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.

Roger's Sacrifice

American Dad, S08E12

Roger was determined to be free to walk around without an outfit when Jeff was home, so he pretended to be Jeff's imaginary friend.  Klaus later revealed to Jeff that Roger was real, and Stan refused to let both Jeff and Roger live if Jeff wouldn't be able to keep Roger a secret.  Steve also struggled to avoid ridicule about his flat ass at school.

Roger was being a straight dumbass  thinking that being naked whenever he felt like it was worth risking his life.  That's what it boiled down to when he tried to find a way to be outfit-less around Jeff.  He really makes dangerous decisions based on silly or small benefits.  He could have either worn less heavy clothing (tweed--really?) or stayed up in the attic when he wanted to be nude.  It wasn't that hard.  But it is Roger and he likes to have his cake and eat it too.

I was almost lured into the false impression that Roger would sacrifice the freedom he enjoys on Earth so that neither he nor Jeff would have to die.  After all, he was disappointed when he found at that the gun pointed at him in the garage didn't have bullets after all.  He doesn't give a damn if Jeff lives or die or about Hayley's feelings.  So to see him pack up and see that montage of him to the tune of M.A.S.H.'s theme song, I was just waiting for Roger to pull the rug from underneath everyone.  He did have me going for a while--it was nearly the end before he betrayed Jeff and shoved him into the beam of that spaceship.  Nicely played, Roger.  It was funny that Stan was impressed by Roger's move and not upset at all that Jeff was gone.  I just wonder if Jeff will stay gone (probably not, though).

My favorite part of this story was the very beginning when Stan was reading a newspaper.  He was caught off-guard by a bra ad on the second page and kept searching for a real article:

Finally, here's an article.  "A woman choked on her own bra."  What newspaper is this?

I'm curious to know what kind of specialty newspaper he was reading too.  It's rare that I'm laughing that early on in an episode.

I also liked what Roger said when Stan had tackled him later for being naked in front of Jeff:

This is the talkiest rape ever.

I don't know why he is so calm about being raped.  I guess because he's no stranger to committing that crime himself.

Steve's story was a nice twist on puberty.  Instead of making fun of someone for their boobs or something not growing in, it was asses.  That school Steve goes to keeps getting weirder and weirder.  I felt bad for Steve, though, because all of his friends had enough behind to dance appropriately to the "Wally World" song.  Plus, Barry showed what a ham-crazy bastard he is by exposing the hams Steve had used to stuff his pants.  That idiot isn't much of a friend to him.  I think he probably would have still eaten Steve's hams even if Steve had explained to his friends what he was trying to do.

My favorite part of the story was when Steve went to "Ba-Donkin Donuts."  That name for that place was great, but it was even greater that the fire started there was because a fat guy in courdoroy pants had his thighs rubbing together too fast.  That had me cracking up.  I couldn't even feel sorry for all the people who got trapped in there knowing that fat thighs were the cause of the fire.  That was hilarious.

It was nice that Steve realized that his mom was right about his flat ass having a purpose since he was able to escape from the restaurant, but it was strange to me that all those people couldn't escape.  There were two windows in the front--couldn't someone have thrown a chair or something at it to make a hole? That was crazy.  As crazy as Steve calling 9-11 to  report to the dispatcher that he had overcome his hatred of his own ass.  Steve essentially killed all those people in there.  That was a pretty unexpected ending.

This was a pretty good episode.  I thought I would be over stories about Roger being exposed as an alien, but this one went down a different path.  I never thought they would have Roger leave Earth because they need his wacky ass on this show, but I didn't really imagine that he would send Jeff away either.  You never know what Roger will do.  The same sort of applies for Steve.  I wouldn't have figured that his ass would have saved him from a burning restaurant, nor would I have thought that he wouldn't help the people stuck in there.  In a way, Steve's as crazy of a bastard as Roger is sometimes.

TEOTWAWKI

The Simpsons, S24E09

Homer got involved with a group of people in town preparing for a possible crumble of civilization.  Homer kept his preparation a relative secret and moved the family to the preppers' hidden community after there was a sudden shut down of all technology in town.  Marge had to convince him to return to "society" and share their supplies instead of letting their town suffer on its own.

