The Big Bang Theory: The Peanut Reaction
By fred | May 13, 2008
(S01E16) This show is about a group of very smart physicists, their social ineptitude, and the girl next door we recently moved in. Well that was the basis of it anyway, and I’m not going to change what I’ve been saying all along : Sheldon is the one making the show, I’m pretty sure that without him, it would have never worked. But with time other characters are growing and starting to be able to carry pieces of the episode while being funny.
One of the character I think has evolved the most, and it only makes sense in a way, since she was new to the group, is Penny. At first she was just the hot girl next door who didn’t know the guys or understood what they were talking about. Now, she might still not always get what Sheldon is saying, but that happens to everyone at times, and other than that she’s growing, she’s finding a way to work with everyone, and more often than none, she’s not wearing much, and that’s always good.
In the past I’ve had fun already seeing her smiling as she was getting the boys to do what she wanted, and this week she kept going that way, even successfully blackmailing Sheldon into throwing a birthday party for Leonard. Of course, Sheldon isn’t that bright so she had to explain it loud and clear for him, but in the end it all worked out as she wanted to, almost.
And while Sheldon remains Sheldon, this episode wasn’t, for once, putting Sheldon in the middle on everything. For once he wasn’t the central element of the episode, one way or another, and don’t be fooled by appearances, neither was Leonard. No the main character this week was, not surprisingly, the lovely Penny. And she had no trouble handling the pressure, everything worked and her smiles are always so nice…
So Leonard never had a birthday party, the closest he ever experienced was when his grandpa died on that same day, and he got to see his cousins and eat some cake. It would probably sound terrible to you, but to little Leonard it was as birthday-ish as it ever gets. It was a bit odd, the way he talked about it, because it seems to me that you could hear some regrets in his voice, like he wished he had had actual birthday parties, and not the occasional funeral, like he would have liked to gather with all his friends and eat cake for his birthday.
Yet, at the same time, he apparently kept saying his friends he didn’t want one, and as the good soldiers they are – helped by Sheldon’s dislike for such things – they never had a party for Leonard. In fact it almost look like, until today, they never even bought him gifts or just cake on that day, which seems a little odd, but whatever.
Of course right from that first scene you knew how it would play out : Penny would ask the boys to help her throw a surprise birthday party, someone would have to take care of Leonard while others get things ready, something would not go on as planned, but eventually Leonard would be happy. And, really, what could have possibly been better that a long kiss from Penny ? Right, I’m jealous too.
I also want to mention Sheldon trying to buy something for Leonard. Of course he ended up like any good geek in the computer department of the store, but here’s another thing I didn’t get : okay first what’s wrong with a DVD burner ? But really, a wireless router… don’t they have one already ? I mean I’m pretty sure we’ve seen them playing network games and even having some guy in China play with their lights in the past, so I’m guessing they already worked out their little own private wireless network. Or was Sheldon just trying to see fun in a new router with more features, new cool unnecessary ones, but that’s the fun! Only if that’s the case, why the hesitation between two models ?
Anyways, great episode, and here’s a few more things :
- The ultimate sport combines arm wrestling with tetris. Okay, fine, whatever, my question is : how the Hell could Sheldon not win at tetris ? Isn’t is supposed to be much smarter than everyone else ? And here he was, freely admitting that while not smarter than his opponent, at least he was stronger physically. Am I the only one who didn’t really recognize Sheldon in this behavior ??
- “Blah blah blah, typical Taurus.” See, Penny knows how to handle Sheldon now.
“
- His mother published a paper on it.
- What was it called, I hate my son and that’s why he can’t have cake!?
- It was obviously effective, Leonard grew up to be an experimental physicist. Perhaps if she’d also denied him Christmas he’d be a little better at it!
”
Now that is the Sheldon I know !
- After Leonard told the story of his “almost birthday”, or when his grand father died, Penny felt bad. “This is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard ! – You think? Go ahead, tell her about your senior prom!” Damn, you think we’ll ever get to find out about that story?? I hope so…
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- I wanna talk to you!
- What would we talk about ? We have no overlapping areas of interest I’m aware of. You should know I don’t care for chit-chat!
”
”
- [Leonard] just doesn’t know he wants one [birthday party] because he never had one !
- I suppose that’s possible, but for the record I never had a threesome and yet I still know I want one !
- Howard, here’s the difference : the possibility exists that Leonard could have a birthday party before Hell freezes over.
- Fine, if I do have a threesome you can’t be part of it ! I’m just kidding yes you can ! Can you bring a friend ?
”
- You gotta love the looks Penny kept senting Sheldon as she was blackmailing him. Also, that outfit was great!
- “The entire institution of gift-giving makes no sense! Let’s say that I go out, and I spend 50 dollars on you, it’s a laborious activity because I have to imagine what you need, whereas you know hat you need. Now I could simplify things, just giving you the 50 dollars directly, and then you could give me 50 dollars on my birthday, and son on until one of us dies leaving the other one old and 50 dollars richer. And I ask you, is it worth it ?”
- The whole “I can’t talk out loud where there are girls in the room” really isn’t funny if you ask me, it’s ludicrous and stupid, and it’s getting annoying… I also guess it doesn’t apply when he’s drunk, looking at the party videos, so maybe he should get drunk more often. Just saying…
- “Can’t you play him so other time ? – Not if you believe his doctors…”
- “Oh My God do you smell gas ??! – No. – Yeah no.”
- Of course Sheldon knows everything about those stuff… “What computers do you have ? And please don’t say a white one!”
- So Howard is really allergic to peanuts, uh? That was pretty funny, for sure!
- “That’s not the secret knock!“
Posted in Reviews
Shows: The Big Bang Theory
