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The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 9 Recap: Amy and Sheldon's Project Falls Apart


Ever since The Big Bang Theory introduced the concept of Super-Asymmetry at Sheldon and Amy’s wedding last May, I’ve been reluctant to embrace their enthusiasm. It had nothing to do with Sheldon and Amy working together as a team, but everything to do with feeling like I was back in high school chemistry struggling to understand the basics. It just wasn’t exciting.

The results on the show have been mixed as well; sometimes Super-Asymmetry has paved the way for important discussions; other times I’ve tuned out completely. But in tonight’s episode—titled “The Citation Negation”—I felt truly invested for the first time.

The episode opens with Sheldon and Amy recruiting Leonard to help them track down hundreds of citations before they publish their paper on SA. In an effort to keep their project secret, they ask Leonard to spend hours in a dark library doing the legwork. I’m not sure what Leonard gets out of this, but he already has Penny, so what more does the guy need in life?

Meanwhile, my favorite character, Anu, sadly isn’t in this episode, so the writers pair Raj with Leonard in the dungeon dimly-lit library. It’s as boring as that aforementioned chemistry class until Leonard and Raj discover something that doesn’t look quite right; apparently Sheldon and Amy may not have been the first to discover Super-Asymmetry.

Leonard and Raj bring their findings to Howard, who confirms that in 1978 a Russian scientist already disproved SA. As the findings read, “Super-Asymmetry is inherently flawed and does not bear the weight of further examination.” Yikes.

Leonard breaks the news to Sheldon and Amy, who are in complete and utter disbelief. Sheldon somehow manages to thank Leonard for relaying the news knowing that couldn’t have been easy for him. His maturity then turns to a childlike response as he destroys one of the boards on an easel. I can’t remember the last time I witnessed such profound anger from Sheldon. The moment aims to inject a bit of humor to the scene, but it’s too late; there’s nothing funny about it. Sheldon and Amy are devastated, and they have every right to be.

Sheldon retreats to the other room, rummaging through papers hoping to find something—anything—that could give insight into what just happened. Amy is equally depressed but wants to do what she can to help her husband. She even offers to sing him “Soft Kitty”—if that’s not love, I don’t know what is. Sheldon doesn’t understand how Amy can be so calm in the midst of professional turmoil, but she tells him she’s just trying to hold it together for his sake.

Sheldon tells Amy that her pretending to be OK actually makes him feel worse, which provides the opening Amy needs to come to terms with their disappointing reality. “Fine! I’m not OK!” she says, her voice quivering. “We came up with this idea at our wedding. We poured months of our lives into it. I thought we were changing the course of science, and now it’s all gone!”

Wow. Big Bang doesn’t usually go there, but that scene was nothing less than beautiful and heartbreaking at once.

The next day, a despondent-looking Sheldon and Amy don’t even go to work (who can blame them?). In fact, they don’t even know what day it is.

PHOTO: Sonja Flemming/CBS

“You had a setback,” Penny says before launching into the most ill-timed pep-talk. “This is the time you gotta dig in and try harder! It’s like halftime, and you’re down by 7!” Leonard tries to quell the mood with his own inspiring speech (“Individually you’re the smartest people I know! Together you can do anything!”), but it’s not well-received. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” Sheldon says, “but please stop. You can’t make this better.” Adds Amy, “I’m with Sheldon. We worked our butts off on this paper, and it was all for nothing. If you think some pep talk can help us, then you don’t understand.”

She’s right. Shamy needs time to grieve. This has been their baby for the better part of a year. Of course they’ll find their footing again, but they have to process their disappointment first. And no offense to Super-Asymmetry, but that’s the storyline I want to watch.



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The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 8 Recap: Raj and Anu Set a Wedding Date


When Big Bang Theory executive producer Steve Holland told me earlier this fall that Raj’s storyline with a new love interest was going to “play out over the course of the season,” I was skeptical. Actually, it was more than that: I was disappointed.

With Sheldon and Amy now wed, Penny and Leonard in their third year of marriage, and Bernadette and Howard managing two kids, I thought pairing up Raj for the final season felt a little like checking off a to-do list. Plus, if the writers wanted a happy ending for Raj, why does that have to mean an engagement or marriage? That’s not to say I don’t want Raj to find someone or be happy, but I love how relatable the relationships on Big Bang are. And in 2018, it’s extremely relatable for romance/love/engagement to take longer for some. So why rush it with Raj?

