Girls Want To Be Cinderella, Not Scientists

Big Bang Theory, S06E18

After deciding that if their committee wanted to encourage more women in the sciences, they should start at the middle school level, Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard visited Howard's old school to speak to a group of girls about their jobs and the allure of science.  Penny, Amy, and Bernadette got the idea to play hookie and go to Disneyworld while they were helping Raj decide what he should do for his first date with Lucy.  With little help from his girl friends, Raj planned a text date in the library for himself and Lucy.

From the moment that I heard what their committee was about, I didn't feel like the three of them would do a great job in acheiving their goal.  I'm sure that Leonard felt that it was a worthwhile cause, but Howard and Sheldon could have cared less.  As Leonard had suggested, it looked a whole lot like a typical forced group work: one person does all the work, while the others just slack off.  Also, I don't feel like these guys are the best people to get girls interested in science.  They should have had at least had one woman in their group to give the female perspective on the problem at hand.  It made me wonder why it took until nearly the end of the story before the scientist girlfriend and wife were consulted with their points of view.

It's hard to say which one of them bombed the biggest at the middle school.  I suppose it's a toss up between Leonard and Sheldon.  Leonard tried too hard to be cool, making himself look even lamer, and went off on a tangent about how his parents pushed him into science (and the cello) and how he wanted to be a police-friendly version of Snoop Dog.  Actually, without even bringing up Sheldon, I would say that Leonard was the one who discouraged the girls best from science with all of his whining.  Sheldon was a little graphic and certainly grim about the one female scientist he brought up as an example, but at least his incompetent presentation was short and sweet.  Plus, he redeemed himself when he put an end to Leonard's bitching and acknowledged that the girls present there were being done a disservice by them.  I loved when the girls clapped at him then.  Then Sheldon finally got Amy and Bernadette on the phone, so at least he did a little damage control.  Leonard just looked like science was the reason why he needs a lot of therapy (that and his overbearing parents).

One other part I enjoyed was when Sheldon thought he should Google how to get 12 year-old girls excited and Howard and Leonard ran over to stop him.  Wow, I don't know how that would have ended if they had simply let him do that.  Sheldon might have thrown his computer into a wall after seeing those results.

It was sort of cute that the girls all decided to play hookie together, especially since their destination was Disneyland.  I thought we might see them go on some rides or eat some crazy junk food, but instead it turned into a bit of a battle for the right to be dressed as Cinderella.  Not too surprising that Bernadette, who had suggested the Disney princess makeover in the first place, made it entirely clear that she was going to be Cinderella and the other girls would have to physically fight her if they didn't agree.  I like when Bernadette gets aggressive like that.  She has that look and sound of someone sweet and gentle, but get in her way and she'll come at you like a poisonous snake.

I thought that Amy's Snow White looked the best.  I would have never guessed.  I mean, Bernadette did make a wonderful Cinderella, but it was sort of like a no-brainer choice for her.  I don't think I could have seen her as any other princess.  Penny's Sleeping Beauty (I guess) looked a little rough.  I don't know if it was because Penny was so unhappy she couldn't be the princess she wanted or if they just did her makeover a little less special.  I don't know, but I didn't think she should have went home in that outfit.

I liked Howard's reaction to Bernadette coming home in the Cinderella getup.  It's amazing that he was already fantasizing about her being dolled up so before he even saw her.  He must have really been giving a lot of thought of her day at Disneyland because who would have guessed she'd come home looking like that?  Never underestimate Howard's dirty mind, I guess.  Leonard was about as  excited to see Penny as a princess, but Penny wasn't as into it as he was.  Sadly for Amy, who looked pretty good lying so still on the couch, Sheldon had no intention of fulfilling her fantasy of being awoken by her prince.  I would pay to see Sheldon (especially if he had to dress in a puffy prince costume) bend down and give Amy an overly romantic kiss like in that story.  Maybe if he was drunk that could be possible.

Raj did a great job on his first date with Lucy.  I didn't know how he was going to find something for them to do that wouldn't be too social nor involve too much talking.  A text date in the library was as cute as it was creative.  My favorite part of their texting was the auto-correcting.  Lucy had mistakenly written "porn" instead of "prom," but Raj was smart enough not to confess how often he visits porn sites. He dodged that well.  He was also lucky that when he was gushing about how proms were like fairytales come to life, Lucy let it slide as another auto-correct for him.  Nice save, Raj.

