When I heard that Howard Wolowitz would be throwing out the first pitch at a Los Angeles Angels baseball game, my interest piqued as I dreamed of the possibilities the show’s direction could take. A puny little Howard throwing that pitch? Genius.
NINE = FOUR
Episode 3 of the season takes 2 main story lines. The first, of course, is Howard being asked by NASA to throw the pitch. He begins practicing at Leonard and Sheldon’s place via a video game, with Raj heckling him in the background and citing that it is a “beloved part of baseball.” Howard was asked to throw the pitch because it is Space Day and NASA could not find anyone else to do so. Penny anoints Howard the athlete of the group. Sheldon disagrees, claiming that all of the 4 guys are on a Quidditch Team.
The second story line finds Sheldon behind on his date count according to the Relationship Agreement he signed with Amy. This is due to the fact that Sheldon was gone all Summer. he believes by inviting Leonard and Penny that the double date would actually count as two dates. The group ends up going to a pub, as Sheldon hilariously plans on lecturing the waiter about Yorkshire, England (he knows that they serve Yorkshire Pudding). At dinner, Sheldon causes a stir by ranking the relationships of the group from Sheldon/Amy at the top, to Penny/Leonard at the bottom. If you have followed the show all along, you can imagine the effect this will have on the ever insecure Leonard and Penny. The writers were clearly going for some “aww” moments but struck out (pun intended), as Penny still doubting their relationship at this point in the series is getting old. Does she really need to awkwardly yell at Leonard and then run to the bar? This is season 8, not season 2. I get that Penny isn’t mature, but she should be growing by now. On the contrary, the Relationship Agreement between Sheldon and Amy always produces laughs and this time actually shows some love between the two. Sheldon appears fond of Amy and confirms this verbally. The balance those two show between comedy and their growing relationship is moving at a perfect pace. As the awkwardness between Leonard and Penny grows, Amy tells Sheldon that this can count as two dates.
Getting back to the point of Howard’s big day, Howard goes to the gym with Bernadette and Raj to work on his pitching. The group helps set up the actual 60 foot distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate. Howard is surprised by this. As he is stretching for his first pitch, I laughed out loud as Bernadette screamed at him to just throw the ball. Their banter was beautifully done as they are becoming quite the married couple. As predicted, this story line produced the vast majority of the comedy in the episode. Howard’s wide variety of throws resulted in no variety of success as each successive pitch got worse and worse.
Leading to the end of the episode, the gang goes to ballpark to watch the game. Sheldon is upset to find out that they are staying for the whole game instead of just watching the first pitch. I won’t spoil the manner in which Howard attempts to pitch, but it is so on point with the character, the writers really nailed this one. In the background, the comments from the gang are priceless.
FINAL VERDICT
8.5/10
Season 8 is off to a great start as the series is gaining some strong momentum.
+ Awesome First Pitch story line that plays directly into characters’ strengths (or weaknesses)
+ Sheldon and Amy use Relationship Agreement to their advantage
– Poor story line regarding Leonard and Amy; it’s getting old
– Is Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting trying to look like Ellen DeGeneres?
Josiah LeRoy is Geekiverse’s Senior Editor. When he isn’t watching The Big Bang Theory, he is drooling over Gotham.
Follow Geekiverse on Facebook and Twitter for everything The Big Bang Theory!
Photo credit: CBS.com & IGN.com.
The Geekiverse 