Should you watch it, wiki it, or wait for the recap? Watch it.
When Penny’s flirtatious ways get misinterpreted by her customer, Dr Lorvis, the guys find themselves lured into his geek basement. Meanwhile, Bernadette’s invitation to model for a science magazine is met with feminist scorn by Amy. Will the guys escape Dr Lorvis’ lair of leisure? And will the girls make peace over Bernadette’s photo shoot?
“The Misinterpretation Agitation” is the seventh episode of the eighth season of The Big Bang Theory. It’s an ensemble episode, with special guest star Billy Bob Thornton as Dr Lorvis. Well, technically there are two stories, the male plot and the female plot, but they call come together in the third Act as one big ensemble piece.
Ensemble episodes are usually, by default, more entertaining. It’s also well grounded in character – the inciting incident comes from Penny’s character, but it’s also her personality that provides the resolution for the episode. It’s a good one, and despite the fact that there’s only two storylines, this episode also feels like a complete one.
Highlights
Ensemble episode
In an ensemble episode, everyone gets to shine, and everyone gets to react to each other. You see, comedy doesn’t just come from the person delivering the jokes – it also derives from the reactions of the characters around the person. That’s why reaction shots are so important – an inappropriate reaction shot just makes the joke fall flat.
But in an ensemble episode, everyone is reacting to a single person’s lines. This magnifies the comedy by giving you a range of reactions – one of them is bound to be funny, and two or more funny reactions will exponentially increase the humour behind the joke. Also, ensemble episodes give the cast members a group to play off on, which also improves their performances.
Ensemble episodes are difficult to pull off and write though, so treasure them when they come! Like this one.
Pop culture references
As mentioned earlier, Dr Lorvin’s lair of leisure is a treasure trove of movie statues and games from the 90s. Not only do the guys have a field day identifying everything, so will you when you’re observing the set dressing and the everything that the characters haven’t pointed out. Props to the props used in this ep!
Amy and Bernadette
Again, we don’t usually see them together since they don’t have much conflict potential. But it’s a good point of contention (Bernadette’s feminism vs Amy’s pride) that creates the friction between the pair, since the conflict comes from character (rather than an external source). What could have been a dull scene is enlivened by their clashing values.
Dr Lorvis as the future version of the guys
Only Raj seems to be genre savvy enough to notice this, but his exasperation at Howard’s (and the others) lack of awareness that they might very well grow up to be like Dr Lorvis, is fun to watch. So is Howard’s complete ignorance of irony in his many, many jibes at Dr Lorvis’ living situation (which mirrors Howard’s life, pre-marriage).
Spotlight on the ladies
In this episode, the girls get to save the day and resolve the conflict at hand. It’s an unexpected way of tying up the episode, which adds that extra burst of rejuvenation in an already good episode.
Letdowns
Billy Bob Thornton lacks comic timing as Dr Lorvis
Somehow, the Dr Lorvis role seemed ill suited to Billy Bob Thornton. Maybe I haven’t watched too many of his performances, but I expected more from the veteran. He’s just not funny – the reactions to him are, but he just seems to be an old stereotype.
“The Misinterpretation Agitation” is the best episode of Season 8 thus far, and showcases all the characters equally as well as fulfilling the premise of the show well. It’s a good one to catch, and the next one is too!
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