The Big Bang Theory – Recap & Review – The Justice League Recombination

photo: cbs

The Big Bang Theory
The Justice League Recombination

Original Air Date: Dec 16, 2010

Theresa – Staff Writer
theresa@thetwocentscorp.com

Apparently someone somewhere likes this Zack character, because Penny has decided to get back together with him after running into him last week with Amy. They come by while the boys are playing Mystic Warlords of Ka’a – the game had just ended because Sheldon played his made-up “Infinite Sheldon” card. Zack decides he wants to “talk science with the science dudes,” but realizes they’re making fun of him and gets pretty hurt. I was kind of wondering the whole time how someone could be so stupid as to not understand people laughing in their face is bad.

Leonard makes the guys come with him to apologize. Series of laugh out loud moments in this scene! Sheldon says that Milk Duds are the most apologetic candy, and when Raj suggests Junior Mints, he tells him he’s embarrassing himself. When Leonard knocks on Penny’s door, Sheldon puts his head down and quietly says “Penny”. And then Milk Duds DO end up making everything alright! But not when Zack ditches Penny to go to the comic book store with the guys, since he hasn’t been to one in “literally a million years!”

The boys talk to Stuart about his New Year’s Eve costume party, which they plan to again attend as the Justice League of America, a group of superheroes. Sheldon suggests Zack would make a better Superman than Leonard (ya think?) and help them win the costume contest. In turn, Penny is volunteered to be Wonder Woman, because Bernadette’s under quarantine for possibly biohazardous Jello shots, and Amy isn’t as free-spirited as Sheldon so she doesn’t wear costumes.

Finally, it’s New Year’s Eve, and since Leonard took Green Lantern, Raj is in a ridiculous Aquaman costume with a big foam seahorse around him. Howard is Batman and Sheldon is the Flash. When Zack tells Penny he’s embarrassing her by not putting on her black costume wig, she bails. Sheldon tries to help, knocking in rapid Flash-like succession (“PennyPennyPennyPennyPennyPenny….”), but ends up implying Penny looks fat. Leonard goes over, and Penny admits that she only started dating Zack so she’d have a date for New Year’s, There’s more hinting that Penny misses Leonard, but she glossed over it and they go to the party.

They win the costume contest (over all the other Justice Leagues) and Penny and Zack kiss at midnight while Leonard watches sadly. Penny makes eye contact with him, but stays uncomfortably with Zack. On the way home, the Justice League comes across a car being broken into and decide the superhero thing to do would be to slowly walk the other way.

So, at this point, it’s pretty obvious we’re heading back toward Leonard/Penny territory for the finale, or maybe even February sweeps. No new episodes for a few weeks, so we’ll see. I really liked the gang dynamic in this one, and I always appreciate Stuart popping up. Zack’s a decent character, but I don’t see the point of his being an obstacle or befriending the group. I can’t put my finger on any one character being extremely enjoyable in this episode, but there were a lot of great lines – so much that I couldn’t contain them to the quotes below and had to sprinkle them into the recap! Did I miss any of your favorites? What do you think of Zack? Give your Two Cents in the comments!

Best Lines
Zack: I saw this great thing on the Discovery Channel. Turns out that if you kill a starfish, it’ll just come back to life.
Sheldon: Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon.

Zack: Where do they keep the Archies?
Sheldon: In the bedroom of 10-year-old girls, where they belong.

Sheldon: Let’s ask ourselves, is there anyone we know who would make a more manly and convincing son of Krypton?
Stuart: Than Leonard in high-heeled boots? Howard’s mother in high-heeled boots?
(after considering Zack)
Leonard: You can’t replace me with Zack!
Sheldon: Why not? Penny did it.