While The Big Bang Theory may have started out with a bunch of immature dudes gawking at women and comic culture, nearly all of its main characters are married now, with only Kunal Nayyar's Raj left looking for love. However, this twelfth and final season appears to be flipping that notion on its head, with Raj becoming frustrated with his bachelor status and making the decision to go back to his familial roots by entering into an arranged marriage.
In "The Wedding Gift Wormhole," Raj hit upon a "eureka" moment about his relationship status while giving Stuart some advice about the latter's date with Denise. Raj told Stuart to "trust your instincts," and then reflected on how that advice has failed to help him in his own love life over the years. He looked genuinely melancholy when admitting his life is a mess in that regard. And so, since casual flirting and dating hadn't ever solved any of his issues, he called upon his father in India to arrange a marriage for him.
At this point, it looks like the goal will be for Raj to meet and hit it off with Rati Gupta's Anu, a thirtysomething woman working in hospitality management. We're not quite sure how their time together will go, but we do know we'll get to meet her soon. We'll get to see the new character having dinner with Raj in next week's episode, titled "The Procreation Calculation."
The question, of course, is whether or not Raj will actually go through with tying the knot, whether it's part of an arranged marriage or a more impulsive one. (If anyone takes another trip to Las Vegas, be worried.) Showrunner Steve Holland addressed the topic with TV Guide, although he wasn't overwhelmingly open about how it'll turn out.
That story arc will play out over the season. It seemed like an interesting way to tell a couples story that we haven't done before.
By calling it a couples story, was Steve Holland confirming that Raj will only be a part of that one coupling this season? Or was he just speaking generally about Raj with any woman? Hopefully Anu is awesome and instantly becomes one of the show's best new characters. And then Big Bang Theory could give us a Raj and Anu spinoff, because why not? Assuming Kunal Nayyar would even want to take the character in such a direction.
The Big Bang Theory returned to big numbers this week, and it will continue winning over CBS audiences every Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see what other new and returning shows are on the way to the small screen soon, head to our fall TV premiere schedule.
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