'Big Bang Theory' recap: Sheldon and Leonard get robbed, and Sheldon moves away to...Montana?!

First things first: My apologies for missing my Big Bang Theory recap last week, fellow Big Bang Theorists. You can blame the amoebae that have taken up residence in my tummy and fell me but good last Monday night. (I’ll spare y’all any further description other than to relay that, stemming from my best guess for the complicated scientific names for the little buggers based on what my doctor told me, my boyfriend has decided to call the amoebae Butch and Nana. Sheldon would so not approve.) I was especially bummed that I didn’t get to commiserate with you about last week’s Big Bang, too, since a night out as Raj’s wingman brought out a delightfully unexpected flirtatious side of Sheldon Cooper — even if Sheldon himself was completely unaware that he was, in fact, flirting with a co-ed with a rather improbable fetish for super-hero merch. (As opposed to Sheldon’s completely probable fetish for super-hero merch.)

Last night’s episode continued the writers’ fearless trek into the hidden corners of Sheldon’s labyrinthine psyche, although this week’s discoveries weren’t really all that surprising: Sheldon and Leonard got robbed, and Sheldon completely flipped out. That was pretty much the entire episode, too — Sheldon’s reaction to getting robbed, and everyone else’s reactions to Sheldon getting robbed, even though Leonard’s stuff got robbed, too. Heck, Penny couldn’t even muster more than a sympathy glass of wine for her boyfriend’s plight; she saved her real aw-poor-Pooh-bear pity for Sheldon.

Now, I could just be reading into things a bit too closely, but was I the only one who thought Leonard’s frustration with Sheldon last night began to bleed over a smidge into Johnny Galecki’s frustration with the writers’ growing indifference to his character? Coupled with last week’s forced and trite “my girlfriend believes in psychics!” storyline, and Leonard’s rapidly moving from Big Bang‘s long-suffering straight man to the killjoy who dawdles away time between scenes with Sheldon and Penny.

Anyhoo, after Sheldon and Leonard lost their TV, two laptops, four external hard drives, a PS2, a PS3, an Xbox, an Xbox 360, a classic Nintendo, a Super Nintendo, a Nintendo 64, and a Nintendo Wii (what, no love for Sega Genesis?!), Sheldon’s fear at getting robbed again escalated at a funny-if-rather-predictable pace: First, moving his dresser to block his bedroom door, only to be stymied by his unruly bladder; then dragging Pennard back to his apartment for a late night game of scientific pictionary (of course! Higgs Boson Particle!); then calling on Howard to install some cutting-edge home security equipment “borrowed” from the Department of Defense; then fleeing out his own window after hearing a strange sound, crawling along the outside ledge to Leonard’s window, and interrupting Pennard mid-makeout; then falling victim to Howard’s security system, specifically the electrified trap-net (the best sight-gag of the night); and finally deciding to move away from crime-riddled Pasadena to, of all places, Bozeman, Mont.

Really, the only shocking moment came in Sheldon’s farewell video to his “three closest friends and one treasured acquaintance,” when he never bothered to disclose that the reason he chose Bozeman over all other supposedly Sheldon-friendly crime-free destinations was likely because it’s the site of first contact between humans and Vulcans, as depicted in the 1998 feature film Star Trek: First Contact. (Perhaps the Vulcan salute was all the homage he needed.) Alas, the idyllic Bozeman of Trek fiction was not the freezing cold Bozeman of Big Bang, er, fiction, and Sheldon was conned out of the rest of his worldly belongings the moment he stepped off the bus, forcing him to return to the mean streets of Pasadena. As punch lines go, that’s not bad, but I do kinda wish Sheldon had hung out a bit longer in Bozeman, just so the writers would be forced to come up with something for the rest of the Big Bang gang to do without their MVG (most valuable geek) around.

Best Microsoft ad of the night, and maybe ever:
Sheldon: “My new computer came with Windows 7. Windows 7 is much more user friendly than Windows Vista. I don’t like that.”

Obligatory joke about Johnny Galecki’s Leonard’s stature:
Penny: Sheldon, do want to sleep here tonight?
Sheldon: Oh, as small as Leonard is, I don’t think the two of you would be comfortable on the couch.

Best running gag:
Sheldon continuing to insist “I’m not crazy — my mother had me tested!“

Okay, Big Bang Theorists, what did you think of Sheldon’s post-robbery meltdown? Do you think Leonard’s becoming kinda irrelevant? (And do you care?) What would actually make up “mobster sauce”? And was there any doubt at all that Howard was the acquaintance?

Image Credit: Greg Gayne/CBS