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.

Nick Battles For Monroe's Life

Grimm, S01E12

Well, I didn't think last Friday's Grimm would be as exciting as the last episode, but it wasn't too bad.  Nick and Hank discover a gladiator-type arena in an abandoned warehouse after a couple is found murdered in their house.  It turns out that these death fights are between the creatures.  I thought that would be a little more thrilling, but it was only interesting in the sense that it was an unusual situation.

Before I get into the arena stuff, it was revealed in this episode that Nick and Juliette were celebrating their 3rd anniversary.  After they have an "inspiring" conversation about what their special dinner would be, Juliette finds an engagement ring in Nick's sock drawer.  Is he an idiot?  If you're not doing your own laundry, you should think of a much more creative place to hide it.  I mean he is a detective, you'd think that he'd have experience with finding things and knowing which spots were the best for doing so.  Juliette was really touched by finding it, but after Nick misses their dinner, she takes the ring again and seems to be having second thoughts.  I understand that he missed an important day, but he's a cop.  How is it that she hasn't understood yet that he will miss things because of his job?  I mean, isn't she a doctor?  Surely she has missed some important days as well.  I thought that was a little petty of her.

The parole officer of their main suspect, Demetri, is the leader of these fights and surprisingly is an acquaintance of the captain.  We keep getting some of his shady background, but we don't know what it means yet.  This guy even called the captain "highness," and it's not clear whether he was being sarcastic or not.  The best thing about this secret connection between the two was that the captain told him to put an end to it, and the guy basically told him to screw off.  So the captain goes to confession to alert some kind of secret, creature assassin he has.  I loved how the captain showed up in the end, after nick had put a stop to the gladiator business, and had the guy killed.  So what in the hell is his connection to other creatures??  Obviously he has some "friends" in that realm and has relation to reapers.  This episode only made me confused about the mystery surrounding him.  I'm going to need them to hurry up clear that mystery before it gets any bigger.

My favorite thing about the episode was that Monroe got captured by the wranglers of the fights and was thrown into the arena against his peaceful will.  He was pretty adorable trying to convince his captors to let him go because he wasn't the kind of Blutbad that they were hoping for.  He's a pretty easy-going guy to help out Nick like that and not curse his name for what had happened to him.  Luckily, Nick gave a damn about Monroe and came to his rescue.  Now, I find it hard to believe he was able to get all the way up to the leader and put a gun to his head before anyone was the wiser.  Nick is not that slick!  But whatever.  It was almost sweet that Nick, who is a pathetic fighter, wanted to take Monroe's place in the arena and fight the creature with relic weapons and shields.  I found it harder to believe that Nick barely got messed up from his fight.  What the hell??  I wanted to see him a little more bloody.  I mean, it's not like he has any superpowers, as far as we know.  Lame.

It was funny that Monroe, once Nick's backup arrived, got his ass out of there before he was arrested along with the rest of them.  What?  They had the place surrounded.  Then again, the leader of the fights got away too, so I guess it's plausible.  I couldn't imagine that Nick could save him from police investigation.

One last thing that bothered me was that Nick told Hank that Monroe gave them the lead to when and where the fights were going down that night.  Hank didn't really question that Nick was getting information from Monroe.  That should be more suspicious!  God, they make Hank seem like such a moron.

There was a good bit of action in this episode, but I could have less of that and more information about the characters.  Or at least have them not so stupid.  I'm looking forward to Juliette breaking up with Nick or him possibly letting her in on his secret.  One day his battle with creatures will probably consume him, so he's gonna have to bring her into his world soon or let her go.