One of the things I love about January is the tradition my family has
established of having TV on DVD marathons while my brother is still home
from college. We kicked things off this year with season two of The Big Bang Theory,
which I got him for Christmas. No sooner was the wrapping paper picked
up off the floor than the flu hit us, and watching the exploits of
uber-geek Sheldon Cooper, his three slightly less geeky buddies and his
perky next-door neighbor proved the perfect convalescing companion.
Season two of The Big Bang Theory,
the CBS sit-com created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, begins with
Sheldon’s roommate, Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), navigating the
uncharted waters of the aftermath of his first date with crush Penny
(Kaley Cuoco). Of the main quartet, Leonard is the most down-to-earth,
but he still has his fair share of social awkwardness, and when he
learns why Penny is hesitant to go out with him again, he botches things
badly. Hence, he spends season two just as hung up on her as in season
one, but now that they’ve actually dated, an additional element of
weirdness comes into play.
Since Leonard had his shot with Penny
and feels like he blew it for good, we also see more of Leonard trying
to make it with other women. Shy Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), who
morphs into Mr. Suave whenever alcohol enters his system, and skeezy
Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), who is always ready with an off-color
pick-up line, also have their eyes on the ladies as before, though
neither of them is too picky as to which one. While it seems to me that
the second season is a bit less smutty than the first, four of the five
main characters have amorous entanglements, and I usually found them
pretty eye-rolling. Still, when romance comes into play in any given
episode, it’s more likely than not that the would-be wooers will be
thwarted, so even though I generally concur with Sheldon that their
behavior is pretty silly, I can’t help feeling sorry for the guys
getting rejected all the time and for Penny always managing to hook up
with jerks.
While Penny and Leonard’s will-they, won’t-they
romantic tension is a major thread throughout the second season, the
much more compelling relationship is the entirely platonic friendship
between her and Sheldon. Throughout this season, we see Sheldon take
several more baby steps toward mastering the social conventions that
have thus far eluded him, and Penny seems to be his most valuable
teacher. Meanwhile, as she figures out how to deal with him, she finds
herself unwittingly absorbing some of his interests. Penny is slowly
becoming one of the guys, and whether we see her casually drop a Star Trek metaphor into a conversation or become hooked on Internet gaming, Sheldon is most often her doorway into that world.
All
of my favorite episodes this season focus on that peculiar friendship.
Penny isn’t the sharpest pencil in the box when it comes to intellectual
pursuits, but she’s got a lot of common sense, and her blend of empathy
and boldness means that she is both the only person in Sheldon’s life –
aside from his mother, who lives several states away – who is willing
to both coddle and stand up to him. The fact that Sheldon seems to be
just about the only man Penny has ever met who is immune to her feminine
charms allows a level of ease to exist between them that counteracts
his obnoxious tendencies. I love seeing the two of them sing sea
shanties together in an effort to mass-produce hair accessories and
spend an evening in her apartment when Sheldon accidentally locks
himself out of his. My favorite episode of the season, though, is the
Christmas one, in which Sheldon is thrown into a panic when Penny
informs him that she has a present for him. Seeing his consternation
over the social obligation he has now been handed, his clever plot to
give Penny something of equal value and, most of all, Jim Parsons’
Emmy-worthy reaction to her gift put this solidly in my list of favorite
Christmas television episodes.
As before, Sheldon is the
character who most captures my imagination. Yes, his rigidly regimented
sense of order, whether it’s where he has to sit or what time he has to
use the bathroom every morning, can be a bit much to take, and he never
hesitates to lord his superior intellect over anyone nearby, including
his brainy friends. Nonetheless, I can’t help finding Sheldon almost
unfailingly endearing. (I'm sure if he lived next door, my opinion
might change...) He may be a super-genius, but in many ways, he’s the
most childlike character on the show. When he’s trying to master a new
concept, he goes at it with the clumsy gusto of a kindergartener
learning to read. He’s as uncomfortable with the idea of driving as I
am. He wears his passions on his sleeves and never apologizes for them;
his unfettered enthusiasm is infectious. Along with that, he seems
physiologically incapable of telling a lie. While this means that he
sometimes comes across as brusque, it also makes him refreshingly
honest. Since he’s even more sexless than Spock, he has far more free
time than his girl-chasing pals for more intriguing exploits like
designing killer robots and concocting the rules to Rock Paper Scissors
Lizard Spock. It’s also entertaining to see how oblivious he is to the
world of hormones on those rare occasions when he manages to unwittingly
arouse someone’s romantic interest.
As in season one, most of
the interaction on the show occurs among the five main characters, but a
few minor players do change things up. Abrasive colleague Leslie Winkle
(Sara Gilbert) returns to infuriate Sheldon as she puts the moves on
Leonard and, more surprisingly, Howard. The two also share a romantic
interest in Stephanie Barnett (Sara Rue), a doctor whose attraction to
Howard is limited to her fascination with the Mars Rover. Meanwhile, all
the guys – except, of course, for Sheldon – lose their heads when
Sheldon’s insistence upon taking a train to a conference leads to their
sharing a compartment with Firefly star Summer Glau.
Penny
goes through a series of insufferable suitors; the only rival for
Leonard’s affections who is actually a decent guy is comic book store
employee Stuart, played by always-awkward Kevin Sussman. This unlikely
pairing really gets under Leonard’s skin, but Stuart isn’t much of a
Romeo; all it takes is a hypothetical comic book argument from Sheldon
to make him forget that he’s still on a date with Penny and might
actually have a chance with her. We also finally get to meet Leonard’s
mom, played with a severe detachment by Christine Baranski; while it
makes us sympathize with Leonard for his affectionless childhood, it’s
funny to see how instantly she and Sheldon take to each other as true
kindred spirits.
While the first season of The Big Bang Theory
is a lot of fun, the show really hits its stride in season two as Penny
begins to get assimilated into the collective and Sheldon discovers
that there can be more to life than logic. We’re already plotting
getting our hands on season three…
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