Big Bang: Penny's History Paper, Sheldon's Game

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I find it interesting that Penny has been taking a history class, but why did she start with history and why have we not seen any clues to this in the first five episodes of the season? She could have been not at home when the guys thought she should be, or have to not go out for some secret studying or something. The way it was presented here made it look like a late idea that they just started working with in this episode. Also, the mini-side story of Howard using an Indian accent and Raj trying not to speak with one was weird... what was the point? And, Leonard and Sheldon using a chess clock to talk about their respective problems was a really great scene. I kinda loved it... so classical character for both of them!

Photo: Michael Yarish/Warner Bros.

The Big Bang Theory "The Extract Obliteration" (S06E06): Sheldon announced that he invited Stephen Hawking to play Words with Friends, and the genius accepted. He takes it to mean that they are "friends." [hahaha! and, be on the lookout for a bunk bed with a slide! that would complete Sheldon's dreams from when he was six!] The game starts off okay, but three days go by without Hawking making a play, and Sheldon can see that he's playing others. When Hawking finally plays, Sheldon isn't sure if he should throw the game or not... he decides to, but Hawking calls and makes fun of him. [I don't know that I completely understood what they were going for with this... is Hawking a jerk? besides, I was in the camp that believed Sheldon was duped and it was some random kid... that would have been funner, I think!] 

Bernadette tells Penny and Amy that she accidentally dried off with Howard's mother's underwear. [the horror! they should have worked this into the Halloween episode!] Luckily, the conversation moves on to Penny taking a history class at the local community college, which she's keeping secret from Leonard. She decides to tell him (it's been a few months now, after all), but he immediately starts making a big deal out of it (as she anticipated). She won't let him see her term paper, but he sneaks out of bed in the night to take a look... only to find out that writing is not Penny's strong point. [hahaha.] Leonard doesn't know if he should tell Penny, as he wasn't supposed to read it. [and here we have the aforementioned Chess Clock conversation, with Sheldon's problem being whether he should throw the game.] Leonard makes her breakfast and tells her the story of "The Shoemaker and the Elves," then presents her with a paper that he wrote. [though I love that story, I thought this was a stupid idea here.] She gets upset and he claims he didn't want her to become discouraged with a bad grade. Later, Penny gets a B- and is happy, though it turns out that Amy and Bernadette helped her write that one. [haha! I especially loved that they dumbed-down the writing to make it believable that Penny did it! I was surprised that Penny would have believed that those two actually earned a B-...]