# The Big Bang Theory, Season 8, Episode 23 (April 30, 2015) -- "The Maternal Combustion" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920 "2015-04-30T19:40:06Z")\ **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:** [April 30, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/1 "2015-04-30T19:40:06Z")
I am starting this thread in anticipation of tonight’s episode. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/2 "2015-04-30T21:11:47Z")
I have dreamed of Leonard’s mom and Sheldon’s mom meeting. Now, if we can just meet Sheldon’s Memaw and Howard’s dad, we should be set. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/3 "2015-04-30T21:16:55Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I have dreamed of Leonard’s mom and Sheldon’s mom meeting. Now, if we can just meet Sheldon’s Memaw and Howard’s dad, we should be set. Yeah, that would be something to see! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/4 "2015-04-30T21:17:55Z")
Isn’t Memaw dead? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/5 "2015-05-01T00:17:46Z")
Word of warning, for some reason my DVR tagged this episode a Repeat and was not going to record it even though I was sure it was new from the description so you may want to double check…and now I realize it is already half over so sorry if you saw this too late. Hope maybe it helps other time zones 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/6 "2015-05-01T08:10:22Z")
I’m sorry, but I think Leonard’s mom is just too much of a cartoonist caricature. Example – at the beginning the two of them walking up the stairs and mom commenting on Leonard’s sex life. Overall I thought it was a pretty weak episode. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2015, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/7 "2015-05-01T08:18:39Z")
I liked the interaction between the two mothers, but the conclusion was a bit unlikely, and some of the jokes by the main cast were awful. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/8 "2015-05-01T08:31:18Z")
I was a little surprised to see Leonard’s mother so openly hostile to religion, particularly when a guest in her son’s home. Also thought Penny had semi-bonded with her the last time she appeared, but they did not seem to acknowledge that. The A-plot with the two mothers was ok but the B-story with Howard, Raj, and Stuart just stunk up the place. The “Hard Knock Life” bit seemed forced, and I could happily go the rest of my life without ever seeing Stuart in his drawers again. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/9 "2015-05-01T11:00:32Z")
I thought the Hard Knock Life was a hoot! Maybe I’m just easily amused. But I agree, the two mothers’ storyline was pretty awful. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/10 "2015-05-01T12:19:25Z")
I liked both plots. Yeah, they did downplay the previous rapport between Dr. Beverley & Penny, but I loved the way Dr. B & Mary went at each other. Favorite moments- Mary’s response to what they fed the lions of the Ark. “Super weaner” and “Dirty double-mother sucker!” Stuart’s “I put on pants” while Howard mutters “Kiss-ass.” The look on Bernie’s face when she walks into the song & turns right back around. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/11 "2015-05-01T12:55:18Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Isn’t Memaw dead? Golly, I hope not! I really enjoyed this episode. Loved the confrontation between the mothers! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/12 "2015-05-01T13:22:44Z")
No, Wil Wheaton’s Memaw is dead (or so he claimed, to win a card game against Sheldon.) I was disappointed. I found the interaction between the moms predictable and pedestrian. It would have been nice for a different conflict, maybe arguing over parenting styles, and I thought Freud was pretty much debunked as a psychologist? I can’t see a doctor of Beverly’s caliber buying into that. We’ve seen the Howard Doesn’t Help Out Around the House bit before, and if I were Bernadette I’d have hidden his xBox again. I do like to see Stuart…he’s a fun character. I’m wondering if it’s time for this show to start wrapping things up. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/13 "2015-05-01T13:52:53Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I’m wondering if it’s time for this show to start wrapping things up. It’s still topping the ratings (only the Bruce Jenner 20/20 episode beat it last week), so I’d say there’s no way CBS is going to end it. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/14 "2015-05-01T14:01:02Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > It’s still topping the ratings (only the Bruce Jenner 20/20 episode beat it last week), so I’d say there’s no way CBS is going to end it. I am constantly LOLing at the carping about this show here and the insistence that it’s time to end it…like CBS cares (sorry to coin that phrase) what commenters on message boards think more than they care about the ratings. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/15 "2015-05-01T14:03:30Z")
Don’t get me wrong…I have been a fan of this show since its premier, and I would love to see it go on for another ten years. But I wonder if Chuck Lorre is getting tired. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/16 "2015-05-01T14:04:22Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > No, Wil Wheaton’s Memaw is dead (or so he claimed, to win a card game against Sheldon.) > . After winning the game he said his Memaw was still alive, ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/17 "2015-05-01T14:09:03Z")
Did a scene get cut off for anyone else? On CBS in New York the scene where the Mothers and Penny discuss the ring cut to commercial before the scene was over. We never actually saw the insult that got the Mothers mad at each other. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/18 "2015-05-01T15:55:33Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Word of warning, for some reason my DVR tagged this episode a Repeat and was not going to record it even though I was sure it was new from the description so you may want to double check…and now I realize it is already half over so sorry if you saw this too late. Hope maybe it helps other time zones 🙂 Same thing happened here. Had to wait and watch it OnDemand later. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/19 "2015-05-01T17:03:38Z")
Tivo had no problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920/20 "2015-05-01T17:07:40Z")
maybe three lines were funny but not hilarious. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-23-april-30-2015-the-maternal-combustion/718920.md?page=2)