‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 8, episode 14 review: Stephen Hawking and Bernadette’s secret

Tonight’s new episode of “The Big Bang Theory” was all about embarrassment in one way or another. For Sheldon and Leonard, they had a chance to tackle an internet troll. Meanwhile, Amy, Bernadette, and Penny found out a few surprising things about each other.

Our leading men this week managed to pen what they felt was an exciting and revolutionary new paper. The problem? They were being trolled online by someone. This actually felt pretty true to the geek experience of dealing with internet bullies; they went back and forth on what they should do for hours, only before eventually deciding to face their adversary. The twist? This said adversary was none other than Stephen Hawking! It was a nice little way to implement him back into the world of the show, and it turned out he actually liked their paper. He was just bored, which justifies his trolling in his mind.

At first, the story involving the three women did not bring a whole lot to the table. Finding out that Penny’s ape movie is terrible? No surprise there. The real source of comedy came from learning that Bernadette was in beauty pageants when she was much younger, and that Amy had written a series of fanfiction stories set in the world “Little House on the Prairie,” with a little bit of “Outlander” thrown in there as Amy’s “Amelia” is visited by a man named “Cooper” from the future. Completely ridiculous, but also hilarious and something that a character like Amy would probably do.

In the end, this episode brought a good bit to the table, especially with Amy. Her fanfiction may go down as her most memorable storyline of the season. Grade: A-.

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