Poor Wolowitz and Koothrappali — or, as I’ve taken to calling the inseparable duo, Woloppali. With Leonard and Penny (Lenny? Pennard?) soaking up so much screen time — or rather, with their relationship soaking up so much of Sheldon’s time — Big Bang Theory‘s horny C-3PO and guileless R2-D2 were left adrift in a subplot that peaked at the very top of the episode. Namely, the mighty choice sight gag of Wolowitz walking in decked out like an Adam Lambert wannabe sporting a coif that was somehow equal parts emo and rockabilly.
But it was all downhill from there. Wearing tattoo sleeves that were both credible and completely ridiculous, Woloppali picked up the two most dead-eyed boring Hot-Topic-shopping goth girls in southern California, who dragged the guys to a tattoo parlor, where Wolowitz promptly freaked out at the mere touch of a real tattoo pen and the girls promptly left. The whole “wacky” “adventure” just made me wish all the more for Penny and Leonard’s inevitable break up so Woloppali can once again re-enter the full ensemble and not be banished to lame goth bars to make 15-year-old jokes about John Grisham. (On the plus side, I gotta say, guyliner is a surprisingly good look for Simon Helberg.)
So once again, Sheldon practically owned this episode from the start. When he discovered Penny gamely dancing to Shania Twain while making, to his horror, French toast on oatmeal day, Penny offered to make him oatmeal on French toast day. Sheldon retorted, “Dear Lord, are you still going to be here on French toast day?!” And I gotta admit, I laughed so hard I kinda snorted.
But instead of drawing comedy from Sheldon’s discomfort at Penny’s increased intrusion into his perfectly ordered existence, the episode instead had Sheldon take Leonard’s advice to “catch more flies with honey that with vinegar” as permission to treat Penny as if she was a lab rat, i.e. modifying her behavior with positive reinforcement, e.g. chocolate. This development had me torn. On the one hand, I did get a real kick out of the sight of Sheldon’s slightly creepy smile while hand-feeding Penny chocolate balls, and the bit where he got Penny to lower the register of her voice by merely repeating what she’d just said in a deeper voice was pretty darn funny.
On the other hand, Penny’s simply too smart for Sheldon’s scheme to really work; she would’ve, or she should’ve, seen through Sheldon’s ruse at least as quickly as Leonard did. Of course, if she had, we never would’ve been treated to Sheldon scolding Leonard by spraying him with water, so I guess I can put up with her (hopefully) fleeting relapse to early-season-one-pleasantly-dim Penny for that most excellent moment alone. Still, in the weeks ahead, I’d love to see Penny and Leonard flip the scales on Sheldon. One of my absolute favorite moments from the series was from last season’s finale, when Sheldon knocked on Penny’s door with his customary three-quick-bangs-and-a-terse-”Penny” and Penny returned the favor with three quick bangs of her own followed by a terse “Sheldon.” The look of shock and confusion on Sheldon’s face was simply priceless, and it’d be great to see again.
Favorite exchange:
Leonard: “I’m just saying, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
Sheldon: “You can catch even more flies with manure, what’s your point?”
Raciest line: “Yes, she’s pushy, and yes he’s whipped, but that’s not the expression.”
Racy line made down right smutty by Simon Helberg’s delivery: “We each had manahhhge with sexy goth girls!”
Funniest word-of-the-day: Homunculus: “A perfectly formed miniature human being.” (Methinks Johnny Galecki appeared not exactly thrilled with having to deliver that line.)
Best end credit: “Boogiepop Phantom was depicted as Oshikuru: Demon Samurai.” (UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader — thanks Annie! — noticed that Oshikuru: Demon Samurai also made an appearance on Big Bang creator Chuck Lorre’s other CBS Monday show, Two-and-a-Half Men, suggesting the two shows exist in the same fictional universe. Does this mean Sheldon and Jon Cryer’s Alan Harper could actually meet some day?)
So Big Bang theorists, were you not digging the Woloppali-go-to-a-goth-bar subplot like me? Do you buy that Penny would so easily become Sheldon’s lab rat for a few chocolates? Seriously, should it be Lenny or Pennard? And why am I not surprised that there are already “Bazinga!” t-shirts for sale on the internet?
Image Credit: Cliff Lipson/CBS
I really enjoyed the goth bar subplot and never really thought much about Penny finding it and just taking whatever she could get from Sheldon since she doesn’t expect much.
I happened to catch a re-run of Two and a Half Men the other day (why is that show on so much!) where Jake was helping Charlie write a theme song for “Oshikuru: Demon Samurai”. Is that a real thing or do the two shows exist in the same universe?
Both are Chuck Lorre productions.
I caught that reference too!!!
Koothrappali would’ve had me with the Grisham line in the bar. “Blackened salmon” – heh. Still not buying Penny and Leonard as a couple, but it is amusing to watch so I don’t mind.
