Sheldon comes to Howard and Bernadette’s rescue when they are somewhat overwhelmed by all the forms they have to fill in for the city planning office in order to file a complaint against their new neighbor. The man installed floodlights pointing directly at their hot tub. Therefore, the couple decides to take action and visits the city planning office to ask the hilarious Andy Daly for advice. The actor portrayed Nathan, an eager, overly-excited city employee.
Sheldon is very familiar with the city planning office and its employees. He seems to hang out there on a regular basis. Not that it surprises anyone. If there is one thing Sheldon loves, next to science and schedules, it is ridiculous laws and filling in forms. His excitement over being asked for help simmers down pretty quickly when he realizes that Howard and Bernadette built their deck as well as their bathroom without a permit from the city planning office. His friends are criminals! Sheldon is outraged and actually considers turning them in. It would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it? “
On the one hand, Confucius says we owe a greater responsibility to people we're close with rather than to society at large. But, on the other hand, Socrates says that we're obligated to obey all laws, even unjust ones.” Sheldon is in a predicament. Eventually though, he chooses his friends over the law. Instead he reports the neighbor as his balcony is encroaching on Howard and Bernadette’s property line. “
I had all this pent-up snitch energy, so I reported him hard.”
The second storyline of this episode revolves around a jealous Leonard. He got a cool, new laser but none of his friends seem to care about his novel science toy. Instead, everyone is fascinated by a meteorite Bert found as there appears to be an organic signature inside the object. Raj and Bert want to cut open the meteorite to try to identify what it consists of. Leonard believes cutting it with his laser would be the most efficient way to do. The two men, however, have another plan and do not need nor want Leonard’s help. The physicist is rather hurt by their friend's rejection.
In the meantime, Stuart and Denise are preparing for the worst-case scenario. There is a great abundance of comic books in which objects from space get examined and cut open. Not in a single comic book this endeavor has ended well.
Stuart: “You're not gonna cut open a meteor, are you? Have you not learned anything from comic books? Space viruses? Pod people? I sell nothing but warnings.”
Unfortunately, the meteorite-storyline was not quite brought to a proper ending. There was no conclusion. This leaves me wondering what the purpose of this entire plot was. To point out that Leonard feels excluded? To highlight that his career seems stuck? I was unable to figure that out. Aside from that, I found the dream sequences about the meteor turning Leonard into a monster boarded on being ridiculous. However, I would have overlooked that if I had understood the point of the storyline. A positive aspect of the meteorite story was definitely Stuart and Denise and their fear of space viruses. There really seems to be a lit for every pot. In TV shows, at least.
What are your thoughts on the episode? How are you dealing with the fact that the show is about to end?
