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.

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.

Sheldon Makes A Good Data

Big Bang Theory, S06E13

The boys drove to a comic convention and were stranded when Leonard's car got stolen during their photo shoot.  The girls decided to try and understand their men by trying out some comics books themselves.  They soon got into heated arguments about what they read, surprising Leonard and the others.

This isn't the first time that the guys have dressed up, but it is certainly one of my favorites.  I'm not the biggest Star Trek fan, but I am familiar with some of the character that were on The Next Generation.  Sheldon as Data was absolutely perfect.  I loved it!  He has about the emotional range of a synthetic human and the makeup job on him looked great.  Second, I loved Leonard as a little, glasses-wearing Picard.  Leonard was so cute with a bald head!  The others costumes were good too, but I especially liked Leonard's and Sheldon's.  Then I liked that Sheldon seemed to respect Leonard's leadership for once simply because he was wearing a captain's outfit.  Man, Leonard should wear that every day to keep Sheldon listening to him for once.

The worst thing was that Sheldon had hacked Leonard's GPS so that it not only spoke in Sheldon's voice, but also did things like quiz them with trivia about driving and such.  I was with Howard when he suggested that Leonard drive them off a bridge.  It sort of made it the one good thing about his car getting stolen--at least they wouldn't have to listen to Sheldon guiding them the way back home too.  It was sort of funny, though, that the robbers were enjoying all the Sheldon trivia.  I doubt they would have enjoyed it as much if they had the owner of that voice giving them all of that interesting knowledge.

I liked that the girls tried to dive into the boys' world by reading some comics.  I never expected, though, that they would really get invested in the stories.  I mean, they were arguing things that I'm sure the boys have for years and years.  And they had just scratched at the surface.  They were simply debating about Thor's hammer.  If they ever managed to get that issue settled, who knows what they would go on to next?  It was cute that the boys found the energy again to act out their fantasies and went to investigate the girls' arguments with their phasers sent on "stun."  But I wonder what happened after that?  Were the girls embarrassed that they were on the same level as the guys?  Or did the boys join into the arguments, making things much worse?  That was the only thing I was disappointed about.  I wanted to see the meeting of the old comic nerds and the new comic nerds.

This was a great episode.  It definitely goes down as one of my favorite stories about the guys being in costumes.  I have to watch it again because I really enjoyed seeing Sheldon as Data and Leonard as Picard.  It was also funny to see the girls having heavy discussions about Thor's hammer as if it were some kind of important world issue.  They might not exactly get the boys' infatuation with the comic book world, but they definitely dipped their toes in it now.

Sheldon Visits HR

Big Bang Theory, S06E12

Alex asking Leonard out led Sheldon to speak to his assistant about her "sexual advances" toward a coworker.  However, Sheldon unknowingly spoke to Alex in a way that seemed like he was sexually harassing her.  When Sheldon got called into Human Resources to be reprimanded, he pointed out all the inappropriate things Leonard, Raj, and Howard had also done at work.  Penny also got upset about Alex asking out Leonard.

Af first, I thought this was going to be an episode mianly about Penny being angry at Leonard for loving the attention from Alex.  I was really pleased when the story took an unexpected turn as Sheldon decided that he needed to handle Alex himself.  Even though Sheldon has a knack for making everything about himself, I didn't see that coming at all.  Nor did I foresee that he would say so many wrong things to her.  It was like as soon as he started talking to her, I finally saw that this story was going to be about Sheldon getting in trouble for "harassing" his assistant.  And Alex was hardly out of line--Sheldon was really insulting.

The best of the horrible things he said to Alex was, of course, him referring to her as an egg salad sandwich.  I'm sure Sheldon's father was (is?) a very old school sort of guy who had a lot of sexist things to say that Sheldon felt were normal over time, and it sort of makes me think that his father might be part of the reason Sheldon sort of thinks that women are inferior to men.  Obviously, he's using scientific facts to back it up, but he definitely would be thinking the same even if he was less educated.

I was really looking forward to when he would be called into Human Resources, but I was super excited to see that the head of the office was played by Regina King.  Holy crap!  Not only do I love her, but her interaction with Sheldon was one of my favorites in this show!  It was simply funny from beginning to end.  In the beginning, I liked the first couple of things she said to Sheldon:

Well, according to Ms. Jensen, you said that she was a slave to her biological urges and called her an “egg salad sandwich.”  I don’t even know what that means, but I’m gonna go ahead and tell you you can’t say it.

