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Another week of one of the funniest shows nowadays (Probably just behind How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock)
In a post filled with The Big Bang Theory Spoilers
Complete Recap and Spoilers of The Big Bang Theory – 2×22 The Classified Materials Turbulence
Of all the people in the world Sheldon could emulate, you wouldn’t have Col. Kilgore from “Apocalypse Now” at the top of the list. Or at the bottom. Or anywhere in it. But Sheldon does love the smell of new comic books in the morning. Even better, the comics are on Howard today. He is proud to announce his zero-gravity waste distribution system is being deployed in the International Space Station. Yup, he created a space toilet.
LEONARD: “Thanks to your hard work, an international crew of astronauts will be able to boldly go where no man has gone before.” You know it’s a good one when even Sheldon appreciates it, even though Howard is offended.
RAJ: “You’re right. It’s a very important scientific breakthrough for two reasons. Number one….and number two!” (Sheldon likes that one, too.)
Stuart, the bookstore owner has the latest Hellboy comic for him at the ready, telling Sheldon it is “mind-blowing.” Sheldon is mad as hell at the spoiler Stuart gave. (Yeah, I missed it, too.) Sheldon must now read the comic with a pre-blown mind, which cannot be unblown. (It’s TV-PG folks, don’t go there.) Thankfully, Stuart turns the conversation to Leonard and Stuart’s first date with Penny. He didnt feel it went well (thanks to Sheldon mainly), and Leonard is hopeful that Stuart will just pick himself up, dust himself off, and move on. The problem with that is Penny and Stuart have another date. Thankfully, Sheldon is there to have Leonard’s back by ruining the new Flash comic for Stuart, saying it’ll knock his socks off. (“Good luck getting them back on.”) Back to sanity and the date, Stuart asks Leonard advice about how the second date might go. Leonard feigns interest and promises Stuart that he’ll call him back with an answer. (Yeah, right.) But of course, Raj and Howard are supportive of Leonard’s subterfuge.
HOWARD: “If you want to make sure he gets nowhere with Penny without jeopardizing your friendship with either of them, just tell him to do everything you’ve done with her for the last two years!”
It’s funny how Raj will later bring up the subject of karma when referring to Leonard’s actions, as it seems karma is ready to catch up right now. On the way up from getting the mail, Penny asks Leonard if he was cool with her going on a second date with Stuart. He says it’s all in the past, and he’s a “right-now” guy. But his job does require him to think about the future, while his interests have to do with things in the past…never mind. Penny asks for some advice on Stuart, as he is extremely shy. Leonard tells Penny to let there be a little bit of awkwardness, since Stuart thrives under pressure. (“That’s why he works in a comic book store!”)
LESSONS IN DRIVING SHELDON NUTS – NUMBER 810 – When someone calls, don’t answer your phone. Sheldon can’t believe Leonard won’t pick up his call from Stuart at the university’s cafeteria. Assuming Stuart is calling to talk about Penny is where Sheldon thinks Leonard is going wrong. (“Perhaps the comic book store is on fire.”) Of course, even after it goes to voicemail, Sheldon just can’t let it go. “You have to check you messages, Leonard! The leaving of the message is one half of the social contract, which is completed by the checking of the message! If that contract breaks down, then all social contracts break down and we have anarchy!”
LEONARD: “It must be hell inside your head.”
The good news is, Howard is there to break up the conversation with an issue of his own. The bad news is, the waste disposal system on the Space Station will stop functioning after 10 flushes. Since you can’t really light a match up there for the next six months, he has to fix the problem quickly. He asks the guys for help, who will be glad to help after they stop laughing hysterically.
Howard brings the waste disposal system to the guys’ apartment with all of the onboard materials the astronauts can use to fix it. They have to prevent the waste from hitting the spinning turbines. Yes, that’s right…if they don’t fix this the ****’s gonna hit the fan. Sheldon can’t believe toilet humor just gets funnier. But before Howard has to tolerate any more crap, Leonard has to get off the pot (good God, it’s spreading) and talk to Stuart, who has tracked him down before his date with Penny. Stuart REALLY needs some advice to make the date go well.
“Off the top of my head, I’d say the most important thing to do with Penny is to go slow. Like glacial. You know, guys hit on Penny all the time, so you need to set yourself apart. Be a little shy, dont make too much eye contact, treat her with cool detachment…and fear. Like if you touch her, she’ll break.”
STUART: “Wow, that’s like my wheelhouse!”
The guys are half-repulsed and half-impressed by Leonard’s sneaky plot. He contends he did not give bad advice, just didn’t give helpful advice.
SHELDON: “For what it’s worth, my mother says when we deceive for personal gain, we make Jesus cry.”
The guys are trying to pull an all-nighter on fixing the space toilet. Unfortunately, between Leonard lamenting the mistake he made and Sheldon’s solution not being suitable enough for the Russian astronauts and their potato-based diet, the guys are stuck. Leonard’s deception will come back to bite him, according to Raj. In fact, karma is quite Newtronian in nature. For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Leonard messed up the date between Stuart and Penny, he comes back in the next life as a banana slug.
Leonard decides to go to Penny’s and come clean. He engages Penny in conversation and tries to ask her about the date. She is quite insistent that she doesn’t want to talk about it. He presses, and that seems to get her very upset, saying what happened between her and Stuart is none of his business. Fortunately, Raj has some advice…
“If you really want to clean up your karma, go get my frickin’ latte.”
The guys continue trying to fix the space toilet, minus Leonard. He is permitted to go to the comic book store before Howard has enough of his whining and kicks him in the ovaries. Fortunately, Howard finds the missing piece of the puzzle (and it’s not the separator from the pizza box), and they’re ready to try it out. Howard has brought some of his mother’s meatloaf to simulate the toilet, as it has been testing commodes for ages. (and boy do I wish I wasn’t eating dinner right now). He puts in the meatloaf, hits the switch and the meatloaf rockets out, sticking to the ceiling. (At least it didn’t hit the fan!) Perhaps breadcrumbs are the problem.
Leonard arrives at the comic book store and goes into apology mode about the advice he gave. It turns out the advice was dead-on. Stuart took it slow, acted distant, and it seemed to work. For him, that is. Two bottles of wine later and Penny is up to the ‘ol 5 again on her personality profile. It was going great, then…
STUART: “Everything was good and really hot I said ‘Oh, Penny.’, and right where she was supposed to say Oh, Stuart. she said…your name.”
Leonard can’t believe it (for more reasons than one, obviously), but Stuart takes it in stride: she could have said, “You know I’m a dude, right?”
Howard has fixed the problem, but they’ll keep it under wraps (or the lid, as it were). Leonard tries to contain his joy about Penny saying Leonard. (“You did say Leonard, didn’t you?) Unfortunately, given that the entire crew of the International Space Station wants to take a space walk, whether Houston approves or not, maybe Howard’s solution needs more work.
L+P=everything awesome