The Big Bang Theory – Recap & Review – The Irish Pub Formulation

photo: cbs

The Big Bang Theory
The Irish Pub Formulation

Original Air Date: Oct 28, 2010

Theresa – Staff Writer
theresa@thetwocentscorp.com

Another week without Kaley, and another girl for Leonard! This week, Raj’s sister comes to visit

Raj brings his sister Priya into the university cafeteria, where the guys are sitting having a lunch that includes terrible cobbler. She has a one-day layover on her way to Toronto, where she’ll be lead attorney for a corporate merger on behalf of her company. She’s met the gang before, so there’s no surprises. Except for the part where she grabs Leonard in the hallway outside the bathroom and starts making out with him. That’s probably going to be a surprise.

Leonard returns while Sheldon is trying to convince Raj to take his sister on a Los Angeles “train day”, which involves not one, but TWO different trains converted into hot dog stands. Later, Sheldon is using an emulator that lets you play old text-based computer games – which I am SO going to go find after this review! He gets so caught up in it that he stays up past his bedtime and Leonard has to find a way to sneak Priya into the apartment. He resorts to making Sheldon paranoid about getting sleepy and yawning in public, exposing his “oddly shaped uvula”.

So, it would seem that despite a pact he and Howard made last time Priya was there, Leonard has been totally breaking bro code and sleeping with Raj’s sister whenever she visits. He’d like to make it more serious, but she disagrees. Meanwhile Sheldon gets suspicious when he hears her laughing coming from Leonard’s room, so Leonard tells him he was practicing laughing like a woman. Sheldon also buys that the lipstick on Leonard’s neck is a rash, but unfortunately Priya doesn’t make it out the door before Sheldon sees her.

On the ride to work, Sheldon points out that Leonard has betrayed all three of his friends: Raj, obviously; Howard, for the pact; and him, because he did not comply with the Roommate Agreement’s guest notification provision. But since Sheldon is being forced to cover for him, he needs to make up an elaborate lie, which is always fun. But unlike the cousin Leopold lie, this one has some obvious holes. Instead of being with Priya, Leonard will have been wooed at an Irish pub when the bartender, Maggie McGarry, used a napkin to propose “coitus”. Maggie’s voicemail is also a computer voice saying some Irish words.

When Raj and Howard wonder why he didn’t see Caprica last night, he has to go along with Sheldon’s lie. (That never would’ve happened if he’d read TheTwoCents Review…) Unfortunately, he can’t keep it up and tells everyone the truth. And then the truth keeps on coming! It turns out Howard dropped Raj’s phone in a urinal, and told him he’s supposed to give them Thanksgiving presents, Sheldon mixed ground-up moths into Leonard’s food for an experiment, and Raj used Sheldon’s toothbrush! They all calm down, and Raj is able to keep Sheldon’s friendship with a talking train Thanksgiving present.

I think the best thing to come out of this episode is realizing that “For science!” can be a plausible explanation for any behavior. The exchange at the end was definitely the laugh-out-loud moment, as most of the ensemble moments are. This episode wasn’t so eventful, but given that they had to quickly rewrite these episodes, they’ve done an amazing job keeping the flow and making them enjoyable. I would’ve liked a little more Raj in an episode about Raj’s sister, but we are getting a Howard episode next week (and Eliza Dushku, one of my faves!), so that should be awesome.

Let me know what you thought of Priya and all the revelations. And how very very unperceptive Sheldon can be sometimes! Leave your Two Cents in the comments!

Best Lines
Raj: This goes without saying, but I’m just going to say it anyway – hands off my sister.
Sheldon: Why would I touch her, she’s covered with airplane germs.

Leonard: You know what happens when you yawn in public.
Sheldon: (horrified) Everyone will see my oddly shaped uvula.
Leonard: You don’t want that, do you?
Sheldon: No. It’s a shame our society mocks the differently uvulated.

Sheldon: Do you prefer ointment or cream?
Leonard: Cream.
Sheldon: With or without a numbing agent?
Leonard: Without.
Sheldon: Really, Leonard? There are no heroes when it comes to dermatitis.

Leonard: You put moths in my food?!
Sheldon: For science!