Take That Penny!

Big Bang Theory, S06E03

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

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

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

That was probably my favorite line of the episode.

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

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

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

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

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

Raj, The Third Wheel

Big Bang Theory, S06E01

Amy and Sheldon went on their anniversary dinner, but were joined by Raj to Amy's dismay.  Leonard wanted to hang out with Penny to discuss their relationship, but were also joined by Raj to Leonard's dismay.  Howard couldn't decide whether to please his mother or his wife, so he lied to both of them about whether he was moving out of his mother's house.

The worst story, of course, was Leonard and Penny.  Leonard is so transparent about wanting to talk about things that it was sad.  I was really glad when a drunk Raj came along and killed their little date.  I especially liked how he told them how it was with their stupid back and forth relationship.  I hadn't noticed, though, that Penny had never admitted that she loved Leonard.  I actually did want her to look him in the eyes and tell him as such.  Even if I don't want them back together, I would like her to admit she's hung up on him as much as he is on her.  Seriously, will the two of them just stop?  Either they move on for real or they get back together already.

Raj's best intrusion, of course, was when he was at Sheldon's date that Sheldon had "outsourced" him for.  My God, Sheldon takes being a bad boyfriend to such new levels each time.  And as delusional as Amy is about Sheldon (who would latch her ovaries on him if he proposed to her during sex--ha), I feel bad that she cannot get any real emotions out of that robot.  I mean, we wouldn't expect Sheldon to really emote, and yet I still want him to because I am a girl and I feel like a girlfriend should at least sometimes feel special when she's around her supposed boyfriend.  But I can't blame her for accepting Sheldon's quote from Spiderman as a meaningful expression of his love.  You take what you can get from Sheldon.

Speaking of him, he was quite funny when he said that the only sea creature he would want to be eaten by is a Krakken.  I had to agree with his reason because the last thing you would hear would be "Release the Krakken!" which is pretty damn cool.  I used to have an inside joke about that with some of my co-workers, so it was a random, but welcome reference.

Howard's story was kind of funny too because you can't really go wrong with him being bugged by his mother in space.  I mean, her son is doing something that only a handful of qualified people get to do and she's on his case about silly things like moving out of the house and such.  There is no place on earth or outside of earth that Howard can go to escape his smothering mother.  But it was a dick move of him to lie to Bernadette when I can't imagine how difficult it is for her being a newlywed without her husband, but living with his crazy-ass mother.  For that, Howard should be doing every single thing he can do to make her happy.  But he'll pay for it later.  What I really liked, though, was how Dimitri was kind of putting his own two-cents about the situation.  In a place like that there can be no privacy, so you can't blame the guy for being in Howard's business.  And I welcome the intrusion because he's a funny guy.

Finally, there was that scene where Raj and Stewart where kind of having a little moment together while listening to Latin music and drinking coffee liquor.  What??  Then, despite that Raj felt like things were getting weird, he invited Stewart out to hang sometime.  I didn't expect that after Raj quickly decided he needed to leave in the first place.  Huh.  Although, I'm not sure if it's because he doesn't have Howard to fall back on (or his other friends) and just wants someone available to do things with.  And when you think about it, Raj and Howard's relationship has always been a little bordering on a romantic relationship.  However, when Stewart commented that he could do worse by "hanging" with Raj, I felt like if Raj were to be interested in Stewart as more than a friend, Raj could do better!  I definitely think that Raj would be much more successful if he ended up being a gay man.  But I wouldn't want to see him do that with Stewart.  Eww.

This was a pretty good episode, the best being the Sheldon and Amy date.  But I'd like to see Raj do more than be a third wheel for the rest of the season, even if it means that Stewart is going to be his new best friend.  I'd like less of the Penny and Leonard stories--how much longer can we watch them bounce back and forth?  And Howard really is going to have to stay in space because Bernadette is going to kill him.  He needs to come to his senses real quick and realize that he'd be a fool to ruin his marriage before it has barely even started.

How To Make Sheldon Fall In Love

Big Bang Theory, S05E23

Howard was delighted to find out his mission to space had been cancelled, but he panicked later when they told him it had been rescheduled for an earlier date that conflicted with his wedding.  He hoped that Bernadette's father would bully him out of going to space, but he instead encouraged him and made it seem that his respect of Howard was dependent upon him becoming an astronaut.  Amy started using very effective techniques to get Sheldon to love her by making him incredibly happy.  Leonard mistakenly asked Penny to marry him during sex, ruining the good place their relationship was in.

