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.

Lucy Don't Play Raj Like That

Big Bang Theory, S06E17

 Raj's coffee date with the girl he met at the Valentine's party bailed on him while pretending to go to the bathroom.  Raj locked himself in his apartment, drowing in his own sorrow, and refused to leave until Howard brought him the girl's number that she had handed him.  Sheldon took Amy's advice to compliment Penny on her acting advice for his flag show and reluctantly tried to obey social rules by going to see her play.

I tried to keep an open mind about the girl (I guess her name is Lucy?) that ran out on Raj.  She did come to a party for lonely people at a comic book store--there was no way that she was expecting some kind of perfect guy to be there.  I started to lose hope that her reason for leaving Raj wasn't purely on her own part and not Raj's when he spent much longer holed up at home than I would have liked.  By the time Raj called her and got an explantation from Lucy, I was more than peeved that it took her so long.  I mean, if Raj had any kind of dignity, he would have already written her off.  Lucky for her that Raj is just as messed up as she is, so she still had a chance.  Still, I don't like that she made Raj feel so bad for so long.  She better be worth all the trouble.

The reason I'm not so quick to love Lucy is that we got to see how miserable Raj was due to her actions.  He was sitting around in a soiled shirt with his hair all messy, looking as sad as can be.  Then he improved upon that pathetic look by enjoying lobster in nothing more than  a bib and his underwear.  I sort of understand how Howard felt like Raj had ruined eating lobster for him.  That's not an attractive look for eating, nor is it a sight you want to be seen running down a public street (I'd pretend to not know Raj in that case).

Lucy and Raj do seem to have the potential for a perfect match because their inability to interact with people brings them such discomfort that they become dysfunctional.  Raj becomes mute in front of women he doesn't know, and Lucy apparently runs off into the night when she's just had too much human contact for the day.  Hopefully their flaws won't cancel each other out, though.  This is about as close as Raj has gotten to a real girlfriend in a long time.

I've sort of forgotten that Penny does acting at all because she seemed like she had given it up and admitted that she hasn't had much luck finding parts, but comparing her acting to Sheldon's on his show made Penny not seem like the worst actress around.  I thought the way that Sheldon executed her advice was hilarious.  He even looked like he was going to make the moves on Penny with the way he was sitting next to her, all "relaxed" and such.  I sort of wonder how his viewers thought about all of his over the top body language.  Well, the real imporatant thing was that Sheldon valued her input, instead of acting like the expert on all things in the world.  Even a praise that Amy initiated in him was still  pleasing to hear from Sheldon's mouth.

I probably would have felt the same way as Sheldon did when Penny invited him to her play, but it was still pretty rude that he shot her down like that when she was trying to engage him in friendly gesture.  It's hard for Sheldon to understand doing things for other people that's not based on obligation or personal gain.  I don't think we will see the day when he will understand all these "confusing" rules.  I did like that these concepts frustrated him.  Just for that, it was worth Amy telling him what to do and Penny ordering him to come to her play in the end.  I didn't expect Sheldon to more than show up and complain, though.

The most surprising part was that Penny was really good in her play.  For even Sheldon to admit that she was good at what she was doing really showed that.  I guess all those acting classes she has been taking have paid off.  She might have a real shot at something real in the future.  Hopefully that was the point of bringing up Penny's acting in the first place.  If this was just part of teaching Sheldon about praising his friends and accepting invitations after being helped, then they could have done it another way.  Now I'm expecting to see more about Penny's acting since she wowed everyone.

I liked this episode, even though it sort of tricked you into thinking that it was another typical "Raj is a loser" type of story.  I've seen quite enough of those, and I'm ready for Lucy to start something significant with Raj.  They seem to have some similarities, so if that's not enough for Raj to get a girlfriend, I don't know what kind of hope he has.  Maybe Sheldon has hope of one day knowing the next socially acceptable move when dealing with a friend without Amy or someone else having to tell him.  He's definitely learning, but it's obvious that he's got a low tolerance for all of the "rules" that he has to abide by.  Penny was surprising good in her role on the stage, making me wonder if we'll address her acting career again.  I haven't been thinking about it previously , but seeing her perform so well, there's no way I can't be a little curious as to where her talent might take her.

