The Imitation Perturbation

This is one of the funniest episodes of all, when they dressed up as each other they pulled it of perfectly, it was truly hilarious.

Howard is so funny and very good at impressions.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, every character in the show is so funny, Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, Penny, Amy, Bernadette, Stuart, Kripke, Zach, all of Raj's girlfriends, and all of the cameo appearances have been so good and so funny it's made every episode so so great.

And omg how beautiful is Kaley Cuoco? She is so radiant and such a good actress, to think she nearly didn't get the part of Penny.

I always thought that Mayim Bialik's talents were never truly used in her run on TBBT. She often showed how she could have been able to do much more with a character saddled with the "plain & boring" stereotype. Here we saw an example of peak Mayim.

So, Howard dresses as Sheldon for Halloween. In retailation, Sheldon and Amy dress as Howard and Bernadette. Of all the imitations, Amy as Bernadette is a whole level over the rest. The way she nails the character is scary - helium-boosted voice included. It is also clear that Mayim is having the fun of her life (Simon Helberg as Sheldon too, but, IMHO, his was more a parody; Mayim just became Bernadette).

What I didn't like in this episode is how deadly serious were the reactions by everyone. It was a callback to one of the earliest episodes, when Penny explains in strong words to Howard what a failure of a man he is. TBBT is not about this. Characters already get angry, make gaffes, end up humiliated (big time), only to recover and forge on. That should be enough. Here we are assisting to something that could lead to a real break up in friendships. I don't watch this show for this.

Yet, this leads to the conversation between Sheldon and Bernadette, the first really intimate one between them. When Bernadette says that Sheldon can't know what means to be the smallest person in the room Sheldon, quite correctly, points out how he knows, because he went to high-school when he still was a kid. The whole scene is a nice one and the saving grace of the episode.

(BTW, if Howard dresses as Sheldon, he and Bernadette have no right to complain if Sheldon and Amy do the same thing to them; just my 2 cents).

I thought the episode was great! The two couples imitated each other so perfectly! My only disappointment was that Penny should have dressed up as 'Penny' from 'Inspector Gadget'...

Had to try to balance some of the negative reviews. To the people who called it offensive: get over yourselves. It's a situation comedy, meant to make you laugh. I thought Howard, Amy and Sheldon all did a hilarious job imitating their friends. To the people who called that bullying: people rag on their friends, it's normal behaviour. Not to mention it's the plot line for probably 80% of sitcoms, and certainly at least half of The Big Bang Theory. You belittle actual bullying (which of course is a real problem and should not be tolerated) by freaking out about this. Easy to sit at home typing and complaining about tv shows, I guess.

I Seriously think an 8.3 is way too high. This episode is not that good. For starters Bernadette dares Howard to dress up as Sheldon for Halloween, fine; Sheldon does not instantly get the joke. Later Amy finds Sheldon is upset and decides you know what we'll get our revenge by doing the same to them.

This episode shows that you shouldn't dish it if you can't take it. Giving my rating of 6/10

*Decent at best*