‘The Big Bang Theory’ season 10, episode 14 review: Raj’s ex-girlfriend convention
Why is Raj struggling to find love? It’s a question that, in one way or another, has existed since the very beginning of “The Big Bang Theory.” He’s socially awkward, overly dependent, and at times reckless because of his own experience. Yet, some of these qualities are the reason that we love the guy so much. He’s relatable given that so many of us often want to know why things don’t work out in life, really regardless of how badly we want for them to.
What all of this ended up leading to on Thursday night’s new episode of the CBS show was Raj choosing to stage almost an intervention for himself, one where all of his former romantic partners could come together and tell him precisely what went wrong. In some ways, this was great given that it allowed us to get Emily, the other Emily (played by Katie Leclerc — she was only around briefly), Lucy, and Claire in the same room. Sure, there are some romantic partners missing, but this was a rather great group.
Here’s the problem for Raj: All indications were that this was going to go horribly bad and that he wouldn’t actually get what he wanted out of it. These people all ended things with him for a reason, and there is that expression that sometimes, the truth hurts. Raj is already a sensitive guy, so it was not altogether difficult to figure out scenarios in which all of these women dog-piling him would end up damaging his emotional psyche in a rather significant way. That’s precisely what happened, and what this event eventually lead to was Howard and Raj bickering.
Sheldon’s emotion detector – After spending the entirety of the series being completely unaware of how other people perceived him, the character got himself a new research device from MIT, one that allowed him to understand how everyone was thinking. On the surface, this sounded like a great idea, but there was a darkness and underlying sadness to this given that the device served as a reminder of how socially unaware he is of the surrounding world. After Leonard and Penny hurt his feelings, his actions led to the two of them having an argument about Penny’s brother coming to town and staying with them.
Eventually, Amy and Sheldon had a nice moment that made him feel better, and also helped him to realize that he didn’t need his new device in order to get along with his friends and roommates. Also, he was able to detect that Leonard and Penny were upset at each other once more after he learned how she was going to break the news to her father about her brother.
Overall – We’re not sure that Raj accomplished all that much this week, but it was nice to see him back … even though it doesn’t seem like ANY of these women are right for him in the end. Meanwhile, Sheldon’s quest to understand human emotion better led to some fun moments, and it was another great step in his personal growth. Grade: B.
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