‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 8, episode 15 review: What happened to Howard’s mom?
Tonight’s new episode of “The Big Bang Theory” was entitled “The Comic Book Store Regeneration,” and if this was any other episode, we imagine that the headline here would be the cameo of Nathan Fillion as himself, being harassed by Raj for a photo after initially being told that he actually wasn’t the “Firefly” star.
Obviously, the final few minutes of the episode changed that, when Howard heard from a phone call via his aunt that his mother, Debbie, passed away. This was a story that we knew was coming, given that Carol Ann Susi passed away months ago, and the show had no plans to ever cast the role with anyone else. As hard as it may be for the show to really handle both comedy and tragedy, they also couldn’t ignore it. This is a watershed moment in Howard’s life, and Simon Helberg played it perfectly. Also, kudos to Sheldon for that tender line at the very end.
While this moment at the end was emotionally devastating for so many reasons, we do have to comment on the rest of the episode, as well. The show did still attempt to make us laugh many times, and they did, especially with the big reveal that Amy and Sheldon had been testing Leonard and Penny against chimpanzees.
At the end of the day, the episode did end with a tribute of sorts to Debbie. It didn’t wash the character out and make her seem perfect, and it therefore honored Susi in probably the way she would have wanted: With humor. It seems almost awkward to judge this one critically. Grade: A-.
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rachel
February 20, 2015 @ 5:14 am
I loved this episode because the cast did such a great jobb paying tribute to Carol Ann Susi. It also handled the comedy well. I liked that Penny and Leonard were made the subjects of Sheldon and Amy’s experiment without their knowledge.. Also, Sheldon’s line to Howard was sweet, so was the toast at the end of the episode. I laughed and I cried, Kudos. I also liked the Nathan Fillian cameo. Maybe, he will come back so he can do a signing at the comic book store. Grade:A
MrsCarter101
February 21, 2015 @ 1:04 am
They did such a wonderful job on it – my heart broke for Howard when he got that call. I loved the toast with the gang, it was so sweet. I’d love to see Nathan Fillion again too, that photo with him, Leonard and Raj was hilarious.