Excellent episode, and kudos to guest star Wl Wheaton.
I love how Sheldon can remember the minutest details of encouners long past. I can often do the same thing, and I never realized how annoying it is.
The scene in the restaurant between Wolowitz and his date, once they got onto the topic of mothers, was hilarious.
Her: Does your mother call you early morning to see if you had a good breakfast?
Him: My mother calls me every morning to see if I had a good bowel movement.
Oh, I think Howie found a girlfriend! It’s interesting how charming he can be when he’s not trying to be a smooth player. That ties back to what Penny told him…if he would stop trying so hard, he might actually meet and keep someone.
I also found it interesting that Sheldon, for all his intelligence, can be bluffed. Does that go back to his inability to recognize sarcasm? And lovely tie-ins to WOK…I was driving my daughter nuts quoting along with him.
Wil Wheaton was wearing a Fruit Fucker shirt!
I realize there was more to this episode than that, but that was pure awesome right there (as was the double date and Raj’s desperation). Wheaton is good friends with the Penny Arcade guys and that was likely his own shirt.
I find it entertaining that Wolowitz actually thinks that bowel movements are a good topic for flirting. I’m really appreciating this show more and more, it’s predictable and sometimes one-dimensional but it’s damned funny too. Sheldon’s delivery is awesome, there’s nice chemistry between the characters, and Penny wears tight shirts.
What a pefect show for WW to guest on. Loved it when he bluffed Sheldon - and when the comic store guy said “Well, that was fun. . .”
The best ep in a long time - had 2 equally good storylines, and equally good roles for all of the major characters.
Loved the episode - it surprised me. I thought once we knew about Sheldon’s memory that they would be off to Vegas counting cards at the 21 tables. But that’s not how our beloved geeks think, now is it.
There was also a tie-back to the money…Sheldon doesn’t care about it, as long as he has enough to do what he wants. So he had no problem loaning money to Penny and not caring when she paid him back. So the $500 prize for the contest didn’t matter to him.
Best episode of the season.
I’m surprised how well the Penny/Leonard relationship is working. I kind of bought into the notion that if they ever got together it would be a shark-jumping moment, but I think it’s made the show better. I’m now wondering if Wolowitz’s girlfriend will become at least a temporary part of the show, and I think that might be a lot of fun as well.
Great episode, especially when Raj called Sheldon on his mixing of WoK and TNG.
I started to write a geeky nitpick, since I thought it was unlikely that Sheldon would have been such a fan of Wesley Crusher, he being such a generally hated character by Trekkies. But rereading some of Wil Wheaton’s TNG memories on tvsquad, I realize that Sheldon as a kid was no doubt hated for exactly the same reasons that Wesley was hated - socially inept genius who is constantly showing up the “smarter” adults. I’m guessing that in Sheldon’s mind, backstory Wesley got dog poop smeared on his hoverbike handlebars too.
Another terrible episode, last week’s was bad enough, but this week’s reached a whole new nadir.
The whole setup with the MtG-clone tournament was so incredibly predictable. Classic from How to Write A Bad Sitcom 101.
Dear BBT writers: Here’s how you could have done the tournament ending and been only mediocre: It turns out that Sheldon knew WW was lying because Sheldon of course memorized his nemesis’ blog (which is why the eidetic memory setup exists) and knew that the grandmother was still alive, citing date and such. He plays the winning cards and then does the Klingon revenge line.
How can one write an episode about MtG players and not do anything funny?
I swear ftg I heard Sheldon’s voice the whole time I read that post.
Two things: Sheldon would not read WWs Blog because WW is his mortal enemy and dead to him.
Also Alowing Sheldon to be denied his revenge allows a long running feud in which WW can return time to time to out wit Sheldon with simple tricks that others more socially ept creatures would not fall for. It’s a series you need fall back stories now and then.
Besides having Whil turn to the Combic book guy and say “Did that guy just say Revenge is a dish best served cold in Kilingon?” was worth the price of admission.
It sounds like you don’t really like this show.
I agree. It’s nice to see that the writers are letting them “be a couple.” No need to make their relationship the centerpiece of every episode, or to fill it with conflict. Just let them develop it naturally.
I had the same thought as ftg. Sheldon so immerses himself in minutiae that if there was any reason for Wil Wheaton to have missed DixieTrek, he’d have known about it[sup]*[/sup].
Did anybody else think that Wil Wheaton was attempting a Neil Patrick Harris; playing a douchey version of himself as a means of reinventing his acting career?
IIRC, Wheaton had a somewhat similar encounter with his idol, Shatner, that Sheldon had with Wheaton. He got a chance to meet him while shooting a show, so he was dressed in his uniform, and Shatner pretty much blew him off.
I thought it was funny that Wil Wheaton knew exactly what Sheldon was saying when he said “Did he just say ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’ in Klingon?” in that totally exasperated tone, and then said “What is wrong with him?” and comic book guy said “Everyone has a different theory.”
Wanna do something crazy? Let’s go over to Sheldon’s side of the couch and make out.
That was the point at which I, personally, lost it. Such a subtle joke.
Another good episode. I laughed several times. I agree - we will see Wheaton again.
No, because I read Wil Wheaton’s blog:
(Besides, Wil Wheaton considers himself more of an author now, and he has pretty steady acting work in guest starring roles and voice work. He doesn’t need to pull an NPH move.)