Castle 6x08: A Murder is Forever

What I Liked
-They brought back tech officer whatshername. She's on the show a lot, but she's still not a very good character. It's not entirely her fault, though, the dialogue she gets isn't so great.
-Esposito considers taking the diamond and making a run for it. That's what I'd do.
-Castle makes a pun that would've made even David Caruso groan. They can't all be winners.

What I Hated
-The dudes who try to steal the diamond from Ryan and Esposito are wearing clown masks. That's so 2008.
-The cleaner has a magic shredder and a magic computer. It's really hard to permanently delete files quickly, and it's impossible to just shred something so it can't be reassembled... at least not with any technology you could fit in a portable device.

Final Thoughts
A diamond heist isn't this show's typical fare. Sure there was a murder, but they spent the bulk of the episode dealing with a big, shiny rock. Although it was somewhat novel, it ultimately didn't work for me, simply because most of the episode just didn't make any damn sense. You can't unload machine guns at two cops in the middle of New York and get away with it anymore. Bloomberg outlawed that.

TBBT 7x08: The Itchy Brain Simulation

What I Liked
-Amy and Bernadette get their own drinks because Penny is slow. That's one of the perks of being friends with the bartender... sort of.
-Raj wonders why the key is always confidence and not love handles and flop sweat. A lot of men wonder that at some point in their lives.
-Raj loves Penny because she gets him dates. It's weird to love a woman who gets you dates with other women, but I suppose it's a different kind of love.

What I Hated
-They brought Lucy back. That was completely unnecessary; she was a terrible character, and Raj had achieved closure, more or less.
-The itchy sweater is way too itchy. Like ridiculously, comically so. But it wasn't funny.

Final Thoughts
It was a bit strange to see Sheldon actually be devious and vindictive. Normally he's above those sorts of things. Perhaps he's not a robot after all.

The Crazy Ones 1x08: The Stan Wood Account

What I Liked
-The finger doesn't lie!

It sure doesn't.

-We finally meet the Lewis in LewisRoberts+Roberts. I was wondering when they'd get around to that.
-No one remembers Ike Turner for his song-writing skills. They shouldn't.
-Ed Asner plays the feeble old woman. Even at his advanced age, he can still act.
-There's a 'never mind horn' at the used car lot. You've gotta have some way to take it back when someone prematurely rings the bell.
-Brad Garrett driving a tiny car.

Ha-ha!

What I Hated
-They didn't show the new Mr. Finger commercial. That's all we really wanted to see.

Final Thoughts
Dang, Ed Asner is looking old and decrepit. I really hope he's still acting because he enjoys it and not because he can't pay his mortgage or something.

It's good to see TV's Brad Garrett back on TV.

This was the funniest episode so far of this series. I really enjoy it, which probably means it'll be cancelled at the end of the season.

Hawaii Five-0 4x08: Akanahe

What I Liked
-Four guys show up to kill Nick Jonas. About freakin' time.
-McGarrett tells Chi he has a very angry disposition. He sure does.
-Cat can't flick things up onto the big screen. He-he.
-The photo that comes up when Steve calls Cat is still goofy.

I tried to do that for my ladyfriend, but it wouldn't work. She's not terribly upset about it.

What I Hated
-Kono explains what a bullet will do to Sato's brain. That probably seemed bad-ass on the page, but it came off REALLY lame.
-The kids are getting naked on webcam. I don't need to see that. Also, Chi McBride really shouldn't have given his daughter her laptop back so quickly.
-A guy hacks his foot off to get rid of a tracking bracelet.
-The guys actually believe a kid can control a plane with a laptop. Computers are not magic, people!

Final Thoughts
So Chi McBride's character and McGarrett now have a grudging respect for one another. I was hoping they'd just kill Chi off, but now he has allies on the team and some kind of shady backstory, so he's going to be around for a while. Not that I'm against Chi McBride in any way -I've actually quite liked some of his work- but the character is unnecessary, and it seems a bit odd for the SWAT captain to suddenly be getting a lot of play when they went three years without mentioning the previous captain.

