It’s rare to have an episode of The Big Bang Theory where the title applies to all the storylines, but all three plots in “The Indecision Amalgamation” involve characters torn between two choices: Penny doesn’t know whether or not she should star in Serial Apist 2: Monkey See, Monkey Kill, Raj has to decide between two female companions, and Sheldon has to choose whether or not to buy an Xbox One or a PS4. While the importance of these choices varies considerably, the final decisions say a lot about the individual characters, and it’s not a surprise that the strongest plotlines are the two that don’t end with someone failing to pick a video game console.
After yet another failed audition, Penny is re-offered the role she turned down in Serial Apist 2, and now she’s desperate enough to consider it. She still isn’t positive if this is the right path, though, especially because the job pays less than she would have been making waiting tables. It’s nice to see the show dedicating more time to Penny’s acting, and there are a lot of storytelling avenues that could potentially open up if she starts getting bigger roles, giving the writers the opportunity to incorporate more of the Hollywood world into a show.
To help Penny decide if she should take the job, Leonard seeks out the help of Wil Wheaton because what else does he have to do? Wil gives Penny some harsh insight about the acting business, telling her that being on set for a project that you know is bad is a soul crushing experience. He also tells her that he still hates auditions after all these years, and how he can always imagine the auditors looking at him and thinking of how cute he was as a kid and how ugly he is now. Wil basically breaks down thinking about the reality of his career choice, which shows Penny that she should probably take any work that comes to her. Wheaton’s scene is a fun little moment for him to ham up, and he ends up having the best bit of the episode when he appears during the tag as Penny’s costar in Serial Apist 2.
Raj is turning into quite the charmer now that he talks to girls, and when he runs into the woman he met online and embarrassed himself in front of, he apologizes to her and asks her out to dinner. Emily agrees, but right after the date is set, Raj gets a message from his ex-girlfriend Lucy, who misses him and wants to get back together. The group urges him to date both women at once, which is bad advice to give to Raj, who just began speaking to the opposite sex less than a year ago, and when he tries that strategy, he fails miserably at his goal but ends up scoring with Emily.
Raj never gets as far as dating both women because he’s overcome with guilt before dinner with Emily is even over. He confesses to her that his ex-girlfriend contacted him and he’s interested in seeing both women, and when Emily asks how far his relationship with Lucy went, his answer makes his confession totally adorable. The fact that Raj is so distraught over two women he’s never slept with is something that Emily admires, and she realizes that if nothing physical really happened between Raj and his ex-girlfriend, she’s probably not a threat.
It’s extremely hard to believe that someone like Sheldon would have been able to wait until April to get his next generation console of choice, and when plotlines like his happen, it’s easy to imagine a giant whiteboard full of nerd topics the writers of this show pick at random when they don’t have any real ideas. Jokes about the Xbox One’s stupid name were exhausted by the time it launched, and they haven’t gotten any less stale after half a year. And then after all that pointlessness, it ends with Sheldon not making a decision to make it even more of a waste of time.
The best part of the Sheldon plot is Amy, and Mayim Bialik is this week’s M.V.P., dominating every scene she’s in. The highlight of the episode is the scene where Sheldon and Amy are having dinner date night and Sheldon won’t stop talking about the Xbox One and PS4 so Amy just gives up and decides to turn up her enthusiasm to exaggerated levels. She’s like the mother feigning enthusiasm when her child gets excited about a new toy, and just like a child, Sheldon is clueless regarding how much Amy really cares. Sheldon’s dilemma means nothing to Amy, but if she gives him attention, she’s more likely to get a kiss at the end of the night, and that’s all she really wants.
Stray observations:
- Does Bernadette’s card mix-up count as a subplot? It was really just that one main joke, and then Amy calling back to it when she tells Penny that she can get hit by a car and die LOL.
- Raj’s seduction of Penny was a very nice moment. He can be smooth when he want to be.
- Best cure for an actor breakdown: finding out you’re a crossword puzzle clue.
- “What is this? My first day?”
- “I like the Wii.” Poor Wii gets no respect.