The most recent episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” titled “The Werewolf Transformation,” actually begins with a look at Sheldon and Leonard. The two roommates are in Sheldon’s accustomed barber shop, where Dr. Cooper has gone for his regularly-scheduled haircut. When he learns that his regular barber is not available, due to something as trivial as a stroke, he becomes discombobulated.
Sheldon is at wits end because only the guy he always goes to has his “haircut records,” which, his mother assured him, she had faithfully sent from Texas after her son moved to California. Leonard’s contention that there is no such thing as “haircut records” goes for naught. Time and time again, throughout the life of this excellent series, Sheldon has shown himself to be the poster boy for Jonathan Swift’s memorable quote, “There are none so blind as they that won’t see.”
Eventually, Sheldon gives in to despair, which takes the odd form of a set of bongo drums. In his determination to forswear all convention, in light of his haircut schedule having been loused irreparably up, he becomes a beatnik of sorts, banging away (loudly and badly) on his bongos, to the annoyance of, not only Leonard, but Penny across the hall. Note that this transformation on Sheldon’s part does not come about until he has attempted, in a last desperate effort, to resolve his haircut situation by visiting the comatose barber in the hospital, in the hope of cadging a quick trim.
All this while, there is a subplot afoot that involves Howard’s astronaut training. Surely you know this cannot go at all well, and it certainly doesn’t. His many conversations with Bernadette via Skype are amusing, to say the least.
Finally Leonard, Penny and Amy stage an intervention in an effort to get Sheldon to cut his hair and, as a result, abandon his bohemian ways. In the course of persuading Sheldon to let her cut his hair, Penny recounts the many times they have been there for one another in the past, including her well-placed kick in a bully’s family jewels, on his behalf, and his having seen her naked on another occasion. And, of course, there are the innumerable renditions of “Soft Kitty.” Finally, with some help from Amy, Penny is able to talk Sheldon into submitting to a haircut. Later, we see the two of them in Penny’s apartment, she cutting his hair and seeming to do a fairly good job of it. Of course, very much like Howard’s astronaut training, you know this will not end well either.
Finally, it is interesting to note that, during the intervention, Amy in the short space of about a minute, gave only marginally-subtle indications of what we had come to suspect in last week’s episode: that she’d happily hop in the sack with either the putative barber or the barber’s “customer.” Poor Amy, she deserves some success with one of them, although, at this point, both prospects seem equally unlikely.
Sources
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2012/02/the-big-bang-theory-review-the-werewolf-transformation/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/the-big-bang-theory-penny-gives-sheldon-haircut-video_n_1298452.html
Swift, Jonathan, “Polite Conversation”
“The Big Bang Theory,” Season 5, Episode 18: “The Werewolf Transformation”