I really despise TV shows and movies that treat computers like they're magic. It's 2013, not 1991. Everyone and their grandmother has a computer in their pocket these days. Furthermore, while it may be technically possible to screw with a plane's GPS, there's absolutely no way to disable radio communications short of physically damaging the plane's hardware. It's a radio. You can build one out of crap you find lying in the street.

None of the three Bs were represented this week. Partially because Scott Caan wasn't even in the episode, and that kinda precludes any booking or driving of the Camaro. The lack of bikini babes is inexcusable, though. The only reason this episode doesn't get a single-star rating is because of all the violence done to Nick Jonas' face.

Fringe 5x08: The Human Kind

Click the image to get the episode.

With Peter nearly lost to the Observer tech in his head, Olivia turns to Walter in hopes that he might be able to reverse the process. A quick visit with Anil nets her her very own Observer head thing which she promptly hands off to Astrid and Walter for study. They've freed another tape, and someone has to go out of town to get a giant electromagnet from a scrap yard. Since recent developments have her flustered, Olivia volunteers.

Meanwhile, Peter and Windmark are playing timeline cat and mouse. Windmark tracks Peter to Etta's apartment and finds Peter's timeline maps, but the thing in his head allowed Peter to anticipate his arrival, so he teleports across the street just before he gets caught.

5:42 You are here. I am not.

In Fitchburg, Olivia finds a small community based in the scrap yard, and their leader, Simone, has been waiting for her. She's been expecting someone to come and claim the magnet since it was dropped off when she was young, and she's been expecting Olivia specifically since she has a mild ability to see the future. For years, people have been trying to convince Simone to sell the magnet and the truck its sitting on, but she kept the faith, and she has been rewarded.

Someone coming to take your magnet isn't much of a reward, but it still made her happy.

Olivia's thankful, but she doesn't trust anyone. While she waits for some villagers to return with fuel, she talks to a small girl who lets her know that people are talking about the reward on her head. So when Simone brings her a glass of water, rather than accept it, she pulls her gun.

Back at the lab, Walter has Astrid clean up his preserved porcupine-man brain so he can test the Observer tech on it. It doesn't work for very long, but the data they gather allows them to use their magic extrapolation machine to determine exactly what it does. Over time, new ridges form in the cerebral cortex, but eventually it becomes so thick that it overrides the area of the brain that controls emotions.

Peter's not quite there yet, though. He continues with his plan and causes a cup of tea to be spilled on Windmark's shoes so he'll miss the light at a crosswalk. Peter's very big on getting people to miss traffic lights. It's a subtle thing that most people would miss, but not Windmark. He's been playing the timeline game a lot longer than Peter, and he's actually been using Peter's manipulations against him, so he could get him alone in a warehouse and kill him. They have a brief but awesome high-speed teleportation fight that ends with Windmark slamming Peter's head against a wall and showing him what Etta was thinking about when he shot her: The day she spent at the park with her family before the invasion.

While anger can cloud your judgement in a fight, it can also give you strength, and pissing off the father of the girl you murdered is not a good idea. Peter breaks free of Windmark's grip before he can shank him with the standard-issue Observer knife and gives him a good right cross. Unfortunately, before he can follow up, Windmark's latest Lieutenant pops in behind him and tries to stab him in the chest from behind. Peter blocks the blow then rams the knife into his own shoulder, teleports behind the Lieutenant, jabs the knife into his chest and gives it a twist, then teleports away.

Being Windmark's Number Two isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Although he feels no pain, a gaping wound in his shoulder is still an impediment, so Peter returns to the lab to have Walter stitch him up. His father tries to convince him to remove the tech, but his desire for vengeance is overwhelming, and he will not be dissuaded.

Up north, Simone tries to explain the virtues of faith to Olivia, but she's seen too much. Her own experiences have shown her that all the mystical occurrences in the world are just fringe science, and she simply cannot believe there's anything more to the universe than that.

On her way back to the city, she comes across what appears to be a car accident, but when she gets out of her truck to check on it, she finds out it's a trap. Two guys pull guns on her and scan her. When they find out there's a reward on her head, they knock her out and take her to their hideout in an old machine shop. One of them just wants to sell the magnet and the truck and be done with it, but the other one convinces him to turn her over to the Observers. He calls the reward hotline and sets up a meeting at something called a 'Truth Church' where the Observers apparently can't read people. However, they make the mistake of leaving Olivia alone in another room, and she quickly devises an escape plan using an old air tank and the bullet that saved the world. She starts a small fire, and when Bad Guy #1 comes in to check it out, she dumps the tank and the bullet says hello to Mr. Brain.

