It needed to end, and it was probably at least a season too long but whatever.
Even though it was a show about all of them, there’s no denying Sheldon was, if not the main character of the show (IMO that was Leonard), the main focus of the show. It wasn’t Sheldon’s story, but rather Leonard’s story that happens to revolve primarily around Sheldon. And in the end, Sheldon reaches the zenith of his profession and becomes a real boy!
Yes, the show was supposed to be about the romance between a nerdy ugly guy and a beautiful, dumb blonde. Because, you know, it’s never been done before.
But Jim Parsons just took over as Sheldon Cooper, and nobody minded much. One of Parson’s acting gifts is that anyone who acted with him came off looking great. Remember James Earl Jones doing comedy?
June Squibb had a recurring role on Good Girls for the past two seasons; she seems to be doing just fine.
The finale was a tribute to the six main characters. Stewart (rightly) and Kripke (unnecessarily) were given a moment, but it was mostly about the big six. The producers didn’t want to clog it up with parents, siblings, etc.
I think it was one of the top five* series finales of all time. Equal measures funny and touching … and yes, I’ll admit, I got misty at the end.
And while it’s true that Sheldon has realized the error of his way before and then slipped right back into his old behavior, I think that because this is the finale, we are meant to understand that this time it will stick.
Yes, it’s an out-of-universe reason. And no, I don’t think he’ll all of a sudden become a sweet, loving guy. But I do think his core understanding of the nature of his life and his friends has changed.
*I’m not actually counting them up, but that sounds right.
The duo episodes were okay but not great. I think it was a disservice to her character that Penny went from not wanting children to being excited about having one “off screen” between the episodes.
Given that Sheldon and Amy went from having their great realization in the final episode last season, to winning a Nobel Prize in the final episode in this one, there was some time compression going on.
I prefer to think that Penny was very ambivalent about having children, that her biological clock was still ticking quietly (don’t forget how much younger she is than the others), and she was trying to make sure Leonard would be okay with their never having children. If she really didn’t care about children, she shouldn’t have gotten so jealous over Leonard donating his sperm.
Alternate explanation: there have been a lot of Penny pondering pregnancy scenes cut out this season.
I watched the retrospective with Johnny and Kaley. After Carol Ann Susi died, the set decorators put a tiny postage stamp-sized picture of her on Sheldon and Leonard’s fridge, so she was with the show until the end.
It was also fun seeing the sets…the comic book store is built right next to Penny’s apartment, then the hallway, then the guys’ apartment.
The Warner Bros soundstage where they shot the show is now officially known as The Big Bang Theory stage. All in all, I will miss the show.
I watched it because sometimes there would be a glimmer, a hint of what it used to be. Sometimes a show’s last season improves over its penultimate one because no one has any fucks left to give and they go all out. If it were still going indefinitely? I’d have stopped. It’s the sunk cost fallacy, but I try to be a completionist. I figured I could waste 22 minutes for one more season to maybe see some semblance of its former magic. The slap almost was there.
Not specifically talking about this poster, but there are still a few fan boys who consider both Amy and Bernadette to be net negatives to the original plot. The 6th major character is Cinnamon.
I don’t remember where I heard this, so no cite or link, but the theory is the show was a vehicle for Parsons. How likely is that? Now that I got that out of the way, here’s my take on the finale.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. The slap of course was great. And that includes Sheldon’s reaction. Raj went back to his roots (perv root, not ethnic) when he rifled through Gellar’s purse to confim that’s her. The argument on the plane was well done and really set up the dialog between Sheldon and Amy in their room. Sheldon’s speech was great.
I thought I had seen every episode, but I did not recognize two clips in the wrap up with Cuoco and Galecki. Which episodes were they in?
Bernadette is in an isolation room and the other main characters are together singing to her.
Leonard’s mom was exasperated at dinner with Sheldon’s mom, saying to Sheldon’s mom, “Woman, please read another book” after yet another quote from the Bible. Sheldon’s mom replied, “When God writes another one, I will!”
And to the writers: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for not dragging Raj’s last ex into the final episode. I did note there was no mention of her in the wrap up either. Again thank you.
That second one looks like the 9th season finale, where Penny and Leonard redo their wedding ceremony after, y’know, the first one was minus Leonard’s mom (as you said) and dad (played by Judd Hirsch).
Not very likely. When Big Bang Theory started, Parsons had been a minor character on “Judging Amy” and a creepy guy in a Quiznos commercial. Johnny Galecki was the best known actor on the show when it started by a considerable margin as far as I know.
Note that Chuck Lorre was, for several years, a writer and producer on Roseanne, on which Johnny Galecki appeared. So he was cast first, because he was known to Lorre.
I agree. I watched the first seven seasons in their entirety, but did not watch the past five seasons at all. But I came back for the finale, and was really blown away by how good it was. I started to wonder if maybe I had been missing out the past few years, but what I’m hearing is that no, this was abnormally good. So I will probably just leave it at that, although I would actually find it interesting to see the episodes in which Sheldon and Amy first have sex, and then the one where he told her he loves her. The little clips they showed in the supercut were tantalizing.
