Big Bang Theory, S05E21
Howard was able to have the honor of using his engineering skills to do a little maintenance on Stephen Hawking's wheelchair. He fully intended to spread the good fortune with Sheldon, who looked upon Hawking as an intellectual equal, but Sheldon ruined it by being his usual condescending self. Howard then agreed to set up a meeting between the two if Sheldon would perform a few tasks for him. He would have probably milked this rare opportunity for as long as he could, but Bernadette convinced him to stop being so mean (since Sheldon isn't purposely a dick--just socially inept) and end it quickly (after letting Sheldon do a task for her). Sheldon finally got to meet Hawking at the end, but Sheldon didn't exactly sweep him off his feet as he planned (in fact, it was literally the other way around).
Sometimes I think that Howard is a petty and a bit of a jerk sometimes, but I think at heart he is a good friend. Obviously, he was able to look past Sheldon's flaws and respect a fellow nerd's desire to meet one of their own heroes. This is surprising for a guy who thinks it's a given that his fiancee should be doing things like making him breakfast and doing his laundry. If only Sheldon could have kept his mouth shut about how stupid he seems to think Howard is.
Howard (and the others) are supposedly very intelligent men, so I thought he would pull out all the stops while having Sheldon as his slave. Then again, only Sheldon is the one who is nearly certified as a future evil genius. Getting revenge that really packs a punch may not be the forte of Howard (or Raj and Leonard, for that matter). I would say the worst thing he did to Sheldon that we got to see was make him wear the maid costume to work. Just gotta say that Sheldon is not cute in such outfits. But the tasks Howard came up with were on the level of pranks or the losing end of a bet--not very vicious. I appreciate, though, that Howard may have taken advantage of Sheldon (rightly), but he didn't take it too far, I think. He simply wanted to humble Sheldon a bit (moot attempt) and force him to compliment him (Howard's apparently good at what he does, but what he does isn't worth doing--wow). And while he was jerking Sheldon around, he had already given Sheldon's paper to Hawking. So no matter what, Howard always intended to do the right thing. Aww, you do like Sheldon after all! Or you're just too nice for your own good.
When Sheldon met Hawking, I was worried it was going a little too well. Hawking liked his paper, and I didn't want Sheldon to have his dream come true when he didn't learn anything from Howard's mistreatment of him. Thankfully, Hawking told him that Sheldon had made an arithmetic mistake in the paper. Sheldon, being the super-genius that he thinks himself to be, was right to faint from that. He meets the person he thought was the only other "human" in a world full of "dogs," and he gives Hawking a paper that showed him he was a "dog" too. Love it. It's a happy ending for all, I say.
I don't have many complaints at all about this episode. It was nice to see Sheldon desperate and under Howard's command for a little while. It would have been even better if he could have learned something (like when Penny tried to tell him how inferior he always makes everyone), but that would be a miracle. At least Sheldon acknowledges that Howard is good at his job. Maybe one day he might believe that his job is a little less insignificant.
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