This column marks the first in a weekly series where we will delve into the new episodes of The Big Bang Theory: discuss, criticize, analyze and most of all, laugh at the lives of our favorite geeks and their friends and families of southern California. Season 6 / Episode 1 The Date Night Variable As weve already discussed in the preview column, expectations are fairly sky high as Season 6 of The Big Bang Theory kicks off. The first episode launched the sixth season into orbit last week, with a merely on-par episode entitled The Date Night Variable. Picking up where the end of Season 5 left us, the guys are shown in the comic book store, discussing Howard still being in space, and the ever critical Sheldon pointing out that Howard cannot truly appreciate what hes really a part of; and its actually fair argument. Howard Wolowitz has long been the butt of many jokes on the show when it comes to his intellect, being only an engineer who has a mere Masters degree, and not a Ph.D. like the rest of the fellas. Sheldons ego is on full display, and the new season is off to a charming start.
We move on to the space station, with Howard in orbit, his mother blaring across the station intercom in true Mrs. Wolowitz fashion, trying to keep in touch with her son, and Howard realizing hell never be able to truly get away from dear old Mom. More of the same from Howard and his mother, but entertaining as always. And as Howard says, "Well...space is ruined." As the show progresses, we see Amy preparing for her 2 year anniversary date with Sheldon. Any time with Amy and Penny together has the opportunity to be golden, and this scene does not disappoint. Again, Amy steals the scene with her intent to make the most of her night with Sheldon, but not before again reminding Penny that she is the measuring stick that Amy holds all other females to. The girls discuss their respective men and the status of Pennys relationship with Leonard after the dreaded in-coitus proposal from Leonard, and now we have the plot laid out for the remainder of the episode, but not before the Amy Farrah Fowler line of the night: If Sheldon proposed to me during sex, my ovaries would grab on to him and never let go. So, in this episode well get more on the Leonard and Penny relationship, as well as Howard and his mother and the aftermath of the wedding.
The writers do a decent job of pushing the main storylines forward. As we talked about in my preview column, we had hoped to see how Bernadette and Howards mother got along while he was away in space, and not to disappoint, its apparently not going so well. I really like the fact that the production staff appear to have taken the time to actually film the Howard scenes in 0 gravity, it speaks volumes about how seriously they take their show; again, pushing the envelope and not resting on their laurels. Bernadette does an awesome job of putting Howard in his place, even via Skype when hes hundreds of miles above the Earth. Excellent acting.
This episode also sees some minor progression with the Amy and Sheldon relationship. Amy understandably become upset with Sheldon not taking their anniversary seriously, as not only did he allow Rajesh to pick the restaurant for the date, he also invited Raj to dine with him. After an ultimatum from Amy, Sheldon is backed into a corner, and he is forced to tell Amy that he actually needs her, albeit comically as she is his "ride," but nonetheless more progress made in Sheldon discussing feelings for another person!!! Couple that with Sheldon quoting dialogue from the Spider-Man movie involving how Amy makes him feel and we are well on our way to furthering the Shamy dynamic sooner than I had anticipated.
In the end, the only real issues I had with the episode were again Raj being comedic fodder for all parties, and Penny avoiding the subject of her relationship with the overbearing Leonard. I suppose that works for some of you with Raj being the punch line for so many jokes, and even I enjoy the occasional slam at Raj being from India, as in Sheldon advising he will outsource conversation with Amy to an Indian by bringing Raj on their date night (Priceless!) However, I really hope we see more for Raj this season. I dont know where they should take the character, but as discussed in the preview column, we have got to get Raj moving on to bigger and better things. And the issue between Penny and Leonard and the on again, off again relationship needs to be dealt with. Leonard proposed to her mid-coitus last season, she said nothing in return, and now they are in uncomfortable limbo. And so are we as fans! All in all, not a bad way to kick off a new season of TBBT. We see the story picking up where we left off, and some loose ends, if not tied up, at least being played with in a way that we are set up for further in the weeks to come. As always, I welcome discussion, feedback, and all comments. Are you guys and gals excited that the gang is back? Hit me up on Twitter @davyshrader or via the Gmail at jshrader392@gmail.com