The Big Bang Theory - Episode 8.05 - The Focus Attenuation - Review & Recap

Teaser/Beginning Scene:

The episode begins with Raj hearing that a new invention that allows people to walk their steps to electromagnetic energy so cell phones could be charge while walking. Howard thinks they left the idea at the restaurant and none of them wanted to get it back. Sheldon tells them the idea came up on September 22, 2007 (two days before) Penny moved in. Not only that, but she and the girls have been a distraction to the guys. Sheldon thinks Amy is sexting him when she tells he hopes he is having a good day in a text message. He loves her but does not express it well.


The guys have some ideas of where they want to go for their retreat but Sheldon refuses to go to because of the ridiculous references he makes about The Cabin in the Woods (scared of cabins), The Shining (hotels), Jaws (scared of beaches and bitten by sharks). The most ridiculous is where he is scared of going to a lake house because of the movie but it was a romantic drama with no horror elements.

Penny, Bernadette, and Amy plot:.

With Leonard getting approval from Penny to opt out of Sunday brunch to spend with the guys this weekend, Penny comes up with this EPIC idea of going to Vegas with the ladies and they approve and get excited.
The girls are now in Vegas but Penny's boss throws her a curveball because she finds out that her new field of study must be done by Monday. The other girls think she should have fun tonight and study in the morning but in a surprise twist, she decides to study and catch up with the ladies later. Penny sure is growing up!

Bernadette and Amy are drinking margaritas and are having a lot of fun without Penny. Amy teases her for studying in Vegas but Bernadette is actually proud of her for taking her job seriously. Amy thinks they are looking good together and wants to quit talking about how hot Penny is but this embarasses Bernadette.

Later on, Bernadette & Amy pretend to be a housekeeper to get Penny's attention. They are so intoxicated. Amy messes with her laptop to get her away from studying and have some fun. Bernadette and her continue to tease her for not getting drunk with those girls.

In the end, Penny goes with the girls to a strip club but she is still studying. The next morning, Penny wakes up a hungover Bernadette and Amy to get them to join her on the fun but they are too drunk and sick to go out.

The guys plot:

Meanwhile, the guys are hanging out this weekend and hope to bond. Howard is surprised Raj made it to guys night because of his steady girlfriend, Emily being in the picture but he tells him that he's working. Leonard tells the guys they have 48 hours to change the world with no distraction. Raj feels like they're in "the Facebook Movie". Sheldon and him are shocked Howard has never seen the movie. Just as they are about to watch the movie, Leonard interrupts them that they would rather be focusing instead of watching the movie, which disappoints Sheldon.

They go through a book of old ideas for their innovations. None of them work so they decide to come up with new ideas. Sheldon chimes in and many inventions come from movies. They come up with the idea of making new inventions like the movie, Back to the Future Part II so they decide to watch it.


However, this idea fails as Howard doesn't think the movie is making sense to him. I love the references that Howard makes about BTTFP2. He is frustrated with the movie because he doesn't understand where Marty and Doc stand in the sequel. Leonard tries to explain it to him right but Sheldon explains it better and gets frustrated the way Leonard is using his grammar incorrectly and Raj agrees. The guys go off-topic once again, which frustrates Leonard.


The guys go to Leonard's lab at work to try get tasks accomplished but when Howard tries to search his material online that is supposed to make him be on topic, he comments Austria looks like a wiener, which aggravates Leonard. Sheldon then comments on ping-pong, which has absolutely nothing to with the innovation. Then, Leonard comes up with an idea to use punishment for each time the guys go off-topic. Just when the guys are now getting Leonard's attention, Sheldon asks a stupid question, which causes Leonard to pull a piece of duct tape off of his arm. Then, things get out of hand that it causes to pull each other's tape off of their arm.


Despite Leonard wants to stop get to working on innovations, the guys decide that they should watch Ghostbusters. At the end, the guys including him enjoy the movie.

Observations:
- Penny would usually be the one going out but it turned out that she switch sides with Bernadette and Amy as they love studying while Penny used to not like it until she got her grown-up job.
- Leonard made some great points of tying in the movie Hot Tub Time Machine and Back to the Future: Part II.
- Sheldon is usually very annoying when interrupts but he was right to school Leonard on his poor grammar skills.
- Sheldon made some great references about the relationship between Ghostbusters and negative reinforcement.
- Seeing drunk Amy and Bernadette was entertaining and it was definitely not the first time we saw drunk Amy.
- It entertained me when Sheldon let a romantic movie bully him out of going to a lake house.
- Loved it when the guys were singing along Ghostbusters theme song towards the end of the show.
I enjoyed this episode this week. I hope that you all enjoyed the episode as much as I did.