Later, Sheldon dug his grave deeper by calling her a "slave" and not picking up on the possible racial tones it might have (I couldn't ever see Sheldon being purposely racist to anyone, though).  Finally, he started talking about women's menstrual cycles and she had me rolling when she shut him down:

You can’t talk about that, either, Dr. Cooper.  Your language is entirely inappropriate, and I’m gonna advise that you shut your mouth right now.

I love hearing Regina King telling Sheldon to shut his mouth  That was awesome.  What wasn't so awesome was watching Sheldon throw his friends under the bus because he was in trouble.  He really is like a freaking little boy who rats out his friends to keep himself out of trouble.  I was pissed that Sheldon had done that, even if the others deserved a trip to HR.  They're not the ones who were showing people diseased genitalia.

Even so, I really liked when Ms. Davis called them all into her office after Sheldon tried to turn the tables and file a complaint against her:

[Sheldon] I-I thought about the things you said to me yesterday, and I realized I’m deeply offended.  Now, be a dear and get me one of those complaint forms.
[Davis] That’s it.  All of you, in my office now!
[Sheldon] And thanks to you, I know better than to ask if you’re menstruating.  And based on your behavior, I don’t have to.

 I loved her face when he dared to say that her reaction to the situation was due to her period.  She must have really given him an earful after that because Sheldon apologized to Alex.  He's obviously not seen his blame in all of this since he made Alex do his seminar for him, but I know he'll think twice about talking to a woman about her eggs ruling her actions again.

One other thing that was sort of funny was Penny's reaction to Sheldon forming the "Council of Ladies."  I loved her face when she asked what was happening.  Sometimes she is the voice of the audience at home.  It seemed really odd that he had gathered them for womenly advice, even though he is one of the most clueless men of all.

This is one of my favorites this season.  I would have never imagined that Sheldon would have to go to HR for sexual harassment of all things.  It really has opened my eyes to what kind of trouble Sheldon might get himself into with that unfiltered mouth of his.  I'd also like to see Regina King guest star on this show again--I loved seeing her give him a talk.  If they could work her into a second episode, I'm pretty sure it would be comedy gold once again.

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.

Sheldon Smacked That Ass!

Big Bang Theory, S06E10

Howard had to go fishing with his father-in-law, so he went to Penny to get advice on how to fish and gut the catch.  Amy was sick and Sheldon honored their agreement by taking care of her, and Amy enjoyed the process so much, she faked being sick.

I liked seeing Howard squirm while he had to sit with his less than chatty father-in-law.  It was funny how Howard couldn't get more than a few words from him, no matter what he said.  I know that the two have very little in common, but damn--what an uncomfortable situation!  I expected that Howard might be saved for a moment when he tried to strike up a conversation with Bernadette's mother, but she was just as tight with words as her husband was.  I loved when she had a simple response to how her trip was, in a voice that reminded me of Bernadette.  I might like Howard's in-laws as much as I love Raj's parents (hope they make an appearance this season).

I don't know whether it's sadder that Raj, Leonard, and Howard had to seek help from Penny about fishing or that it was that Penny seemed so manly in this story.  I mean, Penny was in sweats, eating pizza like it was nothing to be ashamed of stuffing her face with it at the door.  Like she couldn't put it down for a second?  But seeing her like that made the point clear that Penny was going to know how to fish better than the three guys.  I didn't think she was going to show Howard how to gut a fish, though--that was pretty nasty.  I would have reacted probably like one level better than Howard's disgust.  But to be honest, it was a little impressive that Penny is so skillful about preparing a fish.  It's not something everyone knows to do, so it's nice that she could teach the geniuses for a change.

I liked that at the end of Howard's story, he and Mike sort of bonded over the fact that their wives force them to do things they don't want to do.  I also liked that while Mike defended his wife and daughter, he admitted that calling them "great" was a little too much.  I like his honesty.

