Ok, so if you read my last review, you know that I was excited about the new character, Dr. Sturgis. Especially since last weeks episode ended with Connie hinting that she would continue her new relationship with the professor. So, this week’s episode was a bit of let down because Dr. Sturgis was not mentioned at all. Although, I suppose I should have seen this coming since characters are hardly reoccurring in sit-coms. Anyways, let’s see what Sheldon got up to this week.
Man’s Best Friend
As Sheldon narrates, he functions on predictability. For example, Earth’s gravitational pull or his brother peeing in the shower. What aren’t predictable? Dogs. Sheldon’s fear. Other than that Big Bang Theory episode where Sheldon adopts all those cats he’s often known as having a phobia of all animals, no matter how cute and cuddly. This is alarmingly clear as Sheldon panics and scrambles to hide from a lost dog who interrupts his time with his rockets in the garage. Missy comes to get him for lunch and finds him secure in a small alcove at the top of the garage. How he got up there, who knows? Sheldon does not seem strong enough to have climbed all the way up there. Missy is delighted by the dog and immediately makes him her new friend.
The Sparks, the Cooper’s neighbors, are in this episode, which is always entertaining. Turns out the dog, Bucky, is Brenda’s brother, who, as Herschel describes it, has suddenly needed to relocate to a gated community (called jail). That night, Sheldon falls asleep soundly with the knowledge that the dog is back in his own house. So when he wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night to the sight of the poor dog sitting by his bed, he lets out a wild scream.
Infuriated, George hauls the dog back to the neighbor’s house. He promises that the dog will be tied up and won’t bother them again. This seems like a reasonable solution until Mary joins the party with a bag holding a dead squirrel in it, claiming that the dog dragged it into their living room. Cue Mary vs Brenda round two!
Catfight
Connie takes the charge and convinces Mary to let her talk to Brenda. This seems like the safe option considering how Mary and Brenda have history. At the bowling alley, Connie kindly invites Brenda to have a drink. The conversation is pleasant enough, both ladies complaining about the difficulties of their families. The mood quickly goes south though, when Connie describes Brenda’s son, Billy, as being special. She said it with a sweet smile, acknowledging the difficulties of having an unusual 9-year-old boy in the family (and hinting that Billy’s strangeness is the fact that he is as dumb as a box of rocks). Insulted by Connie’s suggestion, Brenda flat out calls Sheldon weird. One thing leads to another and suddenly Brenda’s dumping her margarita onto Connie lap. I may have cheered when Connie flat out throws her drink into the other’s face.
Sheldon is greatly affected by his family’s feud with the neighbors. To amend this, he decides to get over his fear of dogs. If he can tolerate Bucky, then the families would stop arguing. He does really well. Slowly but surely he is able to be in the presence of dogs and eventually manages to even pet the dog who started this whole mess. Of course, though, he runs away in fear after Bucky gives him a sloppy, wet, kiss.
What Would Jesus Do?
This brings us to the hilarious makeup between the two families. The pastor conducts a home emergency meeting because while he knows that some families (and sometimes within the family) don’t get along, he cannot tolerate when this sort of behavior is brought into the house of God. The children had begun calling each other names during Sunday School and Pastor Jim had had enough.
In front of Mary, Connie, and Her, the Pastor asks them, “What would Jesus do?” It takes some coercing but eventually, each lady apologizes for what happened.
To find out why Bucky was so attracted to Sheldon, we get to see a snippet of the Bucky’s owner, who is in jail at the tail end of the episode. Turns out that Sheldon and the owner use the same hair product, Brylcreem. The juxtaposition between Sheldon and the felon as they both slick back their hair the same way was a nice touch.
