The Big Bang Theory - Season 7, Episode 17 'The Friendship Turbulence' [Recap + Review]

 Friendships went for a bumpy ride on the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory, with Sheldon and Howard trying to make their friendship more amicable and less, well, insulting. Go figure! The episode kicked off with good ol' Penny informing the gang that she had recently turned down a role in a sequel to that awful(ly funny) ape movie that we saw when Leonard went on his expedition. Penny was dead certain that the film wasn't right for her future career, but Leonard (forever the optimist) reminded her that she actually has no money, and therefore has no right to be picky. Rather unsurprisingly, this angers Penny, who storms off with Leonard rushing behind her. 

Meanwhile, Sheldon takes to insulting Howard (as per usual) until Bernadette asks why he would do such a thing. Sheldon then proceeds to reel off several occasions where Howard was mean to him, which makes Bernadette angry at Howard. 

Oops. In the saga of Penny & Leonard, Penny's car breaks down and in this moment, she realises she may have to return to the cheesecake factory, or risk severe debt. She prepares herself to go back to her old job, until herself and Leonard get outside and it is revealed that Leonard bought her a new car. Penny is overjoyed at the fact that she doesn't have to drudge it all the way back to her former house of employment and hugs Leonard excitingly. 

Meanwhile, Howard has been guilt-tripped into inviting Sheldon on an out of town trip to Houston, and the two end up on a plane together. Howard notices that Sheldon still refuses to acknowledge him as the successful astronaut (sort of) that he is - that is until, the plane starts to exhibit some turbulence. And when we say 'some', we mean a whole heap of turbulence. Sheldon grips on for dear life, whilst Howard pretends that he is fine with it because he's been in space (we all know how well he coped up there), until he eventually breaks down too. 

They both join arms in solidarity and whilst experiencing the turbulence admit to each other that their friendship matters and their lives would be empty without each other. Awww. Whilst this is all going on, Raj and Amy have a little 'adventure' together. And by 'adventure' we mean 'Raj tries desperately to pursue women via online dating and Amy's help'. Raj exclaims to Amy that he has found a nice girl on his online dating profile, but is too scared to talk to her himself. He persuades a reluctant Amy to talk to her and try to convince her to go out with him. Amy does so, but finds she has more in common with the woman than Raj and ends up going out for coffee with her, which makes Raj jealous. 

The woman in question is named 'Emily' and rejects Raj because she views him as too shy and passive. Later, whilst Emily and Amy are having coffee, Raj bursts in and starts to make a scene until Emily makes a bee-line for the exit and ditches both Amy and Raj, leaving Amy frustrated, as she had hoped to go to a Chaucer reading with Emily later that week. And thus ends another chapter in Raj's sketchy love life and Amy's quest to find more friends. The overall episode was pretty classic - some good snide comments from Amy about her lack of a sex life, some classic Sheldon facial expressions when he is on the plane (his face is a picture of inner woe and sheer terror), and it was nice to see Howard and Sheldon spending some bonding time together, which gives us more insight into their friendship (after all, we've seen the whole Leonard/Sheldon relationship, what about Howard?). We give this episode 7 'big' bangs out of 10. The next episode is entitled 'The Mommy Observation' - so - who's mother do you think we will be seeing more of? Place your bets now! Tune in on March 13th to see the next episode of The Big Bang Theory.