The Big Bang Theory 5x14: The Beta Test Initiation

Original Air Date: 26 January 2012

Storyline: Leonard and Penny develop a system to insure their dates go smoothly. Raj finally finds a woman he can talk to - the virtual assistant on his mobile phone. Sheldon finds a new passion.Best Quote:

Penny: You mean like a beta test?
Leonard: Well, technically, this would be an alpha test. A beta test requires people that weren't involved in the development of the appli....
Penny: Seriously, do I not get credit for knowing beta test?
Leonard: No, absolutely you should.
The Science: Vexillology is the study of flags.

Review: It's been too long since we haven't watched an episode that wasn't divided between the girls and the guys. I'm one of those fans who think that the addition of Mayim Bialik and Melissa Rauch has been a beneficial one to the show; I'm not saying that I was getting bored of it before, but who doesn't love the Shamy, for example? But dividing the storylines between the two groups wasn't always a good idea, as it deprived us of the classic Penny/Sheldon banters and other things like that.

"The Beta Test Initiation" continued the arc started in the show's 100th episode, the recombination as they put it - Leonard and Penny contemplating the possibility of getting back together. I am a big shipper of this pairing (though I hate this word with the power of a thousand suns). But one thing I don't want happening is have a will-they-won't-they that will last until the end of the series. If they are going to put them together again, then by God, let them be together until the end! The last thing I want is another Rachel/Ross soap-opera!
Leonard and Penny's beta test has been a fun ride, especially since I can relate with the "bug reports"and from experience I can tell you that no matter how much you keep on saying that one shouldn't get mad, it almost never ends up well. But how can you not laugh at Leonard's color coded one? "Uh, red means 'fix right away.' Yellow is 'eh, whenever you get a chance.' And green, is 'I could probably learn to live with it.'" Some other hilarious moments were Penny's own bug report, listing Leonard's eyebrows as stupid, and Penny's knowledge of the typical development for computer software. Plus, what woman wouldn't fall all over again for her next door neighbor if he took her to the shooting range?
But the episode was not all Penny and Leonard. "The Beta Test Initiation" saw Raj finally finding a woman he can talk to, as well as another classic Sheldon moment - his YouTube 52-week series "Fun with Flags". Now, is there anyone else thinking this should be a real TV show? I would like to see the full episode with Amy dressed up as a pretzel. 
But the best this about this week's installment, at least in my humble opinion, has been Raj's arc. I've been complaining since the beginning that Raj is not used enough and, when he is, he has some crappy arc where he sounds gayer than Bruno, but he was finally avenged with his new romantic relationship. If anyone would be prone to falling for Siri - a.k.a. the new iPhone's voice recognition software, it would have been him. And everything is even more hilarious when you add Sheldon's approval into the mix: "Well done, Dr. Koothrappali. You've taken a great evolutionary leap by abandoning human interaction and allowing yourself to romantically bond with a soulless machine. Kudos." Throwing Kripke in there was the icing on the cake. 
So kudos from my part as well for a great episode, one that will make my list of the best BBT installments.
The Big Bang Theory 5x13: The Recombination Hypothesis Back to Season 5