The kiss that almost happened between them was another good moment.  I was hopeful that Lucy would be able to go through with it, but it was more amusing to hear her yell about a panic attack and leave Raj hanging.  And while Raj didn't get a kiss on their first date, he still managed to be upbeat about it all.  I think for him and Lucy that was about as perfect of a first date as they could have.

I liked this episode.  Leonard and his "excited" committee did a poor job of encouraging young girls to pursue the same career, but it was a bit fun to see them interact with kids and do the opposite of what they intended to do.  I think it would have been much more successful if they had incorporated Amy and Bernadette from the beginning.  The girls' transformation into Disney princesses was pretty great, except Penny who looked like she had been kidnapped and forced to participate.  Although Amy's costume looked the best to me, she had the worst ending with her targeted prince.  There was a happy ending for Raj, however, who almost got a kiss after executing an excellent date for himself and Lucy.  Finally it looks like Raj is going to stop being the butt of every joke when it comes to romance.

Sheldon Gets Laid

Big Bang Theory, S06E14

Sheldon and Kripke had to work on a proposal together, and Sheldon was distraught when he noticed that Kripke's work was better than his.  Howard and Raj bought figures that were supposed to look like them, but the delivered products waere worse than they expected.  To correct it, they purchased a 3-D printer together that upset Bernadette.

What I liked most about Sheldon's story was that it just involved Kripke.  Besides the way that he talks, he's sort of the coolest of the guy's coworkers (besides that one girl who was dating Leonard at one time) and I enjoy his appearance.  He usually comes around as one of the guys' antagonist, but I end up liking him because he's got this air of confidence about him that you don't see in Leonard, Raj, and Howard.  So when he is put up against Sheldon, who's also teeming with confidence, it makes a pretty funny situation.  I wasn't surprised that Sheldon thought that working with Kripke would just slow him down, but I was surprised that Sheldon could admit to anyone that Kripke's work was above his own.  I feel like either Sheldon's sort of growing as a person that he could admit that or the devastation of losing intellectually to Kripke had put Sheldon in such a pitiful state that he couldn't bend reality to suit his own needs (as he usually does).  I'm going more towards the latter, especially since Sheldon lied about the reasons his work wasn't up to par lately.

The best thing about Sheldon being in despair was when Leonard and Penny came home to find him listening to "The Imperial March" with a blanket over his head.  If that wasn't funny enough, Leonard described the music as a warning of Sheldon's unhappiness that would lead to him destroying the planet.  I couldn't blame him for wanting to avoid Sheldon completely than do as Penny had suggested and talk to him.  But if they had just run away, we wouldn't have gotten to see Sheldon looking like a villian from Star Wars.  His overly dramatic reaction to problems sometimes end up being pretty great.

When Sheldon was explaining to Kripke about him getting laid and such, it was painful to listen to Sheldon describe what he was doing to Amy.  He might as well read from a textbook the mechanics of sex than the awkward and unnatural lies he was telling Kripke.  But it was hilarious how interested Kripke was and how excited he got to hear Sheldon "brag" about him and Amy.  He even gave Sheldon dap, to which Sheldon confusedly just grasped Kripke's fist in response.  Never did I imagine that Sheldon would get to boast about his sexual conquests, even made-up ones, to anyone.

It was interesting also that Sheldon admitted that the possibility of him becoming physical with Amy existed.  Penny was nearly squealing with excitement to hear that.  I didn't think Sheldon was lying about that (because he's the worst liar ever), but I'll believe that when I see it.  I could see Sheldon giving it a try, like he did letting Amy hug him, but I don't think he'll be able to go through with it to the end.  Speaking of that hug, I liked that Sheldon compared it to a boa constrictor but he still didn't want Amy to stop hugging him.  That was kind of cute.  At least he can always count on her hugs the next time he's ever that down again.  Sheldon might one day grow to actually love hugs (from Amy maybe).

