The Big Bang Theory Recap – ‘The Alien Parasite Hypothesis’

Show: The Big Bang Theory

Episode Title: ‘The Alien Parasite Hypothesis’

Air Date: December 9th, 2010

Network: CBS

On a girls night out with Penny & Bernadette, Sheldon’s friend Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik), who is a friend and a girl but not a girlfriend, finds herself experiencing sexual attraction – or it could be symptoms of an alien parasite using her body as a host. Or menopause. Meanwhile, Raj and Howard argue over who would be the superhero and who the sidekick should they receive powers from a radioactive animal bite.

Warning: Spoilers ahead…

“You get bit by a radioactive animal in a lab, you kinda want to turn into a superhero.”

When Howard tells the boys that someone was bitten by a radioactive rat in a recent lab accident, Raj becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming Rat-Man! He tells Howard he can be his sidekick, Mouse-Boy. Or perhaps Vermin.

Offended by the notion that he is sidekick material and not the hero, Howard begins a series of hilarious tests to see who should be who, including sticking your hand in a bucket with a giant spider and ending with the funniest non-contact wrestling match I’ve seen on tv.

Elsewhere, Sheldon and Amy are dealing with the idea and ramifications of the idea that she may have experienced sexual attraction for an ex of Penny’s. For Sheldon, this may indicate that Amy is not the ‘highly evolved creature of intellect’ he thought she was. This leads to a Star Trek conversation:

“Did you see Star Trek: The Motion Picture”

“No.”

“Don’t. It’s terrible. However, in it we learn that when Spock finds himself drawn off the path of logic by feelings bubbling up from his human half, he suppresses them using the Vulcan discipline of kolinahr.”

“Are you suggesting that we live our lives guided by the philosophies found in cheap science fiction?”

“Cheap science fiction!”

“What are you doing?”

“Using kolinahr to suppress my anger at that last comment.”

Later, while chatting with Penny, she tells Sheldon that there might be something he can do to help Amy with her sexual urges. He leaves with Penny thinking he’s going to actually have sex with Amy but that isn’t what Sheldon has planned at all…

Although I loved the Raj / Howard storyline – once again, those two play well off each other and the dynamic between them is comedy gold – I felt the Sheldon / Amy storyline – or Shamy, as they say on the show, fell a little flat. The revelation of what Amy was feeling and how Shamy reacted to it was hilarious, but the resolution – not so much.

There were a lot of directions they could’ve gone with this and I’m pretty sure it’s not the last we’ll see of such a storyline given the progression of the Shamy relationship. But this first foray could’ve ended with a much bigger bang rather than the fizzle they opted for.

Article first published as The Big Bang Theory Recap – “The Alien Parasite Hypothesis” on Technorati.

Filed under: TV

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