What the episode called to my mind was Eli Roth's The Green Inferno, which incidentally Greg Nicotero also worked on. Like The Green Inferno, there was no real suspense. The viewer knows something unpleasant is going to happen, there is no doubt at all, no ambiguity, no wit, no panache. Just a slow motion slaughter, a…

"At some point you'd think they'd invest in a map."

Relationships require a degree of reciprocity. What does anyone gain by being friends with Sheldon? Amy could do better, and Leonard has the means to get his own place. Without those two, the rest would simply drift away.

TBBT's version of nerd culture is excessively narrow. Granted it's a network show and they have to reference things that the average viewer may have a passing familiarity with (Star Trek, Star Wars, DC and Marvel comics, World of Warcraft), but it's so limiting.