episodes 1213 'The Confirmation Polarization' (January 17)

[Tripper]

The Confirmation Polarization 
Airs Thursday, January 17 at 8/7c on CBS

When Sheldon and Amy’s super asymmetry theory is proven by two physicists, Dr. Pemberton (Sean Astin) and Dr. Campbell (Kal Penn) from Chicago, they’re thrilled, until they try to kick Amy off the Nobel nomination. Also, Bernadette has a big success at work and Penny’s going to be a part of it – whether she wants to or not.

Sean Astin and Kal Penn guest star.

[Kev0821]

Here's Mayim's recap of the episode:

https://groknation.com/culture/mayim-bialik-sean-astin-kal-penn-big-bang-theory-recap/

[DaisyJane]

Seibert was probably the highlight for me, and Sheldon was less insufferable than usual (the purple stripe bit was really funny). Bernadette really shouldn't have that much screen time, she got irritating real fast. 

[Chrismo]

It was a pretty good but predictable episode. No need now to see the symmetry bit to the finale. Understood the idea of Penny not thinking what she is capable of. Is that gonna come back in the future? She also looked good in that skirt. Kind of agree it was bit too much of Bernadette being annoying in the episode.

[djsurrey]

I thought it was a very good episode.
Some science talk. Some good guests.

[bfm]

5 hours ago, DaisyJane said:

Seibert was probably the highlight for me, and Sheldon was less insufferable than usual (the purple stripe bit was really funny). Bernadette really shouldn't have that much screen time, she got irritating real fast. 

Bernadette has gotten quite a lot of plots (relatively) this season, I think more than Penny. Maybe they're overcompensating for Melissa's absence last year (maternity leave)?

[veejay]

Was I the only one who had thought of Penny's long overdue strictly appeal to the writers in this scene? 😉

[chucky]

5 hours ago, veejay said:

Was I the only one who had thought of Penny's long overdue strictly appeal to the writers in this scene? 😉

IMHO, that was the best scene of the episode! Take charge Penny is so hot!  

[Die Zimtzicke]

10 hours ago, DaisyJane said:

Seibert was probably the highlight for me, and Sheldon was less insufferable than usual (the purple stripe bit was really funny). Bernadette really shouldn't have that much screen time, she got irritating real fast. 

Bernie has been irritating for awhile. I miss early Bernie. But I did like Seibert and the purple stripe bit, although Amy really topped Sheldon with the fly open comment. I felt good that I guessed right that Amy would be willing to give up the Nobel nomination. I assume none of them win, At least I hope not. The second best comment was Leonard's remark about Penny only remembering the stupid things he said. Sean Astin was a treat. I've always liked him.

[shell]

I thought the ep was sweet Love Jim and Mayim's chemistry. I will truly miss these characters. 

[SRAM]

I enjoyed the Penny plot though Bernadette probably came on a little too strong and irritating in it.  I thought the Sheldon plot was sort of boring, the only parts really funny being the Fun-with-Flags in the beginning and the Siebert scenes (I wish they hadn’t waited to bring Siebert back, he is great).  I felt Penny’s plot dominated the episode because Sheldon’s plot felt predictable and almost forced to me.  However, if this Penny plot  isn’t about either Penny doing better in her career, and liking it in the future, or about her being scared to move on with her life, referring back to the baby thing, I don’t know why they did this plot now.

[shell]

'Are there monkey bars?' 

[Chrismo]

28 minutes ago, SRAM said:

I enjoyed the Penny plot though Bernadette probably came on a little too strong and irritating in it.  I thought the Sheldon plot was sort of boring, the only parts really funny being the Fun-with-Flags in the beginning and the Siebert scenes (I wish they hadn’t waited to bring Siebert back, he is great).  I felt Penny’s plot dominated the episode because Sheldon’s plot felt predictable and almost forced to me.  However, if this Penny plot  isn’t about either Penny doing better in her career, and liking it in the future, or about her being scared to move on with her life, referring back to the baby thing, I don’t know why they did this plot now.

I can't imagine it's Penny's career it seemed this "promotion" will take it to the end of the series. Unless she just quits the job for acting.