When I asked Holland if he was open to Raj not ending up with anyone by series end, Holland started by saying, “I try not to…” before adding that “no matter what ending we do, we’ll upset somebody somehow. We’re just trying to focus on an ending that feels right to us and hopefully people will like it.”

Well, surprisingly—shockingly—I’m on board with Raj and Anu. The introduction of Anu (played by Rati Gupta) has been an energy shot the show needed going into its final season. She’s real, smart, and interesting. She doesn’t have time for BS—from Raj or anyone else. She’s looking for a grown-up relationship, and she’s tired of waiting for 30-something boys to become 30-something men.

PHOTO: Michael Yarish

While I still wish Raj and Anu could have been introduced by their parents without the pressure of it leading to an arranged marriage, I am excited to see where this could go. And apparently it’s going to a Valentine’s Day 2019 wedding date, which was jarring to hear. (Really, you two? It has to be that soon?) Still, I’m finding myself bored whenever Anu and Raj aren’t the focus of an episode. (Case in point: last week’s.)

Tonight’s episode—titled “The Consummation Deviation”—started with Raj making sure his friends would be free on February 14 and willing to fly to India for the ceremony. It’ll be interesting to see if that date actually comes to fruition, but let’s not worry about that yet. As we saw in the latest episode, there are other momentous occasions to get to first.

Starting with the moment when Anu matter-of-factly tells Raj they should have sex. He almost runs off the road, but that may be because he’s more worried about being naked following a salt-heavy dinner than actually doing it with Anu for the first time. Anu clears things up and says she doesn’t mean right now, but it’s important to her that they know they’re compatible before getting married. Uh, maybe make sure you’re compatible before you tell all your friends about a wedding date? But that’s just me.

Anu says she’ll get a room at her hotel this weekend—remember, she’s a concierge—but Raj privately goes into panic mode. Later at Leonard’s apartment, he confesses to the guys (minus Sheldon) that he’s pretty anxious because this is the woman he’s going to marry. What if he’s no good? “Do we sign up for a lifetime of mediocre sex?” he asks. It’s obviously not the first time Raj has had sex, but the stakes are high.

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PHOTO: Sonja Flemming/CBS

The guys are not much help, so Raj joins Bernadette and Penny for wine time to mull it over. “She’s probably nervous, too,” Penny says. Raj doesn’t believe her, but that’s not the point. He’s worried he’s not as skilled as he’s made himself out to be in past sexual encounters. Plus, Anu is Indian as well, so she’s going to know there’s no position called the “screeching lotus.” (Oh, Raj.)

The weekend apparently comes very fast because in the next scene, Raj is in the hotel room and having a freakout with Penny over the phone. Penny tells Raj that her first time with Leonard wasn’t that great, which is a hilarious nod to Leonard’s earlier comments that their first time was so good he plays it over and over in his head. If that was supposed to make Raj feel better, it doesn’t.

Anu walks in—and in a tip of the hat to the Raj of years past, he suddenly can’t talk in the presence of a woman. Anu is understandably confused as Raj runs to the bathroom, shuts the door, and pops open a bottle of champagne.

When Raj later emerges—tipsy, of course—Anu wants to know what is going on. When Raj fails to tell her what the issue is, she says she’s going to leave. He begs her not to, but she demands the truth. “Oh, the truth is so not good for me,” he pleads before finally admitting that he used to be so insecure around women that he couldn’t talk. He assures Anu that he’s not that same person, but “I guess I wanted so much for tonight to go well that I stressed myself out.” What’s ironic is that Raj and Anu entered into this arranged relationship hoping to avoid the pitfalls of typical relationships, but also realizing they’re not fail-proof either.

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PHOTO: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Anu asks Raj why he didn’t tell her this before, but he admits he was embarrassed. Instead of saying “why?” or “that’s ridiculous,” she says, “I get it,” which both validates his feelings and creates another level of trust between them. “If it makes you feel better, I’ve got things I’m embarrassed about, too.” While I was hoping for a profound reveal from Anu, it turns out her “embarrassment” is simply that she doesn’t like music. “What kind of music?” Raj asks. “Just all of it,” she says.

The comic relief comes when Raj wants to know if Beyoncé is the exception—specifically “Single Ladies”—but Anu tells him that even she doesn’t make the cut. “My point is, we both have our little eccentricities,” she says. “Little eccentricities?” Raj wonders. “One is a deep-seeded psychological disturbance and the other can be solved by half a glass of chardonnay.” They laugh and immediately start making out. Have I mentioned I love these two?

