TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 9

Title: The Platonic Permutation

The Gist: Leonard-Penny spend Thanksgiving the way it's supposed to be- a total disaster. Howard-Bernadette and Raj-Emily volunteer at the Soup Kitchen, which Howard will really be thankful for. Amy-Sheldon visit the aquarium as 'friends'.

-ve points:
In the very first season, Penny had found out Leonard's birth-date, and in-fact went all out to throw him a surprise party. In this episode, she seems not to know the date. Is this continuity lapse in episodes or has she forgotten? Either way, it's a writers' inconsistency.

+ve points:

1. Penny seems not to know her husband's birthday whereas Leonard reads his wife's journal. Reminds one of another beloved friends-lovers-married couple Monica and Chandler.
2. Howard is shown to journey from hating to volunteer at the Soup Kitchen to loving to do dishes with his hero, the innovator and business magnate Elon Musk.
3. Amy (as I had noted in my previous post) still has feelings for Sheldon. (Of course, she does!) Whereas, Sheldon is struggling hard not to hurt himself again and finally finds some solace in restoring friendship with Amy. This is real life stuff. 

Best Line:

" 

Amy, I excel at many things... but getting over you isn't one of them. I think, I need to just be your friend.

"

 - Sheldon, to which Amy is shown welling up.

My Say: One of the readers was disappointed last time as I captioned the previous post as "Is Sheldon's new girlfriend the ultimate crazy Jennifer Lawrence?" He had considered this as the truth, while what I had done was use Sheldon's line to write a catchy title. What newspapers and internet did with the latest episode was spread a spoiler that ShAmy finally do it. What ShAmy really do is Sheldon asking if Amy had coitus with any of her dates. Discussing it is not doing it.

Overall, an episode with the classic geek stuff (aquarium game + Elon Musk) and adorable ShAmy track.

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 8

Title: The Mystery Date Observation

The Gist: Amy goes on her third date with Dave. Sheldon tries to turn over a new leaf too.

+ve points:

Man on a prowl!

1. Sheldon asks Howard and Raj to find him a new girlfriend, for which the three brainies do not turn to dating websites or apps, but set up a series of puzzles whose prize would be Sheldon. So classic TBBT style. 
2. Marriage hasn't changed Leonard a bit. He still watches documentaries, this once about aluminium cans.
3. Marriage hasn't changed Penny either. She joins Bernadette to spy on Amy's date. 
4. Amy is dating a guy who's her type. (Really!) Tall, intelligent, nerdy and geeky and so irritating! 
5. Sheldon post-breakup remains Sheldon (our type :D) Any girl who's up for the challenge and smart enough to solve the puzzles must take note: being on-time and respect for Atomic Spectroscopy are of utter importance. He's convinced the girl would be Jennifer Lawrence.

Best liners:

Third Date=Dressing up out of comfort zone

1. Sheldon: That's a lot of carbohydrates for a man on prowl! 
2. Amy: This outfit is a little out of my comfort zone!
3. Amy: He's British.... (Penny and Bernie squeak)....Okay yes, that was juicy :D
4. Sheldon: (last few seconds left for the girl, who's solved his puzzles,to arrive) Oh, she's such a drama queen... oh my god! It is Jennifer Lawrence then.

My Say:

1. This episode shows how the writers and makers remain true to TBBT's core. Sheldon hasn't changed and in real life, however great you are, it's not easy to find a new/different love (like Amy finds out the hard way).
2. Venessa Bennet should come again into picture. As a ShAmy fan, I want to see how a new boyfriend and a new girlfriend affect these two broken lovers.

Diwali

Festival of Lights. Third-standard essay bookish start :P

Diwali is my favourite festival. It involves cleaning, which brings certain discipline that I lack otherwise. It involves lights, which everybody loves. It signifies home-coming, which for a family of four living in 4 different cities means a lot.

