Barry Kripke, you have made a new enemy. Not only are your bratty antics a permanent thorn in Sheldon Cooper’s side. Not only is your speech impediment transparently designed to make you more annoying, which therefore actually does make you more annoying in a kind of post-modern, meta way. Not only does your mere presence in an episode of The Big Bang Theory certifiably guarantee unremitting lameness. But last night, you almost single-handedly torpedoed the Big Bang episode featuring very special guest star Katee Sackhoff, known to sci-fi geeks everywhere as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace of the late, great Battlestar Galactica. Which is to say, Kripke, that you have sinned against your own kind, and that is something I personally can never forgive. If you could see my face right now, in fact, it would be not all that dissimilar from Alyson Hannigan’s “You’re Dead To Me” stare from last night’s far superior episode of How I Met Your Mother. That’s right, Kripke; my brain is making you go boom.
Granted, before Kripke even showed up, things were headed in an unfortunately meh direction. On the bright side, it turns out Howard’s blind date with Penny’s Cheesecake Factory co-worker Bernadette from a few episodes back wasn’t a one time thing. On the dim side, it turns out she’s actually, well, kinda dim. Then again, she may not get any of Howard’s jokes, but at least she’s sharp enough to know that the third date = sex. You’d think a man who’s as much of a brainy horndog spaz as Howard is would be wise to that particular coital edict, but I guess not. READ FULL STORY »
I can’t say I’m a Sheldon/Penny ‘shipper myself, so I’m not entirely sure whether last night’s episode was cause to rejoice or not for those rather insistent Big Bang Theory fans who subscribe to the notion that the otherwise asexual quantum physicist should shack up with the rather sweet blonde Cheesecake Factory waitress who lives across the hall. True, Sheldon quite clearly, if accidentally, got to second base with Penny. And a drug-addled Penny did coyly joke at the end of the episode about Sheldon helping her to bed. But the vibe between them felt pretty much little sister/big brother all the way to me, right up to the climactic moment when Penny asked Sheldon to sing “Soft Kitty” with her. Then again, their in-the-round duet of Sheldon’s “when you’re sick” song did cause the studio audience to explode with such rowdy excitement that I can only attribute it to some serious pent up sexual tension.
Don’t let that sweet and cuddly photo from the end of last night’s Big Bang Theory fool you; this episode was packed to the rafters with one full bore fight after another, and, thank jeebus, the result was maybe the funniest ep of the season thus far. Which means I owe Pennard an apology. For weeks now, I’ve used this space to 
The geek guest parade on Big Bang Theory continues: Katee “Starbuck” Sackhoff will 