Based on that face, I'd say Mr. Brain isn't home, though.

When Bad Guy #2 returns, she tries to get him to surrender, but he goes for his gun and she kills him without remorse. Apparently, in the future there will still be dumb guys. Olivia pauses for a moment to retrieve her bullet, then gives Walter a call for a status update. He tells her where Peter is and what he's planning.

As Peter sits on a balcony overlooking a square, Olivia arrives to convince him to stop. His plan is working, though. At 7:19pm, Windmark will walk across the square in front of a fountain, then at 5:12 the next day, Peter will meet him in the street and snap his neck. Olivia's protestations are not enough to deter him from his path, but they're enough to make him remember how he feels about her and about their daughter. The love he has for both of them is worth holding on to, and it's enough to convince him to take a knife to his head once more and carve out the device.

Love hurts.

What I Liked
-Peter leaves a message for Windmark on his timeline board. Personally, I would've been more insulting, but I suppose cold, unfeeling logic doesn't let you call a dude a dick.
-Astrid is slightly concerned that Walter might want to test the Observer tech in her brain. This was an instance where Gene really would've come in handy. Although, I'm not sure what they'd do with a hyper-intelligent teleporting cow.
-The way Peter kills the Observer Lieutenant is pretty slick, although you'd think he would've seen it coming. I guess in the future, no one's seen Live Free or Die Hard.
-As he tells Olivia about Etta's last thoughts, Peter's voice breaks from his dispassionate Observer cadence. Joshua Jackson played that scene really well; it's got to be hard to go back and forth between playing a grieving father and a robot.

What I Hated
-Peter walks down the street, bleeding profusely and carrying a bloody knife and nobody even really looks at him funny. Maybe it's something they see all the time in the dystopian future, but I still thought it was a bit strange.
-The guys who capture Olivia are smart enough to set a trap, but not smart enough to keep an eye on their captive. It's that weird combination of ingenuity and idiocy that fictional villains often have.

Final Thoughts
The word of the day was PLEAD. I suppose when someone is blinded by vengeance, the only thing you can do is plead with him to stop. It can be terribly difficult to bring someone back from the brink when they're consumed by rage, but I think if Fringe has taught us one thing it's that you should never underestimate the power of a pretty blonde woman.

Honestly, I can see how some people might have a problem with love being the answer, but I'm okay with it. It's been a theme on this show for a few years now that the love Peter and Olivia have for each other transcends time, space, and even crosses between universes, so getting a man to give up his plan for revenge seems relatively minor. Heck, their love caused Peter to manifest out of the ether; getting him to pull a thing out of his head is child's play.

There is one thing that bothered me about this episode, however: Simone. I get that she was there to help Olivia see that there's more to the world than just science, but I don't think she was strictly necessary. Having Olivia come to that conclusion on her own seems like it would've been far more poignant. As it is, someone told her that she needed to have faith, and she did, when it wasn't really a journey that needed a guide.

I'm also a bit bummed that Peter won't be able to do any more high-speed teleport fighting. Too much of it would've made it less special, but maybe one more would have been okay.

Ultimately, I'd say that this is the episode that got things back to normal -or as normal as things can get on Fringe. Olivia's back to her old butt-kicking self, her relationship with Peter is more or less repaired, and the team is getting ready to do a big science thing. So, it was an episode that needed to happen, and it had some good bits, but it wasn't great. With only five episodes left, perhaps next week will be when they start going all out.

Hawaii Five-0 3x08: Wahine 'inoloa

Click the title to get the episode.

This review is bad. The episode was bad and I didn't want to do it, so I couldn't bring myself to put a lot of effort into it. I apologize. Next time I'll try harder.

When a flaming man runs out of a burning sugar cane field (which is apparently part of the harvesting process... burning the field, not setting dudes on fire), the Five-0 team is on the case. Max's preliminary investigation turns up a gunshot wound and traces of gasoline on the body, so it was definitely not an accident.

