Monday, May 28, 2012

Final(e) Thoughts: Frootloops gets married!

A lot of the TV shows I'm following (or used to follow) will have big endings this season. Since I am big fan of TV shows, making lists and making my opinions known (all for posterity's sake), I will write about various TV shows' season finales, and what I think about them. 


Today I will write about The Big Bang Theory's season finale titled "The Countdown Reflection".



Why This Ending is Big:

Howard gets married to Bernadette and goes to space.

Howard "Frootloops" Wolowitz and his Ma "my lovely bride to be" Bernadette


My Thoughts on "The Countdown Reflection":

1. I believe this is the first time The Big Bang Theory had a "previously on  The Big Bang Theory" spiel voiced-over by Raj and used a flashback. It reminded me of Chuck and How I Met Your Mother.

2. Amazing factoid of the day: Anyone can be ordained to do a wedding in the US! This explains why Barney married Marshall and Lily, Morgan married Chuck and Sarah and...

3. Reverends Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, Penny and Amy married Howard and Bernadette. Cool, cool, cool.

Bernadette on her minister-friends: They all got ordained. They're all marrying us. It's adorable. 

4. The Big Bang Theory has successfully maintained its geekiness and comedy, which we all love, while balancing it out with just enough romance for character development. 

4.1 Ever since Howard and Bernadette started dating, I was in a continuous state of disbelief. How could someone anyone stand the annoying man in turtleneck that is Howard Joel Wolowitz? Answer, he's going to be less annoying and more sweet.

Mr. and Mrs. Wolowitz

4.2 Unlike the new Mr. and Mrs. Wolowitz, I did not doubt that Leonard and Penny will end up together. Eventually. Season 5 managed to recombine these two without making everything seem forced or rehashed. Penny has become more understanding of Leonard and their friends; Leonard has become less of an awkward guy and more of a sweet boyfriend.

They are the Barney and Robin for geeks.

4.3 To say that Sheldon has changed is an understatement. The Sheldon of Season 5 is very different from the Sheldon of Season 1. He acknowledged, albeit not-so-explicitly, that it is normal to be (or want to be) with someone else other than yourself or your friends. I thought the arrival of Amy Farrah Fowler will screw up the dynamics of the group and lessen Sheldon's appeal. But it did the opposite. Amy caused Sheldon to open up in ways his friends and Penny could not.

Yes, your eyes are not tricking you. Sheldon is holding another person's hand.

4.4 The day Raj can talk to a woman sober and not under medication (or he tells everyone he's gay) is the day I know for sure that he has improved, has matured.

The yet-to-mature Raj

5. These are the funniest lines from "The Countdown Reflection":

5.1 Howard's mother: What kind of breakfast do you think they're gonna give you in Russia? (+10 pts for racism!)

5.2 Sheldon: That's what you said about the Green Lantern movie. You were 114 minutes of wrong.

5.3 Howard: Did you get down on one knee or were you already there? (Classic Wolowitz.)

5.4 Amy: Today's not about you two. Today's about Howard and Bernadette. And me. (Classic Amy.)

5.5 Raj: I keep telling you if I wasn't an astro-physicist I would've been a party planner.

5.6 Bernadette to her dad: "Here you go"? What am I a football?

5.7 Sheldon to Penny: Would you like some aloe vera? You just got burned. (Classic Sheldon.)

6. What now? Fine, Howard's on his way to space. When will he be back? What happens to him and Bernadette? Will Raj meet the girl OR boy of his dreams? What happens to Leonard and Penny? What will happen to Sheldon and Amy? Unlike the in past season finales of The Big Bang Theory, "The Countdown Reflection" is somewhat... lukewarm. Yes, the wedding was great and everyone was characteristically funny but "The Countdown Reflection" did not excite me. I am not excited about season 6. It is in this aspect that I believe "The Countdown Reflection" has failed.

The Wolowitz wedding, as photographed from space.

7. My thoughts on Season 6: Season 6 will be The Big Bang Theory's make or break season, storywise. It has to be. It is when Chuck Lorre will decide where to take the characters and the show. Will they be married? Separated? Alone? Five years ago, these men lived alone or with his mother or with each other, worked at a lab, ate take out food for dinner, always went to the comic bookstore, and had a crush on the girl next door. Now, three of them are in serious relationships (no matter how slow or fast they are going). It is slowly becoming less a show about socially awkward men leading awkward lives and more about how geeks are when they have girlfriends. The Big Bang Theory's writers have always surprised me with their wittiness and humor and, somehow, I rely on their ability to humor their audience (and still make sensible story arcs) to make Season 6 interesting enough. I trust and expect Lorre, with all his vanity cards, to make Season 6 better.

8. When Sheldon was talking to Howard and said "To kill a man", I misheard it to be "Tequila man". We only hear what we want to hear.


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You may want to read:

Final(e) Thoughts: How I Met Your Mother
Final(e) Thoughts: Chuck
Final(e) Thoughts: Glee
Final(e) Thoughts: Community
Final(e) Thoughts: House


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