While every episode needs multiple plot angles to engage all the characters, it became tedious over time for the writers to keep them engagING. We get to see "Fun with Flags" for the first time and Penny and Leonard begin their final approach to getting married as they start the "beta test" that led to them finally getting together and STAYING together....but in this episode we're weighed down with the ridiculous notion that Raj is falling for his phone and the Siri virtial assistant feature. It doesn't play well and Kunal Nayyar makes it even more evident as he labors to be funny. Raj is the weak point of the cast most of the time and this episode makes that abundantly clear. I as a viewer grew so tired of "Poor Raj" in the latter seasons and this is one of the earliest examples of the writers falling back on that plot device. What jumped the shark? Raj's sub-plot.
Review of The Beta Test Initiation
