Episode 12 - The Killer Robot Instability
23 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Howard builds a robot called MONTE to enter into the Robot Fighting League. When Penny tells Howard what she really thinks of his sleazy come-ons he is hurt and doesn’t go to work for two days. She goes to apologise and cheer him up but ends up punching him when he tries to kiss her. Meanwhile Sheldon gets caught up in some trash talking with fellow Robot designer Kripke and ends up agreeing to a one-on-one fight with his robot. MONTE gets destroyed. The Good: Howard has consistently hit on Penny in practically every episode of the show and so seeing her finally tear into him makes perfect sense. She finally tells him what she has never needed to before and it sounds entirely plausible that she would be so cutting. The attempt to make Howard more three dimensional as a character is a good idea, though not executed particularly well. The anecdotes of rejection he tells Penny do point to why he uses such thick skinned bravado when hitting on women. He does seem more real by crying at his lot and moping in his house as a result of her pointing out the truth. The conclusion to the story also makes sense. The producers clearly have no interest in stopping Howard from being sleazy and so he goes for one last pass at Penny and she punches him in the face. Instead of ruining their friendship it might make them closer because he will now know the cost of crossing the line. The shot of him leaning in to kiss her is a nice change of filming style. The robot story is thin but Sheldon makes the best of his lines as you would expect. He manages to make saying the name “Kripke” funny in a Jerry Seinfeld to Newman kind of way. And he gets to deliver some passable lines (see Comic Highlight), including telling Penny that in his apartment she is the peculiar one. A nice subtle bit of writing is that Sheldon brags about the superiority of physics over engineering (as he has done before including in 112) and yet he doesn’t know how to adapt MONTE at all. It not only points out the arrogance in Sheldon but builds up Howard in his absence as being really good at what he does. The Bad: Howard isn’t given the kind of characterisation that could turn him into a fully rounded character. As usual with The Big Bang Theory, for all their good intentions, the writers are still more concerned with laughs first and characters second. So when Howard sings Penny his song about Marcy Grossman the tone is much more “laugh at him” than “sympathise with the reality of who he is.” The robot story just feels like comedy filler but isn’t funny enough. The main problem is Kripke’s lisp. It’s a very cheap joke but worse is the casting of Kripke whose lisp is not convincing at all. His comment that they are all creepy and only fight with robots because they can’t get girls is foolish writing. I have never heard anyone say “I am creepy and can’t get girls” with conviction or pride. It just wouldn’t occur in normal social interaction. Also the person who wrote that line is undercutting the point of The Big Bang Theory. The show is about Leonard proving to Penny that he is a worthy boyfriend despite being geeky and Sheldon proving to everyone that he can be the geek of all geeks and not need the world’s validation. That line implies that the show is just about laughing at losers. It may be that for some viewers but loyal audiences stay with shows because they care about the characters. Comic Highlight: Sheldon decides to try out trash talking by telling Kripke “I am given to understand that your mother is overweight.” He hastily adds “Now of course if that is the result of a glandular condition and not sloth and gluttony than I withdraw that comment.” I love the idea that if Kripke’s mother really is fat and greedy then Sheldon will stand by his comment. Good humour for Sheldon growing organically from a misunderstanding of trash talk. In Conclusion: A passable episode. Both plots feel very predictable and there isn’t enough comedy to compensate.
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