11.5 The Collaboration Contamination Well calling it ‘new’ is a bit of a stretch, but then nothing is exactly new or fresh on a show that’s been running for more than a decade. At this stage, most viewers are happy to settle for something they don’t see week in week out and, despite the familiar residual emotional impact on Sheldon and Raj, this apparently ongoing storyline (it doesn’t resolve) is going to offer that. The pairing comes about when Amy needs an engineer to help with a project, and this leads to the two of them spending long days and nights in the lab. But co-dependent as their friends and loved ones are, this commitment to work throws everyone for a loop. Sheldon feels threatened, Raj is jealous, Leonard is back to being the designated driver and Bernadette has to deal with all of their complaints. And there are some good gags scattered throughout the episode – from Sheldon’s attempts at bitching about Howard using morse code, to really everything Bernadette does from the comfort of her suddenly very crowded kitchen. Meanwhile, Penny thinks she’s found a new way to soothe Sheldon when he’s having a tantrum via a parenting book Bernadette leaves at their apartment. Though Leonard has a small panic attack about why his wife is reading such a book, they soon begin plotting over how they can use the techniques to manipulate their friend into being more manageable. Tricking Sheldon into doing Howard’s chores by claiming he’d become just as jealous as Sheldon is about how much time he’s spending with Amy is the far more plausible version of Penny’s parenting methods. He genuinely believes that everyone enjoys these kinds of tasks as much as he does, proven by the fact that he still cleans the oven even after the jig is up. Though this episode felt a little undercooked overall, it did manage to weave everyone in and out of each other’s storylines better than it usually does. Sheldon was involved in the A, B and C plots, for example, and both he and Bernadette were communicating with Amy and Howard remotely. Though Leonard was mostly interacting with Penny, he did have to spend time with Sheldon in the car. Yes, that’s the bare minimum we can ask for but, hey, credit where it’s due. The episode introduced and built upon some promising elements, and proved once again how charming this cast can be. Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, The Explosion Implosion, here.
