The Big Bang Theory - Episode 8.01 - The Locomotion Interruption - Review & Recap

Teaser/Beginning Scene:

45 Days after the season finale, Sheldon does not have pants on. He scares a lady, who ignores him. She leaves instantly and tries to use someone else’s cell phone to call for help but no one comes to his rescue.

Sheldon/Amy/Leonard plot:

Now, we see Penny with a new haircut and enjoying her time with Leonard. He gets a phone call from Sheldon and is happy to hear from him. Sheldon asks him to pick him up from the police station in Arizona which is a 6-hour drive. Leonard agrees to it and then he asks Penny to come but she has a job interview and she does not want Sheldon to criticize her new look. I hope I can get used to her look and while it is not bad, I liked her better with the long hair. Leonard is such a great friend to pick up Sheldon as he is a high maintenance to deal with.

Sheldon is still without his belongings and continues to nag on the officer. The officer tries to hold his cool in and telling him that they are trying their best. Now, he becomes even more annoying with the ridiculous comment about cocaine and Sherlock Holmes, which could’ve landed him in serious trouble. Now, Leonard and Sheldon hug together and Amy is so happy to see him, too! Even though Sheldon is happy to see him, his annoying antics continue about wondering why Amy came to the station with him. Him asking this hurts her feelings. I thought would be happier to see her knowing that she puts up with him a lot.

In the car, Sheldon reveals that his trip consisted of him going from one train station (in different states, of course) to another. I could understand why he did that because of his obsession with them. Poor Sheldon that he did not go outside for over a month and he did not have any fruit.

Later in the car, Amy FINALLY confronts Sheldon on why he has been silent towards her the past two hours. She is very mad at her and doesn’t understand why she could go away like that without saying goodbye. The truth is later revealed that Sheldon didn’t believe Amy could be proud of him and thought he could not make it on his own. That is why he did not make her his first priority. In the end, it's implied that Sheldon truly loves her even though he jokingly wants to break up with her.

Stuart/Raj/Howard and his mother plot:

Meanwhile, on the way to Howard's house, he reveals to Raj that it was getting weird to have Stuart live in their house because it was getting chummy and feels like he’s getting replaced. He isn’t happy that he and his mother are showing a bond together.

Back at Howard’s house, he is shocked to see Stuart in the house. He has nowhere to go and they agree they he’ll be staying at their house for a while. Raj somewhat agrees to this idea but Howard is irritated with this idea. He is surprised his mother would not talk to him about his living arrangements but he defends himself by dissing him for showing lack of conversation with his mother. This makes Howard even more aggravated. Raj is still on Stuart’s side by telling him it would help that he calls her more often.

Howard drives back from his mother’s house and tells Raj it’s weird for a grown man to live with another friend’s mother. Raj continues to defend Stuart because his mother is lonely and it’s not like anything weird is going on. Howard still doesn’t understand Raj defending him. He grills him by asking him how he would feel if he slept with his mom. Because Raj’s mom is in a terrible marriage, he wouldn’t mind but he rejects that offer and thinks it’s stupid. He tries to call her and tell the truth but it leaves to the voicemail of Stuart and Howard’s mother being part of the answering machine. Raj was being very inappropriate for offering Howard to sleeping with his mother.

Later on, Stuart and Howard get into a fight over him staying at his mother’s house. Good job for Howard defending his wife after Stuart was being mean to her.

Bernadette/Penny plot:

Penny is at Bernadette’s house and she tells her that she is nervous for job interview because she hasn’t been to one in years. Bernadette tries her support but she doesn’t have experience with sales. However, she thinks she could use her waitressing job as her experience. She tells her that if she could not do the job interview, she would have not said anything. Penny thanks her but is considering cancelling it, which makes Bernadette angrier and forces her go for the job interview.

Penny is at her job interview and she feels that she her “people person” personality will fit well with the job. She also takes Bernadette’s advice by telling Dan, the interviewer that sales was a big part of her waitressing job. Then, Penny chokes in the interview and quits. However, before she leaves, she tells him to not tell Bernadette about the bad interview and she’s scared of her. In a surprising twist, Dan and Penny bond of Bernadette’s craziness.  

Ending:

The episode ends with the gang giving a homecoming party to Sheldon and he does not like Penny’s haircut, which I don’t blame him for. He runs away as a result of this but it is implied that he comes back to the apartment. He shows inappropriate pictures of his trip to Leonard and Penny.

Observations:

- Raj does not have a valid point about him leaving with Debbie at all. My mom would not be happy about this if my friend asked to live with her unless he had absolutely nowhere else to go and if he had a job. Obviously, Stuart is unemployed as his comic book shop burnt down as it wasn’t shown in the season 7 finale

- I really love that Amy is still with Sheldon and that she wants to support him. I really loved that she did not realize that he wanted to make “coitus”.

- Good for Bernadette for being a great friend to push her to take the interview. Not many friends would have that kind of tough love on their friends.

- I loved in this job interview that she was herself even though she acted inappropriate during the interview. This scene was my favorite part of the episode because I’ve been through what Penny has been through. I’m grateful that I have a part-time job because of me not giving up. I hope that Penny has a great career.

It's a great to see Big Bang again and I had much fun enjoying the season premiere. Recap/Review Part 2 (The Junior Professor Solution) of the season premiere will be up before Monday. If there are any mistakes or parts missing, let me know and I will fix it. :)