‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 10, episode 7 review: Amy’s lie, Sheldon’s decision; the return of ‘Fun with Flags’
Anytime that “The Big Bang Theory” needs to throw out a sure-thing in the laughs department, all they have to do is throw the words “Fun with Flags” out into the universe. The web show featuring Dr. Sheldon Cooper is a show staple, albeit an entirely ridiculous one with no viewers and a host / executive producer whose ego is larger than the city of Pasadena.
Thursday’s episode started with that as a clever device to show how much Amy is enjoying living with Sheldon, which set up perfectly the half-hour’s central dilemma: She was hiding the truth from him about her apartment being finished weeks ago. She didn’t want to face the possibility of going back to the way things were, which from a human standpoint, is certainly understandable. She is someone who spent so much of her relationship waiting for something to happen, so now that it has, why would you want to backpedal?
Here’s the problem: That secret started to spread like wildfire to the point that Leonard passed it along to him. Sheldon was both happy and hurt, and of course wanted to get to the bottom of it. Tonight, the writers got great mileage out of two things: Sheldon’s interrogation skills (which are truly horrible) and also using Klingon as a secret-sharing message. It’s a trick that we’re really surprised is not used more frequently. The truth came out about not just this, but more — Penny’s been slowly shipping out Leonard’s stuff, another understandable move given that their home should be a representation of both parties. Should she have been forthright about it, much like Amy should have? Sure, and that’s what made this story interesting: Both conflicts were about these two characters wanting things that any person would want, but they went about their actions in deceptive ways; yet, at the same time the irrationality of their partners made it so that the weak option was the best option, since otherwise there was no guarantee they would achieve the desired result.
For Amy in particular, the lie was canceled out by the sentiment, and her desired result soon became a reality: Sheldon admitted that he’d be “open” to the idea of living with his girlfriend finally. He is a man receptive to change, but only to a certain extent. That’s why he started to freak out over the idea of potentially moving somewhere beyond Pasadena or that apartment. Our guess is that he will eventually settle in to Penny’s old place with her; logistically, this is what makes the most sense for him.
Sheldon prepared to say goodbye to his old room in the midst of indecision, while Leonard ended up accepting that he needed to let Penny take on more of the role of designer. There wasn’t so much of a struggle there.
Overall – An episode with a lot of humor, and one that also contained some of the biggest personal revelations in some time. We also want to mention a couple of other funny sequences: Sheldon’s nightmare about his old bedroom becoming a sex dungeon, the return of Howard and Raj’s band for “Fun with Flags,” and Amy singing a certain piece of “2001: A Space Odyssey” in order to soothe him. Yet another reminder that Mayim Bialik is wonderful in this role. Grade: A-.
Next week – Could we see Sheldon and Amy consider … children? The answer to that is “yes,” not necessarily in the way you would expect. Head over here for some further details! (Photo: CBS.)