Season 9 of The Big Bang Theory has been a huge one for Sheldon, who gained a reconnection with ex-girlfriend Amy and then lost a connection to his virginity. The show’s cast and crew have been talking up a strange secret that the awkwardly brilliant Sheldon would soon be sharing with Amy, and it came out on tonight’s episode, “The Soldier Excursion Diversion.” While our guesses on what it could have been ran the gamut, we were still thrown for a loop when Sheldon’s Show and Tell game ended with the reveal that he doesn’t throw anything away.
That’s right. Apparently Sheldon doesn’t make garbage happen. He only knows the “Waste not” part of that old adage.
The episode saw Sheldon in near-panic over his laptop malfunctioning, which is the kind of thing that leads to sleepless nights of research and planning out what the next purchase should be. Though Amy’s thoughtless (and presumably super-expensive) gift of a new laptop earned the expected amount of non-appreciation from her mate, it did bring him to open up about his long-kept secret that he’d never shared with anyone else before, which brought a level of trust that helped them grow closer to one another. But while it seems sweet and sentimental in logline form, the details surrounding the admission would be extremely creepy with any other TV character.
Sheldon’s “trash” is all kept inside a self-storage unit he calls his Fortress of Shame, though not in garbage bags or anything that hints at each item’s current state of worthlessness. It’s all meticulously sorted and placed neatly, making me think this would be an interesting area for visitors to peruse if there was some kind of a Big Bang Theory theme park out there. Sheldon knows this is a problem – as it’s known to anyone who keeps Ziploc bags full of used Ziploc bags, as well as a bin full of pinecones – and that was a perfectly absurd explanation of the animal food chain that happens in his stomach when he thinks about throwing something away. But, in true sitcom resolution fashion, Amy makes him feel better about it with her example of holding onto a tissue used during her first brain dissection.
Sheldon claims he’ll be better about this kind of hoarding behavior in the future, seemingly throwing one of his golf balls away, but it’s all just a ruse to fool Amy. (Or to make her feel better about his behavior, which is almost as bad.) Then later, when it’s pointed out that the couple has hours of free time coming, it looks like things might take a sexual turn, but Sheldon only wants to use Amy as a Skype buddy to test out his new laptop. Amy really had it rough in this episode, but at least she knows something about Sheldon she never knew before. I guess.
The Big Bang Theory airs Thursday nights on CBS. Now we can all play the game Pay Attention To Both Past And Future Episodes For Continuity Purposes By Seeing If Sheldon Throws Anything Away: The Home Version.
