Gamertell

Title: The Big band Theory: The Complete Second Season (aka Big Bang Theory: Season 2)
Price: $44.98
Format: DVD
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rating: Not Rated
Pros: Decent acting, complex scientific ideas are embedded in an approachable and funny way, breaks down several stereotypes and has fairly universal comedic appeal. Presented in widescreen.
Cons: A little weak on extra features. Not yet available on Blu-ray.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 95/100; A; * * * * 1/2 out of five.

The Big Bang Theory celebrates all that is geeky, a lot that is nerdy and delivers just enough underdog romance to keep even the unsuspecting viewer interested.

The series breaks down and twists the typical setup of an intellectually floundering, often overweight male paired with the seemingly out-of-reach, wise, sassy and super sexy female costar into an unsuspecting blend of science, a wide range of humor and a smattering of sweetness. It’s a formula that’s worked from the beginning of the series and has nicely improved throughout the second season.

Hail to the Geek

The series is a surprisingly fantastic celebration of all things geek, featuring four university scientists who come together to share potstickers and ponder various social conundrums. Two of the main characters, Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons), are roommates who live across from cute-waitress-waiting-to-become-an-actress Penny (Kaley Cuoco). There’s a nice slice of sexual tension between awkward yet down-to-Earth Leonard and Penny while the uber arrogant theoretical physics expert and UCLA professor, Sheldon, perpetually plops problems into their social lives.

Bringing in additional comic fodder is a buddy duo consisting living-with-mom frustrated horndog Howard (Simon Helberg) and Rajesh (Kunal Nayyar), a heavily accented Indian who would be the most socially smooth of the group except he needs to toss back a few drinks before he can even speak in the same room as a woman.

In the second season of Big Bang Theory, the cluster of super smarty geeks begins to show more heart than the previous season. We also get healthy dose of gaming references - nods to World of Warcraft, a Wii Sports Bowling night and even an entire episode dedicated to Age of Conan: Online - and plenty of charts.

Atomic Level Genius

The series certainly does not disappoint on any level. There is plenty of comedy created by the interplay of character, along with the continued romantic tensions and unsuspecting moments of sweetness involving Penny with each of her geeky neighbors.

It touches upon comic books, video games and even personal idiosyncrasies in a way that always feels fresh and, when it aims too high, makes certain to immediately bring things back down to a comprehensible, comedic level with completely pandering to crude humor (except when entirely inescapable). Stories typically focus on one pair of characters at a time yet always work the other characters to help keep pace and add bits of additional character development.

Because there is so much physics (and other sciences) in the show, the writers wisely defer to an expert (UCLA Prof. David Saltzberg) who also helps to pen many of the background diagrams. Some even make way into the show’s intros, offering unexpectedly comedic explanations for otherwise simplistic phenomena. How do you make friends? Perhaps a flow chart will help (or not). The writers even sneak in concepts from other sciences (especially Psychology) to help bring points back around from a seemingly distant idea.

The show seems to focus on Penny and Leonard’s relationship but, thanks to Parsons, Sheldon really comes through as this season’s strongest and most humorous character, developing a sense of “humor” and allowing Penny just enough wiggle room to bring down the pH of his often caustic personality. Likewise, Penny is subtly turning the corner from a socially normalized citizen to being able to pull out an appropriate Star Trek analogy when necessary.

A Few Extra Electrons

The DVD extras include a featurette which focuses on Saltzberg’s relationship with the show. In it he demonstrates a little of how he adds the charts to the set while and the series creators explain how his role is far more important that he might realize. When they come up with a comedic moment that involve science, they rely on Saltzberg to fill in some of the unknown variables (aka dialog) so that they are not only based in actual scientific theories but also add to the scene

There’s also a featurette that offers the usual montage and quote splices of castmembers’ favorite moments of the season, commenting on their characters and praising each other. Even so it offers a few insider comments that you might not find online.

Magnetic Personalities

Part of the show’s appeal is that it not only embraces geekdom, it also pokes fun at it much the same way as good friends teasing each other. Feelings might get momentarily bruised but the intention is always a love pat instead of the resulting awkward hand slap.

While I often joke that my wife enjoys the show because she relates to pretty Penny who must constantly deal with, yet somehow ends up loving, these seemingly unlikeable geeks, there is an element of truth to that.

Much like the expansion of the universe, the second season of The Big Bang Theory begins to so a more expansive look into these characters, offering more personality, more obsessive-compulsiveness and even more laughs from a broader area than before. This show is enjoyable for geeks, nerds and every supposedly normal person in between.

It’s time for you to embrace science.

Purchase [The Big Bang Theory Season 2 DVD]