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‘Big Bang’ recap: Bernadette goes on a mission

By Chris ErskineColumnist 
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As we go barreling toward some sort of showdown between Penny and Priya — P-Day, as it were — we have little episodes like this that seem to be just marking time till the Big Event. This show advanced the boulder only a little way up the hill, revealing that the manipulative and controlling Priya is headed off on vacation to India with Leonard. If ever there were an unlikely object of affection, it’s Leonard Hofstadter. These women are crackers for the guy with the big inhaler.

Heck, this whole show is a collection of mixed nuts. This episode seems more a collection of skits. Sheldon, the lead nut, is developing a three-person version of chess, with a superhero theme. Raj is taking a pill to overcome his debilitating shyness around women. Every sitcom needs a princess, and Big Bang’s is Penny. This week, she’s found her dream shoes, a pink pair so expensive that she fearing having to ‘rent out her womb to a gay couple.’ More than any other character, I think the writers have an ear for Kaley Cuoco’s dry delivery. To me, it’s the best stuff about the show.

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The main event this week is a couples date between Howard and Bernadette and Leonard and Priya. Bernadette is enlisted as a reluctant spy to bring home info on Priya. She might be the worst spy in history, spending most of the time in the bathroom talking to her friends back at headquarters.

Anyway, the big news Bernadette digs up is that Leonard and Priya are heading for India. Somehow, I think Penny’s deadly new high heels will have a role in the upcoming showdown episode. If not, someone’s not paying attention.

Overall, funny little episode, and everyone seems to get a moment. Kunal Nayyar’s Raj probably gets his biggest laugh yet with the coffee shop scene. Obviously, those new pills worked out just fine.

— Chris Erskine

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Chris Erskine

Chris Erskine is a nationally known humor columnist and editor who retired from the Los Angeles Times in 2020. Previously he wrote for the Sports, Travel and Saturday sections and edited with the paper’s features staff. As an editor, he has been a part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams at The Times (for his graphics work on the Northridge quake and the North Hollywood bank robbery). He is best known to readers for his weekly humor pieces on life in suburban Los Angeles. His latest book, “Daditude,” released in 2018, is a collection of his favorite Times columns on fatherhood. He has written two other books, “Man of the House” and “Surviving Suburbia,” which reached the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. The Chicago native has also worked for papers in New Orleans and Miami.

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