The Big Bang Theory Character You Likely Forgot Walton Goggins Played







A guest spot on a television sitcom, especially one as insanely popular as “The Big Bang Theory,” is basically television law. There’s no legally binding mandate, per se, but it would get pretty monotonous if every week followed our series leads with absolutely no one else showing up for a laugh or surprise jolt from the live studio audience. Given the show’s primary focus on “geek culture,” or rather a heavily commercialized version of such, it makes sense that nerdom heavy hitters like James Earl Jones, Mark Hamill, and Adam West would make an appearance throughout its 12-season run. But then you can’t sustain a roster of guest spots without expanding your star power horizons.

The series’ 11th and penultimate season saw folks like Kathy Bates, Peter MacNicol, and Jerry O’Connell pop in for a quick hello, but you may be surprised to learn that “Fallout” star Walton Goggins and his beautiful scruff did too.

In the episode “The Separation Triangulation,” series regular Raj Koothrappali ends up having a fling with a teacher named Nell, played by “2 Broke Girls” co-lead Beth Behrs, whom he flirts with at one of his planetarium shows. Amid an omelette breakfast, she casually lets Raj know that, while separated, she’s still technically married to her firefighter husband, Oliver. She says things are cool, but Oliver later shows up at the planetarium to get Raj to keep his distance.

Is the Goggins in the room with us?

Goggins is the kind of actor who can charm and intimidate with equal measure. He’s got a natural penchant for comedy, as demonstrated through his television work in “Vice Principals,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” and even his own short-lived (but very sweet) sitcom “The Unicorn.” But it’s easy to see why his brief appearance in “The Big Bang Theory” isn’t as fondly remembered, despite an admittedly funny moment in which Raj keeps envisioning Oliver watching him make out with Nell from behind a couch.

Aside from the fact that the effortlessly suave Goggins is playing him, Oliver isn’t exactly given much of a sympathetic bent. Nell informs Raj that, in addition to never cooking for her, Oliver can get “possessive and jealous.” That becomes abundantly clear when he later confronts Raj, despite his separated wife never telling him about their fling to begin with. Considering he moved out and she’s moved on, it makes Oliver’s plea look creepy and boundary-pushing. The red flags are waving, folks.

Raj, however, doesn’t seem to understand what those words mean. He thinks that Oliver’s actually kind of chill, with the both of them going out to a pie shop together, and that she wasn’t “being fair to him.” Nell naturally sees this as the end of their courtship and in a surprising turn of events, has an off-screen reunion with Oliver. Raj’s insistence on kissing and making up was so off-putting that it led her back to him. Happy ending? Not really.

The “Big Bang” men have rarely had the best track record with treating women with respect beyond the ones within their close-knit crew, so that tracks. Oliver seems like such a strange guest spot for Goggins considering that even his most menacing characters carry a charm about them. He can make just about anything funny, but he’s too underwritten here to leave much of a lasting impression.




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