"What is wrong with you?!"

It’s a little late for Halloween talk, but Sheldon’s plans aren’t any less evil or diabolical. See how he cons Leonard into a “teachable moment,” how Penny needs to pick up a social skill or ten, and how Raj fares without his season premiere girlfriend, Lucy.

Night of the Living Lucy.

In Sheldon and Leonard’s “box of junk,” Leonard finds a DVD he knew he was supposed to return…seven years ago. (The Super Mario Brothers movie. I’ve seen it.) To communicate how he feels when an issue sits on his brain like, oh, say, an itchy sweater, Sheldon forces Leonard to wear the sweater until he can return the DVD in question. Leonard agrees, as always, to prove a point.

By the time his point transforms into a constellation of hives across his chest, Sheldon reveals he actually paid off the DVD way back when; then kept the movie around to teach lessons by.

I was waiting for Leonard to chuck the cover at Sheldon’s face. I would have. Dead center of the forehead.

But I’m not Leonard and his saint-like patience. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Sympathize with Sheldon theme arise from an episode this season. I wonder what the network aims to prove.

On the side, Penny spies Raj’s ex-girlfriend, Lucy, at The Cheesecake Factory. She clearly didn’t know about Lucy’s social anxiety (or know anything about how to define racism), because she made Lucy fly the coop and—repeatedly—manipulated Raj’s chances with any girl ever. Lucy or otherwise.

Lucy, as it turns out, is seeing someone else. Seems out of character to me, but I won’t question the writer’s decision to not bring her back for a closing curtain.

When the network announced next week’s Thanksgiving special, I admit, I had a brief moment: we never had a Thanksgiving special? Grab your cocoa and come back to the couch next Thursday at 8, where we figure out if Penny will earn her divorce.
That’s right. Her divorce.

What was the present?

What was the present?

What was the present?

Anyone else wonder if a ring box could fit in that packaging?

Thanks to Howard’s help, Stephen Hawking offered Leonard a spot on his four-month voyage to the North Sea to try and prove one of his theories. (Guess Sheldon didn’t have as big a “friend” connection.) While Leonard makes his plans to go abroad for the term, the other roommates and significant others act accordingly:

Sheldon: discovers jealousy. Penny teaches him how to overcome the catty voice in his brain and how to do what’s right—and how to score a toothpaste commercial. Still, I wonder if the career move foreshadows something else on the horizon for Sheldon’s future?

Penny: realizes she’ll have to maintain what she did when the flat studied in the North Pole mid-series. The three-month stint left them bearded, and her bored, but if she could manage that then, I’m sure she can manage this loss now.

Just about the rest of the apartment were preoccupied with Raj’s plot twist happening behind closed doors.

Trying to slowly introduce Lucy to all his friends, Raj overstepped his boundaries and over-fussed Lucy’s social anxiety.
Protip: don’t make such a big deal about social anxiety. Act like Amy and treat said person just as that—a person. Not a pedestal-propped spectacle.
Unfortunately, Raj learned his lesson the hard way and, for all his doting, Lucy decided the relationship was “just too much” via text-message at Leonard’s farewell affair. I expected a hero rush back, personally, but Raj instead spent the last five minutes reflecting. And reflecting. And reflecting.
The good news is, after six seasons and countless bottles of beer, Raj can celebrate his own converse achievement: he can talk to women! Or, at least, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy.

The next season premiere will tell us if Raj can win his “perfect” girl back. I think Lucy’s worth the rekindling, don’t you?
And for the love of all that is good, CBS, how dare you not tell us what was in Leonard’s gift?! How?