I will bet there are a lot of broken hearted geeks out there tonight. “The Desperation Emanation’ is the first episode Kaley Cuoco was written out of after breaking her leg last moth. There is a pretty obvious bit in the episode when Sheldon runs off in a panic, desperate for advice over Amy’s request to meet her mother. You have to figure he would go to penny for that, ut the scene instead leads to a conversation outside the apartment building with Leonard which serves only for a couple jokes, but no plot development. There is where penny is missing, no?I have spilled half the plot already. Sheldon is busy trying to get rid of his girlfriend after she apparently wants to take it to the next level while lonely Leonard fids himself the only one of the group without a girl. He invokes the same girlfriend agreement with Howard that landed him Bernadette, but she sets Leonard up with a classless dud from her self-defense class. Predictable comedy ensues as she constantly attacks Leonard while obliviously embarrassing herself. Sheldon learns Amy only wants to pretend they area couple to please her mother. They, oblivious to the stigma, describe a vigorous sex life to mommy dearest via web cam in order to pull it off.
Leonard’s date, joy is played by Charlotte Newhouse. I had never heard of her. A quick IMDb search does not reveal any big credits, either. Usually one off guest stars are some sort of in joke. I am afraid in Newhouse is famous for playing shallow, crass characters, her reputation is lost upon me. Most of the date is, too, in all honestly. Bernadette is an academic type. Her poor choice for a hook p is an out of character act solely to set up an typical sitcom mismatch of characters. A bit disappointing.
As for the resolution of Sheldon and Amy’s dilemma, it is funny, but a bit disturbing if you really think about it. Their complete misunderstanding of what is socially acceptable does make one wonder why the Department of Social Services has not assigned the two case workers yet. Maybe I am a stick in the mud here, but there is a line between humorous social awkwardness and detrimental, antisocial behavior. Mining for comedy gold on the borderline can get disturbing.
A decent episode in spite of my gripes about predictable sitcom fare with Leonard’s date and some questionable humor with Sheldon and Amy.
Rating; *** (out of 5)
