When I saw the preview of tonight’s The Big Bang Theory, I was thinking it would be an interesting predicament for the boys. Seeing their reactions to the burglary in their apartment should have plenty of comedic possibilities as well as great lines for Jim Parsons … er, Sheldon Cooper. I started thinking of throwing them into other situations and somehow one of the early Seinfeld episodes; the one in the Chinese restaurant came to mind. The writing and characters on this show could surely hold their own in a Chinese restaurant, right?
Oh my gosh … they opened the episode in a Chinese restaurant. Not to diminish great lines and giggles I had with the main storyline, but this was a hoot. First, I’m glad Chinese restaurant menus in other areas are rampant with misspellings and typos. The “mobster” sauce bit was perfect repertoire between Sheldon and Leonard. Now I’m going to have to smile each time I think of “sleeping with the fishes.” Mind you, I don’t think of the phrase often. However, I’m writing this in New Jersey and our mobster sauce probably is chunked mobsters!
The main storyline about the burglary went a different direction than I thought it would. Sure, Howard Wolowitz, um, appropriated alarms and monitoring systems from the defense department. But I thought the boys would go all Junior C.S.I. with their knowledge of science and gather forensic evidence. Yeah, Sheldon snagged a cup and gave his own prints, but that was about it in that vein.
Instead, they focused on Sheldon’s almost irrational fear about the crime rate in Pasadena. Um, okay. That gave some funny lines. I never get sick of his knocking routine and it’s even funnier when done frantically in fear of his life. The recurring bladder line — “master of my own bladder” — again a bit reminiscent of Seinfeld, was nicely done. As a recent new computer buyer with Windows 7, I understand why Sheldon doesn’t like it being more user-friendly.
Shedon’s move to Bozeman was something we all knew wouldn’t happen, so the ending was a bit “eh.” You could almost predict he’d be robbed or something. I was happy they showed the absolute ending; Howard’s just an acquaintance. Hmm. Overall, another enjoyable episode with the right mix of clever writing, perfect characterization, and physical comedy, too. Your thoughts?
Clacked by Jackie Schnoop 
on Jan 18, 2010 @ 22:55 EST5EDT
My favorite scene was the one in which Sheldon was no longer the master of his own bladder.
Did you notice that James Hong played the Chinese restaurant owner in the episode in which only having three people instead of four threw off Sheldon’s equal division of food, and in the Seinfeld Chinese restaurant episode to which you referred?
I think you meant “perfect repartee between Sheldon and Leonard” instead of “repertoire.”
I took the Bozeman reference as the name of the ship captained by Kelsey Grammer in that Star Trek: The Next Generation time loop episode. Am I overthinking this?
I love the show and Sheldon is priceless