Of course, that's not all The Complete Third Season is about. While Penny has been a part of the four geeks' lives for a few years now, the change in her relationship with Leonard really puts Sheldon (Jim Parsons) off his game. At first, it starts with Penny making breakfast; but being unaware of Sheldon's schedule, she makes the wrong food on the wrong day. Little things like this keep Sheldon off balance, and he eventually tries to train her via positive reinforcement, aka a chocolate every time she does something he approves of.
Eventually though, Sheldon starts to fall into a new routine and while he is still as neurotic as ever, he actually becomes a closer friend to Penny than before. This is most evident in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency" where Penny slips in a tub and Sheldon is forced to drive her to the emergency room, despite the fact that he only has a learner's permit.
Of course, Leonard and Penny's relationship has quite a few rocky spots. When Penny allows an old flame to sleep on her couch, Leonard finds the situation unacceptable. During the pair's argument, we learn that Sheldon has a real problem with people arguing and everywhere the taller geek turns, people are yelling at each other.
This includes, of course, arguments involving both Raj (Kuanal Nayyar) and Howard (Simon Helberg), the supporting geeks in this great series. Season Three has a few episodes that focus on these two as well. In one, Raj reveals that he might get deported back to India if he can't get a new job. Sheldon then allows Raj to interview as an assistant, and while he does get the job, the two's differing opinion on the formulas lead to quite a few humorous scenes.
Meanwhile, Howard gets a girlfriend. Penny introduces Howard to one of her co-workers at the Cheesecake Factory, Bernadetta (Melissa Raunch). At first, the pair appear to have nothing in common, until that is, they realize they both have overbearing mothers. Then the sparks really start to fly between the two.
One of the best episodes this season is "The Staircase Implementation." This is a flashback episode where Leonard tells Penny about moving into Sheldon's apartment some seven years prior. Not only does this episode introduce the origins of the Roommate Agreement, but it also shows how Raj and Howard joined the group, and finally, why the elevator is constantly out of order.
This season also has quite a few guest stars. For one, Stan Lee shows up at the comic book store for a signing, it's just too bad that Sheldon has to go to traffic court in order to fight a moving violation he committed while rushing Penny to the hospital. Wil Wheaton also makes a pair of appearances as himself, and we learn that Sheldon once thought of the former Star Trek: The Next Generation cast member as a hero, until he didn't show up to a convention Sheldon traveled across the country to see.
Laurie Metcalf (who co-stared with Galecki on Roseanne) returns as Sheldon's mother, while another former Roseanne actress, Sara Gilbert, returns for a brief scene late in the season. Comedian Lewis Black makes an appearance as an Entomology professor, while Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) appears in one of Howard's bath-time fantasies.
This season's extras aren't plentiful, but the couple of featurettes it offers are fun, even if they are mostly fluff. One extra has the main cast sitting around Leonard and Sheldon's apartment set answering questions about both the actors and their characters. Another featurette is a tour of the various sets by Nayyar and Helberg. Here, you see everything from Penny's apartment, to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment and even the stairway in the hall. You also get tours of the cafeteria, the restaurant and a few other frequented locations.
The Big Bang Theory is a hilarious show for anyone with even a hint of geek or nerdom in their system. Each of the characters fit well into some of the more extreme stereotypes of the subculture, but even at their extremes, they feel right. While the Third Season isn't the best place to jump into a series, you tend to get what you need to understand most of the jokes this season has to offer, at least that's the way it felt. So if you want to get into the show, but don't want to watch it from the beginning, pick up The Complete Third Season, though starting from the first episode is always recommended. I must confess to not having seen the first two seasons yet (despite all my friends' insistences), but that is a problem that will soon be rectified.
