While Leonard and Penny try to rebound from an awkward first night together, Sheldon and Howard each think they’ve correctly identified a species of cricket. As I wrote about last week’s premiere, I liked how this week’s episode subtly played with expectations. Once two characters get together, it’s easy for series to fall into overplaying the relationship. “The Jiminy Conjecture” avoided this, spending most of its time on the cricket plot.
Howard bet his valuable Fantastic Four comic that the cricket was a field cricket; Sheldon put up his valuable Flash comic that it was a snowy tree cricket. They finally settled the bet by going to entomology professor Crawley (Lewis Black)—a thinly veiled opportunity for Black’s angry standup routine. It’s still fun to see Sheldon’s superiority complex take a hit. In fact, Sheldon said he would never live down being bested by Wolowitz. We’ll see. All along I wondered how things were going with Leonard and Penny. Just what the writers wanted, I suspect.
Leonard thought their sex was “fine.” Penny thought it was “okay.” They try for better results with alcohol, but fail, reminding me of when they got drunk and almost had sex in last season’s “The Maternal Capacitance.” In this, too, the writers played against expectations. “Okay” first sex is not only a new experience for Penny but also for sitcom viewers. Typically an unlikely couple gets together, and it’s magic from the start. If performance issues come up later, they’re blamed on one partner or the other—not both.
I was glad Leonard refused to reset his relationship with Penny in the final scene. Too many sitcom couples have gone back to being just friends as a stall tactic. Leonard’s refusal played off last season’s “The Vartabedian Conundrum,” when Stephanie (Sara Rue) was moving too fast for him, and Penny told him he had the right to try and make things go the way he wanted. I hope the characters continue to prove too clever to fall into old sitcom traps.
