Christmas with the Nerds

 

 

 

 

A favorite TV show of mine was The Big Bang Theory. The show centered around a group of four friends who, unlike most TV sitcoms, were a cut above the norm, intellectually speaking. The shows main stars were Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), a Ph.D. in experimental physics, and his friend/roommate Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Rounding out the quartet of friends was Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), a Ph.D. in astophysics, and the "dumb bunny" of the group,  Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), who only has a Master's Degree (in aerospace engineering).

 

One of the more admirable aspects of the show, in my opinion, was the casting of those last two. Raj, who is from India, was actually played by a real Indian actor and Howard, who is Jewish, was played by an actor who was from a Jewish background. Too often, especially in early TV, you were expected to believe that a white Anglo Saxon actor was really of some foreign extraction. This made the characters seem more believable. 

In the first couple of seasons it was just these four along with a new neighbor that moved in to the apartment next door, Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Added to this crew in later seasons was a wife for Howard, Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) and a girlfriend for Sheldon, Any (Miyam Bialik). In addition a relationship would develop between Leonard and Penny. Raj, on the other hand was usually the odd man out, as he had even more trouble connecting with members of the opposite sex than the rest of the nerds.

This set up the second episode I will discuss in this piece. 

But the first one I am discussing, called The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis, which was actually a second season episode, was actually the first Christmas episode of the series, and one of my favorites. There are three separate story lines here that are connected as can only happen in the sitcom world. The first is: a highly lauded and very very intelligent fellow professor, David Underhill (Michael Trucco), asks Leonard for help in the university lab for an experiment he is conducting. Leonard is overwhelmed by this, experiencing what may be called a "bromance" with David.

 

But the bromance becomes seriously undermined when David meets Leonard's neighbor, Penny, and starts to spend more time with her than he does with Leonard.  The reasons are actually two-fold, because Leonard has had a crush on Penny since the day she first moved into the building and sees David as an interloper. Not to worry, though, because as per Penny's usual success with long term relationships with guys, it turns out that David is actually married.

 

The second part of the episode involves Sheldon, who is distraught to find out that Penny has bought him a Christmas present. Rather than being receptive to the spirit of Christmas, Sheldon has long dismissed Christmas as a church adaptation of a pagan ritual, neither of which he is very receptive. But to complicate matters, he now feels obligated to buy Penny a present. Having no clue what women would even consider a good present, he goes with Howard and Raj to a knockoff Bed, Bath and Beyond store. But even then he has trouble deciding which of the gift baskets to buy, not wanting to be seen as buying something way to cheap by comparison, or way too expensive.

 

So his solution is to buy several baskets, then after opening Penny's present, retrieve the one closest to value to her gift, and then return the others for a refund. But Penny's gift is just a napkin from the Cheesecake Factory where she works... Ah, but there's a twist! The napkin is signed by Leonard Nimoy, who we all know was Spock on Star Trek. Not only that, but Nimoy wiped his mouth on the napkin before signing it, so it contains DNA from Nimoy himself. And Sheldon enthuses he could grow his own Leonard Nimoy from it.  (Note:  I have since seen an article that states you couldn't get reliable usable DNA from spit, but that doesn't detract from the story). Sheldon is overwhelmed and gives Penny ALL the gift baskets, as well as hugs her (and that is impressive in itself, since Sheldon probably only hugs about 3 or 4 people during the entire run of the show...)

 

The second episode covered here was a sixth season episode, titled The Santa Simulation. In the beginning Leonard (who is now in a relationship with Penny), Howard (who is now married to Bernadette) and Sheldon (who is ostensibly in a relationship with Amy) explain to their respective paramours that they are going to be playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons that night and that none of the ladies can come, because it is a guys only affair.

 

In a sort of retaliation, Penny and Bernadette and Amy plan a girls night out, complete with seductive dresses which they flaunt to their guys before they go out.

 

 

Meanwhile, during the D&D  game, a game that Dungeon Master Leonard has designed with an overt Christmas theme, has the boys on a quest to rescue Santa Claus from a bloodthirsty band of ogres. Overly enthusiastic Raj, in character, bursts into a room that is trapped, without checking beforehand for traps... something you should never do in a D&D game... even I know that, Raj... Raj's character dies and he appears to be doomed to be sidelined for the rest of the night.  But the girls come along with their taunting technique. And graciously allow Raj to accompany them on their "girl's night out".

 

Now, the scenes with Raj and the girls in the bar somewhat detract from the better part of the two-fold story line. Raj, as per usual, strikes out, and laments that the one's he is attarcted to always seem to be out of his reach. The girls try to help out getting Raj hooked up but have no more success than he does on his own.

Meanwhile, back in the apartment at the D&D game, the crew discover they have to use a variety of Christmas themed songs, including Sheldon insisting that they sing all four verses of Good King Wenceslas and having to play Jingle Bells on some bells to get a secret door to open. In the room beyond the door they find Santa Claus chained to a wall. But Sheldon throws a monkey wrench into the operation by throwing the key to free Santa into a chasm. He then relates why he hates Santa. It seems one year, when he was a young boy, he had asked Santa to bring his grandfather back, who had just recently died. And, of course, since Santa could not perform that miracle, Sheldon has harbored a resentment against him.

 

The denouement finds Sheldon waking up early Christmas to find Santa in his apartment. And Santa shoots him with a cannon for leaving him to be mauled and eaten by ogres in the D&D game. Then Sheldon wakes up from his nightmare. (Or was the whole episode part of his nightmare...?)

 

Big Bang Theory lasted 12 seasons. How much longer it might have gone on is a matter of conjecture. It wasn't declining in ratings numbers by the end of season 12. The main reason for the end was the fact that it's main star, Jim Parsons as Sheldon, had decided he wanted to move on. The character of Sheldon was an integral part of the series and the producers decided that, rather than recasting the part or developing a new character (both of which would probably have had a negative impact, if past history of television shows is any indication) , they would decide to just end the show. One of the more interesting developments in the final season was that the apartment elevator, which had been out of order since the beginning of the series, was finally repaired. It only took them 16 years. (It had been broken for 4 years by the time the series started...)

Well, Merry Christmas to all.

 

Quiggy