The Perfect Valentine's Night

Big Bang Theory, S06E16

Leonard and Penny went out to dinner to have a romantic night together, but their nice time was ruined when Penny caught sight of her ex with the girl he cheated on Penny with.  Bernadette and Howard did their share of making the night less special by bickering about laundry and video games.  Sheldon tasked Alex with finding a present for Amy, but the best of Alex's selections was the one that Sheldon wanted to keep for himself.  Raj and Stuart threw a party at the comic book store for people without dates for Valentine's.

Leonard's promise that he would be throwing romance at Penny like a ninja sounded more like a promise for their dinner to be a disaster.  Luckily, it wasn't too bad.  I thought it might have been more intimate if they hadn't invited Howard and Bernadette, but at least they made up in the end.  All Penny had to do was focus on her own happiness instead of what was going on with a guy that she had been with in the past.  Seeing two cheaters get engaged in front of her had to be irritating, but I think the more logical response to that would have been to gaze into Leonard's eyes and remember how damn lucky she was to have someone who wouldn't cheat on her and loved her deeply.

However, I realized later that Penny was acting crazy because she was just worried that one day she might be where her ex and that girl are.  I liked that we got to hear Penny admit how much of a commitment-phobe she is.  We've all known that, but Penny likes to act like it isn't so.  That's one of the things that I dislike most about her, no matter what the reason is she's that way.  The best thing is that Leonard took some of the pressure off her and told her that he wouldn't propose to her again (I think any woman would be bothered that he proposes so often) and put the ball completely in her court.  That moved their relationship forward in a way I wouldn't have predicted.  Penny is at least open to the idea of marrying Leonard one day, but she just has to get over her fear.  However, I'm not really waiting for the day she gets there.

What I liked about Howard and Bernadette arguing was that Bernadette had put Howard's Xbox in the washing machine.  If only he had done as she asked and done the laundry, he would have already gotten back to his game.  She's really damn smart.  It's too bad that Howard couldn't have quelled her anger a bit by showing her the thoughtful micro-Valentine he had made for her.  She might have forgiven his gaming addiction if she saw all the effort he had put into making her a gift.  Oh, well.   It wasn't meant to be.

I felt angry at Sheldon that he wouldn't even bother to try and find a gift for Amy.  Surely, he knows her well enough to know what she likes.  After all, he was quick enough to nix Alex's suggestions, as if he knew whether they would be successful gifts or not.  If he has that much of an opinion, he should have went shopping himself--he's not that damn busy.  I was even more pissed, but not at all surprised, when he took the best of the gifts for himself.  Wow.  He keeps improving on the ways he can be a bad boyfriend.  However, he redeemed himself when he made Amy his emergency contact.  Other people might have thought that was a lousy and lazy gift, but Amy loved it, so it was perfect.  And Amy's gift to him of not doing Valentine's traditions in the first place was perfect for Sheldon.  She's such a good girlfriend.  He really wouldn't be able to function if she was ever out of his life.

I don't have much to say about Raj, except that I hope that the girl he invited to coffee ends up being a reoccurring character.  It would mark the first time in a while (or ever?) that Raj was dating someone, even if casually.  I mean, I don't have to see Raj in a super-serious thing, but it would be nice to see him go on a few dates before he gets kicked to the curb.  Can't take any more of him sorta wishing that Stuart was a girl so all of his problems would be solved.  I've said it before, but he can do better than him.

This episode was okay, but it was a lot more frustrating than it was funny.  Penny was getting on my nerves with her resolve to ruin the romantic night Leonard had planned, but she smoothed things over by admitting her problems with committing to Leonard.  Sheldon, too, was being his usual bad boyfriend self by not making enough effort to get Amy a gift, but he also made himself look better when he got Amy the perfect present in the end.  Raj, hopefully, has started something with a girl that isn't too intimidating for him.  Raj doesn't have to get married this season, but he better damn well upgrade from making Stuart his romantic substitute.

Spoiler Alert: They Don't Want You To Move In

Big Bang Theory, S06E15

Leonard got fed up with the way Sheldon treats him and blindsided Penny with the proposal that they should move in together.  Sheldon also was surprised when Amy suggested she take Leonard's place.  Neither Penny nor Sheldon knew how to explain to their partners that they didn't want them to move in.  Howard asked Raj to check in on his mother, and Raj unknowingly began to fall into Mrs. Wolowitz's scheme to keep Raj there forever.