He seems a tad crispy.

According to his phone records, the dead guy spent his last few hours alive trying to get in touch with his psychotherapist, so Steve and Kono go to have a chat with her. When they get to her place, McGarrett thinks he sees her hosing evidence off her car, so he arrests her... and that's where the episode goes off the rails.

I think it's supposed to be some kind of weird sexual cat-and-mouse game between McGarrett and the killer, but none of it makes any sense. At one point the killer takes out a restraining order against Steve. Now, I'm not up on Hawaiian law, but I don't think that when you're a suspect in an active murder investigation, you can take out a restraining order on the guy who's investigating you. It seems to me that it would make catching murderers kinda hard if the detectives weren't allowed with 500 yards of them.

At any rate, as it turns out, the therapist's office was just a front for a high-class brothel... for some reason. I mean, the team looked into her, so she presumably really was a doctor and therapists can make a buttload of money without risking prison time. So, I guess she was just lazy or bored or something. The dead guy was a recovering alcoholic and he was going to apologize to his wife for cheating on her with expensive hookers, and when he told his "therapist" she iced him to keep her secret intact. However, when Danny and Steve go to bust her, she's gone.

Her business is still going strong, though.

Knowing she's in trouble, the killer heads for the airport, but she knows she's being watched and she's on the no-fly list, so she can't get on a plane. To remedy this, she murders a flight attendant in the bathroom and steals her uniform. But, Steve's too smart for that trick. He knows she's not really getting on the flight, so the team locks down the airport and runs outside just as she's getting in a cab. McGarrett catches her, Danno books her.

Case closed.

Meanwhile, Tony Almeida breaks into Catherine's house because he got suspended when she hacked into his WITSEC account, and he's rightfully ticked off. Although, it's kinda his own damn fault for using such an easily-guessable password. Anyway, a guy Doris supposedly killed 20 years ago has resurfaced, and WITSEC thinks he's going to kill her. With Catherine's help, they find the guy, but he disappears before they can catch him. Then, when they try to find Doris to warn her, she's gone too. Fearing the worst, they have Chin track the bad guy's rental car via GPS. However, when they get to the location, they find Doris torturing the guy with a car battery.

I think it's a bit much for a first date, but I'm old fashioned.

Catherine makes her stop before she kills the guy, then Doris gets her to promise not to tell Steve. Then I say "Man, I thought this show was a lot more fun and light-hearted. What happened?"

What I Liked
-When they bust in on the dude with the hooker, Danny just nonchalantly tosses the guy his pants. If you've seen one guy banging a prostitute in the back of a therapist's office, you've seen 'em all.

What I Hated
-Tony's a trained agent, and a tiny woman still manages to get his gun in like ten seconds. I hate when shows do that. It should at least be a tad difficult to beat up a man twice your size.
-Kono and Steve use Skype to communicate with Chin back at Five-0 headquarters. I hate Skype. It's caused me nothing but trouble over the years. Also I refuse to believe the wireless service out in the middle of that field was sufficient to allow for seamless video chatting.
-More or less everything.

Final Thoughts
This was a bad episode. It took me nearly a week to write this review because I was dreading going back and watching it again.

I'm not old enough to have watched the original series, but certainly the new one wasn't about psychological games and sociopaths and really dark stuff. At least not until this season. If I wanted that, I'd watch CSI or Criminal Minds or something. They've been doing it longer, and they do it better. I've mentioned it before, but what I want out of Hawaii Five-0 is bikini babes, bitchin' Camaros, and "Book 'em, Danno" and I think that's what pretty much everyone wants, but, most importantly, I want it to be fun, not grim. Having Danno book the creepy sociopath or guy who cuts out peoples' organs while they're still alive or a child molester or something is not fun.

HIMYM 8x08: Twelve Horny Women

Click the image to get the episode.

It's the not-too-distant future, and Marshall is talking to the New York judiciary committee about his case against Gruber Pharmaceuticals and their lead counsel, Big Dick Richie. Future Ted is telling a story about Marshall telling a story. It's pretty stupid. Anyway, Marshall asks Brad why he dicked him around since they used to be brunch bros, and the answer is all too familiar: His lady broke his heart, so he said screw it, suited up and started lying.

