S05E18:This week’s Big Bang built upon last week’s episode, with Sheldon going insane. But the growing insanity isn’t over his new office, but missing a haircut. Meanwhile, in outer space training, Howard is a veritable Star Trek Red Shirt while learning how to live in space – and cracking this recapping Theorist up in the process.
“If I come out of this looking like a dork, it’s on you.” – Sheldon
“When you tell this story later, the word we like to use is quirky.” –Leonard
Leonard drops Sheldon off at the barbershop, but alas Sheldon’s barber is in a coma. Fearing that his barber Mr. D’Onofrio’s nephew won’t be able to handle his haircut – he doesn’t have access to Sheldon’s haircut records from Texas – the scientist could only sit in the nephew’s chair for but a second before racing out of the shop when small talk ensues. Big shock: Sheldon doesn’t like mundane conversation with a stranger. Still, it’s a funny cold open, and considering where the episode went, a pretty perfect one at that.
“Penny, I know you mean well, offering the skills of the hill folk. But here in town, we don’t churn our own butter, we don’t make dresses out of gummy sacks, and we sure as shootin’ don’t get our hair cut by bottle blonds.” – Sheldon
To the normal human, Sheldon’s hair has not grown that much, but you would think that missing his haircut by one day turned Sheldon into a Sasquatch as he tries to blow the hair out of his face. Sheldon then heads to Amy’s. After a stirring rendition of Bon Jovi’s (Wanted) Dead or Alive, Amy suggested that her man let his hair grow out to be more sexy. When will she learn that her boyfriend is a-sexual?
”I would have laughed too, but I didn’t want the vomit to come back out.” – Howard
In the first of two Howard highlights of the episode, Howard recaps his first day of NASA training to Bernadette. He experienced simulated zero-G, and decides he needs more underwear, considering the centrifuge that is going to spin him around. Watch Simon Helberg’s delivery – it’s a real gas. It’s nice to see the writers give someone other than Sheldon really funny lines to work with. Considering I have never cared for Howard, this is the best compliment I can give to Helberg’s delivery.
“Between you playing chess like Bobby Fisher and Sheldon being ok with you in his spot, I’m guessing someone went back in time, stepped on a bug and changed the course of human events.” – Leonard
Leonard was befuddled when Penny beat him the first time in a game of chess. Even more befuddling is Sheldon coming home, finding Penny willing to move from his usual spot, and responding with a “my spot your spot, what difference does it make.” Feeling spurned by living a life of order, our favorite Theoretical Physicist might have just become a Chaos Theorist. Hail Eris (the Roman Goddess of Chaos) and head for the hills: Sheldon’s about to wreak havoc – and considering the Flash shirt he was wearing, he was probably going to do it quickly. Was it just me or was Leonard a bit of a sore loser?
“I was going to freshen up for you, but I blacked out on the way to the bathroom.” – Howard
For NASA training, Howard goes through survival training and Howard’s recap of the experience was right up there with Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ classic Seinfeld monologue about her almost triumph over the Van Wyck Expressway. Some highlights of the hilarious speech include: an armadillo trying to spoon him in the middle of the night, eating a butterfly, and being too dehydrated to cry. At least Bernadette is proud of her man for enduring it all. Helberg shined again as Howard’s anguish is presented with absolute hilarity. Somehow, even though he basically appears on a computer screen for the entire episode, he steals the show with two laugh-a-line soliloquies.
“I don’t care if Richard Feynman was a purple leprechaun who lived up my butt!” – Penny
“There’s not a hair on my body I wouldn’t let this woman trim.” – Amy
Having devolved into complete chaos, Sheldon decides to play bongos…at three in the morning. Leonard tries to invoke the roommate agreement to get Sheldon to stop, however according to Dr. Cooper, we now live in a world of chaos and to hell with the roommate agreement. He has gone totally mental. He plays himself out of the house and to wherever the music will take him, which is straight to Amy Farah Fowler’s place. Leonard and Penny head over and Penny is able to convince Sheldon to let her cut his hair, because she’s known him for years – she’s taken him to Disneyland, sings him “Soft Kitty,” and has even bared it all to the super genius. Oddly enough, Leonard doesn’t even know about that last one. It’s a bit of rushed sequence, but the episode was coming to a rapid close.
Anyone who has seen a sitcom before knew where the haircut was going, and despite giving Sheldon a great haircut, he is tickled by the razor and Penny inadvertently shaves a bald spot into his head.
Alas, this was another week where Kunal Nayyar (Raj) merely collected a paycheck. He can be funny when given good material to work with, but these past few weeks the writers have had nothing for him, and that’s a shame. Two things that need to come to a head at some point are Amy’s complete lack of boundaries with Penny and, of course, the progression of “Lenny,” or is that “Peonard?”
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