It was funny to see how happy Howard was to not go to space.  I thought he was really excited about going, so it came as a surprise to me.  What was even funnier was that he continued to brag to his friends that he was an astronaut even when he thought he wasn't going to go to space.  I liked when Leonard and Raj told him that they were relieved he wasn't going to space, considering that he would be on a Russian-made rocket.  Raj' using the Russians' inability to capture Rocky and Bullwinkle to discredit their intelligence was great.  Nice cultural reference, Raj.

I found it weird that Howard couldn't admit to his fiancee or his friends that he was terrified of going to space, but he could admit it to his scary father-in-law-to-be.  Bernadette would have surely understood.  His friends would have surely made fun of him, but they would have encouraged him to go where none of them may go.  Then again, sometimes it's easier to tell some truths to people you hardly know than those who know you the best and can hurt your feelings with their reactions.

The best thing in the episode hands down was Amy's experiment to make Sheldon like her better.  The date she set up with Mario theme music, strawberry Quik, and spaghetti is scarily one that I would thoroughly enjoy myself!  Who knew that I had so much in common with Sheldon?  It was just a perfect scene of her pleasing Sheldon and him quickly realizing that Amy was indeed winning his heart as she predicted she would.  You can see that wonderful video below:

It was a bit adorable how Sheldon was bitching to Leonard how it was just awful that Amy was making him so happy, and he had started thinking about Amy during inappropriate times.  I also enjoyed them mentioning this book on women Leonard had given Sheldon, which had given him nightmares.  I would love to see his reactions as he read said book.  Amy was pretty cute too when she was dressed in Star Trek gear, examining Sheldon as if she were a doctor.  Sheldon claimed he was in hell, but he looked like he was having fun (probably not as much as Amy who was probably thrilled at having his full attention for once).

Leonard and Penny, on the other hand, were just annoying to watch.  I had just wished that Leonard's proposal had convinced her to break up with him, so I wouldn't have to see them as a couple again.  There's nothing too interesting about their off-and-on relationship for the most part.

This episode definitely goes down in one of my favorites for this show.  I can't wait to see what Amy does next to keep Sheldon thinking about her.  I wonder if Sheldon will be crazy enough to try to stop her "experiment," so that he can go back to seeming indifferent to his girlfriend?  I love that they are becoming closer with Amy making him happier, and yet Sheldon makes it seem like he's becoming more miserable.  Amy really is the best girlfriend I could imagine Sheldon with ever.

Archer Thinks Of Others! ...Just Kidding

Archer, S03E10

Yesterday we got to see the season finale of Archer.  Since they don't have that many episodes to begin with, it seems to have gone by really quickly.  I think that it ended pretty well with ISIS managing to take down the traitor faction, get a little revenge on Barry, and return home alive (I emphasize "alive" and not "unharmed").  For a moment, I thought that Archer had seen the light, if not only for an appropriate time (the time being until they were back to Earth in one piece), but Archer remains Archer in the end.

Despite that Archer resisted against their captors (his best being when he attacked Wu while shouting "Woo!"), it was pretty clear that if Drake had offered Archer an alcoholic drink, he might have easily joined their side.  When they didn't seem to be offering him anything tempting, he first suggested that since they only wanted Lana (apparently they looked up all her information and thought she would make the best babies for Mars), he asked for the men to be let go and then just himself (of course).  I hadn't thought that they specifically wanted Lana to be "The Mother of Mars," but thought that they just happened to hire ISIS and figured that a spy female was the best they were going to get for their re-population schemes.  As creepy as their plan was, Lana had to be a little flattered that they thought her DNA was the best stuff around.

I didn't appreciate that Lana had to be nearly naked for most of the episode, but I liked that she was so vain about her boobs.  When Archer suggested that they were getting saggy, she just couldn't let it go, even in the midst of a fight.  The ISIS crew managed to get away from their captors to only be captured once again.  They were pretty unimpressive in their escape attempt.

I think the badass medal for this episode should go to Pam who was not only smart enough to prepare to attack if Drake and his men tried to get on the ship, but also managed to sneak up on Drake and get him at gunpoint while Carol was busy being a "whordiot," letting the enemies into the ship.  That stupid little bitch.  Pam should have been made an operative instead of freaking Cyrill.  At least she increased the chance that they would return to Earth, while Cyrill, shooting off madly after Drake blasted off his own head, killed Kellogg, the only other person who was unquestionably qualified to fly them back home.  After Cyrill screwed up right after Pam had saved the day, I didn't easily see how they would make it back home.

