The Big Bang Theory (TV Series) The Troll Manifestation (2015) User Reviews

Finally! An episode that hit all the marks again...

[reclame_nl · 9/10 · 11 February 2015]

To me, season 8 has been an incredible let down so far, but The Troll Manifestation lived up to old-fashioned expectations.

The picture used by IMDb for this episode (Bernadette in an ugly pink dress) made me fear it would be a 'gimmicky' episode in which the laughter would (or "should") be induced by cheap, silly events. I was wrong: this episode did pretty much everything right.

The episode has two main story lines: Leonard and Sheldon come up with a new theory; and Penny, Bernadette and Amy are confronted with embarrassing facts from their respective pasts. The nice thing is that both story lines are coherent, and not fragmented as so many story lines in recent episodes have been. Fragmentation in story lines make me feel that the writers have run out of ideas, and are going for easy, uninspired laughter.

Besides two solid story lines with good jokes, The Troll Manifestation had some cute details in the acting (Leonard slapping the table in excitement; Bernadette sympathetically sighing "Oh, Amelia...") . It was also nice to see that Sheldon was actually being an adult with some childish quirks, instead of some infantile jerk who seems to go out of his way to annoy people.

I hope the writers will be able to keep this up!

For every author who has ever been trolled, this is cathartic...and awesome!

[scfjdqueenbee · 10/10 · 5 February 2015]

At the last moment, I guessed who the troll was, and it was terrific. You'll have to watch it yourself to find this out! This was so much fun to watch - every minute of it! I can totally relate to the events in this episode. I write dystopian science fiction with a woman professor narrator who has Asperger's, and I got trolled for standing up for autism. This made tonight's episode something that I could really appreciate, and it was hilarious. Any writer who has had this experience would feel better after watching this. The reason behind the trolling is explained. I won't say what it was, but there can be other reasons. All were explored very cleverly in The Troll Manifestation. This show just stays relevant no matter how long it is on, and I love it. I look forward to it every time a new episode is on, and to many of its reruns.

Amy's fanfiction is the highlight of the episode

[Ddey65 · 31 March 2021]

I know that a more professional reviewer said the same thing about this episode, but it's still true.

The main storyline is over some physics blog that Leonard thinks is going to set the scientific world on fire. But some online troll decides to make fun of him for it, and he, Sheldon, Howard and Raj are on a campaign of revenge. While they're doing all this, Penny invites the rest of her posse over to her apartment for movie night and reluctantly shows them one of the "Serial Ape-ist" movies she was in. Bernadette shows a beauty pageant she was part of in 1999, looking exactly the same, and doing a crappy rendition of "Wannabe," by the Spice Girls. Then in retaliation, Bernadette reveals that Amy wrote a piece of Little House on the Prairie Fanfiction involving characters modeled after her and Sheldon. When Penny finds it online she reads it aloud and both she and Bernadette are immediately intrigued. Fair warning though; Her excitement over the "distinct possibility" of Sheldon and Amy getting it on in "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion," does not measure up to her reading of first paragraph from Amy's fanfic.

The two beauty queens may make fun of Amy's story, but they're still engrossed in it. Not simply because it's good, but because it about Amy and Sheldon, no matter how much she insists it involves "Amelia and Cooper." Their love story is what Amy wants her own love story to be, as well as what her friends want it to be, and to some extent what we want it to be. When Bernadette cracks a joke about one of the lines, Amy decides to put an end to what she sees as public humiliation, until Penny convinces her to read it instead. And from there, it seems like Amelia's love for Cooper is doomed. Bernadette's little heart breaking over how she thinks the story was going to end made me want to give her a big hug. Thankfully, Amy's protagonist doesn't end up so sad after all. I won't spoil the ending of her tale, because the truth is, the writers of the show didn't give it an ending either.

There has been at least one real life fanfic that I know of based on the fanfic used in this episode. If anything, such a real fanfic should involve the Ingalls, the Wilders, or the Olesons. In the meantime, a lot of people have described the four denizens of Apartment 4A as being emotionally immature, especially Sheldon. Here we see the two early-30 something women acting like a couple of lovestruck pre-teens. Certainly not an episode to be missed, and if you have missed it, catch it in a rerun.

Hitting on All the Cylinders

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 6 November 2021]

Leonard comes up with a missing property in a theory Sheldon has been working on. Sheldon eventually embraces it and lets Leonard put his name on the research. Soon scientists are weighing in, but one person is rude and demeaning. So the two try to respond. The girls are together and each is faced with an embarrassing moment. Amy finds herself as a kind of Little House on the Prairie figure, meeting a man from the future, who is a lot like Sheldon. It is really wonderfully presented. Excellent episode.

Amelia and Cooper stole the show and our hearts

[sudipta2311 · 10/10 · 22 August 2023]

Loved the track of Penny, Amy and Bernadette digging up each other's past to poke fun. But there was something so beautiful about the fanfiction Amy wrote that it gives you a lot of insight into what she feels and her love for Sheldon. In a way, it's the fantasy probably a lot of people want for Shamy. Glad we saw it happen atleast in a fantasy.

The way friends burst out laughing and giggling is very relatable and is pure genius of a moment. This season has lacked such moments until now.

The bit about Sheldon and Leonard focusing on one bad comment while ignoring the positive points and trying to come up with an apt comeback is all of us in a nutshell. But the troll being Stephen Hawking didn't add much to the storyline.