The Big Bang Theory episode reviews

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Episode 2. A second outing for the four-nerds-and-one-babe sit-com that is even funnier than the pilot was. One of the nerds decides to break into the babe's appartment one night to... tidy it up. To be fair, it is a bit of a mess.

Episode 3. Oh dear, three episodes in and they deliver a most un-funny installment. It's too soon, I fear, to delve right into the romantic possibilities of the set-up. And if you are going to do this right away, at least give us a Very Funny Sub-Plot to counterpoint all of the tentative romance. This episode had nothing going for it.

Episode 4. A funny episode, revolving around Sheldon (Jim Parsons), is stolen by Laurie Metcalf (from Roseanne) as his mom. I've noticed that the show is generally better when Kaley Cuoco is on-screen. As funny as the four guys are, the show becomes better when she's on screen as a contrast to them. It's great to see (almost) no mention of the potential romance with Leonard this week.

Episode 5. We get to see where Penny works for the first time. Leonard, meanwhile, shares a night of matter-of-fact passion with fellow scientist Leslie. Leslie's second episode is funnier than her first, but the highlights of the episode are Leonard's attempts to decipher Penny's innocent comments for hidden meanings.

Episode 6. The four guys get invited to a Halloween party. The episode plays out much as you would expect, with our four nerds dropped into the midst of normal people. A lot of the gags hit their mark, with Jim Parsons being particularly funny. Leonard gets a kiss from Penny, too.

Episode 7 is the funniest so far. The regular characters were mixed and matched in various combinations and each set-up generated a lot of laughs. We got to see Penny playing Halo 3 with the boys: Hilarious. Sheldon trying to cope when Penny spent the night on their couch: Hilarious. The boys trying to function without Wolowitz: Hilarious. And, finally, we got to see Wolowitz The Lover, and Wolowitz The Son: Hilarious. BBT has many funny characters, and it works best when at least three of them are on-screen together. Fewer than that and it fades a little (particularly when the two are Penny and Leonard).

Episode 8. I had planned on saving this last episode until next week, but I was out-voted. Kunal Nayyar took centre-stage. It was hilarious. Now, let's get this strike thing sorted and get these guys back in front of the cameras. Fast!

Episode 9. Back in front of the cameras for a winner. Although the episode is dominated by a fight between Sheldon and Leonard, the highlight (for me) was the scene where Penny went through Leonard's wardrobe. Throwing out half of it in the process.