# The Big Bang Theory, Season 8, Episode 24 (May 7, 2015) -- "The Commitment Determination" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492 "2015-05-07T16:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/41 "2015-05-11T18:01:13Z")
Shamy and Pennard breaking up? About time for both. Leonard and Amy belong together, Sheldon belongs with his Meemaw, Penny belongs with Kurt. Raj and Stuart belong whining at each other about how they never get girls. Sheldon’s discussion about sticking with a show to the end had to be foreshadowing. A year or two to run this thing into the ground and we’re done. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/42 "2015-05-11T18:04:43Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I’m still holding on to my pet theory…after Sheldon and Amy’s honeymoon night, he wakes up with all sorts of insights and ideas on physics. I think the psychic said as much to him (when Penny dragged him to see her.) Ooh, good point! What would be cool is if they got married and he finally realized what he’s been missing all these years by not engaging in coitus (that would make Amy happy too–though it would be even _more_ interesting if she discovered she _didn’t_ like it after pushing Sheldon into it for all this time). Somehow, I can’t even picture Sheldon “tickling the pickle.” Has it ever been implied that he has, in the whole series? I don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/43 "2015-05-11T18:11:26Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I don’t think Bernadette “deserves” better. She’s every bit as flawed as Howard, and the two of them are perfect for each other, IMO. She’s a dominant personality like Howard’s mother, which he seems to need and thrive under. He has toned down a lot of his skeevy characteristics since he got married, and seems to be a loyal, loving husband (albeit still a man-child, but all the guys are that way to some extent). I agree with this last point. One of the things I have appreciated about the later seasons is Howard’s transition away from his “creepy horndog” personality, which really was so strong as to be deeply unpleasant. Lazy as he still is about housework, emotionally he is clearly devoted to his wife. I can’t even imagine him cheating on Bernadette. Unlike Leonard, who apparently just needs a little distance from his S.O. and maybe one or two drinks in him. :rolleyes: ---
**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 11, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/44 "2015-05-11T18:13:51Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Somehow, I can’t even picture Sheldon “tickling the pickle.” Has it ever been implied that he has, in the whole series? I don’t remember it. It hasn’t been implied, it’s been out-right stated. Sheldon observed (Season 5, Episode 1) “For the record, I do have genitals. They’re functional and aesthetically pleasing.” Not to mention that the first pilot had the lads returning from the sperm-bank, where they had made deposits. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/45 "2015-05-11T18:13:57Z")
> [@Gothic](#): > > I found it really hard to accept Sheldon has not been watching Flash. You needed to say that in an exasperated Howard voice: “\*Of course \*he’s watching Flash!” ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/46 "2015-05-11T19:00:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It hasn’t been implied, it’s been out-right stated. Sheldon observed (Season 5, Episode 1) “For the record, I do have genitals. They’re functional and aesthetically pleasing.” Not to mention that the first pilot had the lads returning from the sperm-bank, where they had made deposits. I’ve noticed they’ve cut that opening scene from syndication. Whether it’s because it’s deemed offensive or a retcon of Sheldon’s character, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/47 "2015-05-11T20:24:21Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Ditto Amy, and I’m glad she gave Sheldon the boot. As a comic foil, he has his moments but as a person, he’s insufferable and as **MrAtoz** said, would make a terrible husband. I don’t feel bad for him an iota for having his proposal cut short. He’s not remotely ready to give Amy what she needs. > > I don’t think Leonard was trying to passively-agressively sabotage the wedding. I think his sense of guilt and propriety took over. But Penny’s overreaction was pretty ridiculous. I don’t know that Sheldon would be that bad; I suspect that there would be a “marriage agreement”, and that they’d come to some kind of understanding that would work for them. Now I don’t think Sheldon would make a particularly good father, at least not at the moment. My biggest problem with the Penny/Leonard relationship stuff is that both of them, Penny more so than Leonard, tend to read a LOT into what the other says and then attack the other based on the conclusion that they jumped to. So Leonard fesses up about kissing some girl on the ship? That doesn’t _necessarily_ mean that he’s trying to sabotage the impending Vegas nuptials, it could just as likely mean exactly what he said. But Penny jumped him based on a fairly flimsy interpretation of Leonard’s motives in confessing. I keep thinking as I watch the show that while I could deal with Bernadette or Amy, I’d dump Penny like a bad habit, no matter how hot, because she does that crazy stuff. And I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t explore some of the character development (and humorous) potential of Howard having to “detox” himself from his creepy horndog ways while dating/married to Bernadette. It was like he linked up with her and became normal… we all know it doesn’t quite work like that. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/48 "2015-05-11T20:27:56Z")
Howard started getting it regularly. It … \*changes \*a man … ---
