I am starting this thread in anticipation of tonight’s episode.
I was quite baffled for this episode. How is this even a question? If there’s proof he plagiarized his doctoral thesis, turn him in. Yeesh.
I realize it’s a sitcom but those two guys from Fermilab are presented as such idiots and buffoons, I wonder if this annoys people at the real Fermilab.
This.
And at least Anu wasn’t in this episode. And Leonard’s mom will be back next week.
The whole thing felt contrived, especially the bit about the ex-wife, and it was a bit too convenient a way to dispatch with Sheldon and Amy’s competition.
On the other hand, Kal Penn managed to pull some good laughs out of the material; Sheldon and Amy’s bedtime conversation made me chuckle; the B plot about the mystery Cheesecake waitress, while inconsequential, was classic Wolowitz. So as comedy, the episode mostly worked for me, regardless of real-world logic.
Also, ten-years-ago Sheldon surely would have gleefully outed the plagiarist without a second thought. This was a nice display of his growth as a character.
And in that case, he would have been right. I think it was Leonard that pointed out that he was taking up a slot that an actually qualified PhD could have been in.