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The Big Bang Theory – Sheldon is undone by a magic trick

There was a lot of relationship nonsense happening with Leonard, Priya, and Penny this week on 'The Big Bang Theory,' but for me the highlight of the episode was Howard's "magic trick."

- Season 4, Episode 18 - "The Prestidigitation Approximation"

Yes, there was some forward momentum this week when it came to the ongoing saga of Leonard’s love life on The Big Bang Theory, but the best part of the episode was the story of Howard’s “magic trick” and Sheldon. If you were looking for laughs (and why else would you be tuning into The Big Bang Theory), then this was the far more satisfying plot. Of course, if you’re a huge fan of pratfalls and slapstick, I imagine you loved seeing Leonard in contacts. …

I thought Howard’s trick was quite ingenious. At the end of the day there was no magic at all, and the trick was simply a conspiracy to make Sheldon believe that Howard had an amazing card trick. In actuality everyone just humored him and told him he picked the right card. As a way to torture Sheldon, it really was devious. With a character like Sheldon, I suppose it’s not really all that hard to get under his skin, but I thought this was one of the funnier instances of it that we have seen on the show. It was great watching Sheldon squirm trying to figure it out, and the cherry was that Penny caught on before Sheldon.

Back to Leonard for a moment, though. It seems like the writing is on the wall for him and Priya. I like them together and hope that we get to see a little more of them, but I just can’t see Leonard being able to stay away from Penny. The whole story is a little contrived. I feel like we’ve seen it before in several places: jealous girlfriends forcing their boyfriends to stay away from their exes. It’s just off base for Priya to demand it. If she can’t be comfortable with Penny and Leonard being friends, that’s her problem to work on, not Leonard or Penny’s.

I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the increased roles for Amy Farrah Fowler and Bernadette on the show. Tonight’s episode was another that didn’t feature either and I didn’t miss them all that much, but when they are on the show, I think they add something. How do you feel about it? Did you like tonight’s episode?

Photo Credit: Monty Brinton/CBS

6 Responses to “The Big Bang Theory – Sheldon is undone by a magic trick”

March 11, 2011 at 3:19 AM

Wait, I thought Bernadette and Howard broke up over his inability to live without his mother. (Is she just going to be part of the girls’ gang?)

March 11, 2011 at 7:41 AM

The actress is listed as a series regular, so I am figuring that she is still going to be on the show in some capacity.

March 11, 2011 at 5:37 PM

Huh, it’ll be interesting to see how they manage to work her back into the story.

March 11, 2011 at 10:19 AM

While I agree that the story of Priya wanting Leonard to stop hanging out with Penny is a little unoriginal (sounds exactly like Friends with Emily and Ross and Rachel), it still provided an interesting twist to the Prinard storyline. But I agree, the “B” story this week took the cake. Hilarious!

March 11, 2011 at 1:56 PM

Someone with a background in magic was involved in writing this episode. At the beginning when Howard asks Raj to shuffle the deck, the style of shuffling Raj does is known in the world of magic as a Hindu Shuffle. Wonderful inside joke.

June 13, 2011 at 2:05 PM

Did anyone else notice that when Howard pulled out the deck of cards at the end of the episode the 2 of heart was on the bottom of the deck?
I’m debating whether that was meant to happen like that or was it just an oversight…

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