penny is smarter than Raj, the ass.

[vonmar]

Ryan is Vice President & Creative Executive, @Marvel New Media. 

[MsGreentea]

It was an okay episode.  They really should have given more time to the Comet story.  Mostly the scene where Penny found it.  If they had made it look like they were outside for more than 2 minutes.  Plus I want to know what they named it.  What a great opportunity to find out Penny’s last name. 

[Chrismo]

Penny Hofstadter

[Judith]

That was such a great episode.

[MsGreentea]

18 minutes ago, Chrismo said:

Penny Hofstadter

Yeah I know but ...  On’t they usually just use last names - seems a little weird that She wouldn’t use something like Cjfjjdnd-Hofstedter.

Edited April 20, 2018 by MsGreentea

[djsurrey]

I really enjoyed this episode. More so the comic book store and all the bits associated with that but it was nice to have a little science in there.

[veejay]

Glamour Recap

Thanks, Jessica!
Nothing more to say from my serious point of view.
Oh, just a little hint at last: #runtoindia!

#justiceforpenny

Edited April 20, 2018 by veejay

[mirs1]

19 minutes ago, veejay said:

Glamour Recap

Thanks, Jessica!
Nothing more to say from my serious point of view.
Oh, just a little hint at last: #runtoindia!

#justiceforpenny

I beg to differ with the very first sentence here

"I'd like to report a missing person, and his name is Rajesh Koothrappali. It seems some alien force targeted Pasadena and either replaced him with his evil twin or brainwashed him into thinking he's an asshole."

Exibit A, Season 4, episode 3

P- God, he's an ass when he drinks.

H- Oh, he's an ass when he doesn't. You just don't hear it. 

 

[veejay]

@mirs1  Double thumbs up to you!

[spidergirl]

21 minutes ago, mirs1 said:

"I'd like to report a missing person, and his name is Rajesh Koothrappali. It seems some alien force targeted Pasadena and either replaced him with his evil twin or brainwashed him into thinking he's an asshole."

This missing was reported too late as  I think that replacement kind of happened when Raj stopped drinking for talking to women, LOL!

To me it is official: Raj is a lost case. He could go to Mars I would not miss him...

[bfm]

5 hours ago, MsGreentea said:

Yeah I know but ...  On’t they usually just use last names - seems a little weird that She wouldn’t use something like Cjfjjdnd-Hofstedter.

It appears that Penny did not hyphenate when she got married but rather changed her last name to Hofstadter.

 

It was a nice episode. What I liked the most was Penny talking about how people disregard her and wanting to fight for hers in a situation where she could do it (she probably wouldn't when making a sale). It's a rare ocassion that they delve into more serious challenges Penny faces. It's a shame they didn't take more time for that. 

Leonard should have been more insistent with Raj. However I liked it that they didn't make him appear to be the bad guy or just plain unsupportive of Penny for no reason. It is in fact Penny who noted that he has problems dealing with someone being upset, she wasn't too mad at him but angered by his flaw. Leonard telling her she should fight for herself was originally him trying to appease her after he failed in front of Raj, but there is a point to that. She doesn't need him to fight her battles. I do think he should have been with her to back her up but in Leonard's case that would be detrimental, as in the scene in 4A ><

Raj was an ass. He was a total ass to Penny and knew how to play Leonard. I guess Penny didn't take what he said seriously in the last scend because she knew he was trying to play her. What a jerk.

The comic book store plot was nice. I wonder if anything is going to evolve with Denise, maybe a recurring character. Amy in the store made me laugh, as well as some of her reaction to Sheldon in their apartment. Well done Mayim. It was nice that Amy tried to learn and talk about comic books but I doubt this will continue. 

[Jonny]

I thought it was ok, there has been worse this season and there has been a lot better as well but it's not an episode that will stick in the memory long.

I thought they set up the Penny thing well, got to think the way they were insulting her intelligence in the opening scene and the general theme that she is seen as less intelligent (coupled with the recent work example she gave) made her so very determined perhaps more than usual to get her name on the comet. So it made sense to me why she was sticking to her guns so vehemently.

I'm not a scientist, but should she get full credit for it? I'm leaning towards the stance that both their names should be on it considering all the equipment was set up and calibrated by Raj, presumably Raj identified a region he wanted to focus on in particular and Raj gave Penny the opportunity first (someone else could have had a first look and spotted it). But Raj being Raj obviously wanted to take full credit for it which was wrong. I wonder if 9.12 played any part of this as well, when Sheldon and Raj discovered that asteroid and Raj was trying to get his name on it? Perhaps he wanted to make sure he got his name on anything a second time there was a discovery? Probably not, not sure they even remember it lol.

Sounded to me like Leonard was either more on the fence or leaning towards Penny's side of the argument but couldn't be bothered with the drama and conflict over it. I could see the scientist in him pushing for both their names on it, considering how they both played a role in its discovery. Not sure the spineless comparisons are all that fair, he clearly didn't feel strongly about the issue to put his full backing behind either side of the argument which is fair if he genuinely felt that way. He shouldn't necessarily back his wife all the time because she is his wife.

Comic book storyline was ok I guess, it was funny to see Gaiman and nobody recognize him when he made his contributions to the discussions lol. I laughed at Sheldon's reaction when he saw it was popular.

Denise well I haven't really seen enough of her to form an opinion, it will be interesting to see if she does appear more on the show and what impact that might have. If she is there to strike a relationship (perhaps an incorrect assumption or trope, she might not be there at all for that purpose) with someone I kind of hope it's Stuart. 

