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The Big Bang Theory Season 6 Episode 2

The Decoupling Fluctuation

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AIRED: Oct 04, 2012

8.2

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Episode Summary

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Sheldon once again has to keep a secret when he learns Leonard and Penny are going to break up. Howard keeps getting teased by his fellow astronauts in space.

TV.com Episode Review

The Big Bang Theory "The Decoupling Fluctuation" Review: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Oh, okay, so we’re going to start the Penny/Leonard angst early this season? Fine.

By MaryAnn Sleasman, Oct 05, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (11)

Seriously? Again?!?

5.5

By BradGoldman, Dec 03, 2012

While the episode was funny, The story in this episode is old hat...It seems like the writers have essentially given up coming up with anything new. Does anyone else remember the episode where Amy told Sheldon, Who told Leonard, Who told Priya, Who told Raj, That Bernadette and Howard were going to break up?!?

Ye..This episode was that episode. Same story, Different characters. Nothing new.
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Fair episode, though I got tired of the constant insults and put-downs

7.5

By chipee, Nov 29, 2012

I'm a big fan of the show, and I enjoy the zany antics, misjudgments and faux pas. But in this episode, I think they went overboard, and the "funny" became off-putting.

I didn't like the way Amy and Bernadette kept pressing Penny to express her deepest feelings about loving, marrying and even staying with Leonard. Penny should have told them to mind their own business or she could have brushed them off with a "fine" assessment. I don't know why Penny would even hang out with those two girls. Amy disgusts me in general.

Then, in the space station, Howard's two cosmonaut companions ridicule him about his duties to clean the toilet, without a brush even, so his friends would hear the trash talk. Repellant in so many ways.

Next, Raj invites Stuart along to replace his friend Howard. Sheldon insults Stuart, talks derisively in front of him and the others, and sneers at his art school education. Nice.

Then some of the secret confidences get out. Worst is when Sheldon breaks into Penny's apartment in the middle of the night so he can rap with her about Sheldon.

One great line that almost redeemed everything bad in the episode: Sheldon gave a gravy boat as a wedding gift to Bernadette and Howard with the engraving "In the event of a divorce, please return to Sheldonmoreless
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A DEFINITE IMPROVEMENT

7.5

By MrInsanelyCalm, Oct 25, 2012

They should've opened the season with this.

I enjoyed seeing emotional Sheldon, the writers played it cool and didn't go too far into it and his worry for Leonard was masked relatively effectively with nerdiness.

I don't mind the show exploring Stuart's character more but he shouldn't become a permanent addition to the gang.

They should've concluded the Penny-Leonard problem, leaving it open ended just suggest more mediochre relationship drama

Overall just short of an 8moreless
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"Oh! Not this again!" (Sheldon Cooper, Season 3 / Epsiode 23)

5.0

By kiwitocome, Oct 10, 2012

Repetition, repetition, repetition. All jokes have been made some seasons ago, so let's warm them up.

Everything that we have seen in the last two episodes has been there already. There are so few new things (despite Howard in Space - which we knew would come) that it seems that this episode could have been located somewhere in the 4th season.

When I first watched TBBT in 2007 I wondered what "weird thing" this was and liked it for its nerd-factor. But what is pushed out right now has moved light years away from its initial difference into mediocre mainstream.

Nowadays it's just getting derivatively boring . Why should people keep watching TBBT? For the warmed up jokes? Or the on/off relationships? For the seemingly interchangeable characters?

No thanks!

If this trend continues some fans (including me) are likely to lose something - not because it has been taken away but rather because it changed for the worse.moreless
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Marginal improvement on last week

6.5

By stevex, Oct 08, 2012

At least there were a couple of moderately funny lines to raise a smile, but the show is still really struggling, and lazily falling back on old tropes - Sheldon can't keep a secret, "my mmother had me tested", Leonard / Penny will they break up yet again.

he biggest problem though, is that the balance of the show has gone far to far towards a plot-driven soap opera format and way too far away from the funny character-driven style that it started out with; there's also barely any of the nerdy/techie content that made the show so different - as others have commented, you could close your eyes and it could almost be an episode of Friends, at times.

The other big problem is that the show is being supported by Sheldon, Howard and just dragged down by the rest of the cast. They are trying something new with Raj, though bringing Stewart in as neoWolowitz isn't really working, and Penny can at least act and has comedy timing, whereas Amy, Leonard and particularly Bernadette are just awful leaden drains on energy every time they appear.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Johnny Galecki	Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons	Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco	Penny
Simon Helberg	Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar	Rajesh Koothrappali
Melissa Rauch	Bernadette Rostenkowski

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Kevin Sussman	Stuart Bloom	Recurring Role
Michael J. Massimino	Himself	Recurring Role
Pasha Lychnikoff	Dimitri Rezinov	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- In this episode, Sheldon tells Penny that Leonard has a perfect driving record. But in the season 4 episode "The Love Car Displacement", Leonard is seen going 120 MPH just before the lights of a police car appear behind him.
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: October 4, 2012 on CTV
  United Kingdom: November 22, 2012 on E4/E4 HD
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