In Howard and Raj's story, I sort of could identify with their love of figures.  I have a bit of an obsession with that myself and if I were into action figures, I might be tempted to waste money like that on a personalized one (though $500 is way to steep for me).  The money aside, I'd probably be wary of anything I have to buy like that off the internet because anyone with enough experience shopping knows that it's like playing roulette.  Of course, Howard and Raj ended up with horrible-looking figures (bordering on a little racist).  It wouldn't have been much of a story if they hadn't.  Still, I would have been so pissed to get a figure that made me look like another race or doubled the size of my nose.  I would have raised hell to the manufacturers, regardless if sales were final.  For something like that as expensive as it was, accepting shoddy work is unacceptable.  But I guess that's why they went ahead and bought that 3-D printer.

I didn't remember at first that Bernadette actually makes a good bit of money.  I suppose it's because I tend to forget what her job is, and she's classy enough to not flaunt it.  Apparently Howard's not too proud to flaunt his sugar mama and buy big ticket items without her consent.  He was lucky that Bernadette didn't kick his ass for that stunt.  But I have to say that the printer was kind of cool.  I couldn't see that machine being worth the money personally, but it would be fun to make different items from it (something a little more creative than a whistle).

I liked this episode, mainly because Sheldon was plagued by Kripke's better ideas for their proposal, while Kripke was cheering for Sheldon because of all the imaginary sex he was getting.  I sort of hope that Kripke spreads those lies around enough that it gets to Amy.  She might not be bedding Sheldon any time soon, but with him pretending he's doing it, she's gotta be at least one step closer to that being a reality.  Howard pushed it too far when making Bernadette his personal piggy bank.  I think from now on he'll be missing a lot of lunches for Pokemon and the like purchases.

Oh No, Bernadette Didn't!

Big Bang Theory, S06E09

 Sheldon and Howard began a war over territory and possessions when Howard was assigned Sheldon's unused parking space.  Amy and Bernadette also began to fight, both wanting to stick up for their men.

I knew there would be trouble once Sheldon made it known that Howard was occupying his old parking spot.  While I was thinking about Sheldon and his most famous territorial stake, his spot on the couch, I was delighted to see Howard sitting at said spot completely naked.  This was not just a funny response to Sheldon taking his Iron Man helmet, but a rightful one.  I mean, Sheldon was sort of being a bully.  I'm sure in Sheldon world it looked like Howard was coming along and taking things that were his, but the rest of the world would have to agree that Sheldon taking Howard's things is pretty childish (and a little illegal).  But then again, Howard playing along with his childish games makes him just as much a child.  I don't blame Howard, though--you gotta beat Sheldon at his own game or Sheldon will own your ass forever.  I was less surprised that Howard had to give up his parking space before Sheldon would allow him there than I was that Sheldon retaliated at one point by sitting naked in Howard's car.  Wow.  Somehow it was grosser than Howard on the couch.  I guess it's because I would never expect a germaphobe like Sheldon to sit his naked ass on anything that was disinfected first.

The boys' battle was pretty good, but it had nothing on the residual fight between Amy and Bernadette.  You could sense that a storm was brewing between them, but I still had hope that they would be mature enough not to let their emotions get in the way.  However, once one of them suggested that their man wasn't worth as much as the other, the cat fight began!  The best thing was how vicious Bernadette got, which I loved because she wasn't about to let someone talk trash about Howard.  Not only did she have Amy's car towed, she admitted to scratching it as well with not an ounce of shame.  But Bernadette really took out her claws when she told Amy the following:

Gosh, Amy, I'm sensing a little hostility.  Is it maybe because like Sheldon's work your sex life is also theoretical?

Wow!  That had my jaw dropping that was such a good burn.  Amy may have gotten a jab in suggesting that Howard and his mother were so close that it was like he wanted to be back in her womb, but Bernadette really brought the heat and could have unabashedly snapped her fingers after bringing up Sheldon and Amy's sex life.  If I was Penny at that moment, I would have been like, "It's over--just bow out, Amy."

Penny got a bruised nose out of the fight, even though she was just in the middle.  I think that's more of a hazard of being friends with someone who carries a can of change in her purse rather than the fight, really.  Amy's nutty and obviously not afraid to swing her heavy purse if you push her far enough.  I feel a little bad for Penny.  It was hard for them to stop fighting even after Penny had gotten hurt in the crossfire.  Penny should probably rethink the advantages of having the two around.

