Penny is back! Everything seemed to fall into place during last night’s episode of The Big Bang Theory, didn’t it? We had the return of Penny, a guest appearance by Eliza Dushku, lots of nerdtastic jokes and a solid storyline. I’d say this fourth season of Big Bang is moving along quite well.
Eliza Dushku was playing an FBI agent who had to interview all of Howard’s colleagues as a part of a background check for a fancy government job. And since Howard’s friends and colleagues are Raj, Leonard and Sheldon, none of those interviews went very well.
First was Raj, who had to gorge on rum cake in order to even be able to talk to Agent Page. Then he panicked and rambled on about being in the country legally and how India was crowded, telling her “It’s like the whole country is one endless Comic-Con, except everybody’s wearing the same costume – Indian guy!”
Leonard’s interview was probably weirdest, since he spent the whole thing hitting on her in awkward and inappropriate ways. So she moved on to Sheldon, who almost didn’t even let her in the apartment when she showed him her FBI badge. “And here’s my Justice League membership card,” he told her. “That doesn’t prove I know Batman.” Once Agent Page was inside, Sheldon rattled off his list of personal complaints about Howard and ended with one that actually mattered – that he’d once “crashed the Mars rover while attempting to impress a woman.”
Sheldon was wracked with guilt and Gorn dreams, so he ‘fessed up to Howard and apologized. Howard refused his apology, which was not the social protocol Sheldon had been expecting. “Now you say ‘apology accepted’ and I will offer you a one time only high-five,” he told Howard. No dice. Sheldon then turned to Penny and booze to help him through his grief. Sheldon’s multiple attempts to do a shot was possibly one of the funniest things ever, and it was great to have him interacting with Penny again.
In the end, Sheldon made peace with Howard by offering him his beloved spot on the couch. For 94 seconds, and then he freaked out and asked for it back. What did you think of the episode? Were you as entertained as I was despite Eliza Dushku’s pretty inconsequential appearance? And check out these other great lines and moments from “The Apology Insufficiency”:
- “You pop, sparkle and buzz electric.” – Leonard
- “Penny, you face failure on a daily basis. How do you cope?” – Sheldon
- “No, I love my mother. My feelings for my spot are much greater.” – Sheldon
- An appearance by the actual guy who demoted Pluto! I’m with Sheldon, I liked Pluto.
- After Howard accepted Sheldon’s apology, Raj said he hadn’t cried that much since Toy Story 3.