This isn't the first time that Homer's jumped on the doomsday bandwagon, so I wasn't really excited about the idea.  However, at least there was really no harm in Homer preparing for the worst.  No one got hurt or anything, and when the family returned to town to help everyone, no help was even needed.  You just had to enjoy Homer's crazy ride until he saw it through.  And that kind of story I'm okay with, but it's not really too amusing.

That being said, there were a few things that I liked in particular.  At the beginning, I liked when Homer called Marge "mom" and then switched to calling her "Mrs. Simpson."  I think this worked for me because Homer is often at the same level as his kids, and it feels like Marge is the only real adult.  Another part I liked was when Homer was looking for Bart and Lisa and kept finding similar kids, but not his own, and when he finally did see them, he was like "who the hell are you?"

One of my favorite things, though, was when you could see the production name of the video that the Prepper showed Homer at Moe's that said, "you're all gonna die productions."  That, in combination with the ridiculous video that guy had shown him, made that name really funny to me.

There were also a few lines that I liked.  The first was when Homer mistakenly thought that the new group he had joined were preppies:

[Prepper Guy] Not preppies. Preppers.  But I like your hatred.[Homer] It’s based on nothing.

The other line I liked was when Homer was remarking on how people mocked him, despite that civilization had seemed to crumble as he predicted:

[Homer] Marge, when I started prepping for the end of the world, everyone laughed at me.[Marge] No one was laughing.  You kept it a secret![Homer] Well, just because I imagined it, doesn’t make it any less true.

I also find it interesting that when the Learn Zone was locked down that it was the men who freaked out instead of the women.  I took notice of this mainly because on Family Guy I just know they would show the opposite.  I was reminded of that episode on said show where Peter and the others thought that they were the only ones left in the world and Stewie simulated the same situation for the ladies and they simply fought each other.  It's just refreshing to see a scene when push comes to shove, it's not always women who lose their shit, but sometimes guys.  Realistically, both parties would have freaked out, I think.  Terror due to being suddenly trapped is not gender limited.

I don't know what to make of the "twist ending" where the zombies were riding the meteor or whatever to Earth.  It might have been a reference to some movie or something.  Or just something to make Homer's adventure a little more ironic.  Just wish it were ironic in a funnier way.  I felt like it was unnecessary.

There were enough good bits in the episode to keep it from being completely boring.  However, I didn't think the overall idea of it was very original.  But this show has been on forever, so it's a little hard to expect them to be throwing out fresh ideas at every turn at this point.  I'm content enough that there were things to enjoy period, and nothing in particular to complain about.

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.

Lotta Hype, Not Laughs

Happy Endings, S03E03

Max started a new job as a hype guy for bar mitzvahs, and Penny suggested that Brad join him after she had gotten good reviews from their combined performance.  Jane tried to help rekindle the love life between Dave and Alex, which was getting way too comfortable and boring.  Penny got a lot of attention from the young boys at the bar mitzvah parties.

Somehow with Jane getting involved in Dave and Alex's kind of gross couple life, Alex and Dave weren't so annoying to watch.  I didn't want to see them find their love again, but I liked that their story ended with them all getting detained by airport security.  Alex was a moron to go to the airport with a fake ticket (although I don't know why she had be tied up just because she was trying to honor a ticket at an airline that didn't exist), but at least it helped Dave get tackled and Jane get tased and pepper sprayed.  It wasn't that funny, but I just liked it wasn't that boring.  There was, however, one funny line in this story when Dave commented that he should have called before interrupting Jane and Brad's role playing:

[Penny] I did call ahead and apparently it did not make a difference.

I love how Jane and Brad are so comfortable with their sex life.  And it's not really disturbing or gross.  It's just sort of cute how they mesh well with each other and you never have to ask why they are together.  Although I have issue with this show nowadays, the two of them might be one of my favorite TV couples of all time.

What I really liked about this episode was of course the story about Max and Brad.  They are my favorite duo for any story on this show and are usually the best combination out of the whole group.  This time they were in a group that had a name that was a pun of Boys II Men.  In general, I liked Max having yet another unconvential job that none of their friends had ever heard of before and Brad and Max having a fight, but the best thing was the very end where they showed a music video.  They should have just extended it and made it the bulk of the episode.

