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.

Matchmaking And Dog Therapy

Suburgatory, S02E11

Tessa was asked by Shelia to help find Lisa a boyfriend, and after seeing Lisa dating a little boy, Tessa tried to find a match for Lisa online.  George fought with Yoni over the best way to help Yakult, and Dallas began to take Yoni's side in the matter.

One of my favorite things about Tessa's story was that although she had to spend a lot of time with Shelia, the focus wasn't about how the two got along, but whether Lisa could be hooked up before she "ran out of time."  I was worried for a second Shelia was going to grill Tessa and judge Tessa up and down for being with her favorite child, but luckily she seems cool with Tessa enough to think that she needs to be involved in another Shay's future.  It was weird that Tessa was put in the position of matchmaker, but not presumptuous (as it was when Lisa was doing that in the past) since Lisa was pratically begging Tessa to do so.

I guess I can't be too surprised that a simple dream about Lisa being a spinster cat lady scared her into thinking that if she didn't get a boyfriend soon, she'd be alone forever.  I just wish Lisa would use those brains I know she has to think about how rash that seems for someone her age.  Unless she thinks she's never going to leave Chatswin where there aren't enough guys to appreciate her, it's jumping the gun.  Rather than be amused that she was dating someone still in middle school, I just felt bad for Lisa.  She looked even more desperate than usual.  It's crazy that she has confidence about other odd things and yet has not a bit about her own value as a girlfriend.  I'm sure her mother doesn't help in that area (she made it clear by stating that boys were exactly lining up for her).

I got scared that when Tessa accidentally invited her ex to be Lisa's date that Tessa might fall for him again.  Luckily, she was so damned bored with him.  I loved that.  Then I thought Ryan might feel threatened and he did in a way that I didn't expect.  He was only threatened by the quality of Scott's hair.  Too cute.  My favorite part of the whole episode was when he told Tessa that she had to leave him for Scott because of how silky his hair was.  Tessa told him no and gave him a little kiss.  Aww!  God, I love them together!

I also liked that Lisa realized that she was wasting her time with Scott and AJ because with Malik she had already felt what love was like.  That better mean that she'll reconsidering taking Malik back.  The way they broke up was ridiculous.  She gave up way too quickly on him.

George sort of gave up quickly, too, when battling with Yoni.  Yoni is fake as hell and has some weird grudge against George (I guess maybe because George is the only one who sees through his bullshit?), but I sort of like him as the role of George's nemesis.  I couldn't be too mad that Dallas was falling for all of Yoni's pseudo healing tips when every other woman in Chatswin was eating up every word out of Yoni's mouth, but it was frustrating that George was being made to look like a monster.  All he really had to do was really show that he cared about Yakult and he would have won Dallas' trust a lot faster.  Oh, well.  It was sort of funny to see Yoni driving George crazy.

The best thing about that story and my second favorite thing in the episode was when George was taking Yakult for a walk and had Dalia with him.  She opened up to him about her thoughts of religious conversion and school.  It's so cute how they are bonding like that!  It was even better when George and Dalia teamed up to expose Yoni as a fraud to Dallas--so good.  And I like that Dalia thought that fetch was a game George made up for her and Yakult to play.  Dalia is really brilliant at making the most of her screen time.  George's victory wouldn't have been half as great if Dalia wasn't involved.

This was a really good episode.  I don't think it was hilarious or anything, but it was adorable.  There weren't a lot of Ryan and Tessa moments, but that one at dinner with Scott was more than enough to placate me until next time.  Hopefully Lisa will consider the special thing she had with Malik and start getting him back in her life.  I don't need to see her hanging around with boys like AJ again.  George is really becoming an irreplaceable existence in not just Dallas' life, but Dalia's as well.  I get a real kick out of George and Dalia bonding, and I'm interested to see what kind of way Dalia might open up to George next.

Johnny And Max Never Meant To Be

2 Broke Girls, S02E10

Caroline and Max threw a party, celebrating the opening of their cupcake shop.  Max invited several of her ex-boyfriends to tell them to "suck it," including Johnny who she started seeing again to Caroline's dismay.

Wow, they have got the store ready really quickly!  I thought we might see a little more in-progress stories before we saw the cupcake shop actually set up for people to walk through there.  But it's not bad that things are moving faster than I expected.  I'm just glad that the party they threw was a success and it was mostly Max's choice to see Johnny again that brought the most trouble.

One of my favorite things in the episode was Max's "suck it" face.  I absolutely loved that face she made.  It was the perfection expression to really stick it to anyone that had crossed her in the past.  It's just too bad she didn't really get to use it in the right way on either of her exes.  In fact, Johnny found it to be a turn on.  I can't say that I'm surprised about that.  It was more of a confident, sexy look than a bitchy, ugly look.

It was also funny that Caroline and Max kept ignoring Han, who couldn't get into the party.  The best part of Han's struggles was when the doorman said they were at capacity, and then Robbie got into the party without more than saying who he was.  When Han complained about that, the doorman told him that he was only allowed to let in hot guys who looked like trouble.  When Earl got let in after that, I was rolling.  Not only because Earl fit into that category, but because Han was so angry about it.

Speaking of Earl, there was another funny moment when Caroline played Max's game of "Marry, Sleep With, Or Kill."  Caroline mistakenly thought she was supposed to consider Max and Earl and said she would sleep with Earl and marry Max.  I liked Earl's response to that:

I feel uncomfortable, Caroline.  Like I don't know how to look at you anymore.

Concerning Max and Johnny, I felt better knowing that she saw that they didn't belong together.  They do make a cute-looking couple, but their history together makes me hesitant about them being together in general.  I sort of let a sigh of relief to see her end things before she got hurt again.  They have some chemistry (that scene with them making out as gumballs rained down on them was nice), but I couldn't see Johnny sticking around or the fire between them lasting without Max knowing that she couldn't have him or vice-versa.  It's too bad, but I guess Max will have to stay single for a little while longer.

It's cool that Max's Cupcakes is open for business already, even if their party didn't make their goods fly off the shelves as they had probably expected.  I'm happy to see something hold them back a little bit because I'm not ready for them to be too successful yet (it wouldn't be any fun).  But I'm most happy that Max is smart enough to know when she has something real with someone and when she doesn't.  I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Johnny, but at least we probably don't have to expect that Max would ever to fool herself into thinking they should ever be together.