- Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Friendship Turbulence
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We get fights and reconciliations as an evening with the entire gang leads to three separate tales featuring Howard (Simon Helberg) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki), and Raj (Kunal Nayyar)and Amy (Mayim Bialik). Tired of fighting, Howard and Sheldon attempt to bury the hatchet with an agreement to stop belittling each other and a trip to NASA (although it takes a traumatic plane trip to truly force the pair to act nicer to each other).
After turning down a demeaning part in a dead-end horror flick Penny faces car trouble, Leonard’s disapproval, and being forced to get her job back at the Cheesecake Factory to make ends meet. I’m still quite happy that show has kept Penny in the role of struggling actress without falling back on the cliched big break very few actors get. The sequence ends in a romantic gesture by Leonard, and a new car for his girlfriend to continue her acting aspirations.
In the episode’s other story, Raj enlists Amy’s help to make a connection a dating site. Not only does the situation cause tension between the pair but Raj showing up uninvited to a meeting between the two woman also costs Amy a potential friend. With the exception of Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), “The Friendship Turbulence” offers a chance for all the show’s major characters to be involved in their own storyline but its unlikely we’ll see any ongoing change in the Howard/Sheldon dynamic and although Leonard’s gesture is wonderful it’s also a bit problematic as it continues to enforce the idea that Penny gets by only on the kindness of others and can’t really take care of herself.
