The Big Bang Theory: The Work Song Nanocluster

(S02E18) As much as I love Leonard, tonight's episode of The Big Bang Theory only further proves that Penny and Sheldon are meant to be. Maybe not in a romantic sense (I still have a hard time picturing Sheldon in a relationship with any woman), but in a platonic life mate sense.

Proving that there is, in fact, a market in everything, Penny manages to start selling her Penny Blossoms, which are really hideous flower barrettes. This obviously means that the guys are going to get involved and geek it up, which they do in a splendid fashion that somehow involves charcoal.

I also learned an important tip: If you're looking to sell something to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered market, design your website like a 13-year-old girl's MySpace page. They are apparently attracted to the same graphic design sensibility -- which Leonard apparently possesses.

Let's cut to the chase, though: The best part of this episode was absolutely Sheldon and Penny singing. The sea shanty when they first started their assembly line was priceless. It was kind of fun when the rest of the guys got involved later (especially when Raj whispered his part of the song to Wolowitz), but Sheldon and Penny performed so well together, that they could have done just fine on their own.

The other highlight of the episode for me was Sheldon's descent into the dark world of caffeine. Despite the fact that he promised his mother that he would never do drugs, he couldn't stop himself from indulging in coffee. Even though the result was predictable, Sheldon's manic monologue was pretty hilarious, as was his decision to dress up like The Flash and zoom around the apartment.

All in all, this was a really funny episode with a good balance between all the characters. I'm curious to see whether or not the whole Wolowitz/Leslie relationship is going to get anymore screentime or if we're ever going to hear about Penny Blossoms again. As much as I love this show, my main problem with it is the dropped storylines.

Some of my favorite lines from this week's episode:

"Penny, I'm a physicist. I have a working knowledge of the universe and everything it contains." --Sheldon

Sheldon: "You are effectively paying yourself five dollars and nineteen cents a day."
Penny: "A day?"
Sheldon: "There are children working in sneaker factories in Indionesia who outearn you."

Sheldon: "To start with, she has a terrible problem with moisture-induced glitter clump."
Penny: "Yeah, it's a bitch."
Wolowitz: "Ah, I've seen this before."
Leonard: "Where?"
Wolowitz: "It's a common stripper problem.They dance, they sweat, they clump."

Penny: "How are flower barrettes going to appeal to men?"
Wolowitz: "We add Bluetooth."

Wolowitz: "Oh, stop it with the fake third world crap. Your father is a gynecologist and you had a house full of servants."
Raj: "We only had four servants, and two of them were children."