# Big Bang Theory, February 6, 2014 -- "The Locomotion Manipulation" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684 "2014-02-06T19:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/1 "2014-02-06T19:21:04Z")
I’m starting this thread in anticipation of tonight’s episode. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/2 "2014-02-07T01:40:28Z")
Imagine what Amy could get out of a long-distance train trip with a private compartment. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/3 "2014-02-07T01:52:54Z")
worst episode ever. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/4 "2014-02-07T01:54:58Z")
That surprised the hell out of me. But then it wasn’t really THAT big of a deal to Sheldon, if we go by the ending scene. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/5 "2014-02-07T03:21:48Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > worst episode ever. Hardly. Last week’s was pretty bad though. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/6 "2014-02-07T05:13:14Z")
I liked it. Maybe Raj finally found somebody. Any train geeks care to comment on the correctness of the terms? Brian ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/7 "2014-02-07T05:33:23Z")
As a train geek, I was pretty bothered by them. [ul] [li]Amy called it an Alcoa locomotive rather than an Alco. Well, OK, but . . . [/li][li]No railfan would expect the cars to have anything _other than_ an AAR coupler, standard for a century. A particular type (Type H) has been standard for excursion and passenger trains since a bad accident in 1986.[/li][li]I didn’t understand the choo-choo sound effects for electrified trains like the Acela. Or for that matter, ones hauled by diesels (like _The Wolverine)_ that are utterly interchangeable with any other Amtrak equipment in the Midwest.[/li][li]Trains don’t have an _engine compartment,_ they have an _engine_.[/li][li]And it sounded like Sheldon had the _conductor_ confused with the _engineer_. On a passenger train, the conductor stays back in the passenger cars, responsible only for paperwork and closing the doors.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/8 "2014-02-07T06:09:27Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > As a train geek, I was pretty bothered by them. > [ul] > [li]Amy called it an Alcoa locomotive rather than an Alco. Well, OK, but . . . [/li]. . . > > [li]Trains don’t have an _engine compartment,_ they have an _engine_.[/li][li]And it sounded like Sheldon had the _conductor_ confused with the _engineer_. On a passenger train, the conductor stays back in the passenger cars, responsible only for paperwork and closing the doors.[/li][/ul] I could forgive Amy and Alcoa; Amy is not the train fan that Sheldon is. But the other two–I wish the writers had done a little research. Sheldon, with his love of trains, should know better. A train doesn’t have an engine compartment; a train has a cab. And the conductor deals with passengers, tichets, and paperwork; the engineer or operator drives the train. Another question: a train is not an aircraft, where access to the cockpit is a nice, clean, few feet away from the front row of passengers. To get from the passenger cars to the locomotive cab, you’d have to go outside, along a catwalk, and into the cab. How did Sheldon get to the cab with Eric, and not come back with his hair mussed, his clothes dirty from the crud that accumulates on locomotives, and smelling like diesel exhaust? Overall, though, I liked the episode. I think Raj has found a new vet, and I think that both Sheldon and Amy were surprised: Amy for what Sheldon did, and Sheldon for how much he liked it. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/9 "2014-02-07T06:19:06Z")
Note: ALCOA is Aluminum Company of America; ALCO is American Locomotive Company. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/10 "2014-02-07T06:23:38Z")
I thought it was pretty damn funny. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/11 "2014-02-07T06:33:17Z")
Was trying to figure out where I’d seen Yvette the Vet before. She was Alex, Ben Linus’s daughter in _Lost_. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/12 "2014-02-07T06:49:48Z")
Now Amy has some female friends so she’s nowhere near as isolated as she was pre-Sheldon. She should dump Sheldon. I don’t even think it would bother Sheldon if she still hung around with the guys. His indifference would probably tear her heart apart, though, unless/until she found someone else who appreciated her. They’re all damaged people\* finding a way. Well, Sheldon is happy where he is. Leonard nailed it when he told Sheldon, “Sometimes I forget, you’re not a real boy.” And yes, it’d be nice if Raj had a girlfriend. \*Except maybe Bernie. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/13 "2014-02-07T07:05:25Z")
**Spoons** thanks for noting it’s a cab. My stepfather was a fireman back when they actually shoveled coal into the furnace, and then became an engineer, and they called them cabs. I think the writers used “compartment” because that’s more easily understood by an audience. In “the kiss,” Jim Parsons showed a magnetic draw toward Amy. I hope after TBBT fervor is over his stage work is also recognized and he has a fulfilling career beyond the current “flash-in-the-pan” celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/14 "2014-02-07T13:35:58Z")
It’s funny because he’s emotionally abusing his Girlfriend! Run fast, run far Amy Farrah Fowler! ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/15 "2014-02-07T13:54:18Z")
I must admit that I have trouble enjoying the Amy-Sheldon relationship. What he does to her is the emotional equivalent of hitting her and then giving her a hug. And she rolls over for it. If her character were more like how she started I could see a reason for it, but as she is now it is simply a harmful relationship for her to be in, even if Sheldon isn’t intentionally cruel. And once I’m thinking of it that way, I don’t see the funny much any more. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/16 "2014-02-07T14:41:17Z")
I thought Sheldon was in the right for once in this episode. Amy got them something both of them would enjoy, the B&B for her and the train for him. Yet, when he got on the train she was mad because he wanted to enjoy the train and talk about it with a fellow train obsessive. It would be like buying someone tickets to their favorite amusement park and then pouting because they want to ride the rides instead of chatting with you. I think Amy finally got that at the end when she went to see the engine with him. It showed growth in her character. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/17 "2014-02-07T14:58:05Z")
Wasn’t the big deal in the episode that Sheldon kissed her and appeared to enjoy it? That was a huge change for him. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/18 "2014-02-07T15:12:47Z")
Two big deals, I thought. The second being that Leonard acknowledged that Penny may have a drinking problem. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/19 "2014-02-07T15:58:46Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I thought Sheldon was in the right for once in this episode. Amy got them something both of them would enjoy, the B&B for her and the train for him. Yet, when he got on the train she was mad because he wanted to enjoy the train and talk about it with a fellow train obsessive. It would be like buying someone tickets to their favorite amusement park and then pouting because they want to ride the rides instead of chatting with you. I think Amy finally got that at the end when she went to see the engine with him. It showed growth in her character. It’s a comedy so I don’t want to take it too seriously but you are completely wrong. The only reason the weekend was exactly what Sheldon wanted was that was the only way she could get him to spend time with her on Valentine’s Day. A holiday whose only purpose is to celebrate romantic relationships. If it was his Birthday, maybe MAYBE you can make this case (but even then it would be shitty of him) but on Valentine’s Day? AFF already met him more than half way by planning something that is supposed to be for couples to be exactly what he and and only he wanted. More still, he not only heaped indignity on top of indignity on her but then at the end when she had had enough, he gave her just enough affection to reel her back in. Classic manipulative behavior, albeit unintentional in Sheldon’s case but still sad and unhealthy. I reiterate: Run like the Wind AFF! As someone above also said, this has become too sad to laugh at anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684/20 "2014-02-07T16:06:09Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > More still, he not only heaped indignity on top of indignity on her but then at the end when she had had enough, he gave her just enough affection to reel her back in. That’s what he started to do, but he enjoyed the kiss (he leaned in and put his hands on her butt). So he made the first tentative steps toward a physical relationship with her. Maybe by the season finale, they’ll be in bed together. (Still dressed, but in bed together.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-bang-theory-february-6-2014-the-locomotion-manipulation/680684.md?page=2)