Howard's story was nice, but I loved Sheldon and Amy's story the best.  I was touched that even though Sheldon complained and was impatient about taking care of her, he did it regardless.  Even if he was doing it to ensure that he would have someone to take care of him who wouldn't run away (I loved when Leonard and the rest did that) the next time he got sick, it was sweet by Sheldon's standards.  I was really happy that Amy was milking the attention from her boyfriend because I know she is one emotionally starved woman.  Anyone who is that excited to have her boyfriend rub VapoRub on her chest has not been getting a lot of action.  So I got a kick out of her enjoying the intimacy with Sheldon, while he was just seeing it as just a chore.  I was surprised that this even included helping her shower!  Wow.  He can help her do that and doesn't think more of it than probably cleaning a dish.  It was hilarious to see Amy getting to enjoy it without having to be really sick.  You can't blame her for taking advantage of the situation.

Sheldon, of course, didn't see it that way and felt that her lies were some kind of great crime.  He mentioned that ideally he would lock her in stockade!  Really, Sheldon??  You had to take care of your girlfriend a few extra days.  She didn't make you lose your job or rob a store.  He really astounds me at how highly he thinks of himself.  Amy is smart, though.  She tried to get off easy by suggesting that she be banned from the opening of the next Star Trek movie.  She would have gotten some applause if Sheldon had agreed to that.  I know good and well she would have loved to been spared seeing that movie.  Oh, well.  Instead, Amy got something a little better--a spanking.  For Sheldon to suggest that was such a brilliant conclusion.  I was like, man, is there anyway Amy can get away with pretending like she doesn't like that?  Nope.  Which made it all the more hilarious to see Amy on Sheldon's lap, getting her ass smacked by him.  And he reprimanding her not to enjoy it only made it funnier.  Amy and Sheldon are really becoming one of my favorite TV couples.

Oh, there was something so wrong that Sheldon said earlier in the episode:

Amy’s taking me to a memorial service.  It’s for one of her colleagues who is of Asian descent, so my planned conversational gambit is to casually remark that no matter how deep they dig his grave, he’ll never make his way back to China.

How I would love him to say that so someone could punch him in the face, or escort him out of the memorial service.  He's lucky that Amy was sick for more than not wanting to wear a suit.

Great episode.  I think that Howard is becoming possibly my favorite character, after maybe Amy and Raj who sort of compete for first.  I definitely want to see him struggle to get along with Mike again--it's just too funny.  But, of course, nothing can be funnier than Amy trying to cling onto the slightest bit of affection from her boyfriend Sheldon.  Sheldon spanking Amy is in my top ten favorite moments for this couple.  That was just great.  This show keeps making this couple better and better.

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.

Stewie Versus Sheldon

Family Guy, S11E06

Lois started acting like a 20-year old after Peter gave a speech at her birthday party that compared her to an old horse.  Peter was enjoying the perks of having a "younger wife" until he couldn't keep up with Lois' wild new behavior.  Stewie also got a new pet turtle who turned out to be stirring up trouble and trying to murder him.

This is far from the first time that Peter has mentioned in a not so tactful way that Lois is getting older.  So I didn't really have much of an reaction to his insensitive speech because that's what Peter does all the time.  I also didn't feel too surprised that Lois handled the problem in an extreme way because she's shown many times that she has a wild side.  The best part of the story besides when Peter decided to stop being a dick and appreciate Lois for the mature woman she has become was just seeing Peter so ragged from hanging out with Lois night after night.  He was having fun with her new attitude until his old body couldn't keep up.  Serves his ass right.  I could have been completely pleased with this story had Peter not went back to his regular jerk of a self by telling Lois to get out because she was older than 35.  There are only so many times I can watch a husband give shit to his wife about being old before the joke because tired and annoying.  We're definitely at that point by now.

Also, in that story, there was another cutaway to a Conway Twitty video.  I groaned more than usual to see the return of this gag because he was sporting some Bieber hair this time.  I don't know if it was because it was digitally altered so badly that I was annoyed or just annoyed that they would even try to put that on him.  Either way, it wasn't funny and I'm over those Conway Twitty jokes too.

