The Big Bang Theory – “The Einstein Approximation”

Puzzled by a physics problem involving the behavior of electrons, Sheldon stays up for days, taxing his brain and annoying his friends. Finally he insinuates himself at The Cheesecake Factory for something to do while his subconscious mind works on the problem, emulating Einstein, who was famously working at the patent office when he came up with the theory of special relativity.

I found this episode very similar to the previous one: Sheldon gets obsessed (last time with his personal security, this time with work) and takes his obsession to the extreme, only to come to his senses in the end. My main problem this week was I could hardly follow the problem that was so important to Sheldon. Up to now, Big Bang has done a decent job explaining physics problems in lay terms. But because I couldn’t keep up with Sheldon this time, I couldn’t empathize with him. From this perspective, the episode was just about Sheldon behaving outrageously, and I’ve seen that before.

Most interesting to me was the aftermath of Leonard and Penny’s double-date roller skating with Howard and Bernadette. (The actual date wasn’t shown.) I should mention that roller skating was Raj’s idea and he was quickly excluded, but Leonard and Howard’s skating embarrassed Penny and Bernadette while the men were oblivious they had embarrassed the women or themselves. Suffice it to say I’ve been there, not on skates, but probably more often than my friends want to tell me.

I noticed two spots of filler closing out the episode: (1) Howard took Raj to the roller rink, finally giving him the fun night he wanted; (2) the final scene before the credits just repeated an earlier scene. As shows run shorter and shorter, I’d prefer to see them make the most of the twenty-one minutes they have.

Jim Parsons has clearly received the most audience response of any Big Bang cast member, but I hope the show doesn’t become too Sheldon-centric, like Happy Days with The Fonz. I also hope the show doesn’t make Sheldon into a caricature as Charles In Charge did with Buddy Lembeck. Buddy slowly but surely devolved into the village idiot. Sheldon would be the village genius, but his comedic function would be the same. This could be where the show is headed if Leonard and Howard remain relatively happy in their relationships.

About Gerald So

Gerald So covers THE BIG BANG THEORY, BONES, BURN NOTICE, NCIS, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, and PSYCH each week for BSCreview. His personal blog is If You Want to Know About My Life.