Howard and Raj hit a Goth bar hoping to pick up women, while Sheldon tries to use chocolates to rid Penny of behaviors that annoy him now that she’s spending more time in his space. Most episodes of The Big Bang Theory have established the characters as well-rounded and non-stereotypical. This was one of a handful of episodes that only scratched the surface of its subject, when it could have done more genuine exploring.
Howard and Raj both wore tattoo sleeves to the Goth bar, but while Raj did nothing else, Howard added eyeliner, changed his hair a bit, and wore a skintight shirt. Despite their lack of Goth knowledge, they picked up two girls who worked at The Gap. This struck me as something that would only happen in a sitcom. Also typical of sitcoms, Howard and Raj followed the girls to a tattoo parlor, but when it came time to get a tattoo, Howard chickened out.
I would have bought into the plot further if Howard’s motive for going to a Goth bar were more specific than his usual horniness. If he fell for a woman at the university who turned out to be a Goth, for instance, I would have been more invested. If he went home with an embarrassing permanent tattoo, I would have been more invested. A chance for humor was also wasted for Raj as we mostly assume he’s buzzed enough on light beer to get over his fear of talking to women. I did like that Howard and Raj decided to embellish the night’s events on the way home.
Meanwhile, Sheldon’s mostly successful attempts to modify Penny’s behavior seemed cold even for him. I was reminded of Leonard previously saying Sheldon was “one lab explosion short of becoming a supervillain.” Leonard recognized the experiment Sheldon was conducting and forbade him to continue, but Sheldon continued anyway. I would have preferred Leonard tell Penny what was going on and hatch a plan with her to turn the tables on Sheldon.
Summing up, I would have liked to see both storylines pushed a little further. It’s early in the season, though, and if Howard and Raj run into the Goth girls again or Sheldon’s chocolate experiment is called back in a future episode, I’ll be satisfied that this one had enough weight.
funny i love the charector sheldon hes awesome
I thought this was one of the better episodes of the season. I really like the Sheldon conditioning experiment and then his observations at the end of the episode. Also the Goth Howard and Raj were perfect. It was funny that Howard was almost willing to go the way of the tattoo for some fun.
cool thanks for writing this