Guyliner IS a good look for Wolowitz!
And I too was just a tad uncomfortable with the return of a completely clueless Penny. It didn’t quite fit with the snappy “oatmeal on french toast day” Penny. Here’s hoping she snaps out of it soon.
I love Penny and Leonard together!!!! they are great! Though I agree that the Howard/Raj subplot was not the best, I dont think Penny would have caught on that quickly after all it took Leonard plenty of time to figure it out!!! lmao when he got sprayed in the face haha. love TBBT
I think she was stringing Sheldon along because she liked the chocolate. By the end of the episode she wasn’t saying to Leonard, “hey we need to be quiet” she was “hey let’s go to my place so we can make all the noise we want,” i.e., Sheldon can think he’s won all he likes but we both know differently. I think we will find out that she was wise to the whole thing. “These chocolates are SO GOOD!” Otherwise, if she did fall for it then you are correct that the writers have taken a step backwards w/her character. So far this season I’ve not been blown away by the writing, although the show is still exceptional. I don’t understand how it’s from the same guy as Two and a Half Men, because I’ve tried to watch that show numerous times and never. laughed. once.
I totally agree, couldn’t have said it better myself! A quick note for writer ADAM VARY: Seriously, are you going to rip on the Penny/Leonard relationship every week? You’ve gotta chill out. We’re only on ep. 3. Enjoy it for what it is.
It does not make Penny unintelligent just because she fell for operant conditioning, I know of one case where a class did it to a professor. They only looked interested (positive reinforcement) when he lectured on the left side of the classroom, so eventually he was practically lecturing from the far corner. Another case guys only complemented girls when they wore a certain color (i.e. “You look nice/that dress brings out your eyes”, etc. when they wore purple). No reference to the color, but they subconsciously made the connection when they positively reinforced. Eventually pretty much the whole female population was awash in that color.
I thought Wolowitz and Koothrappali were the funniest part of the show! And yes, Wolowitz pulled off that look! As much as I wanted that relationship to work with Penny and Leonard, I too am looking forward to the break-up. Kaley’s character has turned into a frumpy “girlfriend”. I miss her sparkle.
I thought the whole episode was perfect. Love the direction they’re taking the show, and I think that Wolowitz and Koothrapali’s adventures are great too.
You’re complaining about old Grisham jokes and yet you want to lamely mash together the names of a romantic couple? No, Adam, just…no.
I agree that it doesn’t make Penny unintelligent to succumb to conditioning. Leonard, being a brilliant scientist, would more likely notice a scientific experiment happening in front of him. Penny would just think Sheldon’s being nice.
that’s the point. When is Sheldon EVER nice. She should have picked up on that right away.
Exactly right – Sheldon being nice for no apparent reason should be cause for IMMEDIATE suspicion.
Perhaps, but I think Penny is still kinda naive to the ways of Sheldon. She still thinks of him as a human being and might give him the benefit of the doubt.
I know about operant conditioning and even I didn’t pick up on what Sheldon was doing to Penny till Leonard clued us (the audience) into Sheldon’s shenanigans.
Love this show!! My daughter and I have watched from the beginning!! Love Sara Gilbert when she’s a guest and Laurie (sheldon’s mom)..Sheldon needs a girlfriend, though!! LOL Howard & Raj no words for those two, LOL. Love the show! Don’t know why the timeslot was switched with How I met your mother?
I feel dirty for thinking Wolowitz looked hot with the guyliner and that hair.
At least I know I’m not alone!
Regardless of whether or not he looked hot (in my opinion, he didn’t), Wolowitz isn’t SUPPOSED TO look hot …it undermines the purpose of his character. He’s written as a foil to shine a spotlight on Sheldon’s neuroses, Leonard’s near-normalcy, and Raj’s innocence, all within the confines of their shared geekdom. He becomes an ineffective character if the writers start giving him the ability to look “hot”.
I think Penny is waiting to open a can of crazy that Sheldon has not seen before, but in th meantime she will keep eating the chocolates as long as he has some.
Yes, we have not considered that she did see through it to hold back on the best joke ever for next week. Afterall there was the ending scene where Penny was clearly manipulating Leonard into putting her bed together. I agree Penny could still turn the tables on Sheldon!
I am a latecomer to this show (thanks for nothing Heroes!) so I have no basis of comparison. I love this show! Sheldon is a genius and I was looking forward to seeing how he handles the Penny/Leonard situation. Harold is awesome in his goth state and Raj is just adorable!
This show makes me laugh hard every week. And I too think Sheldon needs to get a girlfriend or something to that effect. I think it would be hilarious if that happened. I like that Leonard and Penny are finally together. And Wolowitz was pretty ‘hot’ with the guyliner and hair!