by Brett Denney
Well the day has arrived…it’s the season finale of The Big Bang Theory. The day has also arrived for Leonard and Penny to share their big engagement news to their friends. They are all excited and congratulatory until Raj subtly announces that he and Emily went all the way, where in the rest of the group switched their joyful focus to Raj. Leonard and Penny were a bit hurt by this but were reminded that they talk engagement all the time, but what happened to Raj never happens.
Sheldon is told by the university that he has to continue with his study in string theory and this causes him great distress and aggravation. Leonard hopes that this does not cause any rash decisions on Sheldon’s part.
Howard’s mother is still confined to her bed and he and Bernadette are having a hard time keeping a home nurse long enough to take care of her. The nurses find out way too soon what we all know about Mrs. Wolowitz…that she can be loud, obnoxious and overbearing. They even offered Penny whatever pay she wanted and Penny didn’t last as long as Bernadette could’ve ridden a bull. Howard thinks it’s time to release her back in the sea…(another classic one liner about Howard’s mother!)
I do find it enjoyably funny that Sheldon is closer with Leonard’s mother, Beverly Hofstadter (Christine Baranski), than Leonard is. Leonard is taking the long route in trying to tell his mother the good news of the engagement but as not to draw it out she saves him the time and explains that Sheldon has already told her. This is just another great scene of the awkwardness between Leonard and his mother. She is so in his head for the rest of his life.
Leonard drops another bombshell on Sheldon’s life…living arrangements after he and Penny get married. At first Sheldon seems to be ok with everything, because in his mind, after some trial living scenarios, they would all three eventually live together fulltime. After some more discussion though, Leonard finally gets Sheldon to realize that it will be Leonard and Penny living together and Sheldon not living with them. It’s even suggested that Sheldon could move across the hall which puts Sheldon in a tizzy.
Sheldon takes his troubles to his girlfriend Amy. She lends him a great ear but she also has an agenda her own too. She reminds him of how bad a roommate Leonard has been and that he may just enjoy living by himself, but then she slips in there that if he doesn’t like living by himself that she could move in with him. That does not sit well with Sheldon. It’s as if Sheldon’s world is crashing in all around him. As we know, Sheldon does not like change and all of this seems too hard for him to handle.
Sheldon gets even more bad news when he visits the place he likes to go to when he is sad. The comic book store has been destroyed by a hotplate fire. This seems to be the last straw. He is very angry and storms out of the comic shop saying how much he hates change.
Leonard is getting somewhat worried that he hasn’t heard from Sheldon, so much that he hacks Sheldon’s phone tracking website to see where he is. Leonard sees that he is at the train station and he and Penny go to get him. Sheldon has decided that with all the changes facing him that he needs to leave and go wherever the trains take him. Sheldon needs time to get away and think and eventually Penny talks Leonard into realizing that this could be the best thing for him. After what I think could be a tearful good bye with Leonard telling his friend that he is going to miss him, Sheldon quickly ruins the mood with a reply of “Of course you will.”
In the closing scenes there are some big changes. Stewart was offered a job to watch Howard’s mother and Stewart couldn’t be happier. He thinks that it’s a dream come true. Him and Mrs. Wolowitz are on a first name basis and enjoy watching Wheel of Fortune together. Amy on the other hand is devastated that Leonard decided to let Sheldon leave, and she takes it out by hitting Leonard with a pillow over and over again, screaming “Why did you let him go?!”
So where will Sheldon go? How long will he be gone? Is the comic store going to re-open? We will have to wait for season 8. Until then, I challenge you all to a game of rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock!
“Move across the hall?! Did you take a marijuana?!” – Sheldon
[Photo via CBS]
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“Him and Mrs. Wolowitz”??? Sounds like Paulie Walnuts wrote the article.