There are major spoilers from The Big Bang Theory Season 9 premiere in this article, so if you haven’t watched yet and don't want to get spoiled, you should head out, now.
It’s weird to watch The Big Bang Theory on Monday nights, but it’s even odder to see a premiere episode where everyone isn’t at least on somewhat friendly terms. Last night, true to CBS’ word, The Big Bang Theory gave us the nuptials of Penny And Leonard. But they weren’t anything like we expected. And honestly, they ended on a pretty dour note.
Picking up just a short time after the events in the Season 8 finale, Penny did decide that she loved Leonard and wanted to marry him, despite the fact that minutes earlier he had admitted to cheating on her. The wedding was a fine enough Las Vegas endeavor. There was little fanfare; she wore a fun but unremarkable pink dress and the wedding venue very nearly littered the aisles with potpourri as they were out of rose petals. Honestly, the wedding was fairly uneventful, even amusing. It was after the wedding that Penny was forced to swallow even more hard truths.
While Leonard had admitted to cheating on Penny during an expedition at the end of last season, he had actually omitted some really important information. Namely, that he still sees the young woman he made out with during the expedition on a regular basis, because she actually works with him. Her name is Mandy Chow, and later in the episode Sheldon tells Penny she’s “brilliant“ and “attractive.” But first, Penny and Leonard fight in Vegas on their wedding night. It’s a rift that reveals there was more to the Mandy story and an argument that only sort-of ends when they check out of the hotel and head back to Pasadena, where they decide to spend their first night as a married couple apart.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem as if it will be a rift that will be easy to heal. In fact, we already know that Melissa Tang has been signed on to play Mandy, and the actress is set to make her big debut on the hit series when The Big Bang Theory returns next Monday. Whether or not Leonard or Penny run into the character, things are certain to get awkward.
It should be noted that it is not just Leonard and Penny who are dealing with issues. Sheldon basically stalked Amy through this premiere episode until she felt forced to officially break things off with him. This led to Leonard and Sheldon ending the episode very much on a note that reminded us of the early days of the series, when they spent more time with each other than any girls.
The Big Bang Theory has always intertwined intriguing storylines with a joke-joke-joke format, but as the characters have aged and grown, this has resulted in less hilarious hijinks and more serious adult problems. That’s to be expected as people grow and change; however, for the sake of the comedy, I’m quite excited to get through these humps and back into the goofy Big Bang Theory we know and love. With the way things are going so far in Season 9, though, I don’t think there will be any quick fixes.
You can catch new episodes of The Big Bang Theory on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET.