The next morning, Raj is still wearing his same clothes, and it’s obvious all they did was stay up all night and talk. “Last night was wonderful,” Anu tells Raj. He’s a bit confused since the night didn’t go as planned, but she assures him that getting to know each other on a deeper level was great. Also, she assumes that the fact that he could talk to her all night—while in bed—is a good sign for their marriage. “Yeah, and my liver,” Raj jokes.

Raj then says maybe they should wait to have sex another time, but Anu has another plan. “Or, I take a shower and you decide how you want to play this,” she says. It takes a confused Raj a minute to realize exactly what Anu is implying until she pops her head out of the bathroom and instructs him to “take a shower with me, Raj!” He quickly jumps out of bed and joins Anu in the shower.

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PHOTO: Sonja Flemming/CBS

By all accounts, perhaps Anu is too mature for Raj. Or perhaps Raj needs someone who appreciates Beyoncé in all her glory. But whatever the case, this feels real. And I’m here for it.



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The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 7 Recap: Bernadette Hides From Her Kids


At the start of this season of The Big Bang Theory, executive producer Steve Holland told Glamour.com that the writers were working on an episode about the challenges of parenthood. And in tonight’s episode—”The Grant Allocation Derivation”—we saw just how far some (hi, Bernadette!) are willing to go to escape the chaos.

The bulk of the story was devoted to Leonard having to choose which colleague to distribute extra grant money to for their work project. The assignment—by President Siebert, who shockingly still has a job—put Leonard in a hard place, as friends and colleagues made his life miserable demanding they receive the grant money. Personally, I kind of checked out for most of this one. Bring back Inspector Gadget Leonard and then we’ll talk.

That’s because the real highlight of the episode was Bernadette using Halley and Michael’s playhouse as a hideaway from her kids. Sure, the plot seemed a little redundant (example A), but it also rang true. Most parents, babysitters, even grandparents have wanted to escape the rigors of childcare at one point. It’s exhausting.

Some parents look at their office job as somewhat of a breather, but that’s hardly the equivalent of “me” time. The work/home life cycle never ends, so it’s understandable if you suddenly find yourself eating a Twinkie and drinking boxed wine in a four-sided plastic playhouse. When Bernadette returns home from an overwhelming day at the office and hears Howard freaking out with the kids, she takes action. The solution is simple: call her husband from the playhouse and tell him she’s stuck at work. “He deserves better,” she tells herself after hanging up the phone and putting her feet up.

The next day at work, though, Bernadette tells Penny she’s worried she’s an awful person for lying to Howard. “It’s just work has been crazy and sometimes I don’t want babies pulling my hair and pinching my baby fat,” she says. “I love my kids, but that hour to myself just makes me feel human again.” How can you argue with that?

Penny doesn’t, because the next day she’s so stressed out by Leonard (who’s stressed out by his grants responsibilities) that she joins Bernadette for wine time in the playhouse. Then, in a scene we’ve seen over and over again—but who cares, because Mayim Bialik is genius—Amy suspects Penny and Bernadette are hanging out without her and nabs an invitation.

PHOTO: Michael Yarish/Warner Bros. Entertainment

At the end of the episode, Howard puts the kids to bed and joins Raj in the outdoor hot tub; Raj hears a noise and is alarmed someone’s in the playhouse. Of course, Howard knows it’s Bernadette but doesn’t have the heart to burst her bubble. “She’s been hiding out in there all week,” he tells Raj. “She’s overwhelmed at work, and frankly me and the kids are a lot. She needs downtime.”

He tells Raj that he purposely pretends he’s none the wiser because that’s how marriage works. In fact, Howard lied about getting life insurance three years ago, so now he think they’re even. Seems to me that lying about life insurance is a much bigger deal than playing hooky in a toddler’s playhouse, but then again, kids haven’t made me crazy…yet.

Related: The True Story Behind That Costume Showdown on The Big Bang Theory



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The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 6 Recap: Those Epic Halloween Costumes Explained


The Big Bang Theory didn’t just go big for its final Halloween episode of the series, it went epic. From a Supreme Court justice to an ’80s cartoon character, the writers, actors, and costume department pulled out all the stops to propel the story forward while also paying homage to its iconic characters. Every costume was made in house in a matter of weeks; no easy feat when you’re talking about the Bill of Rights or a helicopter propeller. And the episode’s main story—Sheldon getting his feelings hurt when Howard dressed up as him for Halloween—was actually loosely based on a real-life event that happened to one of the writers. Given all the heavy lifting that went in to creating the episode, executive producer and showrunner Steve Holland gave Glamour.com the exclusive details on how it all came together.

