Big Bang Theory Rant.

So now that season 11 of the show is done, I wanna talk about some highlights of the season. Overall I think this season was pretty mixed, similar to the last two seasons. The show certainly had it moments but at times I felt like there were more than a few instances were it was lackluster, annoying or basically wasted. I wanna talk about the last one, about one plot of the show that
I felt had so much potential but in the end the writers dropped the ball with it.

This the plot of Raj dumping Howard. For those of you who don't know this was a two episode arc in the show involving Raj getting fed up with Howard's constant teasing and decides that he's done with him. If you ask me this was a long time coming, as Howard got more flanderized in the later episodes, he stopped being a lovable jerk and just became a plain asshole especially to Raj so there was a lot I wanted to see in the plot.

To fully explain my disappointment, I wanna talk about each episode individually.

The Big Bang Theory Season 11 Episode 10 (The Confidence Erosion)

In this episode, Raj is attempting to get a job in the planetarium and tries to ask the girls for help in choosing an outfit. When they suggest that he wear something that makes him feel confident, he muses on how when he arrived in America he was full of confidence but for some reason it's all gone. As this happens, Howard appears on video chat with Bernadette and promptly makes fun of Raj. When Raj does pick an outfit to wear, Howard continues to tease him in front of everyone.

Later Raj is talking with his dad at how the interview didn’t go well. His dad points out that maybe the reason he has no self confidence is because Howard is constantly teasing and belittling him. Raj tries to defend him, but his dad is points out that when he was still married, his wife always made him feel bad and he’s much better without her.

The next day when Raj tries to bring it up to Howard, he never seems to take anything Raj says seriously and continues to treat it as if it were nothing while Raj gets more upset. Finally he snaps at Howard to get out and says he wants to spend some time away from Howard.

In this episode practically every line out of Howard is some sort of insult or jape at Raj which is unfortunately become very common in most episodes, however in this episode it actually works because he’s actually being called out on it. Its comes of as extremely satisfying and cathartic, especially in the next scene where he still continues to act like that even as its clear Raj is fed up with him.

We later see that Raj managed to score the job after persuading the planetarium that he’s the right guy for the job and wants to celebrate with Leonard and Penny. When they ask him if he’s planning to make up with Howard. He tells them that it was hard but he felt like it needed to be done as their relationship was getting toxic. In the last scene we see Raj in his new job and seems to be doing quite well. After his show, Leonard spots Howard in the back who attended to support Raj. He seems to feel bad about what he did with Raj and Leonard urges him to approach him. However when he sees Raj talking with a girl, Howard decides to leave.

Overall, the first part of this arc was actually pretty good. It was incredibly satisfying to see Raj finally stand up to Howard and tell him off and I do like how they don’t end the story with them making up for some stupid reason. This was a refreshing change of pace and I was honestly pretty excited when I saw this episode.

The Big Bang Theory Season 11 Episode 11 (The Celebration Reverberation)

In this episode, it continues the arc of Raj dumping Howard. It opens with the guys in the comic book store and talking about Halley’s first birthday party and how Howard isn’t making one cause he’s lazy. Raj comes in and gets into an argument with Howard about how they’re still fighting and he’s being a baby for not yet forgiving him yet.

Wait. I thought Howard felt bad in the end of the last episode and was willing to apologize for what he did to get his friend back. Why is he now acting like a jerk again? There is no given explanation to this change in attitude at all. It feels so different from the Howard we saw in the last episode. This is one of the biggest problems I have with the Big Bang theory writing, its that characters are written fast and loose in terms of personality. Sometimes they can be sweet and thoughtful only to be completely lazy and inconsiderate in the next.

This ends with Raj uninviting Howard to watch The Last Jedi and taking Stuart instead. Actually I think Howard might have just dodged a bullet there.

So in the next scene we see Howard deciding  (or more accurately Bernadette making him) plan a birthday party for Hally. Oh you poor soul, you have to be a decent father to your child. But he invites everyone except Raj.

First of all, dick move man. This party isn’t about you, it's for your own daughter. What happened to the devoted father we saw last season who hard time leaving her to go to work? Second, Raj makes a perfectly valid point when he says that he’s her godfather. So you wouldn’t invite him over some petty grudge.

After that Howard goes over to Stuart and mentions that he’s not done anything to plan for the party or even attend the baby and me class with Hally. Again, what happened to the Howard who promised he would always be there for his daughter since his own was never around?

What does he do after this? He approached Raj and offers an apology to him and asks for his help to plan for Hally’s party. As you can see, he is clearly just using Raj to scrape up a part from nothing. Don’t believe me? Howard literally admits it when Raj asks. Yes that's how much of an asshole Howard is, he openly admits he’s taking advantage of Raj and still makes him help him.

To be fair with Raj, he actually acts pretty mature in this scene and decides to help if only for the sake of Hally.  So they plan the party and Raj does a fairly good job given the short notice and Howard not doing anything or even having any friends to attend. Raj decided to use the bounce house he got just so it won’t go to waste and Howard snaps at him for abandoning him and they make up while playing in the bounce house. My god, I have lost all sympathy for Howard at this point.

He had plenty of opportunities to make things right with him and Raj but he never once actually took Raj or any of his problems seriously. Instead he openly took advantage of him because he was too much of an awful person to be a father and now you want me to feel bad for him? Well here's some advice. DON’T INCLUDE A LINE LIKE THIS IN THEIR BIG MAKE UP SCENE

Raj: YOU ARE WELCOME! And thank you for mocking me for all of these years!
Howard: [shouting] Thank you for making it so EASY!

*Sighs* That's the end of this episode and I am done with Howard Wolowitz. The only good thing I can say is that the rest of the season is pretty decent.