The world is a far darker place without love.

Regardless, Brad knows he can't win the case on its merits, so he plays to the jury, which happens to be made up of the titular twelve horny women. Instead of using facts and sound reasoning, he uses the one thing Marshall doesn't have: Buns of steel.

It's not lecherous when women are doing the ogling.

Using his powers of sex appeal, Brad wins over the judge, the jury, and even the court sketch artist. It looks like he's got everything in the bag. Marshall tries to win back the ladies with a cute duckling that was sickened by the chemicals Gruber dumped into Frog Lake, and it looks like it might work until Brad shows off a video of himself flexing and cavorting topless in the lake. All seems lost until Marshall notices Brad scratching himself.

He ain't pretty no mo'

It seems that the waters of Frog Lake gave him a pretty severe case of acute dermatitis. The jury finds against Gruber Pharmaceuticals, and Marshall wins the case. Unfortunately, the judge only fines the company $25,000 because he doesn't give a crap about the birds and fish and turtles and otters. It seems like all of Marshall's work was for nothing until Brad comes to see him at MacLaren's. He's seen the error of his ways and taken a job at Honeywell & Cootes. From now on, he'll use his manipulation skills and his buns to save the world. He also tells Marshall that he ought to be the one behind the bench making decisions, and that's why Marshall's in front of the Judiciary Committee: To apply to become a judge.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang takes the day off from work to support Marshall. They don't have much to do during recesses, so they talk about how they were super badasses back in high school. Only Lily really was, though. Apparently, in the HIMYM universe, either The Wire does not exist, or Omar was based on Lily. That's not only ridiculous, it's lazy writing that borders on plagiarism.

Plus, there's a couple minutes of Barney-Robin relationship stuff at the end of the episode.

What I Liked
-"Objection, Your Honor, on grounds that this is ridonk!" If I'm ever a lawyer, I'm going to use that line as much as possible. All of Brad's bro-lawyer speak is pretty good, actually.
-Brad's video. It had sex appeal for the ladies, and comedy for guys like me.

Where the crap did all this gold come from?

What I Hated
-They retconned Scooter's first name. Originally, it was Bill, but in this episode, it's Jeff. Why even bother having continuity if you're just going to ignore half of it?
-The cast is way too old to do flashbacks to when they were teenagers. Alyson Hannigan's in some pretty heavy make-up, but she still looks like a 38-year-old mother of two.

They're supposed to be about 16 in this picture.

-The gang is there in the courtroom for every day of the trial. Supporting your friend is great, but using up all your sick days for that seems kinda ludicrous. Basically, the writers wanted them in the room, but they just couldn't think up a plausible reason for them to be there, so they had to go with something stupid. They don't really add much to the court scenes, though, so I'm surprised they bothered with it.

Final Thoughts
It took until the end credits for me to find out that one of the justices was played by Dennis Haskins of Saved by the Bell fame. He's gotten really fat.

Seriously, did he eat Screech or something?

Again, the Barney-Robin relationship drivel was just tacked on to the end of the episode. It all seems so fake and unrealistic because it's not happening organically. Their relationship isn't being derived from their actions or the situations they're in, but instead it's like it's something external that's happening to them without their consent or input. Almost as if the writers can't figure out a reason why the two of them should be together, but still have to turn them into a couple because we know they're going to get married(or at least have a wedding). It's fine to write the ending first and work your way towards it, but if you flash forward and show that ending, then you're stuck with it. The writers on How I Met Your Mother are stuck with a bad ending that they don't know how to get to, and it's really starting to show.

This episode hit 16 on the still unmade Laugh-o-Meter, which is an improvement over last week, but nearly all the laughs came out of Brad-related stuff, and if I'm not mistaken, Brad's not a regular character on this show. The B-plot was so bad that it completely eroded any good will the A-plot garnered. The good bits of this show are still pretty good, but they're so few and far between that the bad bits overwhelm them. It seems like everyone's just killing time while they wait for the end of the series, and it's sad to see a once-great show end like this.

