episodes 1220 'The Decision Reverberation' (April 25)

[chucky]

Just now, bfm said:

It wasn't  bad at all IMO, it was just this joke that was in bad taste.

Basically it was my intention to agree, but I let my typing overload my thoughts. 

[Jonny]

I thought it was absolute shite, didn’t laugh once. This season is bad, like really bad.

[Kev0821]

Here's Mayim's recap of the episode:

https://groknation.com/culture/the-decision-reverberation-big-bang-theory-recap/

[SRAM]

9 hours ago, vasu said:

This episode was 2-3 seasons late.

 

You are completely right, this should have happened after he married Penny when Sheldon insisted they spend most of their nights with him.

8 hours ago, bfm said:

Low moment of the episode - Amy saying Leonard went for "getting" Penny regardless of what Penny thought. That made him look like an enormous jerk. Really unnecessary. (Personally I also didn't like the talk about "getting" her with no reservation remembering that she's not an object) 

To be honest, the writers have used that “he wore her down” remark so much I bet it didn’t even register to them how more insulting that “getting” remark really is to Lenny fans.

[SRAM]

6 hours ago, Sah said:

As much as Sheldon has grown, there is always going to be part of him that reverts a little bit. Sheldon wouldn't be Sheldon if he was completely comfortable expressing his feelings. I think that for Sheldon to admit his concern over Leonard possibly losing his job is huge. Any more and it would be too far out of character for him. I thought  it was perfect amount of Sheldoness.  I thought it was very well executed.  

I thought is was just another demeaning insult to Leonard’s capabilities because Sheldon basically thought that Leonard was not good enough for the position he was requesting and therefore the university would let him go.  Considering he agreed, in a previous episode, that Penny should take a chance, quit the Cheesecake Factory, to follow her dream and be happy, he sure doesn’t have that faith in Leonard, he never has.  However, since Leonard did get a rewarding compromise from Siebert, proving the university thinks he is a valuable scientist, unlike Sheldon, it proves that Sheldon was completely wrong about Leonard and was really just putting him down again.  This was just asshole demeaning Sheldon being a poor friend to Leonard again, not supporting him but putting him down again.  It has been proven many times in the series that even though Sheldon looks like a normal person he is actually a self-serving and self-important robot.

Also Penny is no saint either, remember she makes twice as much as Leonard and therefore could support them if the worse happened.  However, she acted the same way Leonard did when she told him she was quitting the Cheesecake Factory, she came off very hypocritical in my way of thinking by her reactions.

[Sah]

13 hours ago, SRAM said:

I thought is was just another demeaning insult to Leonard’s capabilities because Sheldon basically thought that Leonard was not good enough for the position he was requesting and therefore the university would let him go.  Considering he agreed, in a previous episode, that Penny should take a chance, quit the Cheesecake Factory, to follow her dream and be happy, he sure doesn’t have that faith in Leonard, he never has.  However, since Leonard did get a rewarding compromise from Siebert, proving the university thinks he is a valuable scientist, unlike Sheldon, it proves that Sheldon was completely wrong about Leonard and was really just putting him down again.  This was just asshole demeaning Sheldon being a poor friend to Leonard again, not supporting him but putting him down again.  It has been proven many times in the series that even though Sheldon looks like a normal person he is actually a self-serving and self-important robot.

Also Penny is no saint either, remember she makes twice as much as Leonard and therefore could support them if the worse happened.  However, she acted the same way Leonard did when she told him she was quitting the Cheesecake Factory, she came off very hypocritical in my way of thinking by her reactions.

 Different opinions are certainly valid. On that matter, my opinion is that Sheldon is up for a Nobel Prize. So he can't be that worthless of a scientist. His boss certainly has been showing appreciation and is happy with the work produced by him and Amy. I am trying to remember the last big thing Leonard worked on that earned him praise at work. I do remember him getting into trouble at work for saying physics is dead and coming to Sheldon to help him. I can't imagine saying this would endear him much at work. That said. I like the character of Leonard, even though he didn't get the job he asked for it sounds like he got something that he liked and I hope he is sucsessful and finds happiness doing it.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Sah

[Chrismo]

Pemberton and Campbell are up for a Nobel Prize too.

[Tensor]

5 minutes ago, Chrismo said:

Pemberton and Campbell are up for a Nobel Prize too.

Yeah, the worth or worthlessness of a scientist doesn't necessarily depend on if they have been nominated, in the running for, or won a Nobel.   There have been many instances of worth scientists not getting it (Henry Mosley is a prime example), and scientist not really deserving it, getting it (Charles Edouard Guillaume is the prime example here.).  

