"The Big Bang Theory" - October 13, 2008 episode

The gang, including Penny, is gathered in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, and as Leonard is distributing the Chinese take-out, Howard is making creepy comments to Penny. "Creepy good or creepy bad?" asks Howard, and Penny just stares at him. She's really good at that and does it a lot. When he makes yet another creepy comment, she makes him sit somewhere else.

When Sheldon comes in, he uses baby wipes before eating, and when Penny innocently asks why he uses them, Leonard's and Howard's groans of protest and caution are ineffective in staving off Sheldon's diatribe about the lack of supplies at work.

Raj comes excitedly into the room with good news, but he clams up as soon as he sees Penny. Penny decides to go back to her apartment to eat, and after she leaves, Raj is able to tell the guys that he has been picked to be on People Magazine's list of 30 people under 30 to watch, a list that includes Ellen Page. When the guys question the validity of his inclusion on the list, Raj says he doesn't figure Ellen Page's friends are giving her a hard time.

The next day, Leonard and Howard go into Sheldon's office to say they need to go see Raj and tell him how happy they are for him. When Sheldon doesn't understand why he needs to apologize for his behaviour the previous night, Howard says "You were a colossal asshat". I've never heard "asshat" used on TV before, just on the radio, so that was funny. Leonard tries to get Sheldon to smile so that his congratulations will seem more genuine, but Sheldon's attempts are just too frickin' funny, and sometimes even frightening, prompting Leonard to say that they're not trying to kill Batman, making a Joker reference.

While they're in Raj's office, a higher-up comes in and congratulates Raj, especially with all the publicity they're getting, and he even offers him a bigger better office and lunch in an exclusive restaurant.

Later that night at dinner (presumably at the fake Cheesecake Factory since Penny is working there, but it looks different than every other time they've been there), Raj is bragging about his lunch and that he now has an assistant (or lackey, as he calls him, although he mentions that someone like that would normally be called an unmentionable), and he also mentions that People is having a reception and he has managed to get them invites to the reception (though not VIP invites since they're just Ps), but they're fed up with his bragging so they all decline to go. When Penny hears about it, she accepts Raj's invitation to go with her (he's already a bit inebriated, so he can talk to her), and she also chastises them for not going. Raj says that it took Leonard a year to get a date with Penny whereas he just did it, so he wonders why it took Leonard so long. With that, the others leave, leaving Raj at the table by himself. He leans over to someone at the bar and announces that he's going to be in People Magazine. We only see the person's back, but I knew it was going to be someone we know, since that made sense for the setup, and when the guy turns around, he says, "Call me when you're on the cover", and it's Charlie Sheen! That was funny because he's on "Two and a Half Men", another show by the same creator of this show.

When Raj comes to pick up Penny, he's already drunk from the alcohol in the limo, a concept and a word that seemed to really tickle him. He's also a bit obnoxious and even questions the outfit that Penny has chosen to wear.

As they're leaving, Leonard is returning with yet more Chinese take-out, and Sheldon and Howard rag on him because he's afraid that Penny will have sex with Raj that night. As Sheldon is telling the story of having a cat named Lucky who was killed, completely missing the irony of the situation, and how he instead wanted a griffin, he is pouring exhorbitant amounts of soy sauce and hot mustard into his container of food. You know, the container isn't that big - do you really need that much added condiment to it? I know, that wasn't the point, but I couldn't help noticing. As Sheldon finishes his story, he mentions building a new friend, using the animatronic technology used by Disney, but after further discussion, Leonard concludes that they really just need to make friends with Iron Man. Wow, do you think they could cram more pop references into one 22-minute episode? (There was also a reference earlier in the show to Apu of "The Simpsons", which I didn't mention.)

The next day, Raj comes to Penny's apartment and tries to slip a note under Penny's door, but she opens it, and when he thrusts the paper at her, she says that if he has anything to say, he needs to say it to her face, and he manages to literally squeak out "sorry". She forgives him and hugs him, just as Leonard opens his apartment door. Since Penny is in her robe, it appears as if Raj has spent the night and is just leaving that morning, and after Penny goes back into her apartment, Raj turns around and gives Leonard the thumbs-up, further confirming Leonard's misconception that he stayed the night. Hmmm, wonder if they'll play that misunderstanding in next week's episode.

This was a really good episode!