I really loved how they kept saying that some of the steps were secrets.  And then after they actually went back to naming real steps, they went on again to say like a series of the steps were secrets again!  It sounded like Max had written that song and was just too damn lazy to think of 50 actual steps.  So good. 

Penny was totally being kinda creepy hitting on those young boys.  It wasn't surprising that at the end they weren't interested in seeing her boobs, but wanted to go to the mall.  She never disappoints in the area of being pathetically unattractive to the right kind of guys.

This episode was okay.  I felt like I could have been more excited about the stories if they all had a little bit more (except Penny's because I don't want to see little boys flirting with her).  I wouldn't mind if they did another Boys II Menorah story in the future, but since it involves Max I couldn't see him sticking to one occupation forever.  I do like the idea of Brad joining him more often on his random ventures now that he's unemployed.  I'm looking forward to seeing what crazy thing Brad and Max can get into in another episode.

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!

More Like A Grimm And Less Like A Cop

Grimm, S01E19

Nick started training with some of the Grimm weapons he had with Monroe's help.  Juliette invited Monroe to dinner, and Nick and he had to lie to her about their relationship.  One beaver Wesen named Arnold witnessed a murder by a troll Wesen named Sal.  Since he called 911 before he fled, Nick and Hank were able to find out his identity and address.  Nick noticed that he was friends with Bud, a beaver Wesen whom he had met a few times before.  Arnold went into hiding, but after Nick spoke to Bud and some of the other people in the beaver lodge, Arnold decided to identity Sal so they could make the arrest.  Before Nick arrested Sal, Sal hired some reapers to take care of Nick, but the reapers turned on Sal so that they could get information about Nick.  Nick was attacked by the reapers when he tried to take Arnold home and successfully killed both reapers.  With Monroe's help, Nick and he sent the heads of the reapers back to their headquarters (?) to send them a warning.

After fighting so many creatures that could have easily torn Nick to shreds (his luck to avoid injury from most fights is unbelievable--literally), Nick decided to train with some of those Grimm weapons he has had from almost the beginning.  What the hell??  What has taken him so damn long?  He is a police officer and a normal human being (to any non-Wesen), so I'll admit that if he started regularly carrying things like crossbows and axes, he would look a like a psycho.  Still, most of his battles were done somewhere private with enough time for him to grab a relevant weapon to use.  He needs to keep some of those weapons in the house (where Juliette would never look--definitely not in the sock drawer like his damn ring) and have them ready to go.  Of course, Nick has little trouble using any of the tools he practiced with in this episode.  That, despite his police background, I just find hard to swallow.  Nick looks like you could take him down by throwing a rock at him.  I wish that we could have seen him a little less "naturally skilled" at using the weapons.  He may be a Grimm, but so far he hasn't really exuded any kind of special skill, so it's strange he's that good on his basically first try.

What I did like about his training session was when Monroe attacked him and later Nick was on top of him.  After Nick scolding him for doing exactly what he needed (a sudden attack by a Wesen), Monroe asked him to get off because it was "awkward."  It actually seemed just about right to me.  I feel like there's more sexual chemistry between Monroe and Nick than there is with Juliette.

Speaking of Juliette, it's not so random that she invited Monroe to dinner.  I think it might be a little later than I would have thought if it were to thank him for saving her life.  That seems like it was ages ago.  I just think that  Nick, despite that he would have trouble explaining why he knows Monroe, shouldn't have been so resistive about the dinner.  I mean, damn.  Monroe has done a lot of free things for Nick--that selfish bastard can at least allow him one free dinner!  I won't even comment on how bad they were at keeping their lies straight, but I will say that Juliette better not be dumb enough to let their obvious secrecy slide.  What I really want to mention is that Juliette served them vegan salmon.  I'm not a vegan, so I may not just understand why that doesn't sound ridiculous, but it does to me.  I can't imagine eating artificial seafood.  Nor could I imagine serving it to guests.  What if Monroe wanted some damn meat??  I'm just saying, it's an odd choice for a first-time guest.

