Back Into The Sea

For a season finale, that felt very…tame. When my east coast sources (no, not my parents, stop looking at me like that) told me that it would leave me hanging, visions of How I Met Your Mother season 9 danced through my head. Little did I know I would contend with Boxcar Kid Sheldon and the gang.

Though the writers did seem to have it out for everybody.

Penny and Leonard got engaged! Woohoo! And the audience rejoices. Then they pull out their calendars to bet on how many times the wedding will almost fall through.

Raj has, as Sheldon would call it, coitus! Woohoo! And then no one brings it up again after the first ten minutes!

In the midst of Leonard and Penny’s avid discussions, they happen to bring up their living arrangements with our favorite, Dr. Sheldon Cooper. On top of being forced back into String Theory research, he didn’t take the prospect of living alone well; and not for lack of ease. Venting to Amy, he seemed to express he would do well alone. Not with Amy, yet again. If they form a committed relationship they’re going to be the kind to sleep in separate twin beds.

But Sheldon isn’t resting his head anywhere new once he sees refuge from Change in the comic book store…and finds it burnt down. Stuart’s income finally went up in flames for good and Sheldon doesn’t know how to deal. In response, he fled to the train station and took the midnight train going anywhere.

Leonard and Penny, inevitably, let him go. Penny made a good point: Leonard does baby him. He knows FULL well what he does and doesn’t like—and how to use a credit card. If he doesn’t end up in Texas by the next season premiere, he’ll come back to Pasadena. We sent the boys out to the North Pole one finale. He can make it home again.

Stuart, to help Howard and Penny, ended up taking on nursing duties for Howard’s heeling mother. A little odd. A little unnatural. But we’re not sticking around long enough to think about why.

The Inevitable

May the Fourth be with you.

Just keep your wits about for the Revenge of the Fifth.

Professor Proton, Sheldon and Leonard’s boyhood icon, passed away shortly before May Fourth. To Star Wars fans, the date creates a play-on-words they can only manipulate one day a year. See? Funny.

Instead of marathoning all six Star Wars films, however (in a few years, they’ll need to add a seventh to their programming), Leonard and Penny opt to go to Professor Proton’s funeral. They attend the wake and reflect during the service with respect, care, and sympathy. Then they make the event about themselves. Penny play-proposes to Leonard to “even their score” and Leonard “pretends” to wheedle over the decision. Methinks Penny doth protested too much. It’s also May—I smell a season finale on the horizon. Penny But we don’t know what reservations she still holds, and won’t until the end of the month draws to a close.

Sheldon, ever not the funeral kind, still took Professor Proton’s death hard. So hard, in fact, his brain buckled under the emotional turmoil and brought the man back to Sheldon in the form of his “Obi Wan,” the dream-sayer. Professor Proton didn’t seem jazzed about the wardrobe change…but he got a cool light saber!

He eventually imparted rather useful advice about appreciating those you have left on this Earth, while you can. Because everybody knows that everybody dies. And nobody knows it like the Doctor.

To be clear, the last two sentences were Doctor Who references, and the title character is called the Doctor, not the “Doctor Who.” Writers. Get it together friends.

Howard, Raj, Amy, and Bernadette’s roles paled in comparison, but they both tackle important current events of their own. Howard and Raj attempt the made-viral Star Wars order theory, a theory that advocates watching the franchise in the following order: 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6.

Bernadette and Amy represent those poor unfortunate souls looped into movie marathons by their uncaring friends. But hey—we’ve all been there.

What Ails Her?

“It’s sweet that he thinks there’s a story?”

Now that March Madness is over (far, far over) and April lurches spring into summer, I can say for certain the Big Bang Theory is regaining its story again. Sheldon dropped String Theory…until he picks it up again, probably. Amy might be ready to move on in their relationship! Raj has a girlfriend! Penny has a movie!

It makes me wary of the season finale. How many more seasons can we expect? FRIENDS only had 10.

In the midst of Anything Can Happen Thursday, Sheldon, Penny, and Leonard find Bernadette and Amy having drinks with out them. For mature and responsible reasons! The nerve! Frustrated by her movie and their behavior, Penny drags Sheldon along with her to continue their night. She leaves Leonard behind…for some reason.