I wanted to clap when Leonard took a stand against Sheldon and threw that damn roommate agreement into the trashcan.  It is a little extreme to move out because someone ruined a book for you (as infuriating as that would be), but I think Leonard was validated because Sheldon feels it's all right to call him womanly because he drinks too much soy milk.  The bottom line is that Sheldon doesn't have much respect for Leonard, and someone who didn't care for Sheldon as much as Leonard does would have left or murdered Sheldon a long time ago.  I liked when he called Sheldon a "crazy bastard," but that victory was bittersweet because Sheldon threw another Harry Potter spoiler at him.

I knew that Penny wouldn't leap at the idea of moving in with Leonard, but I still wished that she could warm up to the idea.  It wasn't fair of Leonard to sort of force his way into her apartment like he did, but then again, there wasn't a real reason for her not to want to move in with him.  It's not as if she has any moral objections with Leonard living under her roof--it's definitely an intimacy issue.  Penny obviously doesn't want to do anything that suggests that she's moving forward with her relationship with Leonard.  And why would she?  It's taken her forever to tell him that she loves him!  Moving in would probably take another five years.

What I didn't know was that Sheldon would react just like Penny when Amy suggested that she would be his perfect roommate.  I absolutely loved how tongue-tied he was when Amy presented him a sound argument why there was no reason she shouldn't be able to satisfy his needs as a roommate.  She is such a blessing to this show.  Without her, I don't know if Sheldon would as quickly realized that he needed Leonard as his roommate.

Things got even better when Sheldon just couldn't take it anymore and told Amy that they couldn't live together.  Thanks to Sheldon not coming up with a good enough reason, Amy snapped at him.  I loved her telling him, "What the hell, Sheldon?!"  Her going off on him was overdue, for sure.  I haven't even realized that it's been two years.  Two years listening to his restrictions like no lip gloss.  Her catering to his every whim and then getting the treatment like her presence isn't appreciated is so wrong.  But it is Sheldon and you can't expect him to love the idea of living with his girlfriend.  Took him long enough to even embrace the idea of dating someone.

My favorite line came when all the lies surfaced and Sheldon (like the bastard he is) tried to blame his problems on someone else, but Penny wasn't letting it go down like that.  I loved when Amy found out that Sheldon just didn't want to live with her at all and tried to make Penny his scapegoat:

[Amy] You're a coward.

[Sheldon] Well, the evidence does support that.

Even in the end, Sheldon could not come up with an agrument to make himself not look like an asshole.  Great ending.  I would have liked to see Sheldon and Amy living together, but not so much that I'd want to see Leonard and Penny doing so.  Penny would probably break up with Leonard again if they did.

The only thing I can say about Raj's story is that I feel bad that he ended up trapped by Howard's mom.  On the other hand, I was sort of expecting that Raj might end up sleeping with Howard's mom because they're both lonely, single people.  I guess it's good that didn't happen.  It was much funnier to see him in a sort of Misery type situation, which Howard just shrugged his shoulders at.  I liked when Raj wondered how Howard doesn't slip out of his bed with silk pajamas and satin sheets.  Besides that, I only wonder if Raj will still be fighting to escape through windows and such in the next episode.  Poor Raj.  He can't get a girlfriend, but he can be forced to be someone's replacement son.

I really liked this episode.  Leonard fought back against Sheldon, even though it led him to see that Penny didn't really want to take their relationship to the next level.  The best part, of course, was that Sheldon got to live with Amy for a second.  That gave Amy the wonderful opportunity to come down on the way that Sheldon treats her as well.  There's nothing like seeing Sheldon being totally in the wrong to the point he is pretty speechless.  Raj, as desperate as he may seem for companionship, doesn't quite deserve to be held captive by someone's mother.  He better be out of that predicament come next Thursday.

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.

Save Santa! ...Or Else!

Big Bang Theory, S06E11

The guys played a holiday-themed Dungeons and Dragons quest, excluding the girls.  Raj joined the girls to the bar after he had been too quick to get himself killed in the game.

The best part of the guys playing their role playing game was Sheldon's seemingly hatred of Christmas, yet signs that he might be fighting the holiday spirit for some reason.  Being a know-it-all, it wasn't too surprising he could sing a song no one else knew (in its entirety), but him talking of the details of snowmen and drinking eggnog made me really wonder if he wasn't just bitter about something.  We found out as Sheldon took the quest to a grim end for Santa that as a child Sheldon had asked Santa in the mall to bring back his Pop-Pop, but of course, Santa never did.  You sort of wanted to console him, knowing that Christmas had been ruined for him ever since the only person who encouraged his scientific endeavors had died, but at the same time he was pretending that he was leaving Santa for dead in an ogre cave.  It invoked a little less sympathy because Sheldon is well old enough to realize that he's only playing a game and not really getting revenge on Santa Claus.  I wanted to concentrate on the fondness he had for his grandpa, but it was hard to think of it with his psychotic actions.  However, it made a pretty interesting end to the game, even if he ruined it for the others.