This festival either comes in October or November, i.e either around Bhaiya, my or mummy's birthday. In Delhi, it meant Diwali mela in my school, which basically was pot-luck. Every kid brought some food from home, put up stalls in the school ground and played games. It also meant Diwali mela in our neighbourhood. Swings, rides, lights, dilli-chaat...

In Ahmedabad, Diwali is a festival of 5 days, marking New Year. It gives Gujaratis yet another reason to rejoice, travel and eat out. Majjani life! :D

This year, Diwali meant a bit of everything. As someone who avoids grooming and generally prefers pajamas, even for special occasions (That's right :P), I decided to dress up. Like always, (since last 11 years), we did not burst crackers. It hurts the Earth and closer to heart, sickens my papa. We light our home and pray to Gods, meet and greet people and watch TV and go to bed.

Mummy and I performed havan on Diwali morning. It felt really good. :)

It was my mummy's birthday too. :)

She loves gardening. So she spent her day painting the pots and pruning the plants. It made her happy, and call me crazy, but it looked like the plants were happy too. She loves South-Indian cuisine so we ate out. Her usual: onion uttapam. Dad and I experimented and had Spring Dosa, where the filling was vegetables. We ordered filter coffee too, to which dad added sugar! To end with, we chewed meetha paan on our way back :D

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 7

Title: The Spock Resonance

The Gist: Sheldon has been approached for a documentary on the character Spock and his cultural influence, where while trying to show how he has always emulated his Vulcan hero, Sheldon announces on-camera about his intention of proposing to Amy. In a parallel track, Bernie-Howie work on some husband-wife stuff.

-ve points: The show starts with Leonard telling Penny and Raj about a study on popular kids at the age of 13 years and impact on their adult lives. The discussion of-course is funny (that's given). But the discussion is nowhere related to the rest of the show. No direct or indirect reference.

+ve points: 

1. TBBT makers are doing great by giving importance to Bernadette-Howard's married life track. This is what they deserve, specially being as good as everyone else in the ensemble cast. 
2. In the climax, Sheldon decides to take a chance in his romantic life. That was a bold move for Sheldon, and a wise one. The scene draws a lot of awws for Shelly.

My Say: After waiting from Mondays to Thursdays (the new airing time) and after waiting for a few more days (being away from television and internet on a personal front), I finally watched an episode that was worth the wait. Eager to watch both the tracks- Sheldon-Amy's and Howard-Bernadette's. In-fact for the first time, TBBT is more than just being about Leonard-Penny. 

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 6

Title: The Helium Insufficiency

The Gist: Leonard and Sheldon need liquid helium to conduct the experiment on their paper before a Swedish team beats them to it. Rest of the gang find out something interesting about Amy.

Things we learnt about: 

Michael Rapaport guest-starring as the Dealer
(yes, he's Gary the Cop whom Phoebe Buffay once dated)

1. Non-de-script white panel van and sketchy character in the parking lot.
2. Difference between Stalemate and Impasse.
3. A little something called "Mexican Stand-off".
4. Winning a battle, but losing a war.
5. We shouldn't go "shopping" at night.
6. With the right amount of money, and knowing where they (the 'enemies') live, there's a plenty we could do about it. (Okay, we're almost ready to be a mafia :P ) 
7. Mr. Glasses and Mr. Know-It-All are not built for prison.
8. "A guy enjoys semantic digressions as much as the next guy, but (business) is business." (This Black Market guy is cool!)
9. Being 'open to change'. (The Helium dealer plain kills me :D )

Amy's Track:

Things are moving fast on the romantic front post ShAmy break-up. The upcoming episodes promise a lot on this front.

Notable: If Amy has moved on, Sheldon has too. 

" 

I lied about being a wedding planner who can't find love... but I AM single, if you know somebody...

"

- Sheldon's tête-à-tête with the Helium Dealer 

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 5

Title: The Perspiration Implementation

The Gist: Bernadette wants Howard to exercise, and the guys decide to join Barry Kripke's fencing club. Stuart seeks the ladies' advice to increase female footfall in his comic book store and Amy's life post break-up is moving faster than she expected.