I liked this episode a lot, but I would have liked to see Raj doing something better than arguing about zombies and mummies.  It is cute that he keeps bringing up that topic, but come on.  It could have been funny to see him help Howard get back at Sheldon or something.  Although, maybe Raj is too smart to get involved in that pointless squabble (he's learned his lesson sharing an office with Sheldon).

Sheldon at least pretended to be the bigger man, and that's all we can ask of him, so it was a great ending.  Penny got the raw deal being neutral in Amy and Bernadette's fight, but she probably got off easy because making an enemy of Bernadette is obviously not something you do lightly.  I'd love to see Bernadette tell someone how it is again.  That sort of thing is almost as good as watching Sheldon getting his just desserts.

Amy's Honor Defended

Big Bang Theory, S06E07

 Amy felt like Wil Wheaton insulted her, but Sheldon didn't have her back.  Howard still had his things at his mother's house, and Bernadette wanted him to completely move into their place.

I was happy to see not Wil Wheaton (because he's a little arrogant for someone who's only slightly famous), but Amy together with Sheldon because that meant it might possible be a story about them.  It also meant I was probably going to get angry at Sheldon, and that was definitely true because I can't get past his inability to understand social cues.  My sympathy for Amy outweighs the knowledge that Sheldon doesn't understand human emotions.  I don't care.  He needed to get his ass kicked for putting Wheaton ahead of his own girlfriend.  It was so like him to misunderstand her and think she wanted him to ditch her for dinner and go out with Wheaton instead.  Sheldon is so damn lucky because another girl would have ended it right there.  He's also lucky Leonard let him know he was in the doghouse because Amy surely would have gotten to the breaking point if that issue had been left unattended for long.

I think my favorite part was when Sheldon got drunk (thanks to Penny--I'll give her some props for once) and went to fight Wheaton at his house.  Also, I just liked how he finally mentioned all the great things he loves about Amy, but has probably never told her.  I was gratified by his near showdown with Wheaton, even if there was no way Sheldon would have won.  Without alcohol he would have never gotten to that point, but I feel like if a few drinks would make him act like a real boyfriend, somewhere inside of him are real feelings for Amy.  It was about as sweet as I could expect Sheldon to be.

I don't know why Amy is such a demanding director, but I loved seeing LeVar Burton at the end of the episode.  I don't care much for Star Trek, but I heart him for his work on Reading Rainbow for sure.  And at least he didn't mind Amy being overbearing--he was just there for his payment.  Haha.

I don't have much to say about Howard's story except how gross it was that he wanted to pleasure himself one last time in his room while his friends waited at the U-Haul for him.  So glad that Leonard didn't agree to that.  Ugh. Bernadette is sweet that she didn't want Howard to break his mother's heart by completely moving out.  She really makes a lot of concessions for him.  That's love.

I liked this episode.  I mean, you can't really go wrong with an episode about Amy and Sheldon, really.  They are just too interesting as a couple.  Almost like watching a new species of animals interact with each other.  I like there is more and more evidence that Sheldon does care for Amy somewhere in that heart he has, but it just hasn't registered in his brain yet.  Although, since Sheldon is crazy with just about anything, I don't know if I'd be ready to see what he'd be like if he realized he was in love.  I might enjoy how happy it would make Amy, though.  Can't wait to see more of them!

Raj, The Third Wheel

Big Bang Theory, S06E01

Amy and Sheldon went on their anniversary dinner, but were joined by Raj to Amy's dismay.  Leonard wanted to hang out with Penny to discuss their relationship, but were also joined by Raj to Leonard's dismay.  Howard couldn't decide whether to please his mother or his wife, so he lied to both of them about whether he was moving out of his mother's house.

The worst story, of course, was Leonard and Penny.  Leonard is so transparent about wanting to talk about things that it was sad.  I was really glad when a drunk Raj came along and killed their little date.  I especially liked how he told them how it was with their stupid back and forth relationship.  I hadn't noticed, though, that Penny had never admitted that she loved Leonard.  I actually did want her to look him in the eyes and tell him as such.  Even if I don't want them back together, I would like her to admit she's hung up on him as much as he is on her.  Seriously, will the two of them just stop?  Either they move on for real or they get back together already.

