Big Bang TheoryThe Work Song Nanocluster
Original Air Date: Mar 16, 2009
Amanda - Senior Reviewer
amanda@thetwocentscorp.com
Score! CBS has ordered two more seasons of Big Bang Theory! I feel a need for something sparkly... and so does Penny, who’s started a small business making glittery flower barrettes. The guys? Well, they’re just having way too much fun with disinfectant spray and laser beams (I’ll explain in a minute), but soon get roped in by Sheldon’s marketing expertise. Sounds... intriguing, to say the least.
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[photo: CBS.com]
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Score! CBS has ordered two more seasons of Big Bang Theory! I feel a need for something sparkly…and so does Penny, who’s started a small business making glittery flower barrettes. The guys? Well, they’re just having way too much fun with disinfectant spray and laser beams (I’ll explain in a minute), but soon get roped in by Sheldon’s marketing expertise. Sounds…intriguing, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteWe open with Leonard, Raj, and Howard playing Secret Agent Laser Obstacle Chess, but Sheldon’s got more important things to do: he has a package he picked up for Penny while she was at work, and it’s almost 11:00 AM, the earliest they can knock on her door without being punched in the throat. Sheldon delivers the package, and then attempts to get her to sign a legal document releasing him from all responsibilities for it. Penny doesn’t understand or care about that, she’s just happy her rhinestones arrived. She’s been making and selling flowered barrettes that she calls “Penny Blossoms,” and hopes to sell enough to enable her to quit being a waitress. Once Sheldon ascertains that his Tuesday cheeseburger will be delivered by an acceptable substitute waitress, he offers to use his “working knowledge of the entire universe and everything in it” (except for Radiohead) to help Penny expand her business and make it more profitable, on one condition: she’s not allowed to be snide or sarcastic. Well, this should be interesting.
Sheldon’s first move is to see how quickly Penny can create one Penny Blossom, then does the math and determines that there are children in a sneaker factory in Indonesia who out-earn her. In typical Sheldon fashion, he takes great joy in explaining (condescendingly, of course) the concept, and increased efficiency, of the assembly line. Meanwhile, across the hall, the guys prepare to go to a movie, only to hear singing coming from Penny’s apartment. Curious, they investigate, and discover that Penny and Sheldon have set up their own little assembly line, singing a sea chantey together to increase productivity, and it works; they just made a Penny Blossom in under three minutes. Leonard points out that this raises more questions than it answers, but the guys soon get involved, suggesting different ways to increase the bond between the rhinestones and the flowers, set up a marketing and distribution infrastructure, and, most importantly, solve Penny’s moisture-induced glitter clump problem. They completely take over, moving the process to Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment (“because it’s MY apartment,” Sheldon explains), and Penny, left with nothing to do, decides to take a nap. Good girl, Penny. I handled my wedding rehearsal much the same way.
When we return, Leonard has designed the Penny Blossoms web page, which Penny says looks like the MySpace page of a thirteen-year-old girl, and, based on the quality of his work, Sheldon suggests letting Leonard go. However, they’ve already got orders: a woman in Arkansas has ordered two, saying they’ll be perfect for covering up her bald spots. Sheldon pounces on this as a previously undiscovered potential market, wondering how they could attract baldness-afflicted male customers. The answer? Clearly, adding Bluetooth…because everything is better with Bluetooth. They may not need Bluetooth, though, because they just got an order for 1,000 Penny Blossoms for the Fifth Annual East Rutherford, New Jersey Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Alliance Luau. The problem? Leonard included “One Day Rush” as a shipping option. An overwhelmed Penny wants to cancel the order, but Sheldon boils it down to terms she can understand: for one day’s work, she’ll make over three thousand dollars. Encouraged, Penny orders the guys to get started while she goes online to buy shoes.
Some time later, Penny and Sheldon have switched from the sea chantey to “She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain,” and Raj complains that if he wanted to spend his Saturday nights making flower barrettes, he could have stayed in India. Sheldon hears their grumbling, explains to Penny that the employees must be carefully nurtured, then orders them to get to work. As the night wears on, Leonard and a very reluctant Howard have joined in the singing, but Sheldon has fallen asleep. Penny offers Sheldon coffee, but he flatly refuses, saying that when he moved to California, he promised his mother he wouldn’t start doing drugs. Using the carefully practiced art of flattery, Leonard talks him into staying. A reluctant Sheldon agrees to drink the coffee, but says that if it leads to opiates, Penny will have to answer to his mother. This leads to Caffeinated!Sheldon, which is just as enthusiastic and knowledgeable as Regular!Sheldon, only he talks much faster, and punctuates all his insights with the occasional “BAM!”
Finally, the order has been filled, and a grateful Penny offers to give them 20 cents for every dollar she makes, until Howard points out that that’s her entire profit margin, at which point she rescinds her offer. On his way to print the shipping label, Leonard discovers that the New Jersey GLBT Luau needs another 1,000 Penny Blossoms…One Day Rush, of course. Penny tries to enlist their help with a rousing pep talk, but one by one the guys drift away, with Howard claiming that they do, believe it or not, have lives. Caffeinated!Sheldon reappears then, wearing a Flash costume and streaking through the apartment in a search for more coffee. We conclude with the guys playing Secret Agent Laser Obstacle Lunch, which Leonard proclaims “just stupid,” and I’m inclined to agree, but it’s still hilarious.
As Penny/Sheldon episodes go, this one was pretty good, although I’m of the opinion that Sheldon, wonderful as he is, makes a better supporting character than a main one. Nonetheless, Caffienated!Sheldon was worth the entire episode, as was Secret Agent Laser Obstacle Everything. So that’s my two cents, or possibly Pennies. I welcome yours! BAM!
I've enjoyed most every episode I've seen of the show. watch The Big Bang Theory Online.Though it is based on an old joke I still find it entertaining enough to keep me tuning in every week. I find myself laughing out loud multiple times pretty much every episode. Though I must admit I would probably have rated this show about a 7 since it's not that original but I felt a 10 helps to better balance out those who gave it 0s, a score it certainly does not deserve!
ReplyDeleteSheldon is a great singer but I’m not surprised. He strikes me as a musical theater kind of person if you want to know the truth. Scientists can take the fun out of anything if give ANY opportunity. I could suck the life out of anything given the right opportunity. These shows were difficult for me to watch because I was so busy that year but luckily I saved them on my DISH Network employee DVR and now that I have my free Sling adapter http://bit.ly/k80U6m I got with the special offer they have I was able to watch in my spare time on my iPhone; it’s so convenient.
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