As an software developer by trade, I can totally understand the crazy that gets involved when you have to solve a problem and can’t sleep till you do. I’ve spent my fair share of sleepless nights haunted by a coding problem that I just can’t solve, only to make things worse as lack of sleep destroys my cognitive reasoning. As such, I can totally relate to Sheldon as he spends day after day trying to solve his electrons though graphite problem.
As he wears on, Sheldon gets further and further into crazy, falling into the throws of being more and more adolescent. This of course, starts to take it’s toll on the gang as his crazy has no bounds. Eventually, he finds a solution to his mental roadblock, and it wasn’t sleeping. His solution, is to be as Einstein was at the patent office, find a menial job to allow his brain to relax and let upper reasoning bring him an epiphany. Eventually he ends up as a busboy/waiter for the Cheesecake Factory, which provides Leonard ample revenge time for Sheldon’s OCD nature of ordering food.
Meanwhile, Raj is starting to get a bit annoyed at the fact that Howard and Leonard both have girlfriends and are spending a lot of time with them, excluding Raj. They are even stealing his ideas for hanging out!
Overall, this was a great Sheldon episode where we get to see a glimpse of how completely crazy he can be. It was very entertaining with plenty of throwaway lines and one hilarious ball pit scene.
Interesting observations
- Leonard sleeps in his socks…I’m sorry but that is so weird to me.
- “How long has he been stuck?” – Howard “Intellectually about 30 hours. Emotionally, abut 29 years.” – Leonard
- “I havn’t seen him this stuck since he tried to figgure out the third Matrix movie.” – Leonard
- Bernadette makes another appearance. She has the experience to control Sheldon with logic and a stern motherly voice.
- Who would want a Joker ringtone like that?
- Sheldon, like many kids, is an expert ball pit swimmer. I think as we grow older, we must lose that basic skill.
- The three most meinal jobs on earth: toll booth attendant, Apple store genius, and what Penny does. (waitress)
- “One bacon cheesburger, breaking two Jewish dietary restrictions at once…Kudos” – Sheldon
- There were two ending bits this episode. The first was the roller skating scene with Raj and Howard. The second was an out of sequence alternative cut of the ball pit scene. It seemed like the episode would have normally have just used the roller skating scene, but I think the producers must have liked the ball pit full cut so much they stuck it on at the end.