Raj's best intrusion, of course, was when he was at Sheldon's date that Sheldon had "outsourced" him for.  My God, Sheldon takes being a bad boyfriend to such new levels each time.  And as delusional as Amy is about Sheldon (who would latch her ovaries on him if he proposed to her during sex--ha), I feel bad that she cannot get any real emotions out of that robot.  I mean, we wouldn't expect Sheldon to really emote, and yet I still want him to because I am a girl and I feel like a girlfriend should at least sometimes feel special when she's around her supposed boyfriend.  But I can't blame her for accepting Sheldon's quote from Spiderman as a meaningful expression of his love.  You take what you can get from Sheldon.

Speaking of him, he was quite funny when he said that the only sea creature he would want to be eaten by is a Krakken.  I had to agree with his reason because the last thing you would hear would be "Release the Krakken!" which is pretty damn cool.  I used to have an inside joke about that with some of my co-workers, so it was a random, but welcome reference.

Howard's story was kind of funny too because you can't really go wrong with him being bugged by his mother in space.  I mean, her son is doing something that only a handful of qualified people get to do and she's on his case about silly things like moving out of the house and such.  There is no place on earth or outside of earth that Howard can go to escape his smothering mother.  But it was a dick move of him to lie to Bernadette when I can't imagine how difficult it is for her being a newlywed without her husband, but living with his crazy-ass mother.  For that, Howard should be doing every single thing he can do to make her happy.  But he'll pay for it later.  What I really liked, though, was how Dimitri was kind of putting his own two-cents about the situation.  In a place like that there can be no privacy, so you can't blame the guy for being in Howard's business.  And I welcome the intrusion because he's a funny guy.

Finally, there was that scene where Raj and Stewart where kind of having a little moment together while listening to Latin music and drinking coffee liquor.  What??  Then, despite that Raj felt like things were getting weird, he invited Stewart out to hang sometime.  I didn't expect that after Raj quickly decided he needed to leave in the first place.  Huh.  Although, I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't have Howard to fall back on (or his other friends) and just wants someone available to do things with.  And when you think about it, Raj and Howard's relationship has always been a little bordering on a romantic relationship.  However, when Stewart commented that he could do worse by "hanging" with Raj, I felt like if Raj were to be interested in Stewart as more than a friend, Raj could do better!  I definitely think that Raj would be much more successful if he ended up being a gay man.  But I wouldn't want to see him do that with Stewart.  Eww.

This was a pretty good episode, the best being the Sheldon and Amy date.  But I'd like to see Raj do more than be a third wheel for the rest of the season, even if it means that Stewart is going to be his new best friend.  I'd like less of the Penny and Leonard stories--how much longer can we watch them bounce back and forth?  And Howard really is going to have to stay in space because Bernadette is going to kill him.  He needs to come to his senses real quick and realize that he'd be a fool to ruin his marriage before it has barely even started.

Strippers Before Secret-Sharing Speeches

The Big Bang Theory, S05E22

Howard had his bachelor party where the main entertainment wasn't strippers (due to Bernadette's wishes) but the random speeches by his friends.  In particular, Raj told everyone several of Howard's secrets concerning his sexual experiences.  Howard had no idea that Will Wheaton had filmed the whole thing and Bernadette had seen it before she picked him up that night.  Since she hadn't known about these things before watching the video, she wondered if she really knew the kind of man she was about to marry.  Howard later convinced her that he wasn't the same person who would do those things Raj talked about ever since he met her.

I assumed that their boys-night out at a vineyard or whatever silly thing they ended up doing instead of strippers was just going to be embarrassingly lame and nothing more.  That's why I think that Bernadette probably should have allowed Howard to have some strippers there anyway.  The odds of any of the men in attendance getting into trouble with them would have been slim (except possibly Wheaton since he's been on TV).  But I liked that Howard, who usually has the filthiest mind, didn't seem to mind at all listening to what Bernadette preferred.  That was refreshing not just for him, but in general as a man who could have been easily pressured by all the other men in attendance who wanted strippers.  Plus, it would have been funny to see strippers around Sheldon, a man who could barely take a sip of whiskey without a Robin-esq  swear.