The best part of the episode was definitely that Stewie had taken in Sheldon.  We don't know why the turtle was so damn evil, but it was pretty hilarious is a creepy way.  I would have never expected a little thing like that to be knocking over bookshelves and snapping seagulls' necks.  You would think that with Stewie being a bit of an evil person himself that he and the turtle would get along great, but I guess that just gave them a reason to have a fight.  I liked that Stewie was nearly bested by Sheldon (of all the people he's managed to defeat and a little turtle takes him down??), but at the end Super Mario appears out of nowhere and stomps on Sheldon.  And that was it.  Because it was Mario and very random, I had to laugh and enjoy that convenient conclusion to their fight.  Actually, that was the best ending I could think of.  After all, either Stewie or Sheldon would have had to kill the other.  I'm sure it wouldn't have ended up being funnier than a plumber dropping down on the turtle.  I just wonder if non-Mario fans liked that ending, though.

There were a few cutaways that I liked.  The first was when Stewie, as a king, was being mocked by a court jester and his response to the jester was unexpected:

In my office.  Now.

I had thought he might say off with his head or something, but instead his reply was much more contemporary, so it was a good joke to me.

Another good cutaway was when Lois was being tricked by Peter with a fake grocery store.  I don't know why, but when she knocked it over and was just standing around in the middle of nowhere with these huge cutouts, including the clerk who had just been talking to her, I started laughing.  I guess the idea of someone going to such trouble to fool someone (and someone falling for said trick) was just too ridiculous to imagine.

The third cutaway I liked stared Johnny Depp in his popular role of Edward Scissorhands.  You knew that as soon as he held that baby that it wasn't going to end well, but it still managed to be funny.  Especially since it was the actual actor and he was saying all these assuring things before he came back in the room immediately to tell the couple that their baby was dead.  How sick, but how nice to see them referencing one of my favorite Johnny Depp movies.

The only other thing I thought was kinda funny was when Stewie received Rupert's head in a box and then got an additional box with a stranger's head in it.  I just liked how Stewie was clueless of the guy's identity and indifferent to his death.  I don't know what Sheldon was trying to achieve with that.

I liked this episode.  For a story where Peter was making Lois feel shitty, it didn't make me that angry, so I was able to enjoy the comedy of it all.  I loved seeing Stewie fight a new pet and just watching that sinister turtle walking slowly around doing devious things.  I'm almost a little disappointed that Mario got him because I would love a round two.  Sheldon would make an excellent rival to Stewie in the same way that Chicken is to Peter (except not nearly as frustrating to watch).

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.

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!

Sheldon's A Black Hole

Big Bang Theory, S06E06

Sheldon played Words With Friends with Stephen Hawking, but was worried that he hated by Hawking because Sheldon was beating him.  Leonard read Penny's essay against her wishes and tried to fix it for her.

I was actually hoping that Sheldon wasn't as smart as he thought he was and the person he had befriended on the game was just someone impersonating Hawking.  But no such twist occurred.  I was disappointed by this until Hawking later called Sheldon to gloat when Sheldon threw the game.  He was pretty funny when he said:

What do Sheldon Cooper and a black hole have in common?  They both suck.

I knew what the zinger of that question was going to be, but I never expected Hawking to mock Sheldon so hard!  Crazy good.  Especially after the way he went on and on about the game and when worried that he was going to make an enemy out of his favorite new friend, he refused to listen to Leonard's problems.  It also felt good to see that because he was being such an ass to his friends about how superior he was to have a friend like Hawking, while openly devaluing Howard, Leonard, and Raj.

In the other story, I wasn't surprised that Leonard couldn't just leave the news of Penny taking a college class alone.  Of course, he would want to help her with her paper and, of course, Penny would be pissed that he changed her essay.  Everything went as expected, so it was boring until Penny seemed to have gotten a B minus on her own.  That I found hard to believe when she was talking about her essay topic would be "slavery is bad," but we soon found out that Amy and Bernadette had helped her.  Well, I don't blame her for wanting to teach Leonard a lesson because he was being too intrusive in her academic life, but she really proved that she isn't good enough on her own to get a decent grade.  Plus, she was sort of intimidating her friends who had helped her in the first place.  Why do they need to sugarcoat that she's a little dumb?  They shouldn't get bullied by her because of that.  This is one of the reasons I find it hard to decide whether I like her or I not.

