Wednesday 2 November 2011

TV Review: The Big Bang Theory - "The Good Guy Fluctuation"

Season 5 - Episode 7
CBS (US)

Shunning their usual convention, this year's Big Bang Hallowe'en special episode did not feature the guys dressing up as superheroes. Instead, Sheldon became the victim of a series of pranks and spent the entire episode attempting to get revenge. While this both starrted and ended the episode - as well as being interspaced throughout, the main plot saw Leonard have a crisis of conscience as he met a hot girl at the comic book store and found himself in a dilemma of whether to date him while his girlfriend remained in India.

The plot sounded really bad on paper, as it just doesn't seem to fit Leonard's character, he's not that type of guy. But it was well written, and when it became apparent that he's been feeling isolated from Priya, you could see where they were going with the story. While the character, Alice was clearly there as a plot device, but was actually a pretty likeable character, which also helped out. The tag scene where Leonard confessed his (almost) infidelity to Priya over webcam only to be utterly crushed was one of the most touching moments of the series, and was suddenly turned round by Sheldon's ultimate revenge. Which had me laughing for a good five minutes.

Meanwhile, Sheldon's attempted revenge on Raj (trying to scare an Indian with a snake) and Howard (who faked a heart attack, assisted by Bernadette) were failing, and Penny gave Leonard some advice which was ultimately rejected anyway. Sadly no sign of Amy this week, but it looks like that will change next week, and more Amy is always a good thing.

Season 5 has been a vast improvement on season 4 so far, and "The Good Guy Fluctuation" continues that trend. If the show keeps up this standard, I can see it going for a long time yet.

****

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