**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 11, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/49 "2015-05-11T20:49:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It hasn’t been implied, it’s been out-right stated. Sheldon observed (Season 5, Episode 1) “For the record, I do have genitals. They’re functional and aesthetically pleasing.” Not to mention that the first pilot had the lads returning from the sperm-bank, where they had made deposits. In the pilot that aired they chickened out before making the deposits, but Leonard implied that Sheldon was “semi-pro” at masturbation. https://www.youtube.com/embed/JJCJD05tzYk?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque > [@ivylass](#): > > I’ve noticed they’ve cut that opening scene from syndication. Whether it’s because it’s deemed offensive or a retcon of Sheldon’s character, I don’t know. I noticed that a while back and assumed it was a retcon of Sheldon’s character after they decided to do away with all of his interest in sex. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/50 "2015-05-11T21:05:13Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > For example, if it was previously established that a character’s favorite breakfast cereal was Froot Loops, it would be an unforgivable lapse to suggest that he now favored Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries. To be fair, what Stuart said was that Howard’s favorite _fruit_\* is Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries. \*Or did he say "_berries_?’ Dang, now I have to go watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/51 "2015-05-11T21:20:51Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It hasn’t been implied, it’s been out-right stated. Sheldon observed (Season 5, Episode 1) “For the record, I do have genitals. They’re functional and aesthetically pleasing.” Could be he just has wet dreams… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/52 "2015-05-11T21:22:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > For example, if it was previously established that a character’s favorite breakfast cereal was Froot Loops, it would be an unforgivable lapse to suggest that he now favored Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries. Why can’t he like both? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/53 "2015-05-11T21:26:49Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I don’t think Bernadette “deserves” better. She’s every bit as flawed as Howard, and the two of them are perfect for each other, IMO. She’s a dominant personality like Howard’s mother, which he seems to need and thrive under. He has toned down a lot of his skeevy characteristics since he got married, and seems to be a loyal, loving husband (albeit still a man-child, but all the guys are that way to some extent). Bernadette may have her strident and hectoring moments, but they pale in comparison to Howard’s clueless, selfish, and cowardly man-child lifestyle. I don’t see it evenly matched at all, and I would wager to bet that her “flaws” would not be so self-evident if she wasn’t living with such a baby. They may have toned down his creepiness, but (his devotion to her aside) he still has an exceptional amount of off-putting qualities. Her, not nearly so much, IMHO. ---
**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 11, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/54 "2015-05-11T21:28:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Could be he just has wet dreams… ☹ I don’t think Sheldon would tolerate wet dreams. Their unpredictability would drive him nuts. I’m sure he would regularly schedule “emission control” to avoid such things. Probably to Marie Curie. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/55 "2015-05-13T10:25:52Z")
I would like to argue that the characters on _The Big Bang Theory_ are acting consistently with the way that they have been created from the beginning of the show and that their lives are developing in a way that was always intended. You can argue that some of the original assumptions about the characters don’t make much sense, but within those assumptions they are developing consistently. They are all flawed people, but everyone is flawed. The show is about four guys who are very academically smart but who didn’t at the beginning have very good social skills. Slowly they learn those social skills. As they learn them to adjust better, they acquire girlfriends, none of whom was a perfect person at the beginning either. There’s an interview with the members of the cast on Youtube in which Mayim Bialik explains the personality of Amy and Sheldon in a concise way. She said that Amy has just entered adolescence and Sheldon is still struggling to enter adolescence. Amy is supposed to have been very unpopular when she was young. She had no friends at all when she was in school. Everyone knew she was smart, but they all ignored her or made fun of her. From that point until she met Sheldon (probably when she was in her early thirties), she couldn’t get any boy to be attracted to her. She had given up on her chances for dating, let alone ever getting married. She was thus astonished, when she went on one of the once-a-year dates that her mother insisted on, that someone who seemed to be similar to her and was reasonably good-looking by her standards might in his own weird way be interested in her. Sheldon had an even worse childhood. He had no chance to acquire friends at all in school, since he was advanced through his education so fast that all his fellow students were soon much older than him. It wasn’t that he was unpopular as much as that he was completely ignored by anyone his own age. He quickly learned that the best way to survive was to himself ignore any social interactions, since no one cared about him socially. He’s thus confused to find himself (in his late thirties, according to the timeline of the show, I think) with a girlfriend. He doesn’t understand exactly where he’s supposed to go in the relationship. I think that the conception of Sheldon created at the beginning of the show was wildly inconsistent though. On one hand we’re told that he graduated from high school at 11, graduated from college at 14, and got his Ph.D. at 16. He’s supposed to have an I.Q. of 187. (Incidentally, it’s actually impossible to measure such a high I.Q. That would be the smartest person in the U.S. according to the Wechsler scale and one of the nine smartest people in the U.S. according to the Stanford-Binet scale.) On the other hand, we’re told that he grew up in a working-class family in Galveston, where his father was an alcoholic and his mother had no interest in academic matters. How could he possibly be pushed through school so fast if there was no one to act as a mentor for him? [http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx](http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx) > **[Sheldon Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Cooper)** > > Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory and its spinoff series Young Sheldon, portrayed by actors Jim Parsons and Iain Armitage respectively (with Parsons as the latter series' narrator). For his