This wasn't my favorite episode, but at least Sheldon got a little punishment for being his usual self.  Also, it was nice seeing Leonard being a bit of a bad boyfriend instead of focusing on all the bad things Penny is doing (still don't like her much, though).  I would have preferred to see something with Amy and Sheldon attempting some normal couple thing and turning it into something very unique for their own tastes.  They need to have as many scenes like that as possible because they are the best.  Right now, it's really the number reason I keep watching.

Penny Less Raggedy, Sheldon More Raggedy

Big Bang Theory, S06E05

Howard was annoying everyone with his incessant talk about being an astronaut.  Sheldon and Amy tried to compromise on a theme for a couple's costume.  Raj helped Stuart with his Halloween party.  Penny finally made an effort to learn about Leonard's work.

I have to be honest that I, too, was just as fed up with Howard working the topic of space into every conversation as his friends were.  But I can sympathize with him because I feel like I sort of do that nowadays with a different subject.  Even so, I recognize that it's a horrible habit and should be suppressed as much as possible.  I was most annoyed with him when he was pouting about not speaking about his greatest achievement while dressed in an awesome costume of Papa Smurf.  He and Bernadette were rocking their couple's costume and all he could think about was how it sucked no one was giving him props about his astronaut days.  Geez.  So glad that Raj gave him that video of Buzz Aldrin to put things in to hilarious perspective for him.  I would sock Howard if he got as bad as that guy was with handing out candy.

The best story in this episode was Sheldon and Amy's for sure.  As soon as Sheldon suggested that they dress as R2D2 and CP30, I knew that there was little hope for Amy to get the kind of costume she'd want.  But I loved when they were making a Venn diagram of their ideas but getting nowhere.  Sheldon had ideas like Batman and Robin and Kirk and Spock, while Amy's were nothing alike.  She had ideas like Dharma and Greg (who would get that?) and the funnier couple of Blossom and Joey!  Oh, my God!  How I wished Sheldon would have liked that one.  My favorite part of all was when Sheldon explained why he didn't want anything to do with her Raggedy Ann idea:

Those dolls represent three things I do not care for:  clowns, children and raggediness.

"Raggediness" was the part that really had me rolling.  Only Sheldon.

I thought that "Raggedy CP30" was the best compromise that anyone could expect out of Sheldon (and Amy was thrilled), so I guess it was a win for her.  She did almost get a hickey from Sheldon until he figured out what it was.  Haha.  Watching him put one on Amy would have been pretty damn hilarious, though.

Another win that happened was for Leonard.  I mean, for once Penny decided to act like a decent girlfriend and step a little into his world.  It was really nice to see her impressed by the work he did and for Leonard to get some sex that wasn't out of pity, haha.  It did make me like Penny slightly more than I have before.  But I still think Leonard could do better.

Not much to say about Raj except that he is such a dork with his little puns for the food names.  But at least his party planning was a success.  It's just too bad that it was getting Stuart the girls and not Raj.  He could have used that victory.

Pretty good episode.  I'm just happy that from now on we don't have to listen to Howard go on about being an astronaut, and Amy is one step closer to living her dream as having a real boyfriend (as real as Sheldon can be in that capacity).  Penny seems like less of a "raggedy" girlfriend, but she still has some work to do.  Crossing my fingers that she won't backslide and will keep trying to make Leonard a little happier from here on.

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.

The New Howard, The Same Ol' Penny and Leonard

Big Bang Theory, S06E02

Raj invited Stuart to hang with him and others, and Sheldon wanted him to act as a stand-in for Howard.  Amy told Sheldon about how Penny really felt about Leonard, and Sheldon struggled to keep the secret.  Howard was upset that the other astronauts treated him badly.

Not that I'm a huge fan of Stuart filling the void of Howard, but I was a little annoyed by Sheldon not wanting to accept Stuart in any capacity unless he was going to do things exactly as Howard would have done them.  Of course, I can't blame him because it's Sheldon's way to control things and stamp out any kind of change in his life.  However, I just feel bad for a new guy to come in and have to take his abuse.  The others are pretty numb to it by now, and I don't think they even care.  Then again, I think that Stuart was more than happy to do whatever Sheldon wanted just to be part of the group.  It's funny that there is a more desperate level than Leonard and company.

