The Big Bang Theory has given us so many hours of joy that it really hurts to say this, but this episode (plus the one preceding it) is so bad it is almost unwatchable. I've watched the whole series from High IQ sperm clinic to post-Stockholm couch dinner at least six or seven times, but this is one of the very few episodes that I usually skip. Why is that?
(1) The whole "Penny re-marries Leonard" sequence is completely unoriginal. Obviously the writers couldn't come up with a better cliff hanger for the end of season 9 than "Hey, why not have ANOTHER wedding?", so they decided to have this Leonard-Penny relationship that had run out of steam loooong ago drag out a little more.
(2) What the heck is going on with Beverly Hofstaedter? For an entire season she keeps telling us how nice it was that Leonard and Penny married in secret and didn't bother her with all this wedding nonsense. She can barely stand exchanging more than two sentences with her son. But then, all of a sudden, we learn that in truth she is deeply hurt that there hadn't been a ceremony that she had been invited to. Aha, that comes unexpectedly, but all right. Let's have another wedding ceremony, made !!especially and explicitly!! Because of her. But surprise again, what happens now: She shows up in foul mood, picks a fight with everybody and leaves early. So what's the point again of all this?
(3) The writing of the supporting cast is absolutely dreadful. Don't even mention Penny's brother. Just remember how Sheldon's mother and Penny's father were very funny, interesting and believable characters that one could find funny and respect them at the same time. And compare this to the one-dimensional cartoon characters that they have become here. Wyatt is acting like a ignorant hillbilly, and the only good thing about Mary Cooper is that for once she made me agree with Beverly Hofstaedter: Woman, would you please read another book?
(4) The "Colonel Williams" story arc that starts with this episode is especially regrettable and strange, because I think every Breaking Bad fan was happy to see Dean Norris having made it out of the Arizona desert. But what a wasted opportunity it turns out to be across the following episodes. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the idea of that gyroscope military project. And in all fairness, there were some funny moments in it, too. But rarely have I seen a character that made so little sense like this Colonel Williams. Mr Norris is not to blame for that, it is lazy writing and especially lazy directing. Seriously, what is going on there? So this Col. Williams shows up again and again, in full uniform but wearing no hat, no coat, not even carrying a briefcase, not taking notes of any kind?!? No assistants supervising the project, no secretaries making appointments, no board or committee or sth discussing with Howard, Leonard and Sheldon what must be a billion dollar thing?!? Nope, it is just the Colonel who pops in now and then and leaves. This must be the most surreal character on the entire show. It is like the whole story thread would eventually turn out to be just a hallucination with the Colonel as some kind of Rabbit Harvey in uniform. As I said, the gyroscope story wasn't bad as such, but it could have been SO much better. You don't even get the feeling that the friends really are (in later episodes) in some secret location because the lab could have been on Caltech campus all the same. Why not show some outdoor locations, why not show the friends pull up to an Area-51-like military installation? Just imagine the kind of stories you could have gotten out of this.
The Big Bang Theory still remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and I give my 4/10 out of respect for all those fond memories. The moments that are pure gold still outweigh the week moment, but this episode surely belongs to the latter. It is one of those fifteen or twenty or so episodes by which the whole series should have been shorter.
(1) The whole "Penny re-marries Leonard" sequence is completely unoriginal. Obviously the writers couldn't come up with a better cliff hanger for the end of season 9 than "Hey, why not have ANOTHER wedding?", so they decided to have this Leonard-Penny relationship that had run out of steam loooong ago drag out a little more.
(2) What the heck is going on with Beverly Hofstaedter? For an entire season she keeps telling us how nice it was that Leonard and Penny married in secret and didn't bother her with all this wedding nonsense. She can barely stand exchanging more than two sentences with her son. But then, all of a sudden, we learn that in truth she is deeply hurt that there hadn't been a ceremony that she had been invited to. Aha, that comes unexpectedly, but all right. Let's have another wedding ceremony, made !!especially and explicitly!! Because of her. But surprise again, what happens now: She shows up in foul mood, picks a fight with everybody and leaves early. So what's the point again of all this?
(3) The writing of the supporting cast is absolutely dreadful. Don't even mention Penny's brother. Just remember how Sheldon's mother and Penny's father were very funny, interesting and believable characters that one could find funny and respect them at the same time. And compare this to the one-dimensional cartoon characters that they have become here. Wyatt is acting like a ignorant hillbilly, and the only good thing about Mary Cooper is that for once she made me agree with Beverly Hofstaedter: Woman, would you please read another book?
(4) The "Colonel Williams" story arc that starts with this episode is especially regrettable and strange, because I think every Breaking Bad fan was happy to see Dean Norris having made it out of the Arizona desert. But what a wasted opportunity it turns out to be across the following episodes. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the idea of that gyroscope military project. And in all fairness, there were some funny moments in it, too. But rarely have I seen a character that made so little sense like this Colonel Williams. Mr Norris is not to blame for that, it is lazy writing and especially lazy directing. Seriously, what is going on there? So this Col. Williams shows up again and again, in full uniform but wearing no hat, no coat, not even carrying a briefcase, not taking notes of any kind?!? No assistants supervising the project, no secretaries making appointments, no board or committee or sth discussing with Howard, Leonard and Sheldon what must be a billion dollar thing?!? Nope, it is just the Colonel who pops in now and then and leaves. This must be the most surreal character on the entire show. It is like the whole story thread would eventually turn out to be just a hallucination with the Colonel as some kind of Rabbit Harvey in uniform. As I said, the gyroscope story wasn't bad as such, but it could have been SO much better. You don't even get the feeling that the friends really are (in later episodes) in some secret location because the lab could have been on Caltech campus all the same. Why not show some outdoor locations, why not show the friends pull up to an Area-51-like military installation? Just imagine the kind of stories you could have gotten out of this.
The Big Bang Theory still remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and I give my 4/10 out of respect for all those fond memories. The moments that are pure gold still outweigh the week moment, but this episode surely belongs to the latter. It is one of those fifteen or twenty or so episodes by which the whole series should have been shorter.