In this episode Penny and Leonard have a fight over her belief in ‘mumbo jumbo’, while Koothrappali gets Sheldon to be his new wingman at a university mixer, with pretty awesome results.
I have to admit, Big Bang Theory’s most annoying character is Leonard, the one who might arguably have the least social dysfunctions. When he laughs at Penny’s beliefs in Psychics and then defends it… it actually annoyed me to some extent. Penny has been nothing but accepting in his eccentricities, even going as far as to be conversant in geek, and when she is willing to change herself for him, his unwillingness to change himself for her rings a bit hollow. When he finally allows himself to go to see the psychic… for me it’s less ‘oh how wonderful he is’ and more of an ‘about damn time’.
The Sheldon and Rajesh Koothrappali dynamic is a lot more interesting. It’s ironic (and hilarious) that what Wolowitz and Raj have been failing so miserably at is so easily accomplished by the new wingman (orRINGman) that is Sheldon. And of course, it is Sheldon’s own quirks that allowed Raj to score.
It’s really an excuse to see Sheldon in action, and to see him react to traditional social situations in a precisely Sheldonesque way, but really, that’s what just about all of us watch TBBT for, so I’m totally happy they gave it to us. His and Martha’s reaction to the Green Lantern Lantern and the Hulk Fists are just PRICELESS.
Also, big props for bringing in more geeks, this with an inclination in the social sciences, as well as having Flatland play such a big role in the episode.
