| The
Big Bang Theory
"The Vengeance Formulation"
Sure,
we all had our fantasy celebrity girlfriend when we were
12, right, guys? Guys? Ahem. Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg)
apparently never outgrew that phase, and thus doesn't know
what to do when faced with the possibility of having an
actual girlfriend.
He's talked a good game - for him - on
The Big Bang Theory, but now he has to actually belly
up to the bar with Bernadette (Melissa Rauch). By the time
"The Vengeance Formulation" begins, Howard has achieved
something he never has before, a third date. I'm going out
on a limb and thinking he's never been on a second date
before, either, but we'll let it slide.
Of course he immediately blows it, but
the episode tracks his struggle to figure out the difference
between reality and fantasy. In his mind, he's got a pretty
good thing going in his bubble bath with an illusory Katee
Sackhoff.
Meanwhile Sheldon (Jim Parsons) continues
his war against Kripke (John Ross Bowie), and after a huge
public humiliation, enlists Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and
Raj (Kunal Nayyar) to help plan his revenge. Honestly, as
far as arch-nemeses go, I really want to see an escalation
with Wil Wheaton, but then again, Lex Luthor isn't afraid
to take on more than Superman. And Raj points out that Sheldon
is well on his way to being Luthor.
As usual, it's a pretty solid episode, with a great possibility
laid out: actual growth for Howard. His character has been
well-established over two and a half seasons; now it's time
to flip him around and see what happens. We've seen a slightly
sensitive side to Howard before and now Helberg has a chance
to really deepen the character.
It's also good to see the other three just
going nuts off of each other. Though it's almost time for
a Raj-centric episode, Nayyar plays foil to Parsons almost
better than Galecki does.
Which leaves Penny (Kaley Cuoco) to play
off of Howard, but even then she's taking a back seat to
Bernadette. Still, every now and then somebody has to play
the straight man in the madness. So Cuoco got the short
straw this week.
"The Vengeance Formulation" satisfies and
gives us an arch performance from Sackhoff. The Big Bang
Theory continues to be geek heaven - but if you're one
of those claiming to laugh at and not with
us, well, damn you but you've got plenty of fuel this week,
too.
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