[batman75]

I liked the episode. And yes there are inconsistencies but at this point in the game I do not know how they can fix them. 

Lenny was great. My only thing will be that I really wish they will stop implying that Lenny has taken place out of pity. Like if Penny had no choice or she was an object. I really wish I could know who thought in the writing room that putting down Leonard in the main relationship is a punch line. I do think the plot was good when it implied that Leonard should take initiative with the group activities instead of revisiting his personal assertiveness, which he has shown and gone over. I would have preferred for them to have just shown him sharing his proposal with the rest of the group in the opening scene and go from there. (But there is no consistency either with how important they are in their field, many seasons ago it was shown they are like celebrities in the field, at least to a level, and that gets switched around every season). 

Shamy was good but they really need to be more consistent with Sheldon. We know he cares for Leonard but I really wish they could have shown for once that he is supportive of him from the beginning. He could have just been Sheldon by trying to work his way with the university to get Leonard the project, get some comedy from there and for Leonard to ask for him to let him do it on his own.  On the other hand, I really like how Amy knew ahead of time what type of Hulk talk she will be receiving from Sheldon lol. 

With Raj and Anu, I do not even know how to start. I really will like to care for this couple but they are giving us little insights into it that do not validate an outcome. As an audience, I fear that Raj's progress as a character is not going to be satisfying at the end. I guess I just want some possible closure for Raj as well. 

Nevertheless, I am still looking forward to the rest of the episodes. There is no evident arc for this season but I am just enjoying the last that we will be getting from our beloved characters. These last episodes are definitely starting to be bittersweet. 

Edited April 27, 2019 by batman75

[ShamyScience]

This season feels like every episode had a new team of writers, who never saw a single episode before or didn't bother to check what has been written regarding consistency.

My hopes for the finale are getting lower by the episode.

[Die Zimtzicke]

11 hours ago, SRAM said:

I thought is was just another demeaning insult to Leonard’s capabilities because Sheldon basically thought that Leonard was not good enough for the position he was requesting and therefore the university would let him go.  

Sheldon thought the university would not accept the proposal for a new study Leonard was proposing which is NOT the same as Leonard not being good enough for a position he was requesting. A proposal and a position are not the same at a university. If they didn't like the proposal (which they didn't so Sheldon was right about it) that doesn't mean they do not value Leonard. The fact that they were willing to put him on a different study shows that they do.

 

11 hours ago, SRAM said:

Also Penny is no saint either, remember she makes twice as much as Leonard and therefore could support them if the worse happened.  However, she acted the same way Leonard did when she told him she was quitting the Cheesecake Factory, she came off very hypocritical in my way of thinking by her reactions.

This I agree with,

[bfm]

I think it was very reasonable of Penny to worry about her husband potentially quitting and them potentially having to move far away.... Also, Penny has grown a lot since she quit TCF to full-time pursue acting...

Edited April 27, 2019 by bfm

[Sah]

6 hours ago, Tensor said:

Yeah, the worth or worthlessness of a scientist doesn't necessarily depend on if they have been nominated, in the running for, or won a Nobel.   There have been many instances of worth scientists not getting it (Henry Mosley is a prime example), and scientist not really deserving it, getting it (Charles Edouard Guillaume is the prime example here.).  

I will go with the story the writers are giving us...if they say his work is worthy of a Nobel nomination then it is. 

[Mario D.]

20 hours ago, Sah said:

I would have loved seeing more Raj and Anu.

Yeah, they do not have enough scenes with them and they have to cut some.......ridiculous

[Tensor]

18 minutes ago, Sah said:

I will go with the story the writers are giving us...if they say his work is worthy of a Nobel nomination then it is. 

That’s was my point. There are quite a few instances where the work, which wasn’t worthy, was awarded the Nobel (and visa versa)   But the writers can say anything they want, even to the point of having an invalid hypothesis, witch is very unworthy, be in the running for a Nobel.  

[veejay]

1 hour ago, bfm said:

I think it was very reasonable of Penny to worry about her husband potentially quitting and them potentially having to move far away.... Also, Penny has grown a lot since she quit TCF to full-time pursue acting...

Penny has evolved in plenty of positive ways (maturity-wise, confidence-wise, being-able-to-go-toe-to-toe-with-Sheldon-in dealing-with-his-fussiness-wise), even though the character relied on her physical looks and didn't spend a lot of time developing much else in the early seasons. The never-ending string of jokes about Leonard’s unworthiness of Penny is the series' worst ongoing cliché, especially 12 seasons in.
How's about we all just accept that Lenny are deserving each other and find humor in other areas of their coupledom?

