The longer a series runs, the more opportunity viewers have to gain insight into its characters and their histories. One of the major problems of The Big Bang Theory that I've had for a while now is the writers' inability to make the most of the show's longevity by introducing more members of the characters' families. I think the only real family member that has been used to great effect up until this point is Leonard's mother to be honest. So when it was announced that Sheldon's often mentioned 'Meemaw' would be making an appearance, and was being played by June Squibb, it was hard not to get excited. Unfortunately, because of the amount of time we've had to wait to meet her character and the expectations that come with that wait I think I was always going to be disappointed.
Sheldon's grandmother randomly decided to visit her grandson in Pasadena, but as we quickly learnt she was actually there to size Amy up and ensure that she's good enough for her 'Moonpie'. Sure, Sheldon's over-protective grandmother wants to size Amy up, that's fine as a plot, but as i've often thought about some of The Big Bang Theory's most recent episodic plots - it's something that could (and probably should) have occurred five seasons ago when they started dating, or even more recently when they broke up. The timing just seemed a little odd to me, although I guess it shouldn't be that surprising that the writers were desperate to introduce a new conflict into Sheldon and Amy's relationship since they've been so happy recently. Regardless, Meemaw's two-faced nature - being the sweetest old lady imaginable to everyone, yet being hard-nosed behind their backs to Amy - was a boring cliche of a character. Once it got out that the pair weren't very find of each other the drama was wrapped-up fairly quickly. While Sheldon's declaration to his Meemaw that he's been working on improving Amy throughout their relationship (just as his Meemaw had done with his Pop-pop) may have been good for a cheap laugh, I really would have preferred if he had uttered Amy's sentiment that they have both helped each other grow into better people. It's an idea the episode seemed to ignore about Sheldon as the appearance of his Meemaw reverted him to a frustrating man-child that the character has slowly been growing out of. Ultimately, though, him telling his Meemaw this convinced her to accept Amy if Sheldon felt so strongly about her and that she would let him give her her ring (which Amy now knows about!).
It's rare that I find an episode's B-plot more intriguing then the main one but Raj's internal struggle about meeting a woman he potentially has more chemistry with than Emily was fun to watch. Him and Howard met a woman named Claire at the comic book store and she, wanting to interview Raj for his astrophysicist knowledge for a scripts she was writing, gave him her number. It was fun watching Raj ask Howard and Bernadette for advice while quite obviously ignoring them and going off into his own tangents about how it would look to have a family with Claire. Who knows if anything will come of this, B-plots are rarely used for plot development in sitcoms and are more just there to be funny, but I really wish the series would focus some more time on Raj and his relationship (whoever that may be with).
Rating 2.5/5
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