There's actually one that involves Penny coming up as well.

Ultimately did? You make it sound as if the arc of Howard grieving over his mother is done. It's not, not with the reporting of his half brother coming in.
I think you set up expectations for this episode BASED on the cbs promos for this episode. The producers of this show have NOTHING to do with how cbs promotes…

Yeah, they can overplay that at times. But Leonard and Sheldon's bickering wasn't on screen LONG ENOUGH to annoy me. I've seen both do FAR WORSE. Of course YMMV.

Yeah they were building up slight resentment in their heads on the way, but up until dinner they were TRYING to be respectful. Leonard didn't start bickering on Sheldon's first comment at the house.

They already paid proper tribute to Howards mom in the comic book store regeneration (most notably in it's end credits), this was just follow up. I also have a feeling Howard and Bernadette are going to end up living in the house by the end of the season.

They were tolerating each other UNTIL Sheldon sticks his foot in his mouth at dinner about execution being key.

It escalated to that point, mostly because Sheldon doesn't have the best bed side manners.

You know next to nothing about Alex aside from her being smart, cute, and crushing hard enough on Leonard that she would hit on him, EVEN THOUGH she knew he was in a relationship.

On a minor note, this might be the first time this season that I've found that I didn't mind Penny's short hair while she was wearing casual clothes. Probably because she had more hair on her head than we've usually seen. Looks like it's starting to grow back a little. Even though I prefer the character with long…

Sorry but this sounds like NOTHING MORE than an interpretation without nuance.

"Because Leonard didn't have a very good reason to be mad in this episode"

"The storyline does little to outline why the two are upset with each other."

On #1 The final product IS actually within the realm of possibility: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…

"What purpose does it serve to make them so whiny and entitled?"

"Remember when Leonard had doubts about his relationship with Penny?"

"Leonard constantly needs to be assured that he’s doing a good job (which sums up his relationship with Penny in a nutshell)"

"I'm just so over Leonard/Penny - it got stale a while back. They're just not any fun to watch anymore."

"especially having Sheldon with Penny since they are simply the best actors on the show."

Probably not since these characters are not created IN A VACUUM like you seem to think.

"And Amy doesn't like anything about Sheldon"