-ve points: None actually, can't complain.

+ve points: 

1. Howard uses a hilarious engineering hack to avoid exercise.
2. The guys finally find a sport that they can associate with. Fencing is elegant for Sheldon, indoor for Leonard, Game of Thrones for Raj and a little Princess Bride for Howard. 
3. Stuart is creepy as hell and lives it.
4. Kripke shows interest in Amy, leading to some interesting reactions from Sheldon and Amy. 

" 

...but he's dumb and his face looks dumb.

" 

Best scene: Just like naughty schoolchildren in absence of teacher, boys indulge in silly sword fight when Kripke isn't around. 

My Say: A fun episode overall, but the look on Amy's face, when Sheldon tells her that his friends suggested dating other girls will help him move on, hints at residual latent feelings. Let's see.

How as we grow up, we become both more mature and more child-like: Sheldon is keen to learn fencing from his once arch enemy Barry, and still would kill him in 3 years from now if Barry tried to make a move on Amy... 3 years if Barry's a teacher worth his salt :P

First Mover (Dis)Advantage

" 

DEFINITION of 'First Mover'
A form of competitive advantage that a company earns by being the first to enter a specific market or industry. Being the first allows a company to acquire superior brand recognition and customer loyalty. The company also has more time to perfect its product or service.

" 

Investopedia 

That's the MBA side of things. First Mover Advantage. I pioneer in First Mover Disadvantage. 

Usually in my college, group assignments submission take place in a queue fashion. A Google sheet is shared with the class, and each group has to enter their group and project details. To avoid being the very first group, everyone fills the sheet leaving first n rows empty, considering n students in each group. And I always fill the sheet at the 11th hour, in total haste. 

So, once I got trapped by this n row trickery, and ended up filling the first group slot. Mine was the first group (=only group) to be axed. We set the bar so low, that all the other groups seemed Einstein-like to the professor. 

Another time, only two slots, first group's and last group's, were empty. I decided to fill the last one. Some of my group members decided to get the thing over with, and enjoy for the rest of the semester, hence the first slot. Meanwhile, a guy from another group lured me to defect into his team, who were also thinking of going for the last slot. Trying to stay loyal to my gang, I declined his offer, and before we knew it, only the first slot was left. 

If you think I'm a nerd, you're right. If you think my misfortunes are only in studies, I wish!

With many genuine problems, most of them solved, some of them unreasonable concerns- the moving in became an issue. Inside-everyone wants to move to the new place. Outside- no one wants to be the first one to move- be called a bitch- a traitor- seen as scared of administration-the stooge who can be blamed and used as a reason for others to move.

Yes, I'm that first mover. Haha, I'm the villain!!

Disadvantaged? 

As I see it, I'm winning. Others 'caught' me moving in the new place, started packing their stuff and have plans to move tomorrow. They accede to my courage, use it as an example and make the move. The sooner one moves in, the faster she gets used to the new things and sooner does she get back to normalcy. Many friends come and see how I have arranged my new room, they borrow my layout, feel re-assured, bring more friends and they see it too. Some find my decorations not so cool, make a blueprint in their minds and smirk at my poor arrangement. All of those who see me see how happy I am. This is a clear advantage :)

Tea in Coffee Lovers' Central Perk Mugs,
 that's a lethal mix :D

Girlies, I can only tell you how I felt- while packing, moving, un-packing, arranging, re-arranging with my roomie; we had a ton of fun. You get to know each others' idiosyncrasies, learn a few living hacks, get ideas about a dozen things, love and hate the changes, get absolutely tired, then prepare tea and enjoy it with biscuits in your new room. The feeling- out of this world! Change is inevitable, and if we want it to be, enjoyable. 

Cheers :)

Happyness is standing up for what you believe in,
and sharing it with your friends :)