"Comedy is about things not being right. Things are running beautifully and everyone’s behaving appropriate and intelligent is not funny." (J. Cleese)

[djsurrey]

19 hours ago, bfm said:

Yes, but this was even worse than "she settled", IMO. At least "she settled" implies her will. That joked implied against her will. It wasn't their intention but they should consider their words, this is scripted, not spontaneous...

I believe the statement started from Amy's point of view. Both Amy and Sheldon see most everything differently than most.

[Die Zimtzicke]

10 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

I believe the statement started from Amy's point of view. Both Amy and Sheldon see most everything differently than most.

But Leonard had no problem with what his friend Amy was telling him.  That's the point.

[bfm]

23 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

I believe the statement started from Amy's point of view. Both Amy and Sheldon see most everything differently than most.

Well, yeah, but when it's supposed to be taken as "quirky Amy/Sheldon" usually you'd have another character reacting to it in a way that implies it was nonsense. 

Edited April 27, 2019 by bfm

[veejay]

20 minutes ago, bfm said:

Well, yeah, but when it's supposed to be taken as "quirky Amy/Sheldon" usually you'd have another character reacting to it in a way that implies it was nonsense. 

Well said. This also was recognized early on a holy place.

[Sah]

12 hours ago, Tensor said:

That’s was my point. There are quite a few instances where the work, which wasn’t worthy, was awarded the Nobel (and visa versa)   But the writers can say anything they want, even to the point of having an invalid hypothesis, witch is very unworthy, be in the running for a Nobel.  

I honestly don't care about how accurate the science is. I care that the writers say he is an amazing phyisist. They are the ones crafting the characters and giving them shape, telling the story. Who knows them better than the writters. I believe he is a worthy scientist from the cannon established from the beginning of the series until the very end . They have not mentioned anything of note that Leonard is working on as of late,  so going by this,  Sheldon is more of an asset currently then Leonard to the university.  I am glad they had Leonard assert himself to ask for a different, presumably higher paying or higher ranking position. It is past time that the writers stop making Leonard a pushover.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Sah

[Tensor]

18 minutes ago, Sah said:

I honestly don't care about how accurate the science is. I care that the writers say he is an amazing phyisist. I believe it. He is worthy scientist according to begining of series. A genious in the field. 

That's fine. I just find it highly hypocritical that the writers and producers, for eleven years have bragged about how accurate the science is.    You can believe he is an amazing physicist, but it comes down to he's an amazing physicist, only because the writers say he is.  The actual physics they have him work on this year isn't even valid, making him a rather poor physicist.   

Up to this year (well last year's finale,  if you want to get technical), all of the science they mentioned may have a had a minor thing or two that wasn't quite right, but was close enough that it  really didn't destroy the illusion.   But this year, the physics has enough large holes that you can drive several trucks through, and that, for me, destroys the illusion and takes me out of the imaginary world the show inhabits.  

I can enjoy things like The Lord of the Rings or the different volumes of The Song of Ice and Fire, as there is no pretense of of being scientifically accurate. (I'm also one of those who complained about a book, that had one astronaut hearing the crunching of the soil beneath the other astronauts boots, on the moon).  But, if they would have included tanks and aircraft for the invasion of Mordor, it would be a similar problem to what TBBT has done with the science this year.  Which has made it just as fictional as Middle Earth, or  Westeros for me.

[Sah]

10 hours ago, Die Zimtzicke said:

But Leonard had no problem with what his friend Amy was telling him.  That's the point.

True words...

[JohnPhD]

I guess the planning of this ep was something like:" Suppose we'd better give those sad old Lenny fans one more Lenny ep then we can get on with the build up to the glorious Shamy finale. Anyone remember how to write Lenny? No? Never mind. Just so long as we remind the audience that Leonard is still basically a wimp. Like have him get sick in the cinema just from eating dinner. Maybe Penny should dump him on the stairs".

(Actually I wasn't clear whether when L did his leg in he was with Penny or practising whatever-it-was by himself. But the worse option for Lenny is usually correct).

[Die Zimtzicke]

1 hour ago, JohnPhD said:

(Actually I wasn't clear whether when L did his leg in he was with Penny or practising whatever-it-was by himself. But the worse option for Lenny is usually correct).

Yes, it is correct.