I didn't expect anything else to come out of that game, but Sheldon's dream provided a bonus conclusion.  I loved that Santa came not to just apologize, but get his own revenge for Sheldon leaving him for dead with the ogres!  Woah!  And he brought a canon, of all things, to take care of him--nice!  Sheldon has the weirdest dreams, but they are usually pretty good ones.  I hope that dream made an impact on the grudge he's kept on old Kris Kringle.

 

The second funny thing about their game was Raj's short participation.  Before he got killed by his rash actions, Stuart kept calling him out on the suggestively gay things he was saying.  The first time, he was simply excited to start killing some enemies:

Oh, man, the first monster I see, I’m gonna sneak up behind him, whip out my wand, and shoot my magic all over his ass.

I think someone could have let that go if he didn't make a similarly bad comment about a rod a few minutes later:

Wait, d-doesn’t anyone have a… a rod of resurrection?  Because if you’ve got one, I need it bad.  Get in here with your rod and give it to me.

Poor Raj.  He has a natural talent for saying things people could misunderstand.  But at least he has colorful language and is cute.  He's not like dirty or anything intentionally.

I felt bad that he had gotten killed so easily until Penny allowed him to go out with the girls.  I was even happier with this turn of events when the girls decided to help Raj get a girl.  Yay!  However, he got shot down pretty quickly by a girl who gave him a fake email.  I was pretty disappointed that the focus soon shifted from trying again to find a girl who could just chat with Raj to how Raj didn't find Amy attractive like he had Bernadette and Penny.  I wanted to yell, "Who cares--what about hooking Raj up??" but it did make me notice that Amy and Raj had some similarities.  Still, Raj has similarities with a lot of his intellectual friends--they've all had problems attracting the opposite sex easily.   Once Raj had started to like Amy, they left the bar and there was no more talk of trying to help him.  Dang.  They got my hopes up.  I know Raj probably isn't going to find the girl of his dreams in a bar, but he could have gotten somewhere at least.  Come on, already with this.  Raj needs some love.  He's getting weirder by the second.  Haha.

This was a pretty good story.  I liked the quest about Santa being kidnapped by ogres.  That was an original Christmas story for TV.  And it was made even better by Santa getting revenge on Sheldon with a canon in his dream. I liked some of Raj's jokes, but I wish that he had been able to have a successful night out with the ladies.  It's getting too sad to see him just hanging around Stuart all day.

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.

The Science Ninjas And The Number 43

Big Bang Theory, S06E08

Raj and Howard tried to find out what Sheldon was doing every day for 20 minutes in secret.  Leonard was jealous of Penny's new partner for class.

I was pretty happy to see Howard and Raj kicking it like old times.  It's been a while since the two of them were on an "adventure" together.  I've missed the vibe they have when they're together.  For instance, when Raj put his ear to the door next to Howard and their faces were dangerously close to one another.  That's the kind of stuff I missed about them.  Also, there was this one line of Raj where he made you think he was saying something sexual, but it went in the total opposite direction:

Boy, what I wouldn't give to get her out of those pants...and into something a little more stylish.

Oh, Raj.  It's probably comments like that that make it hard for him to attract a girl.  But at least that was pretty funny.

I knew that the two "science ninjas" would never figure out what Sheldon was up to, so I was a little annoyed at them slamming their forwards against the walls trying to decode the mystery of 43.  Knowing Sheldon, I figured it had to be something silly, but hacky sack was way off what I could have imagined.  He must be as stressed as he said, having to act human all day for the sake of others (insert eye roll).  I was most disappointed in the two ninjas when they were fooled by Sheldon's wormhole performance.  These guys are so smart and yet...  They have watched way too many sci-fi movies or something.  Sheldon isn't so dumb that he wouldn't realize that someone was trying to figure out his "secret," so if it was me, I would expect that he might mess with the video feed.  But sometimes I do think that Raj and Howard become a little dumber when they are together.  You would think their brainpower would be combined, but instead they feed into each others fantasies (almost like middle school boys or something).  I mean, I love that they are so stupid together, but come on.  There's no way that video of Sheldon was real.