She and Sheldon wind up at a fortune teller’s quarters, where the needlessly patient medium tells Sheldon that if he invested in his relationship, the rest of his pursuits would fall into focus. Small chance. We’ll see if the storyline heeds her words; judging by the post-episode clip, the forecast seems cloudy.

Howard and Raj, tending to Howard’s mother, conversely watch a gore flick so Raj won’t lose his cool in front of Emily the following evening, where they will watch the same film. Although, Emily seems a little more than prepared for the probability. Too prepared.

I have to say, a) Raj had a great idea, and b) he handled himself far better than I expected. No nausea quips or running from the room. In fact, the writers added in thought-provoking questions anyone might ask of themselves should they like watching controversial material. Are they mentally unstable? To which, I say, no! No, I’m not unstable for enjoying the socially variant. Yes, I can sit here and watch the How I Met Your Mother finale as many times as I want to!

Next week: Star Wars Episode VII. And the casting decisions surprised everyone.

"What Is It?" "A quarter."

Let’s see what I missed.

Sheldon couldn’t decide between an Xbox One and PS4, Penny’s grappling with the “gorilla job,” and Raj got in touch with both the online redhead and Lucy.

It’s like the episodes stopped.

March Madness finally made its off-court exit, and Sheldon might have waited a little too long to buy either the Xbox One or the PS4.  Released at the same time and leaving lots of competition in their wake, anyone who followed E3 2013 would understand his dilemma. Anyone else might have been a little lost for wear in this plot line.

Penny discovers, after yet another failed audition, the horror-movie-gorilla roll came back around with swinging fists. Now that Leonard’s more supportive, the choice really does rest with her. On the one hand, she needed the rent money. On the other…well, Monkey See Monkey Kill.

Anyone with the opportunity to share a cast list with Wil Wheaton, however, shouldn’t pass up the chance lightly. Bring on the bikinis.

The biggest surprise this episode rested with Raj’s sanity. Between the lot, he ended up demonstrating most that yes, I did miss a month’s worth of character development.

When he apologizes with his happenstantial online dating match, he reignites a second chance and dinner date. And so naturally fate has to make his life harder by default. That very evening, Lucy e-mails him to meet and catch up. Penny choosing jobs and Raj choosing suitors? Is it still April Fools?

I’m a little confused by the ever-present Lucy; if you’re going to cite the character so much, at least pay her actress to come on set once in awhile! Then again, I do like this new character. We’ll see if Raj’s astronomy evening works its star-crossed magic.

Next week, we’ll not be watching How I Met Your Mother and perhaps finally get to see what game console takes up the last slot on Sheldon’s entertainment system.

How I Met Your Mother

You know what life isn’t?

Television.

Perhaps I should have planned for this article somewhat later, after I had time to digest the passing of a wonderful nine-year series. But in my first reflections, both nostalgic and happy and melancholic and puzzled, I can argue to the best of my ability one thing for certain: season nine, implicitly, prepared us for the series finale.

Because season nine prepared us for the moment. And to live in the moment. And not to follow Ted and his tragic-hero mantra of what-if’s.
Because if Ted had spent the season asking, what-if? If the wedding hadn’t happened, and if we as an audience hadn’t been forced to sit and examine the nitty-gritty details of one moment, one weekend, in time, we too would have constantly thought about the future. If How I Met Your Mother tried to show its viewers anything, it was to live in the present, and not to spend it thinking about the future.

In doing so, you can better tackle the future objectively and unabashedly when it comes. When it is time.

Barney showed us successes can still be finite and successful.

Robin taught us not to budge from the truth.

Lily told us to be here—here—for the big moments.

Marshall demonstrated the power of patience.

And Ted, the power of the present.

Really, all those lessons combined into the LAST moment, the last ten minutes for anyone who counted, when Ted finished his story, said goodbye, and picked up the phone. All those lessons culminated into the story’s finale. Ted’s success happened to be finite, but he went for it anyway. He stayed for the big moments, and kept creating bigger ones. He was patient, he was now, and, in the end, he got what he wanted next.

Yes, I could critique parts of the episode, its ending, or the series’ ending.
But how poignant is the message of our disquiet? Shouldn’t the unsettling teach us something as well?

Because life isn’t television; life isn’t perfect. How I Met Your Mother knew this from the start and gave us a finale to reflect only the real.