Besides all of the horrible speeches, I liked that Kripke seemed to only be there in order to see strippers.  When it was his moment to give a few words about Howard, he remarked that it was basically false advertising to have a bachelor party and not have strippers of any kind.  I really like Kripke because you know if he's around that it's either to cause trouble or any other motive besides actually wanting to hang with Leonard and the gang.  I respect his honesty.

So the speeches, as I said, were terrible.  Leonard made it about himself, only wanting to boast about how he had sex with Penny on the beach (wow--who gives a damn).  Stuart's speech was so full of underlining jealousy, I was surprised he didn't stab Howard and try to assume his life as his own.  It was a little funny that he later stole a dollar from Raj that Kripke had given him.  Sheldon's speech was just annoying with his failure jokes and confidence that he was giving the best speech ever.  I was ready for him to sit down after his first "zinger."  What I did like about Sheldon was that he was miffed that Will Wheaton was in attendance because he thought Wheaton was exclusively his own friend, not Howard's or the others'.  Ha.  I wouldn't mind if they became enemies again.  Sheldon has the dumbest but amusing enemies.  Raj had the best speech because he did actually talk about Howard from the heart (maybe too much like a former girlfriend) and the fact that he revealed the secrets that no one needed to know.  Raj seemed pretty pleased that he had a threesome with Howard with an overweight girl dressed as Sailor Moon.  That image is hilarious.  Only Raj would be proud of that.  Then again, with Raj's record with women that probably is the best thing he could expect to brag about.

I think that Bernadette got too upset about the things she found out about Howard.  I mean, he is disgusting, but she knew that when she started dating him.  I think that she was just nervous about the wedding in general and was easily influenced by the tiniest thing that wasn't right.  Thankfully, Howard went to her and said the right words to fix things.  It's true that he has changed since meeting Bernadette--he's nowhere as near revolting as he was in the earlier seasons.  He's pretty pleasant.  I'm glad that it didn't take much for him to be forgiven because it wasn't that big of a deal (though I wouldn't want to have sex with him for a while after hearing about him and his cousin--eww).

Good episode.  Strippers would have been nice than the string of inappropriate speeches from Howard's friends, but they were effective in getting out the truth that Bernadette didn't know about her husband-to-be and that's important.  I'd hate for that to come out when they were walking down the aisle.  As their wedding fast approaches, I have to say that I'm a little more excited to see them hitched than I thought I would be. They're pretty perfect for each other, and I think they will be an amusing married couple as well.

Grown Men's Gaming Marathon

Big Bang Theory, S05E19

For a quick minute, it looked like Sheldon was going to act like a normal boyfriend (if you can ignore that Amy had to uphold their contract agreement to request his presence) and accompany his girlfriend to a family event.  But a leopard can't change its spots.  Not if a marathon of Star Wars games is involved.  You had to feel bad for Amy, regardless if Amy knew what kind of guy she was dating.

Unexpectedly, the whip app gag was my favorite thing in this episode.  It sort of got better the more they did it, especially when Sheldon got to use it back on Howard due to Bernadette fifth-wheeling on their boys-only gaming sleepover. 

Speaking of her participation, she was kinda of cute the way she kept "girling" up their playtime.  I liked how she kept made guns with her hands, complete with shooting sound effects.  I don't like pink, but her pink laptop, too, was so Bernadette, and it was a good contrast to the nerd gang and their hardcore geek machines.

The last thing that made me chuckle was when Sheldon and Leonard discussed Grand Theft Auto and how polite they were to the prostitutes.  Sheldon had no idea that these women were selling their bodies for money:

Those women were prostitutes?  You said they were raising money for stem cell research.

Raj's meltdown wasn't that funny, but it did make me think about how pathetic he is if Sheldon can have a girlfriend of some sorts, but no one still wants Raj.  It made me realize that perhaps Raj is better about his shyness to women because his blowout happened while three women were still in the room, and he told Bernadette to hurry up and go (which she did, leaving her computer behind).

This certainly isn't in the top of my favorite stories, but it was good enough that I would want to see it again when it's up for a rerun.  Hopefully, now that Raj has shouted his frustrations about being the only single nerd left, the Big Bang Theory universe will throw him a bone and at least give him a successful encounter with a woman.  He doesn't have to get a girlfriend by the next episode, but it would be nice for him to get a little attention.  After all, what has Raj done that is so bad that even Sheldon is a bigger "playa" than him?