Not much to say about Penny and Leonard.  I was going to be pissed that there was just another story about Leonard being jealous of any guy coming within 100 feet of Penny until the story ended up being pretty significant.  Penny finally told Leonard that she loved him without even realizing it.  Well, about damn time.  I still don't really like them as a couple, but maybe hearing that will calm Leonard down.  And if things don't work out, he always has Sheldon's assistant who is nearly beating him over the head with flirting.  I'd like to see her finally get through to Leonard and have him give Penny more of a taste of what he's been going through for seasons and seasons.

This was pretty good episode.  I have really missed Raj and Howard teaming up to do something.  It's been way too long.  I also liked that there was minimum Sheldon because I tend to just get angry at him when he's not paired with Amy.  Leonard finally got to hear the words he was longing to hear, but I'm any more convinced that Penny and Leonard will make it than I ever was.  Hopefully, Leonard will go for the new woman on the scene and I can stop sighing each time I see him fretting about losing Penny every other week.

Losers

Big Bang Theory, S06E04

Howard returned home from space, but didn't get the big astronaut welcome he had hoped for, finding no one to celebrate his glory with him.  Sheldon and Leonard lost to Penny and Amy at pictionary, which sparked a battle of different games to prove who was superior after all.

Well, it was no surprise that Howard didn't come home a changed man (save the few inches he grew from being in zero gravity) in the sense that being an astronaut didn't make his life any better once coming home.  He couldn't get any from his wife with her shooting snot from her nose and passed out from Benadryl, his mother was too busy screwing the dentist to have time for him, Raj had moved on with his new bestie Stuart, and the rest of his friends were too busy trying to beat each other to have a second for him.  I don't know if he was more of a loser coming back home or before he left.  I suppose he was more after because he had done something really great, but the only accolade he could reap from that experience was a free piece of cheesecake (which I'd take--it's better than nothing).  I felt bad for him, but you couldn't be too surprised with the kind of luck Howard has.

The funnier losers of Thursday night were definitely Sheldon and Leonard.  I just loved seeing Penny and Amy take them to school on a variety of games.  It was just nice to see Penny be able to hold her head higher than Sheldon.  One of my favorite moments was during pictionary when Penny was just taking her sweet time drawing nail polish because Sheldon was way off (even if it had been Polish as he had mistaken it for).  But it was great that she and Amy didn't just excel at drawing cookies and presents, but they were also masters of finding Waldo with impaired vision and solving long division while dizzy.  But I think my favorite victory for the girls was when Penny easily pinned Sheldon on the ground and then began kissing him to make him even more annoyed!  And then Amy just joined in when Sheldon begged for her help!  Hilarious.  I also loved when Leonard, tired of losing, demanded that Sheldon participate in the pie-eating contest:

Now, you either stick your face in that pie or I’m gonna stick that pie in your face.

I wish every episode could be this kind of game night.  I need the reminder that Sheldon is not skilled in many things outside of science and mathematics.  I even didn't think about how much I dislike Penny because she was being really good about giving Sheldon the business.

This is my favorite episode of the season so far.  I don't know if Howard is going to let Raj be best friends with someone else forever, but he is a married man now, so he might not feel as put out by that as he seemed to be in this episode.  I would love to see a story where Stuart and Howard would have to compete for Raj's friendship in the future.  And any time they can show what a loser Sheldon is again, I'm all for that.  It's just too funny.

Take That Penny!

Big Bang Theory, S06E03

Sheldon hired a new assistant to look through his old journals and papers to see if there was anything brilliant in there, and Amy felt threatened by a woman working closely with him.  However, when Amy dragged Penny along to spy on the assistant, Penny was the one who became worried about her and Leonard.  Howard was getting antsy and unraveled during his final days of space and getting worse with the news his return home would be delayed.

After last week, I was questioning whether I really liked the little side story about Howard in space until he started to go insane this time.  I liked how it was sort of a turn on or something for him to see people drop pencils for him, and it had made Raj uncomfortable when Howard had asked him to do that for him numerous times.  But my favorite thing was when Howard was trying to make a secret code for him and Bernadette to speak in:

We should probably talk in code. From now on, "frog" is me, "sandwich" means you and "lemon" means rocket.  So, come on, sandwich, build me a lemon 'cause froggy wants to come home!

That was probably my favorite line of the episode.

Another notable quote was when Amy and Penny were putting on makeup and Amy remarked how the eyelash curler looked:

[Amy] Looks like something used by Tinker Bell's gynecologist.[Amy] Who I hope for her sake is not Captain Hook, so...

