The Big Bang Theory: "The Einstein Approximation"

"The Einstein Approximation" is an episode I really liked without having the slightest clue as to why. It does a lot of the things I say irritate me about this show (including an entire set piece where the SOLE LINE OF DIALOGUE was "Bazinga!"). I could say it made me laugh a lot, but the number of lines I wrote down to represent funny dialogue is surprisingly slim. And the story wasn't terribly developed and, indeed, leaned a little heavily on the sort of story that the show has perhaps pushed a little too hard this season, wherein Sheldon is somehow forced to step outside of his comfort zone to the delight of the live studio audience. (At least he didn't threaten to move away in this one.) And yet, I really, really enjoyed this episode. I guess maybe it made me laugh more than I thought it did. Or maybe it balanced out those things I say I dislike with some good, old-fashioned genius acting moments.
Let's start with Leonard. Some of you in comments have been making the argument that the guy is pretty much a giant dick now, and I increasingly find it hard to argue that he's not. It'd be one thing if we got a better idea of why he hangs out with these people so often, but we never get that. He just hangs out with them, it seems, because he's supposed to hang out with them because there wouldn't be a show if he didn't. This means that he only ever seems to be irritated by all of his closest friends. There were moments in this episode – notably when he and Howard were coming back from roller disco – when it sure seemed as though he was enjoying the guy's company. But when push comes to shove, Leonard always seems put out by the fact that he hangs out with these people.
It's not like we've ever seen that Leonard has a lot of other friends on the side. He's got the three guys and then he's got Penny. And that's it. He has a few other people he converses with at work, but his other attempts at socializing have mostly fallen flat. And, look, I get when you're in a place where you're just driven nuts by people you would move heaven and Earth for. But because we never see the moments when Leonard is grateful for his friends or appreciates their company or something (or we too rarely see them), the show just seems to be about a mean, spiteful guy who hangs out with a bunch of wacky people simply because the demands of the universe insist that he do so. The show wouldn't work without Leonard at its center – it really does need a straight man – but is it too much to ask that he occasionally show a little compassion?
Then again, maybe he did in tonight's episode. While he bitched about having to go fetch Sheldon from what appeared to be a Chuck E. Cheese ripoff, he was genuinely concerned that Sheldon come home and get some sleep. There's a fairly deep friendship between these two that the show too often treats as a given, and it's interesting to see it reaffirmed and put to the test in storylines like this one, where Leonard really does, when it comes down to it, want Sheldon to push past the problems he's having to be able to live a normal life again. It was that note of concern that made his increasing irritation with the fact that Sheldon simply didn't care for his concern more realistic. He didn't go from zero to irritation instantly. The gradual build-up made all the difference.