Monsters of Television

“I just wanna put it out there in case I inadvertently squirt pheromones in your direction.”

One of the reasons anti-The Big Bang Theory idiots people do not like the show is because it perpetuates negative stereotypes of nerds/geeks/etc. That’s a debate best held for anther day. There is another movement that this episode buys into that is becoming increasingly prevalent in the media: the emasculation of the male protagonist.

“The Irish Pub Formulation” featured an interesting role reversal that contributed to the pathetic downfall of Leonard this season. Being the only one in that group with a girlfriend is a very sad position to be in and with Bernadette’s failed attempt to set him up with one of her friends in last week’s episode “The Desperation Emanation” things were looking rather bleak.

Enter Raj’s sister, Priya.

Leonard and Priya have a habit of hooking up (unbeknownst to the others) whenever she is in town. It happens again, but this time Leonard is looking for more. As Priya is putting her clothes Leonard starts throwing out all of the stuff you’re not supposed to say after hooking up with someone. He tells her he wants more. He offers to move to New Dehli so that they can be together. Priya plays the role typically reserved for the frat boy and plays off their sexual trysts and nothing more than fun. Poor Leonard.

A lot of this talk of the emasculated male protagonist arose in reference to George Michael Cera. In many of his films he is often an awkward, shy, loser hopelessly pinning after some girl. There’s a looooot of that on television as well. Look at Ted from How I Met Your Mother. Or, to an extent, Clark from certain seasons of Smallville. Leonard is following in their footsteps. Of course it’s comedic (except for Smallville) so it’s not that I’m griping about it, it’s just an interesting shift to note.

That said, a funny episode. Good nerd nods with the old school text adventure. And where can I find that Hawkman shirt that Sheldon was wearing?

It took me about 15 minutes to realize Penny was absent from this episode. (Kaley Cuoco had broken her leg.) What does that say about what she brings to the show? She may be the catalyst for the concept but we’ve seen next to no character development and truthfully she’s the least funny of the cast members. At least Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette are around to pick up the slack.

Final Thoughts:

• I’m going to mimic Sheldon and start using “For Science” when I get caught doing something stupid or disapproved of.
• Mmmm. Mango-caterpillar sno-cones.