Season 5, Episodes 1 and 2: The
Skank Reflex Analysis/The Infestation Hypothesis
By: Carlos Uribe
The Big Bang
Theory is about a group of nerds and the girl next door. I will be
covering this show weekly.
Spoilers Ahoy!
Last season ended
with a controversial cliff-hanger when they had Penny sleep with Raj.
Not only was it a twist, but it was the first time the plot surprised
me. Until that moment, the Big Bang Theory never had a surprise
twist. It was funny and it had great characters. But the plots tended
to be on the predictable, safe side. So to see the show take such a
gamble not only surprised me, but made me interested to know what was
going to happen next.
To my surprise the
writers didn't completely wave the cliff-hanger away. It did happen,
sorta. Turns out that by “sleeping together”, Raj was the only
one receiving satisfaction in that it was just a hand job. Still, a
sexual act and a secret kept amongst the two of them. I liked this
small twist since it meant the show didn't shy away from the
consequences of the action: everyone thinks they slept together and
that worked great.
Meanwhile the
fallout wasn't as bad as expected. It's obvious Penny is still going
to be friends with them. Leonard is more worried about his
long-distance relationship with Priya than this whole thing. Sheldon
didn't really care and Howard cared a bit more but he got over it. It
wasn't as disastrous as fans were expecting it to be-this is still
the same show.
A fact that was
proven by the next episode. In the next episode, Sheldon gets
panicked because Penny picked a chair from the garbage. Even though
it was very comfortable, when he finds out he panics. For the rest of
the episode he is bothered by the chair and eventually tried to get
rid of it. Even though he's obviously being paranoid the chair does
end up being infested with what is probably a kind of rodent. A
silly, predictable plot that of course drew a whole bunch of laughs.
While this was
going on Leonard was trying to do the cybernasty with Priya. This
opens up a lot of comical situations that were frankly comedy gold.
There's even a scene that will have slashers of Howard and Raj
excited because they pretty much kiss. Technically they don't
actually kiss as they do it through a machine. Still, the sub-plot
was extremely well.
In the hour of
comedy, there was only one weak point. In the season premiere Sheldon
has a sub-plot of paintball that for the most part didn't fit with
the rest of the episode. The writers felt like they had to give
Sheldon something to do when in reality he should have been in the
background after that opening scene. The show doesn't always have to
feature Sheldon, and it would be great if the show finally realized
it.