A little gross, but pretty clever.  I don't think I'll look at an eyelash curler the same again.

What I liked most about this episode was that Penny finally got a little payback for stringing along Leonard when she saw that Alex and he were having a pretty good conversation.  Maybe Leonard's not the most desirable guy, but it's nice to see them do a story where Penny is reminded that Leonard does have options if he were to stop blinding himself with his love for her (which can't possibly last if she keeps treating him like a charity case).  I really hope that sort of thing continues on in the next episode.  Oh, and I liked how Leonard sort of set up Raj so he could easily chat with Alex, but in Raj's condition of being unable to speak to women he just moved to a different table.  That was a great moment too.  Almost as good as Penny experiencing some jealousy.

For once I sort of want to see what happens next.  It would be interesting if Alex wanted to date one of the guys, no matter who it was.  Although, I would most like to see her get with Raj because he really hasn't had any luck with girls at all.  Like I've said many times, it's way past due for someone to throw him a bone!  Come on, when are we going to see Raj find love??

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.

Leonard Nimoy, The Voice Of Sheldon's Conscience

Big Bang Theory, S05E20

Penny surprised the boys with a Star Trek toy to make up for all of the free food she has taken from them.  Sheldon decided to open his box after his Spock figure told him in a dream that playing with new toy was the most logical thing to do, but he broke it within a minute and switched his broken toy with Leonard's.  Raj also tried to find a woman to wed, but found himself contemplating whether being alone is worse than a phony marriage.

I will say that Penny, as much as I don't care for her, really knows how to please a nerd.  I was skeptical at first that she would actually get a gift that Sheldon and Leonard would love, but she passed the test with flying colors.  If anyone, though, was going to give into temptation and open the box, I would have thought it would be Leonard.  But I guess when Spock appears to you in a dream and tells you what to do, you better throw away all the "codes of geekdom" and open the box.

It was incredibly funny when Sheldon was talking to his Spock figure and the voice coming out of it was actually Leonard Nimoy.  It also liked that Spock kept changing positions when the camera moved away from him.  This was almost better than Nimoy being there himself.  It's interesting that Sheldon won't listen to most people's opinions, but a dream Spock (not even the flesh kind either) is someone's words he can't easily ignore.  Even though I can hardly see Sheldon being categorized with the rest of the human race, this manifestation of his conscience through an action figure (although it supports the theory he's more than a little insane), make Sheldon less of an ass than he seems.  I mean, it's Sheldon's dream, so when Nimoy was shouting at him to do the right thing and return Leonard's unbroken toy, it had to be Sheldon's guilt gnawing at him.

The best part of Sheldon battling with his Nimoy conscience was when Sheldon was defending his choice to switch the boxes.  Leonard would never open his box and never know what Sheldon had done:

[Sheldon] Everybody's happy.[Spock] Well, I am unhappy.[Sheldon] I thought where you come from they don't have emotions.[Spock] I come from a factory in Taiwan.

 I think that I could watch Sheldon and little Spock talk to each other all day.  Despite the understanding that Spock and Sheldon seemed to have reached, Sheldon still leaves the broken toy with Leonard, and then lies over and over again to cover what he has done before he finally tells the truth.  Sheldon was the most honest when he told Leonard that he didn't want him to be happy with his toy and hoped he'd break it.  Damn, Sheldon.  Did you learn nothing from Nimoy??

I felt bad for Raj and the story about his failure of a matchmaking.  I wasn't surprised that his parents thought he was going to come out to them because it sounded that way to me too.  I was surprised that in New Delhi everyone already thinks that Raj is in the closet.  It's sad that Raj has to defend himself so much, but it's no wonder with his metrosexual tendencies.  I don't know why Bernadette and Howard thought it was a good idea to give him a little "rich girl" puppy he could carry in his "man purse" (Raj, really??).  Either he will forsake human contact for puppy love or he'll just repel more women who think they don't have a shot because they will think he he is secretly into men.  Fine, Raj is lonely and maybe a dog might take awau a little of his troubles, but this isn't what I meant at all by tossing him a bone!  Come on!  Raj could date someone.  Even if it's not true love.  A puppy, indeed!

Good episode, though.  It's been a couple of weeks since I've seen this show, so I wasn't sure if I actually missed it.  If they had more episodes like this one, I probably would anticipate Thursday a little more.

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?