PHOTO: Sonja Flemming

This episode was inspired by a real-life event. One of the series’ writers, Erik Kaplan, previously worked on Malcolm in the Middle, and one Halloween another writer dressed up as him. “I don’t think his feelings were hurt like Sheldon’s,” EP Steve Holland says. “But it was such a great jumping off point for a funny story that had real emotional repercussions for the characters. The thought of getting to see Simon Helberg do his Sheldon impression seemed really exciting, that led to the idea that Sheldon and Amy could get their revenge by dressing as Howard and Bernadette. The whole thing really started to take shape.”

Every costume in “The Imitation Perturbation” was custom made. Mary T. Quigley is Big Bang‘s costume designer; she and her team spent weeks creating each Halloween costume. “Working Inspector Gadget and U.S. Constitution costumes aren’t exactly things you can get off the shelf,” Holland jokes. “She did a ton of research, and we actually had long discussions about the Bill of Rights on the back of the Constitution costume. She had gone to the National Archives website to find what that looked like.” In fact, there were a lot of conversations about that image and if it was the proposed amendments or the ratified amendments. “That’s the level of attention—and pure nerdery—that went into everything.”

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PHOTO: Michael Yarish

There’s a secret meaning behind Raj’s Kooth Bader Ginsburg costume. Perhaps one of the most timely costumes this season is Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is the subject of her own documentary as well as an upcoming movie starring Felicity Jones. But Big Bang writers took it a step further and had Raj go by Kooth (from his last name, Koothrappali) Bader Ginsburg as a fun play on words. “It seemed very in character [for him]” Holland says. “Kooth Bader Ginsburg made us laugh.” The only thing the writers couldn’t decide on was whether to give Raj a bun or not. “In the end, since he was ‘Kooth’ Bader Ginsburg, we decided that he could go without a bun.” As for why the writers also wanted Raj’s new fiancé, Anu, to go as the Bill of Rights, Holland says they wanted them to have a couples costume to show that their relationship was progressing and were getting more comfortable with each other.

This surprising costume was the most time-consuming of all. From the outside looking in, Sheldon Cooper is a simple man. His daily wardrobe never veers far from a T-shirt over a long-sleeve thermal. So what could be that hard about dressing up as Sheldon? Turns out quite a bit. Holland says that having Simon Helberg dress up as Sheldon was the most time-consuming of all the costumes because of Sheldon’s matted, perfectly coiffed hair. “Simon had a blast dressed up as Sheldon, but he spent hours in the makeup chair because it was extremely time-consuming hiding his real hair under a bald cap and then laying Sheldon-hair on top of it.” And while Simon had easy access to Jim Parsons in case he needed any tips on how to play Sheldon, none was needed. “Simon is actually a really terrific impressionist,” Holland notes. “I love that his choice was not to do a straight mimic of Sheldon, but to exaggerate him to a caricature.”

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PHOTO: Sonja Flemming

Here’s why Howard and Bernadette dressed up as Marry Poppins and Bert. “Howard and Bernadette are really playful together, so we wanted them to have something with a sense of whimsy and fun attached to it,” Holland says. “We wanted something that seemed appropriate for the characters and not random. And it seemed like Howard would love getting to do his best cockney—or worst cockney, as the case may be—accent.”

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PHOTO: Michael Yarish

And why Sheldon and Amy were Doc Brown and Clara from Back to the Future III. Holland and the writing staff are huge fans of Back to the Future. (Hey, Michael J. Fox, now’s the time for a cameo!). But by coincidence, Holland and fellow EP Steve Molaro got to have lunch with Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis after they wrote the script for this episode. “I tried not to gush,” Holland says, “but I was very excited to tell him that we were using Back to the Future in our Halloween episode.”

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PHOTO: Sonja Flemming

Why dressing up as Inspector Gadget wasn’t as easy as it looked. The wardrobe department created that elaborate propeller that Leonard wore to play Inspector Gadget, but, according to Holland, it was “heavy and awkward.” That’s the because the blades were originally much longer, but it was “hard to walk around the set without hitting people.” It was also hard to balance, so the wardrobe team had to keep cutting them down until they found a length that worked.