Onto the murder of Robert by Sal.  Sal was such a stereotypical construction guy.  He even had goons who looked like they just walked out of a bad mob movie.  Wow.  I'm still not too clear as to why Sal decided to go with reapers to get rid of Nick.  Getting rid of Nick was a good idea (if he had no idea of how weak Nick really is), but I don't see why he didn't just send one of the many trolls after him.  I was expecting that.  I wasn't expecting to see this headquarters (what is this place where these reapers are all gathered??) for the reapers who were taking requests from regular Wesen like Sal (I assume he's nothing too special).  What was even stranger was that the reapers beat the crap out of Sal from the beginning, wanting answers.  He had asked them to get rid of the Grimm, and they thought he was his friend?  Do these reapers have any kind of intel on Nick at all?  I'm wondering if the reason most reapers don't know much about Nick is because Renard is protecting him in some way.  More than the reapers' interrogation of Sal, I wanted to know why some Wesen have the means to contact reapers for hired kills (do you pay them?).  Probably a question that I will never have answered.

Nick attending the beaver lodge meeting was a little interesting.  It didn't do anything to convince the beaver community to stand with Nick.  However, they didn't want to anger him either, which was indicated by the elder (or whoever it was) requesting that Nick not cut off their heads for opposing him.  That made me laugh.  As if Nick could or would.  After that failure of a meeting, Nick told Bud that he was really courageous to approach him as he did.  Uh, I wouldn't have called Bud's actions brave or anything of the like.  He went to Nick basically groveling as if Nick would smite him if he didn't.  If Nick had punched him lightly in the arm, Bud would probably have crapped his pants.  Still, I think I like Bud and his Wesen kind.  Arnold eventually did the right thing and helped locked Sal away, and Nick was showered with gifts by all the beavers Wesen in Portland after everything was said and done.  I don't know why just putting away Sal was good enough to keep the rest of the trolls in line. Won't the others go ahead and take revenge on the beaver people?  Or did the news of Nick killing the reapers scare all the troll folk away?

I will admit that Nick's fight with the reapers was one of his best fights.  I expected Nick to get his ass kicked, but he was moving so nimbly that they didn't even seem like a problem for him.  Granted, his quick moves allowed one of them to chop off the head of the other (how convenient), but I thought for sure Nick would be in real trouble this time.  I mean, he had prepared to fight trolls!  Reapers were a wild card that should have tripped him up a little more than they did.  All complaints aside, I liked Nick escaping from near beheading and taking the heads of the reapers himself instead.  He called Monroe when the deed was done (of course--leave the dirty work to him) and told him to bring a shovel.  They both agreed that they needed to send a message to the reapers to let them know they meant business because surely more reapers would come after him.  I'm not sure that sending their heads back to the headquarters was such a great idea.  It does raise a lot of questions, though.  The most important to me is why does Monroe know where to send the box where the reapers gather?  Is this common knowledge among the Wesen?  If you know where they are, why not go to them and take them out?  However, I did see that the box looked like it was addressed to Germany (and it was airmailed, so definitely out of the USA), so I guess Nick can't just fly off somewhere and kill people as he pleases (not yet, I guess).  Also, the reapers that came for him were special "Grimm reapers."  Why are there specific reapers?  These questions hurt my head.  I feel like I need a guidebook when watching this show.

There were quite a few more questions that I didn't care to add to my list, but I still think this was a good episode because Nick started to act a little more like a Grimm.  I always thought, from the time I saw Aunt Marie fight a Wesen in the street, that Nick would be brandishing more odd, but interesting weapons to dispose of those creatures, but it's taken him to almost the end of the season to really take advantage of the supplies he had been bequeathed.  Besides Nick owning a little more of his Grimm persona, I like that the reapers are becoming more and more an important part of this whole Wesen creature world mystery.  More questions are irritating to me, but I'm intrigued enough by the reapers that I'll see if this show can enlighten me.  As always, though, I won't hold my breath.

