‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 6, episode 14 review: Kripke opens Sheldon’s mind

KripkeAfter a few weeks off, “The Big Bang Theory” returned to CBS on Thursday with an episode that not only brought back a memorable character in Barry Kripke, but also showed us something very important when it comes to Dr. Sheldon Cooper: sometimes, he is not the brilliant physicist that he believes he is.

After first objecting to the idea of having to work on a project with his fellow scientist (who doubles at times as his archenemy), he quickly realized that Kripke’s work was actually better than his. Was there a reason for this? Actually, there was by Kripke’s estimation: he was spending too much time with his girlfriend, and thus his work was suffering because of it.

For a few moments, we were genuinely worried that this was going to be the sort of thing that caused Sheldon to think long and hard about his relationship and its impact on his work … but instead, he just chalked his failures up to a bad day at the office, since he lied to Kripke, anyway, and suggested that he was much more physical with Amy than he actually is. But will many of those things he talked about actually happen? Based on what he told Penny at the end of the episode, it was a “possibility.” This was a major breakthrough for the character, and a welcome sign that there is a story arc here for the future. We don’t necessarily want to see him do the deed soon, but this would be a nice moment for a potential season or even series finale.

While the Sheldon story was both funny and also surprising, the Raj / Howard one was just a silly little aside about their desperation to make real-life action figures of themselves … which included spending $5,000 on a used 3D printer. It was pretty funny, but not the sort of thing that will be remembered save for Raj originally paying for one online, only to later receive one back that was African-American.

What did you think about this episode  In case you haven’t heard the news about Raj getting a potential love interest on “The Big Bang Theory,” all you have to do is visit the link here.

Photo: CBS

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