This is hopelessly nitpicky but I just checked and the Wizarding World at Universal Hollywood opened in April. I don’t know exactly when this episode takes place, but I have to imagine that Sheldon is enough of a nerd that he’d have been there already. Remember that they’re the sort of crowd that goes to the new Star Wars film opening night.
Seriously re-thinking.
But that is something you can return to time and time again. Remember, Sheldon gets upset when someone goes to the comic book store without him.
For a birthing episode it wasn’t bad. The Shamy sex stuff was kind of sub-par in that category I think unless it’s a prelude to Sheldon rapidly overcoming his problem dealing with coitus and we see the pendulum swing quickly in the other direction. The Raj/Stuart dynamic worked a pretty well this time. I can see the dreams of a spin-off dancing in some producer’s head. Maybe best that Raj never found an SO, it’s already crowded and one more girl (or guy) in the mix would be too much. It is too bad Howard’s mom can’t be part of this, just voices from the baby and her would make some great comedy.
I thought what he said was that he hadn’t been there at all yet.
Unclear. I just checked the tape. Sheldon says “You know I’ve been wanting to go there.” That *seems *to indicate that he hasn’t been yet.
The end of the episode makes it clear: Sheldon says “I made it to Wizarding World.” So Dewey is right in that Sheldon hadn’t been there yet.
Indeed, I was surprised at how revealing Amy’s outfit was in that scene. I’ve always heard that Mayim Bialik is pretty conservative about that sort of thing. It was evidently a big deal a few years ago when she wore that old school Star Trek uniform with the miniskirt–and she was wearing hose with that! This was way more skimpy.
I wish they would do something with Raj other than make him pathetic. I had thought that Isabella, the custodian that he was dating a few episodes ago, might become a recurring character, but apparently not, since he didn’t mention her when recounting his romantic troubles.
My 7 top favorite things about the episode:
- The asthma attack (from running downstairs?)
- Interrupted coitus and the smiles
- “It took me hours” (and the smiles)
- The resolution with Raj being elevated to Godfather (does that mean there’s a baptism coming up, or will they raise the baby as Jewish - at least there won’t be a circumcision)?
- The sassy nurse - I always smile when she’s in a scene
- The baby crying as Debbie
and number 1:
- NO long, drawn-out agonizing screaming delivery scene - thank you for sparing us that!
I guess I’m in the minority. I did not like the baby crying as Mrs. Wolowitz AT ALL.
My favorite line was “Hankius Pankius.” 
The retrospection of the gang was nice, but it did highlight how far Raj has yet to go. They really need to figure out something with him. Shoehorning him into Howard and Bernadette with a splash of Stuart is just icky.
IIRC, Amy’s birthday last year was about this time too, mid-December, because Sheldon missed opening night of The Force Awakens. I’m wondering why the gang wasn’t going to see Rogue One on opening night.
The show is on a roll. Not gold but well done for a show in Season 10. Let’s thank he powers that be for making the birth essentially all off camera. No way we needed to see that.
I think she’s ok with the obvious comedy effect. Surely she was wearing stockings. She’s not all that conservative about the type of humor on the show at all, she probably rejected a number of more revealing outfits for that scene.
If I remember correctly, she had more of a problem with the football uniform she had to wear for a promo. Pants are the problem, especially the tight ones like football ones that outline the crotch-al area. Also, I think hose may have been involved but it is hard to tell pasty white from hose white.
Why? That was comedy gold, and totally unexpected. I laughed so hard, I scared both cats out of the room.
And I’m in the minority about Amy. I didn’t crack a smile at the took-me-hours line, seeing a part of her leg made me cringe, I don’t find her smile at all enticing, and her humor always seems forced. The coitus talk scenes between her and Sheldon are extremely awkward (and not the good kind of awkward).
That said, this was the best episode in quite some time.
mmm
Good grief, the “sassy” nurse is the best part of the episode. She has a name, you know: Althea. This is her 6th TBBT appearance, including both versions of the pilot. Making her one of just 3 people from the original, unaired, pilot to later appear on the show. (And keep appearing.)
Say it with me: Althea.
A surprisingly good episode given the inherent problems of “giving birth” episodes which usually fail big time. It did dabble on the bad side with the two trips to the hospital part.
Quite a few funny bits. Continuing the Stewart vs. Raj rivalry seems to be working.
(Contract time is coming up. I wonder if the producers will be pointing out to Kunal Nayyar that they can save some money by dropping the Raj character completely and using Stewart in his place full time. Dropping one of the “big four” frees up a lot of salary.)
It’s interesting to compare the portrayal of Sheldon in this episode with the previous one. In that one he was just a full on jerk. In this one, he was more like the original Sheldon in most regards. Only one full-on jerk moment: when he points out he’s going to get back at Amy in 24 spread-out hours. (And it makes no sense. Why 24 hours? He can ruin Amy’s whole birthday by being a jerk for 5 minutes.)
They need to have a writer’s meeting where everyone gets told the right way to portray Sheldon.
It seemed obvious and fake. I like it when Bernadette channels Mrs. W, but the baby cry just didn’t work for me.
YMMV.
Althea makes the rounds.
She was a receptionist in the Sperm Bank
Twice a receptionist in the Emergency Room (Peanut Allergy and Robot Arm)
Nurse when Sheldon’s Barber was in a coma
and now a nurse in Maternity.
Surprised she didn’t make an appearance when Howard’s Mother had the faux heart-attack.
I’m just a bit surprised at characters that wait until the child is born to come up with a name. My wife and I had names picked out well before we were expecting.