‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 8, episode 11 review: Sheldon, Amy’s holiday cheer

Tonight, we say goodbye to “The Big Bang Theory” for 2014, and we do so with an episode that provided more for us than just Christmas.

For example, what we really enjoyed was that it never felt like the show tried to just force in Christmas everywhere. The story about Leonard, Raj, Howard, and the clean room contamination could have happened anytime, but it was hilarious in its simplicity: A bird got into the room, and they played the blame game and desperately tried to figure out how to get the animal out of there … mostly to no success at all. Their failures in this case were really a part of the fun. It was Penny who ultimately told them to just ditch the clean room and take off.

Meanwhile, the Sheldon / Amy story had the most real holiday cheer, and a very sweet ending. In an attempt to completely ruin Amy’s Christmas, he went out to actually get her some sort of nice gift, that way she would feel bad about not getting him one. In reality, Sheldon discovered that Amy had really done something that was even more thoughtful than anything we’ve seen so far.

The great thing about Sheldon sometimes is that we do see the show through his child-like innocence, and this is what keeps these little moments of Christmas magic and cheer alive. We cannot imagine being so enthralled by this episode without him.

This probably has not been the strongest half-season that “The Big Bang theory” has aired to date, but from start to finish, we really enjoyed this one. We laughed often, we felt warm and fuzzy at the end, and we are looking forward to seeing what happens next. Grade: A-.

What did you think about this episode, and some of the mixture of silliness and heartfelt moments? Share with a comment, and head over here to preview what is coming up next! Also, sign up for further TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)