# The Big Bang Theory, Season 11, Episode 4 (October 16, 2017) -- "The Explosion Implosion" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071 "2017-10-16T19:34:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071/21 "2017-10-18T01:30:39Z")
As my mind wandered watching it, I realized I might be done with it. I don’t hate it, but I enjoy about 10% of it. And I don’t like that 10% like I liked any given five minutes of the first few seasons. It’s ok if shows decline, but there is a point where I don’t bother. This might have been my last one. Like I don’t like Supernatural much any more either, but at least the men are hot. There’s not a lot of eye-candy to distract me from this. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071/22 "2017-10-18T16:10:24Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Leonard’s brother, Michael, is a Harvard law professor and is engaged or married to the youngest appellate court judge in New Jersey history. Leonard also says that his brother is eight inches taller than him. Later in Season 8, it is revealed that he had recently argued a case before the Supreme Court. He has not yet appeared in the program. > > Leonard’s sister, whose name is unknown is a cutting-edge medical researcher working with adolescent gibbons to cure diabetes. She has even gone as far as successfully growing a human pancreas in one. Leonard also says that she is 38 years old and married in Season 4. She has not yet appeared in the program. I’ve never understood this. Leonard attended Princeton and is “only” a researcher at one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world. That puts him above his brother in my book and possibly above his sister. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071/23 "2017-10-18T16:38:27Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > There’s another thing that bugged me…what, you can’t teach Halley to fire rockets and play Mystic Warlords of Ka’a? Yeah! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071/24 "2017-10-18T19:07:16Z")
Part of the Beverly shtick is that all four guys have to have a parent problem to give the writers plot lines, and they had the “brilliant” idea to swap the mothers Sheldon and Leonard would have be happier with. The other part is that the writers think it’s funny to give the psychologist psychological issues. That they keep trying to humanize her just makes the scenes with Leonard worse. She’s a character who can’t grow. They wrote themselves into a corner with her. I don’t believe her bonding with Penny for a second. Howard acting as Sheldon’s father-figure was the only redeeming part of a very bad episode. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071/25 "2017-10-19T20:08:40Z")
This is starting to remind me of the later seasons of _Friends_; the circumstances bringing all the characters together are unlikely to be holding in place for 10 straight years (not to mention all the guys have been dressing the _exact same way_ for over a decade.) It begins to strain the boundaries of credulity that this group - which includes two married couples, one with a baby and another on the way - is still gathering in the same apartment sitting on the floor eating takeout every night. Also like _Friends_, the best episodes are those with stories involving all the characters together, and not compartmentalized A, B, and C plotlines that barely intersect. That said, I still enjoy the show in a comfortable-shoe sort of way. and while this week’s episode was not among its best, I thought the Sheldon/Howard scenes were very well-written and performed. They’re still uncovering new dimensions in the characters. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071/26 "2017-10-21T20:55:50Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Leonard and Amy didn’t even have a real conversation. They just talked over each other. This was a “joke”. A common comedy trope and usually done much, much better. It just filled time. A good version of this ends up with the conversation relinking together to both person’s satisfaction without either realizing the bulk was completely separate. Didn’t really happen here. It was a setup with no punch line. Over, for me, several nice, isolated jokes. The storyline and all didn’t really hold together. The “explosion” of the model rocket was 2nd rate by TV show explosions (Sheldon would _not_ be impressed.) and of course would not have happened like that for a rocket put together by Howard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-11-episode-4-october-16-2017-the-explosion-implosion/799071.md?page=1)