Strippers Before Secret-Sharing Speeches

The Big Bang Theory, S05E22

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lies Hold This Group Together

New Girl, S01E19

Winston's inability to live with the heavy burden Schmidt and Cece's fling forced him to tell Nick, the worst liar of all.  Jess found out about the secret within seconds of Nick knowing, thus ending their two month-ish secret affair.  Jess, feeling hurt from her best friend lying to her (as well as the others), thought it would be a good idea to clear the air about everything from then on.  That worked out horribly, but in the end she realized that Cece didn't hide the truth from her because she was afraid of Jess' opinion, but was only afraid of how much she actually cared for Schmidt.

Seeing Schmidt hiding in the cushions of Cece's couch made me groan for a minute that the two were continuing to sneak around.  But Winston (still looking as crazy as he did the first night he found out) threw his secret upon Nick, who tried to run away in vain.  I can't believe how bad Nick is at lying.  It does make him a little adorable--almost like a child who hasn't had the experience yet to master the art of telling tall tales.  What makes his disability even funnier is that his back gets extremely sweaty when he tries to lie.  I love that everyone already knew about his back sweat giveaway, and Jess only had to say "fold" a few times before he told her everything.  Although this could be looked upon as another of Nick's flaws, it kinda makes me like him even more.

When the truth came out, Schmidt was only mad that Winston told "sweat back" for a second before he was eagerly bragging about Cece with a horrible line:

I mean, I'm having Indian every night.

I'm extremely happy that Jess ran after him, screaming "No!"  Seriously, Schmidt, did you have to take it there like right away?  Before Jess even got a second to wrap her mind around the idea of you and Cece together?  Ugh.  But worse than that was when Jess learned that all of her roommates occasionally use her image when they are masturbating.  Now, that's all on Jess, though, for opening that can of worms with secrets about the boys in the first place.  Still, I'd never want to hear that from people that I see on a daily basis.  I also wouldn't dress in thick clothes and wear a ski mask to prevent them from doing it again either (Schmidt said it wouldn't work and Nick joked about being a little turned on about it, anyway).  So I couldn't really take Jess' side about the lies ruining things--seemed like the truth and her inability to handle it was.  And Cece was on the money about her judging too much.  If not, she could have just shrugged off her roommates' disgusting habits.

As much as I wanted Schmidt and Cece's relationship to come to light, I never imagined that the timing would coincide with Nick needing so much help lying to women.  This, unfortunately, led Nick to ask for Schmidt's advice.  I think I was just as unwilling to watch Nick be schooled by him (complete with annoying air chalkboard), as Nick was to be schooled himself.  I did like when Schmidt was giving Nick a lesson in bed, and Jess walked in and misunderstood what they were doing for a second.  Ha.  But if any of them were going to hook up in a same-sex way, I'd bet on Nick and Schmidt above anyone else.

I think my favorite part of the episode was when Winston had had enough of all of the lies tearing everyone apart and the college girls fighting over Nick/a round scarf.  He had the scariest voice I've ever heard him use to tell everyone to sit down.  Loved it.  Then he tells the girls to get out and starts on this ridiculous rant about being Nick's secret lover and racial equality...  It was a lot of crazy nonsense that worked brilliantly to make the girls get out quickly.  After Winston had said his piece, he ended his rant with a few good lines.

Now go away.  I'm having cereal.

You know, this is starting to be a pattern with Winston.  He's the speech maker.  With things get a little too intense, he can come in and lay it down for everyone.  Totally reminds me of that science fair mess with Jess' bratty student.  Good thing he was there.  And good thing Winston was just trying to relax on a Saturday so he would be angry enough to want to get that lying situation under control.  Schmidt may be the mom of the loft, but Winston is kinda the dad (guess then Nick and Jess are the nutty kids?).

 I'm not too happy that Nick is continuing to date these young girls and now he's gotten better at handling them thanks to Schmidt.  That might mean that next time, we'll still see him with some insignificant, little girl by his side.  Come on!  Nick can do better--he's got to.  With the Cece and Schmidt secret out, I guess now it's just a matter of whether Cece will try to get Schmidt as serious about her as she is about him.  I don't care too much about that, but it's better than a naked Schmidt hopping out of a couch.  I guess, I'm not sure if there's anything at all I really want to see in the next episode, the way things are progressing at the moment.