After a noticeable lack of Amy Farrah Fowler in last week’s Halloween prank-fest, she’s back in all of her socially awkward glory this week as preparations for Bernadette’s wedding get underway. Sure enough, this episode focused entirely on Amy as she struggled with being left out of a pivotal part of the wedding festivities–shopping for a bridesmaid dress. In the midst of the drama, Sheldon has his personal boundaries nudged just a little further in his attempts to comfort Amy.
As an unabashed fan-girl of all things A.F.F. this episode was fantastic. I was glad to see that the show addressed some of her insecurity issues, which having a friend like Penny it was bound to come up sooner or later. The always-had-friends type of girl can never quite fully be on the level of understanding of what it was like for someone like Amy while they were growing up. It was sweet that Bernadette offered to make amends for upsetting Amy by letting her be the maid of honor in hers and Howard’s wedding, even though we’ve already gotten hints as to how being picked to have such a title is going to affect Amy. Boy and they thought she was an over-excitable bridesmaid, clearly Penny and Bernadette have quite the adventure ahead of them before the big day if the glimpse of the trio’s shared dress-shopping endeavor was anything to go by.
Another highlight would be the focus on expanding the boundaries just a little bit more in Sheldon and Amy’s relationship. I’m sure it’s probably frustrating for some viewers that the show hasn’t seen it fit to push Sheldon into more of a ‘˜normal’relationship with Amy. Especially given how much Amy’s own personal boundaries have grown throughout her tenure on the show. But to have Sheldon refuse to do more than bend his own limitations for physical and emotional contact slightly is a pretty gutsy move in this era of ‘˜when are they going to just be with each other already’you see on so many other shows across genres. Mayim has excellent control of her performance, especially during the scene where Amy plays a rendition of ‘˜Everybody Hurts’by R.E.M. that could have been a bit overwrought in its presentation. We also got some drunk!Amy which is always a real crowd-pleaser as all of her filters crash down immediately once she gets a bit tipsy.
It would also seem that now that Leonard is single once more, he’s been relegated back to an unfortunate side-kick status, at least for this episode. It’s funny that in a show where the premise used to circle around four geeky guys and one hot girl across the hall getting into misadventures, we’re now at the point in the series that if a character isn’t romantically linked with somebody then they don’t really get much of a story of their own. Except for Sheldon of course, his arsenal of one-liners and quirky behavior have always happily put him beyond the realm of needing an attachment in order to have a plot-line. I just wish with Leonard it could be the same way as Johnny Galecki is an unsung hero of this show’s cast and I don’t see why he can’t provide more than a snide quip to someone else’s joke when some of the other characters get their own full-fledged stories. I hope they find something substantial for him to do in future episodes despite Leonard being suddenly single. The same could easily be said about Penny as well, unless you count the one-sided girl crush Amy seems to have on her. Those two are easily the new Howard and Raj of that writer’s room.
Fav. Quotes
“…So it seems that the odorless cloud of deadly gas had a silver lining after all.”–Amy telling the story of how she has access to free unused bridesmaid’s dresses. It involves carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Stand back while I turn this conversation into a conver-sensation.”–Sheldon busting out prepared conversation topic notes in an attempt to liven up the state of their social discourse.
“I would have been a great jockey if I weren’t too tall. And scared of horses.”–Leonard’s greatest moment in the episode. He hilariously plays a horse-racing game on the Kinect.
“The two of you, need to get your women in line!”–An exasperated Sheldon after being ‘strong-armed into a night of harp music and spooning’ with a saddened Amy Farrah Fowler. He demands that Leonard and Howard make Penny and Bernadette apologize to Amy. Mostly so he can get back to his plans of building his LEGO Death Star model.
“She keeps on telling us stories about bridesmaid’s traditions in other cultures. And they’re all about getting naked and washing each other.”–Bernadette explaining to the boys how Amy is slightly overzealous with her need to partake in bridesmaid activities.
“And where’s Amy? She’s right here, the sad little tumor that nobody wants to go dress shopping with.”– Amy comparing herself, Penny, and Bernadette to the brain matter she was working with in the lab. Only this show could make that analogy work the way it does.
