‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 9, episode 4 review: Sheldon’s new roommate dilemma

At the core of “The Big Bang Theory” is a show about roommates. With that in mind, can you really be that surprised that the writers seem to be hesitant to drift far from the established premise?

The key story from Monday night’s new episode was mostly all about whether or not Sheldon was going to be able to handle Leonard and Penny moving in together, and in turn whether or not Leonard was able to himself handle the idea of not being in the same apartment he’s come to know for a decade. It’s almost a grass-is-always-greener phenomenon, and he has come to love the routine and the eccentricities.

There were some funny moments throughout the episode, whether it be tricking Sheldon with a visit to the Container Store or getting to see him try to revert back to many years ago to try to tape into the brain of a younger Sheldon. The problem was mostly that we feel like we’ve seen almost this entire story before on the show, and therefore it was like nothing really changed since Leonard agreed to stay at Sheldon’s with Penny a good percentage of the time. The best moment of this story may have been his conversation with Bernadette, ranked seventh on the list of women he wanted to speak with about his trouble.

As for Raj and Howard, starting a band, it was silly filler, which was made largely better by some great Kunal Nayyar physical comedy. Also, wasn’t it nice to have Laura Spencer back for an episode? Clearly, he and Emily are still working things out even after the whole cemetery scene.

We found Monday’s episode as a whole entertaining (loved the Stuart scene at the beginning), it was not exactly anything new, either. It was mostly a disposable half-hour in which very little was actually accomplished. Grade: B-.

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