Enjoyed the Shamy interactions in 4B, Mayim was funny with some of her facial expressions and reactions. Not sure I buy into the jealously thing all that much considering she pretty much hates comics, Sheldon knows she hates comics, she has no reasons literally whatsoever to have any jealously feelings even minor. Kind of felt like that whole plot could have happened years ago when Shamy were in the early days of dating and it would have had way more impact and perhaps even comedy to it.

Howardette were ok, good to see they still have date nights with two kids. But it didn't have much impact on the stories (Howard and Sheldon's scenes together had more impact this week) but they had to have Bernadette do something this week.

Really happy for Stuart, great to see a major win for him. Kind of for a moment reminded me of the early days of Stuart a bit more, when he wasn't completely down on his luck all the time.

Overall an ok episode I thought, nothing amazing but it wasn't bad.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Jonny

[chucky]

26 minutes ago, Jonny said:

I wonder if 9.12 played any part of this as well, when Sheldon and Raj discovered that asteroid and Raj was trying to get his name on it?

I doubt it. These writers never take in account of anything written more than 3 or 4 earlier episodes. Take for example Penny's being upset that Leonard wasn't taking her side. She took Sheldon's side in the room mate agreement argument  during the Viewing Party episode. 

[Jonny]

3 minutes ago, chucky said:

I doubt it. These writers never take in account of anything written more than 3 or 4 earlier episodes. Take for example Penny's being upset that Leonard wasn't taking her side. She took Sheldon's side in the room mate agreement argument  during the Viewing Party episode. 

The way I see it each situation is different, sides are taken sometimes on the same side and sometimes on the opposite and sometimes you see sides shift to a different stance on the subject matter. Then you have a plethora of external factors and influences on top of that that influence your judgement and how you are feeling at that particular time which can really influence you sometimes unknowingly until later.

I understood Penny's reactions completely in this one, that rooftop opening actually was quite insulting to Penny with some of those comments and by more than one person. But (and I think this more importantly which explains her position in this one) she also cited the work example later in the episode which leads me to the conclusion she was still smarting over that and the Raj stuff was just another example added on top that pushed her over the edge and made her feel she needed to make a stand. And fair play to her! She has proven her intellectual smarts countless times (especially in regards to Emotional Intelligence) over the years to them.

Like Amy said earlier this season a few episodes ago in her situation it's 'not a hill I want to die on'. I think Leonard had that same view and or mindset over this particular situation and again I thought the show showed why and I understood his position. If he feels that way he feels that way then again fair play to him.

Raj is probably the more difficult one to understand in terms of his actions and stance but there are some signs there. He has the Planetarium gig now which I suspect would give him added motivation to have a discovery like this. Presumably he still works for the University as well so I wouldn't entirely dismiss the impact it has on his work a discovery like this and funding (though he clearly over egged the funding in this one to try and guilt trip Penny into changing her mind lol). But it was clearly wrong to take full credit, he should have proposed naming it including both of them from the beginning.

Vulture's Review:

http://www.vulture.com/2018/04/the-big-bang-theory-recap-season-11-episode-21.html

Not exactly glowing.

[SRAM]

Penny was so right about her deserving credit for the discovery because when she first saw the object Raj insisted that she was not seeing anything and it was only her persistence that had him finally tell her to take a picture, so it was definitely  Penny who found the comet.  I’m glad she stood her ground because she is right, people treat her like she is a dumb blonde and don’t listen to her, it was one of the reasons she picked Leonard, he listened to her.

i understand the writers were trying to portray Leonard as someone who tries to avoid and settle conflict, but they still should have had him take Penny’s side at the end and just not tell her she is strong and can fight her own battles.

[Jonny]

It's clear Penny should get credit absolutely, but are we talking full credit or shared? Leonard was pushing for shared credit (perhaps putting his scientist hat on) and I think he was right. I explained in my first post on the thread that Raj did make a pretty sizable contribution to its discovery as well, nowhere near enough for Raj to take full credit which he clearly tried to do.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Jonny

[chucky]

6 hours ago, Jonny said:

It's clear Penny should get credit absolutely, but are we talking full credit or shared? Leonard was pushing for shared credit (perhaps putting his scientist hat on) and I think he was right. I explained in my first post on the thread that Raj did make a pretty sizable contribution to its discovery as well, nowhere near enough for Raj to take full credit which he clearly tried to do.

They both deserved credit. I think it's time to ditch Raj. In this episode he reminds me of Sheldon's condescending take all the credit attitude. We already have a Sheldon, don't need another one.

Edited April 20, 2018 by chucky

[Chrismo]

5 hours ago, Jonny said:

 

Vulture's Review:

http://www.vulture.com/2018/04/the-big-bang-theory-recap-season-11-episode-21.html

Not exactly glowing.

I liked the episode but the review was correct. It made all the guys look bad. JMO but Penny and maybe Denise were the stars.

[bfm]

You know I actually forgot about Howardette when posting, just a few minutes after watching the episode. It was like they were just there so we remember they exist. I think they could have been better contributing to the comet plot.

[Capt. Hilts]

29 minutes ago, bfm said:

You know I actually forgot about Howardette when posting, just a few minutes after watching the episode. It was like they were just there so we remember they exist. I think they could have been better contributing to the comet plot.

Exactly.  They would have been better used as part of the other two plots.