Castle 5x08: After Hours

Click the image to get the episode.

A priest is murdered, and it's up to Castle and Beckett to find out who did it. Which is good, because they were at a dinner with their parents, and it wasn't going well. Esposito and Ryan start by interviewing a nun, and, right away, I think she's the killer because I've seen her in something. She's not though, she just has information that might lead to a suspect: The priest was friends with notorious Irish mobster Mickey Dolan.

Meanwhile, Castle and Beckett have a lead on a witness. But, before they get a chance to interview him, some of Dolan's goons get the drop on them.

Hired goons.

They manage to escape when the witness, Leo, causes a distraction by opening his door, but they're on the run in the Bronx with no money, no phones, and no car, since it's been stolen. The payphone they find is broken, and when Castle attempts to antagonize someone into calling the cops, he just threatens to come down to the street and kick his ass.

I think Castle could've taken him.

Back at the station, Esposito and Ryan can't get in touch with Castle and Beckett. The Cap'n has Ryan track down her car while Esposito goes to the witness' apartment to look for them. Obviously they're not there, but there are signs of a struggle, so he calls in the cavalry.

Beckett busts a car window so she can steal a cell phone, but it's password protected, and the noise from the car alarm attracts the goons. They escape again and hide out in a playground for a while. Castle tries to figure out the password for the phone. He guesses that it's the name of the woman's cat because its photo is on the phone's lock screen. The phone's owner calls and Castle tries to convince her to call the cops, but they have a misunderstanding and she hangs up. Luckily, she gave him the name of the cat and he unlocks the phone, but before he can make a call, she remotely disables it.

Her nude photos and tweets are safe.

A cab drives by and they try to catch it, but the driver's off duty and doesn't believe that Beckett's a cop, so he won't help them. Worse, they get spotted by the goons again and have to flee. They hide out in a basement for a while, then Castle tries to make a run for a 24-hour Chinese restaurant.

He doesn't quite make it.

Castle tries to hide Beckett's location from Dolan and the gang, but Mickey's far too good a poker player and sees right through his bluff.

At the station, Ryan and Esposito discover that the priest was talking to the feds right after he had a fight with Dolan. The Cap'n calls in an agent he tells them that Dolan was considering becoming an informant, and the priest was helping to turn him. He slipped out of custody when he heard the Father was dead, so he couldn't be the murderer. The O'Reilly family killed him to flush Dolan out, now Mickey's looking for the real killer, OJ style.

As it happens, Beckett's already found him. When one of Dolan's goons tracks her down, Leo kicks his ass, grabs his gun and points it at her.

The face of a killer. I've seen him in stuff before, too.

Leo ties Kate up and has her use the goon's phone to call Mickey. Castle tells her that he's pretty sure Dolan just wants to talk, and she tells him something strange so he'll know that things are fishy on her end. They agree to a meeting, and Leo marches Beckett over to Dolan's van before emptying his mag into it. Of course, there's no one inside, and the remaining goons emerge from the shadows intent on whacking Leo. Castle convinces Mickey that that's not what his friend would want, and they all put their guns down just in time to see four or five cop cars roll up. One of the cops whistles for a cab, and Beckett and Castle are on their way home.

The licence plate said 'FRESH'

What I Liked
-Castle makes a 'Dude, Where's My Car?' reference. Man, I haven't thought about that movie in years.
-A call from a payphone costs a dollar, and it really ticks Castle off. It ticks me off, too. Seriously, they should just slap some ads on the outside and make local calls free.
-After the woman remotely disables her cell phone, Castle chucks it on the ground. Yeah, screw that lady.
-The second time he gets caught, Castle apologizes to the goon for kicking him in the junk the first time they met. That's a wise move.

What I Hated
-The ringtone on the phone Beckett steals is 'Call Me Maybe'. I've heard that song enough. It took me weeks to get it out of my head, and I don't want to have to do that again. It's just too catchy.
-"What are you doing Leo?" "My job." Ugh, so bad.