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PHOTO: Michael Yarish

The reason why Penny didn’t play Inspector Gadget’s niece, Penny. Die-hard I.G. fans know that Penny secretly does all of her uncle’s work during his missions, even though he (groan) takes all the credit for it after. So why didn’t Big Bang‘s Penny play her, which could have led to some interesting back and forth? “It’s funny, Johnny Galecki texted me when he got the script to ask why she wasn’t dressing as Penny from Inspector Gadget since they even share a name,” Holland says. “The truth is, when we were first writing it, she was Penny from Inspector Gadget, but since Penny is Inspector Gadget’s niece and Leonard and Penny were talking all about their first kiss, it started to cast a weird tone over the scene. So we changed it.” Good call.

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PHOTO: Michael Yarish

The costume of all costumes: Mayim Bialik as Bernadette and Jim Parsons as Howard. I don’t know about you guys, but I could have watched an entire episode of Amy as Bernadette and Sheldon as Howard. Holland agrees. “Mayim looked so good as Bernadette! She actually had a really bad cold earlier in the week and was worried she wasn’t going to be able to get her voice up high enough to do Bernadette. Luckily she recovered over the weekend and was hilarious.”



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The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 5 Recap: Sheldon Sabotages Amy's Career


I’ll be honest: I love The Big Bang Theory, but I have no idea what super-asymmetry is, nor do I think I’ll understand it anytime soon. But that’s why I write about TV and not science. For Sheldon and Amy, though, super-asymmetry is their baby—and it’s a storyline that Big Bang producers have said will feature heavily into this final season.

But it doesn’t take a scientist to know that being intellectually smart has nothing to do with street smarts or common sense. Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard have been poster boys for that notion since day one—and tonight’s episode, “The Planetarium Collision”—proved my point tenfold.

The episode begins with Amy in the lab working on her own project when Sheldon interrupts to discuss super-asymmetry. Amy says she’s busy, but Sheldon doesn’t get it. Or maybe he does, but he thinks Amy will want to hear what he has to say. Whatever the case, it’s typical Sheldon behavior.

So while Amy is working late, Sheldon recruits Penny as his audience of one to go over the latest super-asymmetry developments. (Perhaps she can explain to me what’s going on? Because I still have no clue.) During their talk, Sheldon confides that it feels like Amy hasn’t had time for their joint project ever since they returned from their honeymooon. He doesn’t understand why she puts her own “dull” projects over their collaboration. It’s frustrating that he’s so clueless about his wife’s passions, but this is Sheldon we’re talking about. Amy didn’t marry him because he says the right things.

Sheldon doesn’t always do the right thing either. In the next scene, he pays a visit to President Siebert and tells him that Amy is too distracted by the commitments she has to her own lab. Maybe he can free her up from that so she can focus on her project with Sheldon?

This is wrong on so many levels—Sheldon really should know better by now—but it’s also obvious that he thinks he’s doing a good thing. Case in point: He couldn’t wait to tell Amy the good news; it’s not like he was hiding this from her. Plus, as we later learn, Amy also told Sheldon she was spread too thin and wished she had more time to focus on her research. So while Sheldon’s move was selfish, I believe he didn’t understand the consequences of his actions. President Siebert, on the other hand, should be fired for his.

PHOTO: Michael Yarish/Warner Bros. Entertainment

When Amy returns to her lab later in the day, she finds a colleague—Dr. Park—in her place. He says he’s taking over now that she’s taking a temporary sabbatical to focus on other work. Amy is beside herself, completely at a loss for how this could have happened. Turns out, President Siebert took Sheldon’s suggestion and never bothered to confirm such a huge internal change with Dr. Fowler herself. Is that even legal? How does someone go on sabbatical without knowing they’re going on sabbatical?

Furious, Amy drops by President Siebert’s office. Siebert says he’s confused because Sheldon assured him this is what Amy wanted. Sheldon—who’s finally starting to catch on how messed up this is—tries to play dumb by adding, “Sure, so a couple of men get together behind closed doors to decide the fate of a woman’s career! I thought we had moved past this!”

Quite a concept, isn’t it? A man making a decision for a woman without actually consulting that woman or listening to what she wants. Infuriating much?

President Siebert apologies and assures Amy that she’s very important to the university. But he says it’s not so easy to course correct and get back her project. I’m not Amy, but if I was, I would have sued the man right there.

