The Letter In The Closet

Big Bang Theory, S06E19

Howard and Bernadette threw a dinner party, and they let Sheldon organize their cluttered closet after he insulted Bernadette by bringing his own food.  Howard got upset when Sheldon found a letter from his dad and read it, and he was troubled by what it said, but couldn't bring himself to read it.  All of his friends eventually convinced Sheldon to tell them what was written without Howard's knowledge.

I think considering that Sheldon is a horrible dinner guest (or maybe just any kind of guest), leaving him occupied in their closet for some hours contributed to the best dinner party they could have thrown.  I mean, Bernadette has some kind of willpower not snapping at someone who would dare bring takeout to a party when she was cooking all day for that person's sake.  I would have grabbed his food and thrown it straight into the trash.  Or coughed on it.  Anything to spoil the dinner he thoughtlessly brought into their home.  Since he was doing an indirectly nice thing (he certainly wasn't doing it out the goodness of his heart) by making their closet tidy, I could better forget that Sheldon made an ass out of himself within less than a minute of arriving at Howard and Bernadette's.

I like that they brought up the issue about Howard's father abandoning him.  His mother is so overpowering that I never stop to think about his other absent parent.  I don't consider what kind of impact growing up without a father might have had on Howard.  There wasn't much light shed on this, but we did find out that Howard has been holding onto a letter from his father for years.  Hearing that he never got the courage to open it up after all this time really made me want to find out what his father's last words were to him.

I didn't like that Sheldon had read the letter, but I was surprised that he didn't immediately give away the information when Penny first asked him.  I guess he has some standards, even if he can easily be talked out of them.  I just feel like that was such a huge violation of privacy, and if it were Sheldon, he wouldn't have wanted anyone else to know what he didn't know.  I wish Sheldon could have put himself in Howard's shoes (a huge impossibility).

Although everyone seemed pretty terrible for learning what the letter said behind Howard's back, I loved the way that they made up for it.  It was really touching how they all said some heartfelt scenarios of what the letter could have possibly said.  I mean, except for Sheldon who was dumb enough to think that telling him it was a map from the movie Goonies was going to fool him.  Hopefully he just thinks Howard is that dumb and Sheldon isn't that dumb himself.  Regardless, it was really sweet of them all to give him those possibilities of great things his father could have said in the letter and let him have a bit of peace about it.

I also liked some lines from this story.  This was when Amy was explaining how Sheldon's behavior was normal, and it was what made him likeable:

His quirks just make you love him more.  [Silence]  Someone please agree with me.

The way everyone just exchanged glances silently really made me laugh.  It's a little sad that Amy needs to have validation from her friends about her boyfriend.  She may love him, but she's not blind to his shortcomings.

Speaking of those, he is such an asshole for throwing Amy in front of him when Howard came after him.  I doubt that Howard was going to break a bottle over his head or something, but for Sheldon's first instinct to be throwing his girlfriend in front of himself is such a cowardly move.  I wish if he were going to be the type of person that infuriates people as he does that he would back that up by having the balls to at least defend himself.  I also would have loved to see Amy grab his arm and flip him over her shoulder so Sheldon was in the front again (and possibly a little hurt).  That would have made me laugh.

One last thing, when Penny's closet was getting organized, I knew that Sheldon was going to find a vibrator.  I mean, the dead goldfish he pulled out was a greater surprise to me because I really thought the first thing he'd reveal was a sex aid.  It would have been a much bigger shock if he had found anything else peculiar (like a picture of her winning a science fair).

I liked this episode, mainly because Sheldon was kept busy with his obsession to organize.  I feel like they should always throw a box of unsorted buttons in front of him any time he starts talking or acting like a nuisance.  It would be the perfect way to handle him.  However, I would hate to leave him alone with any of my secrets because it doesn't take much for him to find a logical reason as to why he can share the information with other people.  Although Howard's friend violated his trust by finding out what the letter had said, they redeemed themselves well by giving Howard hope that his father left him a really wonderful message.  This group may be pretty nosy and terrible at keeping secrets, but I give them a lot of credit for supporting their friends when they're have a rough time.