Final Thoughts
The entire premise of this episode is based around the idea that Castle and Beckett can't find a way to contact the station. Sure, everyone in TV New York is a jerk who won't call the cops for you, but there was nothing stopping them from breaking in somewhere or from starting a small fire in a dumpster to attract the fire department. Even in TV New York, if you want the cops there are ways to get them to show up. Plus, even if the cab driver they found didn't want to give them a ride, they could've gotten him to call emergency services. No matter how much of a dick a dude is, he'll still probably help you out if you yell 'Oh my God! Call an ambulance!" The writers wanted to do an episode where the leads were on the run with no way to call in assistance, but even after taking their phones it still didn't really work.

Overall, I didn't get much of anything out of this one. There were some good bits, and it was nice to see the Cap'n and Martha get a bit more screen time than they usually do, but it wasn't fun or exciting or suspenseful. It was just sort of there.

TBBT 6x08: The 43 Peculiarity

Click the image to get the episode.

Two plots this week. In the first, Sheldon disappears for 20 minutes every day at 2:45, and Raj and Howard try to figure out why. They start by asking Alex (who I thought was just a one-time character) where he goes, but all she knows is that her pants are too loud and she has to go get some quieter ones.

Corduroy is the loudest fabric not found on Don Cherry's jackets.

They track him to an old storage room in the basement, but they can't tell hear him doing anything, so they come back in the middle of the night to break in. Inside, they find nothing but a blackboard with the number 43 on it. They spend the next day trying to figure out what that could mean, but they can't come up with anything. So, Howard steals the spare camera for the Mars Rover and hides it so they can see what Sheldon gets up to. But, he finds it and switches the feed to a video of him sticking his head into a wormhole and getting his face eaten by an alien.

Get this man a crowbar.

Then he shows up and yells at him for invading his privacy. They don't need to know, don't deserve to know, and will never know what he's doing down there. But we will.

He's actually not bad at it.

In the second plot, Leonard and Penny are having some relationship issues because she's doing a report for school with a British guy, and Leonard is jealous of his sexy accent. Because he's a creepy weirdo, Leonard follows the guy out of the building and warns him that Penny's boyfriend is a big dude in a gang called 'The Scientists'. Penny catches him, and she's not happy.

I'll bet Johnny Galecki's seen that face before.

At work the next day, he bumps into Alex and asks her for some girl advice. She sees an opening and starts hitting on him, but he's completely oblivious. When he gets home, he bumps into Penny on her way to work. She's ticked off that he embarrassed her in front of her friend, who knew who he was because his picture's on her fridge. While she's admonishing him for his behaviour, she tells him he shouldn't be jealous because he knows she loves him... which is the first time she's ever told him that.

She didn't mean to say that.

They both pretend it's not a big deal so they won't start crying. Then Leonard goes into his apartment where he gets a text from Alex telling him that she's always available if he wants to talk. Dude's knee-deep in ladies.

What I Liked
-Sheldon's "chicken pecking for corn" head motion. You can slip a lot of perverted jokes past the censors, apparently.
-Howard tests the storage room for booby traps by shoving Raj in first. That's the best way to do it.
-Raj thinks 43 is the number from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Howard tells him it's 42. I actually had to do that once, too.

What I Hated
-Raj and Howard listen at the storage room door, but they don't hear anything. Unless the university decided they needed soundproof storage rooms, they should've heard Sheldon hacking his sack.
-Howard's belt buckle. I get that they're supposed to be super-nerds, but even the biggest Pac-fan wouldn't wear that thing.

Eugh.

Final Thoughts
I really didn't think Alex was going to show up again. Because of the way he treats her, there really isn't much comedy gold to mine out of the Sheldon-Alex relationship. It looks like they might try to get something out of her interactions with Leonard and Raj, though.

No Amy, Bernadette, or Stuart this week. It allowed the show to be a lot more focused, but they still went with two plots that were totally unrelated. It's strange, they've done episodes where all eight characters fit into a single story, but then they cut three of them out of the show entirely and they can't seem to work them into related plots.

That sort of thing doesn't really seem to matter to me, though, because this episode hit 34 on the still unbuilt Laugh-o-meter. That's fairly impressive. Although, upon further viewings, I have no idea why I thought it was so funny the first time. But, I only judge how funny something is one time because a joke is rarely as funny the second time around. I got what I wanted out of it the first time, and that's all that matters.