The Big Bang Theory – Recap & Review – The Wiggly Finger Catalyst

photo: cbs

The Big Bang Theory
The Wiggly Finger Catalyst

Original Air Date: Oct 6, 2011

Kym – TwoCents Reviewer
kym@thetwocentscorp.com

I’ve got a bone to pick right off the bat this week – admittedly a personal one for my fiance and myself. We’ve seen our boys playing all sorts of geeky games – MMOs, 3-dimensional chess, and tonight a Dungeons and Dragons based board game – but so far, unless I’ve missed it, we haven’t seen them playing the ultimate geeky game. Where is the table-top roleplaying? The real Dungeons and Dragons or any of the other fantasy and science fiction games where everyone sits around and rolls dice. Lots and lots of dice. They did it on Community, but not Big Bang? Really? Okay, now that I’ve got that off my chest, I can move on.

Come with me now, because this weeks episode was very revealing, and I’m not referring to Penny’s wardrobe.

So, as I mentioned the guys are all sitting around playing a board game, while the girls are waxing their hands and discussing that Raj’s need for a girlfriend now that everyone else is in a relationship. On a side note, before I get into that, I looked up the hand waxing and I may need to try it. In addition to making your hands softer and alleviating dry skin, it also apparently helps with circulation and joint pain. Good to know, but back to the story.

First, after the girls’ conversation, Penny and Howard, introduce Raj to what would seem to be the perfect girl. Emily is deaf, and apparently Howard learned sign language somewhere along the way and joins them as translator for their first date. It’s a good thing that Howard “edited” what Raj had to say. It’s not just the alcohol, Raj is a bit of a sexist pig when he talks to women. I think he just doesn’t know any better and would learn with practice, if he could actually talk all the time.. He did owe Howard half of that kiss at the end, maybe even the whole thing. It works out on its own though and they continue to date, with Raj clearly falling in love. Things seem to be going well, except that everyone’s worried that Raj is spending too much money on her – diamond earrings, a leased car, a ruby necklace.

Turns out though – according to Sheldon – that all this time Raj has been loaded. Really loaded. He can actually afford all this stuff. So now they’re worried that she’s a gold digger. At first Penny doesn’t believe she could be one because she’s handicapped. She’s wrong though, and resorts to ratting Raj out to his parents who say they will cut him off if he continues to date her. Poor Raj chooses love and learns the hard way that she was just interested in the gifts she was getting. I felt bad for him, but at least he’ll get a Maserati if he dates an Indian girl and he has that “first relationship” under his belt. Maybe that’ll help him down the road. In the meantime, he’s not skating by any more without paying for lunch once in a while. Oh, and Leonard has another reason to keep his relationship up with Priya – not that the money actually matters to him in more than just a passing way. That wouldn’t be Leonard.

Now, for the rest of the guys. Who but Howard would confront an ogre with “Hey ma, what’s for dinner?” It works though; the ogre is amused and let’s him pass in the game. The game that apparently gives Sheldon the idea to free his mind for greater things by leaving the trivial decisions to a simple dice roll. At first, I thought he wouldn’t be able to do it. I thought his OCD would get in the way. But, in a sense, he just transferred the OCD into a different ritual. It is actually quite brilliant in that regard. He’s reduced his constant worry and multiple rituals over every little thing to one simple ritual for everything. I still don’t see how he survived the pitcher of Margaritas though, especially if the only food involved was a side of succotash. I wish we’d gotten to see that. I was also sure he’d lose it over not wearing underwear – but he truly accepted that “the dice giveth and the dice taketh away”. It was a great surprise to see him able to manipulate his disorder so easily, especially since he denies it to everyone else.

On the whole, I was happy with this week’s episode. It was good to see Raj actually start to feel comfortable with a woman, even if she did ultimately break his heart. Sheldon was amusing as usual, and Bernadette really is the perfect woman for Howard. I love that she told him that it doesn’t matter where he “gets his motor running”, he just needs to “park the car in the right garage”. Some women get so jealous for so little reason and I’ve never understood that. I’m also getting used to the expanded cast now that everyone’s got more friends and relationships. I’ll still miss it when Sheldon’s wit is conspicuously lacking on an episode, but I realize that they can’t focus on everyone in every episode and still be under half an hour.

And now it’s over for another week and, as usual, I’ll miss our boys and be thinking about them in the interim. Will they carry forward with this “dice plan” of Sheldon’s? Or will that be forgotten about next week? Will Raj be able to talk to women now that he’s had a girlfriend, if only briefly? Will Raj find a nice Indian girl and get the Maserati? And why are Raj’s parents willing to accept Priya’s relationship with Leonard, but Raj has to marry another Indian? I don’t know much about the culture – is it a patriarchal thing? As always, I love reading your opinions as we wait for next week’s episode.