Interpersonal Relationships
Every television series, conflicts in relationships base the premise of the story lines, just as real life is mangled with relationship issues. Just as it can be in real life, one would expect some conflicts in the television films to be resolved in a creating manner. There is interpersonal conflict in the series “the big bang theory” in episode 11 of season 8 which is the “the clean room infiltration.” The problem which had engulfed the actors culminating to blame game and other personality issues would have been handled in a better manner using efficient methods of communication. Nonverbal and verbal communication abilities were not used in the script to the best advantage to achieve optimal effects to the aspect of resolving the conflict in a better way. The ability to listen, have empathy and contribute towards relationship healing were not used effectively which resulted in the problem not being solved any way.
Even though the big bang theory is a comedy series, conflict is what makes the bulk of the story lines in the series. Conflicts in this episode revolve around loyalty, empathy, reactions, and actions which involve one character’s inability to handle situations on his own. Two friends find themselves in an awkward and demanding situation when one of them makes a mistake which leads to contamination of a room which should not even have dust. It is in the process of decontaminating the room by catching the bird which caused it which results in an interpersonal conflict between his friend and a new friend of theirs. Howard wants to catch the bird on his own using bag something which Leonard thinks is stupid and wants to call the facilities despite the objection of his friend, who is afraid of being blamed. The reaction to this is that Leonard does is not loyal to him anymore after the advent of Raj. Raj comes to help them and the arguments and the blame games spiral out of control, with Leonard and Raj telling Howard they are smarter than him, and he is not capable of helping in catching of the bird. They scoff him and blame him for recklessness, and this results in the exchange of tools to catch the bird. This culminates into Howard killing the bird, and after taking it out, another one, more menacing than the first one enters the room.
The problem with communication in this episode is that it is the blame game which comes with the fact that they blame each other for what happened in the science room. Two friends gang up against one friend (Howard) and result to them belittling them and making him feel incompetent in handling any situation. Leonard is not empathetic to the fact that Howard feels Raj has split the loyalty between them. Raj and Leonard gang up in admonishing Howard after letting him allow the bird in the room. Leonard does not understand when Howard says that he doesn’t want to call the facilities.
It would have been better if Raj had sided with Howard on the issue of catching the bird. This would have added self- esteem to Howard in the script resulting him not to kill the bird after they exchange the tools. It would have been better if the reaction of Raj to Howard did not involve who has better mental faculty than the other. This proved that truly that the coming of Raj into Leonard’s and Howard's life has divided them and Leonard has abandoned his best friend for a new comer. This makes the audience to be empathetic with Howard in he is the victim of his friends on how they perceive him. It would have been better if Raj had better and encouraged words for Howard who was facing the wrath of the institution by contaminating a room. This would have made Howard have self-confidence and self-esteem, and he would not have exchanged his tool for a fire extinguisher which killed the bird, attracting another in the room.
In conclusion, it is better to have friends who can tell one of the weaknesses and flaws which ne has without being constantly belittled and blamed for errors. Friends are there to tell one who he is and support one in times of crisis, but this was not the case to the friends of Howard. They were an impediment to him decontaminating the room and saving himself from the wrath of the institution. It would have been better if Raj was more empathetic to Howard, who was already in a tight situation juggling between a disloyal friend and building his reputation among them in maintaining the friendship.
References
Cendrowski, m. (2014). The Big Bang Theory. United States: Chuck Lorre Productions Warner Bros. Television. Series 08. Episode no. 11.