Please. Make it stop. Just make it stop. I thought “The Bakersfield Expedition” was the epitome of bad. I thought “The Parking Spot Peculiarity” was the lowest form of comedy and that Big Bang Theory literally couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong. “The Cooper/Kripke Inversion” has earned the dubious honor of being the most terrible episode of the season – this season of many, many terrible episodes. I laughed once. Once. Honestly.
The biggest problem was Sheldon. It was enough to make me wonder why Jim Parsons keeps winning all those Emmys and People’s Choice awards. It must be because he’s getting props for making such a terrible character even marginally likeable. The writers and creators have consistently said that Sheldon doesn’t have autism or Asperger’s. If that’s true then they should consider introducing another reason for him being the way he is. Like, really soon. Because the whole way through this episode I was practically screaming at the TV, “Just suck it up and be a grown-up, dammit!” This is a grown man of indeterminate age (I’m assuming mid-30s), and he’s throwing a childlike tantrum because he has to work with someone he doesn’t like, then goes into meltdown mode because that person is better at something than he is? GROW UP, SHELDON! Learn how to be a person.
Don’t even get me started on what’s wrong with Kripke, or how much I intensely dislike Bernadette. Shout out to Kaley Cuoco who, in her reaction to Sheldon saying he could, feasibly, one day have sex with Amy, gave me the only moment of this episode that didn’t make me want to throw the TV out the window.
Big Bang Theory, you’re on thin ice. Another episode like this and you’ll get the chop. – K
Quoteworthy: “Go ahead and mock me. But use small words so I understand.” – Sheldon, to Kripke