portrayal, Parsons won four Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a TCA Award, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards. The character's childhood is the focus of Young Sheldon, in which he grows up in East Texas with The adul... Look, I know a little bit about what it’s like to be smart and determined to become highly educated when you grow up in an environment where no one you’ve ever met has gone beyond college and most haven’t gone to college at all. The idea that you’re going to graduate from high school seven years before almost everyone else and get your Ph.D. ten years earlier than usual is ridiculous. In such an environment no one is going to accommodate you to that extent. They will mostly ignore you. They will allow you to get good grades and thus get into a good college, but it won’t make you popular and they would never allow you to advance through school that fast. I suspect that what happened was that the creators of the show already had a good conception of the character that they changed when they cast Jim Parsons as Sheldon. I suspect that they originally had Sheldon growing up in some sort of academic family where it was at least plausible that someone might decide to push a smart child through school that fast. Then Jim Parsons absolutely blew away everyone when he auditioned for the part. The creators decided that it might be nice to work into the background of the character the fact that Parsons grew up in Texas and had a noticeable accent. They decided that the character should have grown up around a bunch of stereotyped Texas hicks. This created a contradictory background for the character. ---
**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 13, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/56 "2015-05-13T11:31:37Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > How could he possibly be pushed through school so fast if there was no one to act as a mentor for him? At the risk of not knowing what I’m talking about, in the real world, isn’t it possible for a teacher to recognize and encourage a particularly bright student, even if the parents don’t seem to get it? Maybe I’m too idealistic, but I don’t think it’s impossible for a genius of a student to be fortunate enough to have a teacher like that. Even in Texas. I know it’s not part of the back story of the series, but if it had been, I wouldn’t have considered it to be outrageous. And I still think Sheldon’s mean streak seems out of character, even with all the changes in him over the series. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/57 "2015-05-13T11:41:35Z")
I’m pretty sure that being pushed through school that fast never happens unless one’s parents request it. I don’t think a teacher would ever suggest such a thing. I consider this one of those ridiculous ideas that you see on TV shows or movies occasionally but which never happen in reality. Can anyone give me any example whatsoever of a person from a working-class background with parents who have no particular interest in education who zipped through school that fast? ---
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/58 "2015-05-13T14:36:08Z")
Sheldon isn’t even the smartest person on CBS. Walter O’Brien, on _Scorpion_, has a 197 IQ. He’s portrayed almost exactly as a non-sitcom version of Sheldon. The rest of the Scorpion team has as much trouble with the opposite sex as the rest of the \*BBT \*gang used to have in its first season. It may be a CBS rule. Teachers will try to fit students to the proper class. > [@](#): > > [Carson Huey-You](http://www.businessinsider.com/child-geniuses-2012-12) is attending Texas Christian University to become a quantum physicist. TCU360 reports that Huey-You is starting off his freshman year at age 11, although he was admitted at age 10. The dean of admissions couldn’t recall ever accepting such a young student — or possibly even one with such a spotless record. > > ``` > By age 2, Carson Huey-You was reading chapter books. By age 3, he could add, subtract, multiply and divide. > > ``` > > The aspiring young physicist graduated from the Accommodated Learning Academy in Grapevine, Texas… That’s something Sheldon could have done if they didn’t want to emphasize the bullying in his childhood. (\*Scorpion \*is all about geniuses being bullied and abandoned and misunderstood. It’s television. Wonderful lives don’t make for good screen conflict.) [Here’s a listing of (mostly) similar cases](http://www.businessinsider.com/child-geniuses-2012-12) from around the world. Unfortunately, there’s no information about the status of their parents. That one or more of them came from a lower-class background is not implausible, though. The young genius is, litotically speaking, not uncommon. They will be recognized today. ---
**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 13, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/59 "2015-05-13T15:53:17Z")
Sheldon did have a mentor - Pop-Pop, his grandfather. Unfortunately he died when Sheldon was 5, so I doubt he was much help getting Sheldon into college at a tender age. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492/60 "2015-05-13T17:36:19Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > . . . > > Sheldon’s discussion about sticking with a show to the end had to be foreshadowing. A year or two to run this thing into the ground and we’re done. It felt to me like a fourth-wall break, with an actor telling the audience what it’s like to be stuck in something for years. No matter how successful the project, there has to be an urge to stretch. At least it isn’t Broadway, with the same lines every night. > [@terentii](#): > > Why can’t he like both? 😕 Because the product placement deal with Fruit Loops has obviously run out. > [@MovieMogul](#): > > Bernadette may have her strident and hectoring moments, but they pale in comparison to Howard’s clueless, selfish, and cowardly man-child lifestyle. I don’t see it evenly matched at all, and I would wager to bet that her “flaws” would not be so self-evident if she wasn’t living with such a baby. They may have toned down his creepiness, but (his devotion to her aside) he still has an exceptional amount of off-putting qualities. Her, not nearly so much, IMHO. Is it just me, or has her boob-size normalized over the course of this season? It hit me that she looks more human, and less like a mini-Barbie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-8-episode-24-may-7-2015-the-commitment-determination/719492.md?page=4)