Age of Conan-itis on The Big Bang Theory
Clearly, the writers of The Big Bang Theory have realized that Sheldon (Jim Parsons) steals the show each and every week. I say that because this week’s ep, The Barbarian Sublimation, basically took everyone else out of the way, for the most part, and focused on Sheldon and Penny (Kaley Cuoco).
The only part where the other guys really came into the show, was when they mixed corn starch and water and made it do this funky dance on a stereo speaker covered in plastic wrap. It was very cool looking, by the way, and I wondered, as I was watching, how many people were going to end up killing off their own stereo speakers trying to do the same trick.
The episode was especially interesting in that Penny and Sheldon usually don’t have a great relationship and in this episode, they are shown to have a better understanding than previously. Penny is upset because everything in her life seems to be going wrong. Sheldon comes to her rescue, unwittingly, of course, and introduces Penny to online role play gaming, the Age of Conan. (One fun scene is when Sheldon uses the phrase “afk” and has to explain to Penny that it means “away from keyboard,” but then he is confused when she responds with “Oh, I see” and repeatedly asks her what it stands for, thinking she is saying “oic.”
Anyway, Penny gets completely caught up in gaming, as Queen Penelope, and stops doing anything else. She gets more and more sloppy, even ending up with Cheetos in her hair (which she eats when she finds!) She so annoys Sheldon with her constant reliance on him, that he even registers her at an online dating site, trying to get her interested in someone. It doesn’t work out, though, when the guy says, “she doesn’t look anything like her picture.” (Leonard, “That always happens.”)
Penny keeps up with her gaming, even ignoring Leonard’s attempts to intervene, until Howard, in the game, approaches her and asks her to go get a flagon of ale at a virtual tavern. Penny accepts and then, suddenly realizing what she just did, closes the computer abruptly and she’s done.
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