The Ballad of Thor and Dr. Jones.
Warning: full episode spoilers follow.
Of all the character drama brewing on The Big Bang Theory lately, perhaps no subplot is more compelling than Sheldon’s fear of having to live his life without Leonard and Penny as his constant companions. For most close groups of friends, marriage means moving on and new lives for all involved. But for a guy like Sheldon, phrases like “moving on” and “starting a new life” are the stuff of nightmares. This episode was notable for diving headlong into this ongoing conflict and Sheldon’s inability to embrace change. And it made for an enjoyable conflict, even if it felt like the writers were forestalling the conflict rather than trying to bring it to a head.
You have to give Sheldon credit for at least trying to be a reasonable adult and putting a brave face on the situation. Following his chat with Bernadette (a pairing I’d like to see more of in the future), Sheldon came to the realization that getting a new roommate might be good for him. I’m almost surprised the writers didn’t opt to explore the “Sheldon and Stuart as roommates” angle, though not necessarily disappointed. That might have been funny for half an episode for getting played out. Instead, Sheldon released Leonard from his grasp (following a a meticulous process of paperwork and key exchanging) and looked forward to an uncertain future. That scene proved surprisingly touching, especially as Leonard got a little choked up while initialing his final form. Of course, Sheldon being Sheldon, it was only the briefest of moments before Leonard remembered why he was so eager to move out in the first place.
From there, the episode followed Sheldon’s amusing but sad struggle to embrace a post-Leonard lifestyle. At first that involved his efforts to recruit a new roommate, which went exactly as well as you’d expect. Seeing him struggle to maintain his composure at the sight of one candidate’s innocuous band-aid was definitely one of the more amusing moments of the evening. It was also funny to see Sheldon nonchalantly try to convince Amy to fill the empty bedroom. At the same time, that encounter highlighted how far Sheldon has fallen in the past year. It wasn’t so long ago that Amy was desperate to become Sheldon’s live-in girlfriend. Now she wants nothing to do with him, and the loneliness is starting to set in despite Sheldon’s best efforts.
From there, Sheldon gave up the optimistic approached and retreated into the world as it existed before he met Leonard. It was a trademark Sheldon move. I think this subplot missed some of its potential by not leaning harder on the “Sheldon only using technology that existed in 2003” gag. The archaic flip phone was a nice start, but there was more potential to be had there.
Sheldon always has his paperwork in order.
Alongside Sheldon’s drama there were a few memorable moments focused on the other characters involved in this conflict, We quickly learned that Leonard was having trouble dealing with this separation as well. However much he might complain about Sheldon’s rigid rules and timetables, Leonard also craves that structure in his life. There was also a fun little scene with Amy and Bernadette as the former worried over Sheldon’;s behavior and the latter continued to do her best to pawn off Stuart on anyone who would take him. We can probably look forward to that conflict becoming the focus of an episode sooner rather than later.
The one real disappointment with this storyline is that it felt like the characters were once again sweeping their troubles under the rug rather than facing them head-on. The end result of all this drama is that Leonard is more or less back as Sheldon’s roommate. Little has changed in their arrangement. Certainly, neither Leonard nor Sheldon really grew as characters because of this episode. Still, a temporary patchwork solution like this implies that the show will revisit this conflict at some point in Season 9.
This week’s subplot was highly entertaining, as Raj and Howard formed their own little rock band and wrote a song about the titanic clash between Thor and Indiana Jones. This made for a silly little storyline that allowed Simon Helberg to bust out some of that physical comedy he does so well. With this season continuing to veer in a slightly darker direction than most, it’s always nice to have these two keeping things light and fun. And while neither showed much musical talent here, their “Thor and Dr. Jones” song was kind of catchy.
This season of The Big Bang Theory is getting plenty of mileage out of exploring Sheldon’s loneliness and inability to move forward in a post-Leonard world. This episode mined further drama out of that ongoing conflict, even if the conclusion did little more than restore the status quo for the time being. And thankfully, Howard and Raj were on hand to ensure that the episode never got too dark or depressing.