I knew as soon as Amy told Sheldon something that she wasn't supposed to that Sheldon would be burdened by the task of keeping his mouth shut.  It is nice to be reminded of how stupid he can be, despite being a genius.  And I'm not sure if he's just more awkward or somehow feels some kind of guilt from lying when he knows the full truth.  I'm not quite convinced that he possesses a real conscience.

However, it's interesting that he went to Penny's room to talk about it.  He seemed to only want to keep things the same, but he said that he didn't want Penny to hurt his friend.  Maybe even Sheldon doesn't realize it himself and that was the real reason he couldn't ignore the fact that Penny doesn't care that deeply about Leonard.  But I'm not going to completely be sold upon that just because he said it.  Sheldon is far from capable about worrying about others beyond on a superficial level.

But I have to say that Penny is really such a terrible person.  I don't know how long she intends to keep stringing along Leonard just because she feels guilty!  She's not such a prize that she's doing him a favor.  I really think that Leonard could do better no matter how badly he thinks he's hung up on her now.  I feel like if she doesn't get some balls and dump him or Leonard realizes it's over himself, I'm going to throw an object through my TV.  Someone put that Ol' Yeller of a relationship out of its misery!

I think I will enjoy the new Howard replacement, as long as Stuart can at some time stop kissing Sheldon's ass so much to fit in and assert himself as a real member of their circle.  And maybe next time Sheldon will spill the beans about Penny and Leonard to get the ball rolling on the end of their relationship again.  I don't have the patience to watch Penny drag him around like a 3 month-old corpse.  Let's bury this couple already!

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.

Google Earth Map Wedding

Big Bang Theory, S05E24

Before Howard launched into space he recalled his impromptu wedding with Bernadette.  She wanted to get married before he went to space, and the whole gang accompanied them to city hall.  They weren't able to get married there due to an overly long line, so Raj came up with an alternative venue.  All of their friends got ordained as ministers and married them on top of a roof so that the Google satellite traveling over their town would be able to capture their wedding on Google Earth maps.

I'm glad we got to see Howard and Bernadette married after all.  It gave them a chance to have their nuptials in an unconventional way.  Even if they had been able to do it at city hall, they still would have managed to do it in an abnormal way, with Amy there in full maid-of-honor garb.  She looked positively insane.  But I'm sure she would have been crazier if they had refused to let her wear it.  The wedding definitely meant much more to her than it did to Howard and Bernadette.

One thing that made me want to punch the TV was Sheldon constantly bringing up Leonard's proposal.  It's not unlike him, but it didn't mean that I didn't want to plug his big mouth with a cork.  It was mostly annoying because it allowed attention to be paid to Leonard and Penny's relationship, which was hardly important when Howard and Bernadette were supposed to be the focus.  I was just happy that their squabbles didn't turn into a reexamination of whether they should really get engaged.  No thanks to Sheldon's lack of tact.

Besides that little thing, I think their ceremony on the roof was so cute.  They all got to dress up and everyone got ordained so that they all could officiate their marriage.  Wow.  That's amazing that Howard and Bernadette have such a good friends to do something like that.  Their speeches weren't that impressive overall, but I liked that Bernadette snapped at Sheldon for trying to sneak in some Klingon.  I like how aggressive she is.  It'd be interesting if Sheldon and Bernadette spent a day together.  I'm sure she'd either kill him before the day was done or have him a little more straightened out for the better.  I also thought it was amusing that Sheldon said he didn't understand the need to seek companionship because he found himself so interesting others were unnecessary.  That sums up his disinterest in the opposite sex (or anyone who is not himself).

Another cute moment was when everyone was holding hands with each other as they watched Howard launch into space on TV.  I was most surprised that Sheldon grabbed Amy's hand.  Wow.  How wonderful that Howard's historical moment to enter space brought all of them closer, if not just for a second.  Now I'm thinking that since Raj and Bernadette were bonding over their love of Howard that Raj might act as a substitute husband for Bernadette while Howard is gone.  That would be hilarious.

Good finale.  It wasn't too exciting, nor too boring and it left the viewers with not just some laughs to hold them over til the fall, but also some sweet moments as well.  I'm not particularly excited to see what's next for the gang, but at least I'm sure that I will continue to watch.  I want to see how far Amy can get with Sheldon, and I'm still waiting for the day they will find a suitable match for Raj.   Maybe the day will come in 2013.