The Big Bang Theory: Mid-Season 5 Premiere

The Big Bang Theory returned Thursday night with “The Shiny Trinket Maneuver,” a rather lackluster episode that further examines Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy's (Mayim Bialik) relationship as well as Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette's (Melissa Rauch) ongoing pre-marital troubles. Watching the guys struggle with the female species has been amusing, but I'm beginning to wonder if these story lines are hampering the series a bit. I've enjoyed the addition of Bernadette and Amy Farrah Fowler to the ensemble, but I find myself more amused when it's just the girl's hanging out, absent their male counterparts and vice versa, which has kind of turned Big Bang into two different shows, sort of a his and hers version. I haven't been guffawing much this season either (yes, guffawing). I've chuckled, perhaps politely laughed, but no unrestrained bursts like when when Raj and Howard made out during this season's second episode. The series is meandering at the moment, struggling to find its way, and this episode doesn't do anything to assuage my disappointment.

Now that Sheldon and Amy are officially a couple, Amy having signed her life away by agreeing to Sheldon's relationship agreement, the episode begins with date night which always falls on the second Thursday of the month unless there are five weeks in that month in which case it falls on the third Thursday. Yeah, who in their right mind would consider dating Sheldon other than Amy? Their dinner takes a wrong turn when Sheldon casually dismisses Amy's recent scientific accomplishment and instead gloats about his Twitter followers hitting triple digits. This leads to their first fight with Sheldon, as usual, completely befuddled by the complexities of human relationships. In a fairly funny scene which sees Sheldon drowning his sorrows in video game whisky, Leonard (Johnny Galecki) offers some advice: “You skip over any attempt to repair your emotional connection and you win back her affection with an empty financial gesture.” Of course, Sheldon's on board immediately.

There aren't too many other laughs until Sheldon finally presents his gift to Amy, a tiara that makes her completely lose her mind. It's a pretty funny scene only because of how Bialik plays it. I'm curious to see where Sheldon and Amy's relationship heads this season. Will the cold, scientific shell of Sheldon show more cracks? Or will he continue to remain his old Spock-like self? Will Amy's infatuation hold or will she move on to someone completely the opposite of Sheldon? Thus far, Amy seems to be developing more rapidly than Sheldon. These characters have to grow a little or the show will stagnate pretty quickly, but I'm probably hoping for too much from the world of half-hour sitcoms where fairly static characters are the norm.

Howard and Bernadette's storyline doesn't break any new ground, and the writers really need to start moving their relationship forward. I'm amazed that Bernadette continues to put up with Howard's patriarchal, momma's boy crap. This episode he learns that Bernadette doesn't want kids, which of course leads to more conversations in Howard's bedroom interspersed with Howard and his mother's usual shouting matches. Been there done that. Even Howard and Bernadette's magic act at his cousin's birthday party falls flat, ending with Howard botching the pour-the-pitcher-of-milk-down-the-pants trick. Not very funny. The only saving grace is again Leonard who perfectly delivers this line when Howard considers dumping Bernadette: “Look Howard. I'd say there are a lot of fish in the sea, but I've watched you dangle your hook in the water for years. Do not throw her back.” Eventually, they arrive at a compromise when Bernadette informs Howard that she'll have kids if Howard stays home and takes care of them. Howard meekly acquiesces, and another relationship problem is easily solved. Like Sheldon, Howard continues to be completely clueless and selfish when it comes to relationships, and I wonder if by the end of this season, Bernadette calls off the wedding. And honestly, do I even really care?

Overall, it was a disappointing start the last half of season five. Nothing much happens that we haven't seen before, and I'm left wondering where this show is headed now that it's been renewed for three more seasons. That's a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, trips to the comic book store and encounters with Will Wheaton to somehow keep fresh and funny. The comic charm of the first few seasons has worn off, and while I enjoy watching four science geeks struggle with the one thing in the universe that can't be neatly compartmentalized, namely love, I hope that the writers find a way to regain some of the dorky magic that made this show so funny when it first aired.