Monday Recap: The Big Bang Theory, season 3, episode 1

For me, The Big Bang Theory has become a kind of Monday-night comedy sleeper hit, with some of the episodes being unexpectedly hilarious and the majority being quite funny. The show revolves around four brilliant but socially awkward 20-somethings—Leonard, Sheldon, Rag and Wolowitz (Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg). All four work as researchers and professors at the same university and spend most of their free time hanging-out at Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, with Penny (Kaley Cuoco)—the pretty young aspiring actress who lives across the hall—usually in tow.

Wolowitz has a Master’s Degree in Engineering from MIT and the other three have PhDs in physics—a fact which, at times, makes Wolowitz the butt of jokes. Each member of the group is a punch line in his own right though, with Sheldon being the most socially inept—and consequently, the most neurotically entertaining. All are overachievers who’ve earned their respective degrees ridiculously young but can’t find any success with women; basically, the four are highly successful fan-boys, a fact the show consistently uses for solid comedy.

When we last saw our four so-smart-their-dumb geeks, they had set off to Antarctica to spend 3 months at an isolated research station. Last night’s third-season premiere found Leonard, Sheldon, Howard and Rajesh returning from their 3-month research mission, eager to return to their lives and sporting thick facial hair.

Sheldon is especially enthusiastic to get back to his job at the university; his research results during the 3-month Antarctica trip guarantee him a Nobel Prize—or so he believes.

Only problem is, those research results are bogus. In order to shut him up and make him generally less unbearable, his three friends intentionally distorted Sheldon’s results. As Wolowitz states, Sheldon’s equipment didn’t actually detect ‘paradigm-shifting monopoles’ (whatever that means), but rather, static from an electric can opener they were turning on and off.

Sheldon, to say the least, is devastated. He’s already bragged extensively about those research results. Shamed and embarrassed to face his colleagues, he resigns the university and moves back home to live with his mother in Texas. At the prompting of Penny—actually at the insistence of Penny—Leonard, Howard and Raj set off to Texas to convince Sheldon to come home (embedded clip below). They’re successful of course, mostly because Sheldon can’t get along with his hyper-religious mother (Laurie Metcalf).

The highlight of last night’s episode revolved around Penny and Leonard. To this point, Leonard’s attraction to Penny has amounted, mostly, to unrequited love. Last night Penny had an interesting surprise waiting for Leonard upon his return from Antarctica.

This season 3 premiere was funny in places but certainly wasn’t up to the standards set by the series’ funniest outings. And though I’m certainly looking forward to another season, last night’s episode had hints that the show may be running out of fresh ideas. Let’s hope not. The Big Bang Theory has proven one of the most pleasant comedic surprises of the past 2 TV seasons.

Unfortunately, there was no letter at the end of this episode (a first for the series and a great personal disappointment), but hopefully that entertaining, weekly, stream-of-conscience diatribe will return next week.

I’ll giddily reprint here upon its return.

Clip: Leonard, Howard and Raj arrive in Texas to convince Sheldon to come home

This episode's best lines:

“You think you’re so clever. Well let me tell you, while I don’t currently have a scathing retort, you should check your email periodically for a doozy.”   --Sheldon to his archrival at the university after being insulted.

“Oh my god, that’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me that I didn’t understand.”   --Penny to Leonard upon being gifted with a preserved snowflake from Antarctica.

“No mother, I could not feel your church group praying for my safety. The fact that I’m home safe does not prove that it worked; that logic is post hoc, ergo proptor hoc. [Pause]
No, I’m not sassing you in Eskimo talk.”   --Sheldon to his mother in a phone conversation after she reminds him that he returned safely from Antarctica because of prayer.

“Did you just have the nobel prize in waitressing stolen from you?”   --Sheldon to Penny when she tells him she knows how he feels after finding out about his bogus research results (Penny moonlights as a waitress).