- Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Bakersfield Expedition
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While on a road trip to a comic convention in Bakersfield with Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar), Leonard’s (Johnny Galecki) car is stolen leaving the foursome stranded in the middle of nowhere dressed as Star Trek: The Next Generation characters.
In the episode’s B-story, in order to try and find out what all the hubbub is about, Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), and Amy (Mayim Bialik) take a trip to Stuart’s (Kevin Sussman) comic book store. The sequence is a little simplistic, going for the cheap laugh as the trio are drooled over by the comic shop regulars not used to seeing women frequent their favorite hangout. However, what’s far less believable is a comic shop with that many customers in the store at the same time on a day they aren’t handing out free comic books.
While lost in the desert, and later recouping at a local roadside diner, the guys find their enthusiasm for comics and the convention waning. They agree to return home to find their women in the midst of argument about the rules surrounding Thor’s magic hammer. The episode is one of the goofier of the season, but the foursome’s cosplay misadventure and the ladies learning what it means to get stuck in an argument over the minutiae of a comic book provides several fun moments and prove you don’t need to be a comic nerd to get caught up in a comic nerd discussion.