The next time we see Sheldon and Amy, they’ve gone to bed angry. Sheldon has a dream with Arthur Jeffries (Bob Newhart) where he learns once again why he was wrong. Sheldon wakes Amy and says he feels terrible about what he did and didn’t mean to be malicious. Amy says he wasn’t malicious, he was selfish. Then she tells Sheldon that the real issue is that she’s afraid of getting lost in their relationship. That the things that are hers are getting subsumed into theirs. Sheldon thanks her for explaining her fears to him—and for using the word subsumed—and the credits roll.

But the problem is that for most women, these infuriating issues in the workplace (and a marriage) aren’t tied up in 22 minutes or with the arrival of Bob Newhart. President Siebert most likely gets to keep his job without being reprimanded for nearly sabotaging a woman’s career. Amy may not. And while Sheldon instigated all of this, Siebert should have done his due diligence before signing off on such a major development. He didn’t. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out how wrong that is.



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The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 4 Recap: More Penny and Bernadette, Please


The Big Bang Theory hyped its latest episode as a Young Sheldon-type crossover—thanks to the appearance of Sheldon’s childhood best friend Tam—but that wasn’t even best part of the episode. That honor goes to Bernadette and Penny’s mission to befriend Raj’s new fiancé, Anu.

To be fair, the Sheldon/Tam/Leonard storyline in “The Tam Turbulence” was classic Big Bang, but it was Melissa Rauch and Kaley Cuoco who stole the episode with their buddy-cop humor and deadpan delivery. It’s that reason why I believe Big Bang could still live on as a spin-off should it choose to; the Bernadette/Penny show more than proved that.

But let’s get back to the episode. Penny and Bernadette go on a mission to dig up info on Anu, and in the process exhibit Bachelor-level behavior not endorsed by yours truly (though, TBH, it was hysterical). Penny tells Bernadette that she’s “really worried about this Raj getting married thing.” Bernadette agrees. After all, it’s not like they make marriage to their respective spouses look that great.

Here’s where they really go off the deep end: Penny suggests that because her deep-dive social media search on Anu has turned up empty, it’s time to call in reinforcements. Bernadette phones her dad—a retired cop—to see if he’ll run a background check on Anu. No, he says. Of course, that’s not good enough for Bernadette and Penny. If he won’t help, they’ll just go to the hotel where Anu is a concierge and do the work themselves.

PHOTO: Michael Yarish/CBS

The whole scene that follows (including Bernadette’s story of how she can fit her entire body into her dryer) is brilliant, but if I ever have friends that pull the same shtick on a future boyfriend of mine, please tell me to get new friends. Bernadette and Penny introduce themselves, but Anu is five steps ahead of them, knowing Raj’s friends have just come to get the dirt on her. Doesn’t matter—she’s happy to go along and suggests an ultra-trendy restaurant they all have dinner at later that night. Penny’s impressed; she’s been trying to get into this restaurant forever, to no avail. “Oh, please, getting into impossible places is my super power,” Anu says. And with that, Penny divorces Leonard and marries Anu. Kidding!

Later at the restaurant, Bernadette wants to know why Anu would marry someone she just met when she seems like such a smart, successful woman. Fair question, Anu says, before adding that in her 20s, she tried dating the “normal” way. “I met a guy, fell in love, we moved in together, I put him through culinary school, screenwriting classes, and finally dumped him when he wanted to become a midwife,” she says. “Then I realized, my parents are happy, they had an arranged marriage, why am I fighting this?”

Penny and Bernadette are still skeptical, saying they both married for love and it turned out…well, fine, they guess. In other words, maybe Anu has a point.

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PHOTO: Michael Yarish/CBS

Over the course of the evening, Anu turns the tables and gets Bernadette and Penny drunk in hopes of getting gossip out of them about Raj. It works. They spill about Raj’s love of Britney Spears and that he takes baths with his dog…while they both wear swimsuits. Oh, and he snot-cries every time Hugh Jackman sings. Exactly what a girl you just met wants to hear. But he sounds better than half the guys I keep meeting in L.A., so maybe don’t write him off too fast, Anu.

Of course, this all gets back to Raj and he is livid—rightfully so. “Do me a favor and stay away from [Anu],” he yells at Penny and Bernadette.

They feel bad for a minute before coming to the conclusion that they should do damage control and take Anu out again, especially if they can use her to get them into Soho House. “We owe it to Raj to try,” a sly Bernadette reasons.

I can’t wait to see this unfold. Bring it on, Benny.



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