Well, I use to like Priya.
The magic bit was hysterical. “Yeah, like he’s going to win a Nobel Prize.”
I called the gag on the magic trick from the moment sheldon didn’t get it. But I was still rolling with laughter throughout the episode about it. Raj’s “two of hearts gesture” put me on the floor gasping for air.
Yes, it did seem like a bitchy turn for priya, but we don’t know much about her character other than an inexplicable attraction to leonard. I didn’t see penny’s actions in the restaurant as dumb, just normal close-friend relationship, which is exactly what priya doesn’t want.
Damn, I totally missed that!
I was wondering whether Howard made a lucky 1-in-52 guess, or anticipated that Sheldon would eventually want to pick the card himself and started carrying around an all 2-of-hearts deck. None of the above, it turns out.
Trivia note: The three main characters were originally called “Lenny, Kenny, and Penny.” When the producers decided that ws way too corny, they changed Lenny to Leonard and changed Kenny to Sheldon to honor comedian Sheldon Leonard.
The “2-of-hearts” gesture was the most hilarious part of the show for me!
What would Raj have done if it was the ace of spades?
Obviously they had a secret code system for each suit: spades could be Raj’s dark hair, diamonds his elbow and spades his check. Or some such thing.
ETA: I didn’t have a clue about how the trick worked until Raj’s gesture. Of course, I didn’t think about it that hard.
Was that another cryptic clue to the Howard and Raj ‘alleged’ homosexual relationship.
Heart being a metaphor for love.
I don’t think they had a code at all. Raj just helped out because he was in on the trick. That’s why Howard looked nervous when Sheldon asked to participate himself.
What about when Raj was holding the King of Diamonds, but Howard said 7 of clubs? That was the reveal for everyone who hadn’t figured it out until then.
I have to agree. Penny seemed weirdly over the top in this episode.
I thought this episode was hilariously funny… especially the ‘B’ plot. It rang so true to me.
My late wife used to do this “card trick” where she would have someone pick a card, memorize it, and put it back in the deck. She would then shuffle the deck, let the person shuffle the deck, shuffle them again by spreading the cards on the table and swirling them around. Then for the big finale she would say to the spectator "not only has your card risen to the top of the deck… BUT IT HAS CHANGED TO THE… (flip top card over ) THE FOUR OF HEARTS! (or whatever card turned up) It was always good for a cheap laugh.
‘But my card started as the Four of Hearts.’ 
(Also, for the Ace of Spades, clearly the signal would be tracing the shape of Lemmy Kilmister’s beard.)
Yup… that’s what I got too. A little panic from Howard, saved by some quick thinking from Raj (and a luckily easy to signal card pulled by Sheldon).
The funny thing is that a lot of magic tricks are based on confederates in on the trick, not zany gadgets & geegaws. When & if they finally tell Sheldon, he’s gonna be pissed.
I didn’t think it was that out of place for Penny, considering it’s been established she mooches food at Leonard’s regularly.
To me it was a bit more like real life. I don’t know anyone who has seriously dated someone and breaks up and still hangs out like on Friends, or Seinfeld or Petticoat Junction.
It would seem natural Priya to be threatened by Penny, who obviously still likes Leonard but only wants Leonard on her terms.
I personally hate the on/off romances that have become a staple since Cheers, but I guess most everyone else likes them, as they keep appearing.
I dated a woman seriously for 5 years and she’s still my best friend. I hang out with her often. I’m skiing with her this weekend, along with her BF and my GF.
If you watch Friends in syndication on TBS (I think), every night they run two episodes, both in different sections of the series (but running in order). The earlier showing is in that area. In fact, just last night was when Ross told Rachel he can’t see her anymore.
ISTM that Howard really wasn’t expecting that and Raj was just thinking quickly when he made the gesture.
I’m still curious as to whether it was a legit card trick at the beginning and it just devolved into that or if everyone was in on it from the start. You’ll notice that the trick changed from beginning to end. He stopped shuffling the card back into the deck and just guessed at it as soon as they were holding it. What’s funny is about two seconds before she said it, I was thinking “Penny needs to tell everyone that she figured it out and then whisper something to Howard and tell him to announce that she figured it out to bug Sheldon”
Now that I think about it, AFF wasn’t in this episode. I’m guessing she would have been able to figure it out. Or at least she would have been smart enough to be able to say “Have you noticed that you’ve only observed this being done to others, but you’ve never been the ‘as they say in the business’ mark.”
ETA to finish that thought now that I read it…
What are you trying to say?
What I’m trying to say, Sheldon, is that perhaps, you’re the victim in a bigger prank and that all your friends are in on this. What you need to do is think even bigger then them to figure it out.
From there of course, Sheldon would do something completely inappropriate and/or socially unacceptable to get them back for pulling a prank on him.
The contacts thing really bugged me - in real life, contacts let you see better than glasses, and it pisses me off that I can’t wear them.
I too said it was all Ross and Rachel and Emily when Priya wanted Leonard to dump Penny.
I didn’t love this episode, and I’m not sure why. Too patchy and uneven?
I didn’t think Penny being annoying was weird. I think it was in character for someone who is jealous of an ex’s new relationship with a formidable partner. The over the top act was to run the romantic evening of an ex she’s still pining over. Nothing better to needle a new partner than going on and on about how close you still are (eating his food, sipping his drink, calling him “Lenny,” etc.).
I don’t mind Priya/Leonard, but Leonard’s gotta put a stop to the bitchiness. I don’t see a Leonard/Priya/Penny love triangle going over well.
I broke up with a guy 12 years ago who’s still my closest friend. We communicate almost every day by email, facebook, phone or Skype. However, it helps that we live in separate cities and neither has been in a live-in or really even long-term relationship in that time, though when we have dated other people jealousy does become an issue (not a showing up at 3 a.m. drunk and singing I Who Have Nothing on a vintage Mr. Microphone type jealousy but more of an “Happy for you, don’t want to hear about it” type).
I didn’t think Priya was being at all unreasonable or bitchy, just a little unrealistic. And Penny probably doesn’t even know she’s intentionally guarding Leonard but subconsciously she probably is totally saying “My precious!”.
I missed the episodes when Leonard and Penny broke up. What happened and who broke it off?
And Johnny Galecki is really cute without the nerd glasses. He was a guest on Sara Gilbert’s new “us gals” talk show (it’s not called The View Too but may as well be) and they were reminiscing about when they used to date and even make out. He abstained from jokes about ruining her for other men. He did say he was more nervous kissing her on Big Bang Theory than on Roseanne because it was so strange to be doing it again after more than a decade’s hiatus.