When Barry started approaching them on a space ship, I was really thinking that he might be the one to "save" them, even though there was no doubt he came to space to kill Archer again.  I'm not sure why he needed to do so when he already stole his fiancee, but I guess when Archer is concerned, he can't suffer enough (at least while he is alive).  Barry was pretty funny in the way he kept taunting Archer to come play with him, but Archer held back his pride and refused to open the doors.  It was really amazing for him.  I also wondered that if somehow Barry's revenge had turned into a necessity for him, in the sense that he would never kill Archer for real because then he would have no one to chase after anymore.  I mean, he followed him off the planet--is it really that serious?

Archer's seemingly change of heart paid off when he cheered Cyrill on to land them safely home; Cyrill turned the ship around so that the fire from the engine would destroy Barry's ship.  Ooo...  How is he going to get home?  I don't worry too much about him because he's sneaky, a cyborg, and there are many, many people around on Horizon that they will probably find a way for him to return to Earth.  After all, if Barry's not around, who is going to be Archer's annoyingly persistent arch-enemy? (Archer-enemy, if you will allow a bad pun)

I felt a bit of relief when Archer stopped acting so unselfishly and nearly killed them all when Cyrill was just about to land the ship safely to Earth.  I'm not sure how Archer managed to get off without a scratch on him!  Lana was using crutches, someone had an eye patch, and Ray was back in his wheelchair (for real this time, I'm sure).  I liked that the episode ended with him acting like an ass because that's what this show is all about.  I wouldn't have minded a little cliffhanger to make us anticipate the next season (I hope there will be one, FX!), but this ending is just as well.

The sky is really the limit for next season, and I can't wait to see what ISIS is up to next time.  I wonder if Lana and Archer would ever get back together.  They seem to hate each other, but I feel like deep down, they still protect each other in non-obvious ways.  I'd like to see less of Mallory's attempts to get laid, and less of Pam's naked body.  The thing I'd most like to see is the return of Barry and a more equal fight between he and Archer.  They have to make a really epic (although Archer hates that word) battle between them soon.  Guess I just have to be patient and see if that happens next year.

Archer In Space? I'd Stab Myself First

Archer, S03E12

The ISA commissions the ISIS team to help them take out a traitor faction on the space station Horizon.  This was the first part of the season finale, which we can expect to see in a couple of days.  As there have been a lot of episodes where the action was an afterthought, I was a little happy to see them rush off to space, as much as I thought it was ridiculous that they would be able to go after only three days of preparation.

Seriously, I would cut off my right leg before I went into space with the ISIS crew.  Archer is their best operative, and he is more likely to leave you for dead than help you if you were in trouble.  I can't imagine trusting him in space where caution is key (mess up there and you'll be stuck in space til you die).  I thought it couldn't get any more outrageous that they were going into space with Mallory (she can handle a gun, sure, but how is it that she can tolerate a space ride so well?) until Pam and Carol showed up!  Are you kidding me??  How could they survive that ride stuck in a tiny box (I say tiny because Pam is so big)?  And more than that, what the hell kind of business would they have there?  No way they are that stupid that they just have to tag along every damn where that the operatives go.

This question was quickly cleared up after Ray expertly guesses that Pam is screwing Archer.  Archer really needs to get his dick under control.  Do you really need a lay when you're that far from the earth??  Then again, the likelihood that he would be killed up there was high (especially with him shooting off the space gun at random as if a broken window wouldn't murder them all), so perhaps he was thinking of getting one more "taste of heaven" before he faced such a deadly mission.  Either way, it is so messed up.  I sort of feel bad for Pam, but she doesn't seem to mind that much being treated like a piece of meat since she did have sex with him before he came to save the day.

When Pam and Carol did show up, I was worried about what the commander was thinking of doing with the women because he wouldn't let Pam join the attack party.  I thought it was my imagination until they reached the people they were trying to save who turned out to be the traitor faction all along (not that surprising with how suspicious the commander was acting).  They intend to populate Mars with the women from ISIS (I hope that Mallory is excluded because she is beyond menopausal)??  Gross!  Also, won't that take forever?  There's also a great chance of inner-breeding with so few females around...  I can imagine why they would want to do that before they have made Mars liveable for people.  Also, a pregnancy in space?  Man, that sounds like it would be a horror story. 

I'm interested to see what the commander and the others are thinking.  I'm not really sure how the ISIS crew will be able to escape when none of them are qualified to operate a space shuttle to get back home without the help of one of their captors.  And what will they do with the men?  Just hope that Archer and the others will join them?  Can't see Archer doing that unless they offered him something really good.  Last week's episode promises a good finale this Thursday.