[Chrismo]

42 minutes ago, SRAM said:

I enjoyed the Penny plot though Bernadette probably came on a little too strong and irritating in it.  I thought the Sheldon plot was sort of boring, the only parts really funny being the Fun-with-Flags in the beginning and the Siebert scenes (I wish they hadn’t waited to bring Siebert back, he is great).  I felt Penny’s plot dominated the episode because Sheldon’s plot felt predictable and almost forced to me.  However, if this Penny plot  isn’t about either Penny doing better in her career, and liking it in the future, or about her being scared to move on with her life, referring back to the baby thing, I don’t know why they did this plot now.

Kim Potts of Vulture had an interesting take on one character’s predictable response to excluding another characters chance to winning the big prize. While eventually getting to the correct response his wavering on what he should have done immediately was wrong, 

[bfm]

I thought this was one of the better episodes of the season, one that, as opposed to many others this season, does stand by the standards I'd expect from earlier BBT seasons. I didn't LOL or anything and were it in any season prior to 8 I don't think it would be considered a very good episode, but it was at a level with better post season 8 episodes and mediocre/a bit weaker pre season 8 episodes. There were various amusing parts, the Pen, Astin and Cuoco gave great performances IMO and, as opposed to too many episodes this season, it did not upset me. 

The Zangen plot, though another one for Bernadette, was IMO more about Penny, which was long overdue. Finally Penny got a plot where she was front and center, and where something about this character, about her self-perception and way of dealing with challenges and her feelings was "said" (BTW, I think Bernadette saying everybody feels not good enough, not smart enough, was perhaps somewhat true but was the wrong move by the writers because making it a general thing was a little like withdrawing what they "said" about Penny). 

The "haven't seen it yet" was a fun and very timely bit. 

"Fun with Flags" was indeed fun and funny as always, and as always I think Mayim kills as Amy being awkward in front of the camera. The SA (just realized it stands for both Super Asymmetry and Sheldon and Amy, what a hoot!) plot was good as a plot, I liked that they mentioned it would be potentially getting a Nobel much earlier than expected, and I do think Sheldon and Amy showed a lot of growth there. In season 4 who would've thought these two would one day have such a conversation, wanting to sacrifice such a huge thing for each other? Some may say this is OOC and the show ruining the Sheldon charcater and so... but I see it as earned character development, which is a great thing to show in the show's last season. I do have reservations here, that are not about the plot itself but about the "larger picture": 1) Here we have another SA plot, after already having sooo many this season, many of them in a row, this one coming after only an episode break after the previous one. Meanwhile, Penny drops a no kids bomb in episode 3, only for the issue to come up 9 whole episodes later, with a whacky plot that ends with us not knowing Leonard's decision, and then we don't hear a word about it in this episode! Ridiculous is way too small a word for that. 2) Sheldon and Amy getting a Nobel or a Nobel nomination feels unnecessary, too much of a fairy tale IMO. Like their wedding, it's too sweet and fairy-taley for me, which makes me dislike it. And it just makes the Sheldon-Leonard imbalance all that greater. Sheldon may get all his dreams, Leonard got an important one of his blown in his face. Yay.

Also no word about Anu, but that makes more sense, supposedly they're dating now. 

I was fine with Bernadette up until her scene with Raj and Howard, that was too much IMO and painted her too bad.

Penny in the end was a bit too Bernie IMO, but maybe she was trying to implement what she had learned from her? 

  

 

[chucky]

1 hour ago, bfm said:

Sheldon and Amy getting a Nobel or a Nobel nomination feels unnecessary, too much of a fairy tale IMO. Like their wedding, it's too sweet and fairy-taley for me, which makes me dislike it. And it just makes the Sheldon-Leonard imbalance all that greater. Sheldon may get all his dreams, Leonard got an important one of his blown in his face. Yay.

I agree so much with this. But then, the writers love and ship Shamy. Leonard gets thrown under the bus and Penny finally gets a nice episode. I just wonder when they will pull the rug out from under Penny!

[Zephon75]

Okay first it was great to see President Siebert again. While I'm glad Penny's got a new job I'm just disappointed in the way they did it,  I would have preferred her getting a new job all on her own, but have it happen solely due to Betnadettewanting her to do it was rubbish. Now the Shamy plot I'll be honest I'm just tired of the Super Asymmetry story, it's had way way too much attention this season.  The plot in this episode was weak but good on Sheldon to want Amy part of it Nobel nomination with him. That said I was really hoping that this would be the end of the super asymmetry storyline till near the end of the season. However, given how it ended it looks like it's going to continue to dominate the rest of the season and that will be annoying if it does. My biggest issue though is even though I, loathed last weeks episode I wanted to see a conclusion to it, but instead, they brushed it aside just so they could go back to the Shamy story arc.   that's annoying they could easily have left this Shamy plot till the next episode although that would mean two episodes in a row without a Shamy plot, I guess the writers didn't like that idea.

