The Big Bang Theory: “The Pirate Solution” Review

Having made no significant progress at work for months, Raj fears the university will fire him and his work visa will be revoked. When an interview for another position goes awry, Raj is forced to work for/with Sheldon. With Raj busy, Howard hangs with Leonard and Penny, cutting into their alone time.

Raj’s first job interview seemed to go well, though you could sense his nervousness from the start as he paid the interviewer a backhanded compliment. As expected, he panicked when a prospective female colleague questioned him. He took a drink of sherry, and I thought he would be all right, but his comments after the drink cost him the job. I like that, so far, I haven’t been able to predict how alcohol will affect Raj. Sometimes it does make him comfortable enough to succeed with women; other times it spells disaster.

Raj and Sheldon made a better comedic pairing than I thought they would. Knowing Sheldon, Raj preferred not to work with him (or as Sheldon insisted, “work for him”) but took the job as his last resort. Sheldon and Raj proceeded to get into a heated argument over how to detect dark matter in space. Intelligent argument played for humor is probably my favorite thing about The Big Bang Theory. I especially liked when Raj argued that Sheldon should trust him in the realm of outer space; he’s an astrophysicist and “astro” means space. Sheldon correctly pointed out that “astro” means “star,” and Raj countered that if they had been arguing in his native language, it would be no contest. Sheldon again correctly pointed out that English—as an official language of India—was Raj’s native language.

Finally, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” was great background music for scenes of Sheldon and Raj pondering the same equation for weeks. Yes, it poked fun at physicists thinking all day, but it also showed that answering cosmic questions is as important to scientists as a title fight is to a boxer.

By comparison, the scene of Howard interrupting Leonard and Penny’s love life was tame, but this episode proves the other regulars have developed enough that the show doesn’t have to focus on Leonard and Penny. I look forward to seeing how Raj and Sheldon’s working relationship affects them as individuals.