The Big Bang Theory is a CBS sitcom about a group of geeky adults that has run for 12 staggeringly long years. In that time period, it has attracted critical ire, many Emmys, and earned its stars million-dollar salaries. But now this show is dying and I, a pop culture critic with a heart made of onyx who has never even seen a single episode, have decided to watch the program weekly to pay my respects—and also roast it to death one last time.
Summary: I have to admit, I enjoyed this episode, probably because it was mostly about the show’s women who for once don’t seem to get fucked over. Quelle surprise! First, Amy and Sheldon have the thesis from their fancy paper I still don’t understand confirmed via an experiment by two other scientists in Chicago. The two scientists fly in but immediately seem sketchy; yes, they did confirm the hypothesis, but just by accident, and all they seem interested in is piggybacking on Sheldon and Amy to get the Nobel Prize. Not only that, they want to cut Amy out of the project entirely. I gasped. “She’s your wife and she’s a neuroscientist, what is she even doing on this paper!” one of them says in a gross, covert meeting with Sheldon.
The correct thing for Sheldon to do in this instance is probably physically threaten the scientists’ lives by grabbing them by the throats and making them promise to never, ever talk shit about his wife again, right? Or are the brutally violent prestige dramas I gorge on instead of this show leaking into my assessment of it? Instead, Sheldon sheepishly tells Amy about the plan but doesn’t support it. Amy, who clearly has no self-worth, says it’s okay for Sheldon to cut her out. Ugh. Eventually, Sheldon tells his supervisor that there’s no way Amy can and should be cut out of the Nobel recommendation. Good boy.