Oh at the beginning when they were doing FwF the Union Flag was the wrong way round, given that Sheldon is doing shows on flags he shouldn't have gotten that wrong. 

[chucky]

10 minutes ago, Zephon75 said:

Now the Shamy plot I'll be honest I'm just tired of the Super Asymmetry story, it's had way way too much attention this season.  The plot in this episode was weak but good on Sheldon to want Amy part of it Nobel nomination with him. That said I was really hoping that this would be the end of the super asymmetry storyline till near the end of the season. However, given how it ended it looks like it's going to continue to dominate the rest of the season and that will be annoying if it does.

It'll be as annoying as a whole season of their wedding planning!

13 minutes ago, Zephon75 said:

My biggest issue though is even though I, loathed last weeks episode I wanted to see a conclusion to it, but instead, they brushed it aside just so they could go back to the Shamy story arc.   that's annoying they could easily have left this Shamy plot till the next episode although that would mean two episodes in a row without a Shamy plot, I guess the writers didn't like that idea

I agree as well.

[karyshamy]

I didn't find Bernadette annoying, I like her attitude and the way she outsmarts everybody.

I read a review about this episode that said Jim wasn't able to deliver so much emotion that the writers make the words obvious for him.

I tend to disagree with that opinion, I think Jim is a great actor, but sometimes it feels he is tired of being Sheldon, so he cannot perform in an original way anymore. 

I didn't enjoy much the plot of the 2 scientists that proved the theory by mistake... I understand the comedy behind that, but wouldn't it be so awesome if Leonard and Howard worked on it together?

Speaking of Howard, how I miss nice plots with him, now his life is limited to being a family guy.

 

 

[3ku11]

Just caught up on the latest episodes. I Really enjoyed this one. Penny and Bernie plot was strong. I Think Penny is probably one of the most evolved and developed characters on TV in quite some time. Kinda like Rachel in Friends. Where she started as a spoilt, daddys girl with her fathers credit card. And turned into a women, who found a career and became a Mother. Bit lesser to a degree. But Penny has turned from a Ditzy Blonde from Nebraska. And a Aspiring Actress. And has a found a medium that really suits her. Not sure where this promotion well take her character. But I like seeing Penny taking charge. 

Rest of the plot, diddn't mind the Shamy plot. IT is good to see some science in the Dialogue. Sean Astin and Kal Penn were strong in their guest roles. Bit of a test for Sheldon I Thought. Well he degress? But good too see him supporting his wife. But he was a bit insufferable for my liking. I Think it is good the Super Assymetry plot won't dominate the last season now. 

Edited February 7, 2019 by 3ku11

[chucky]

5 hours ago, 3ku11 said:

I Think it is good the Super Assymetry plot won't dominate the last season now. 

We can only hope that's true!

[JohnPhD]

Far too much Shamy, and the Super Asymmetry storyline is utter, utter rubbish. Apart from that waste-of-space, fairly good. The writers seem to be hitting the sweet spot with Bernadette's lines just now. Visually the B & P scenes were a treat. I really like the decor of Bernadette's office. And the meeting room scene was excellent visually. I've never been one to prefer blondes IRL, but the cornucopia of blonde hair with B & P heads close together was delightful. Penny's hair is on top form just now. And Penny in the long coat she was wearing when B was waiting for her on the stairs -just defines elegance and style.

[chucky]

1 hour ago, JohnPhD said:

And Penny in the long coat she was wearing when B was waiting for her on the stairs -just defines elegance and style.

So very true

[Stephen Hawking]

If there was any doubt, that Sheldon loves Amy more than anyone or anything else, they were dispelled in this episode.

Edited March 9, 2019 by Stephen Hawking

[chucky]

On 3/9/2019 at 12:58 PM, Stephen Hawking said:

If there was any doubt, that Sheldon loves Amy more than anyone or anything else, they were dispelled in this episode.

Were they? All I know is  Lenny loves each other, Howard is scared of Bernadette, Raj will forever alone and Shamy is the weirdest couple on TV!  

Edited March 11, 2019 by chucky