The Big Bang Theory – The Comic-Con Conundrum

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

Last time we checked in, Raj (Kunal Nayyar) finally made the most to break free from his father’s financial backing. With no backing, he is financially independent for the first time. How will it impact Raj’s ability to go to the biggest nerd convention, Comic-Con?

As Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Howard (Simon Helberg) sit down with Raj and go over his finances, it is clear that he has spent more than he was receiving. Leonard and Howard suggest that Raj get a financial advisor who will teach him how to handle his finances, pointing to Sheldon as the prime choice. Raj agrees and appoints Sheldon to the position immediately. As Sheldon’s first order of business, he starts talking about Comic-Con and tells Raj he won’t be able to go with his current state of finances.

In the meantime, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) discusses Penny’s decision to go to Comic-Con with Leonard this year. She is sure she will be bored, but she wants to do something Leonard likes doing. Amy is reluctant to join on that bandwagon, even encouraging Penny not to do something that she herself is not entirely enthusiastic about.

At Stuart’s (Kevin Sussman) comic book store it seems that Leonard is also reluctant to have Penny join them for Comic-Con as the guys encourage him to find ways to turn Penny off to the idea. Raj continues to plead with Sheldon to help him find the money to go to Comic-Con with no success except for Raj to come up with the money in other ways. But this does present another issue, as new father Howard now has to try and convince Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) to let him go away for the five day excursion while she takes care of the baby. Later on at home he manages to plead his case and swears he will do anything to go, a promise that Bernadette cashes in immediately by having him do all the chores for her.

Attempting to deter her from coming, Leonard goes into great detail all the activities that Penny will have to look forward to if she comes with the guys. From photos of previous cons,  it will be Dungeons & Dragons parties and sharing a bed with Sheldon in a cramped hotel room. Penny appears upset, but refuses to back down from coming. It isn’t until later when both Amy and Sheldon confide in one another about Penny and Leonard’s avoidance that the truth comes out. Crisis averted as Penny is not upset about not going and neither is Leonard.

Raj continues to try and find ways to fund his ticket from selling his collectibles back to Stuart, working to promote the comic book store in his Aquaman costume and even trying to hit up Howard for any chores he can do. Raj is desperate to go and downright depressed that he may not be able to join his friends. At Casa Wolowitz it is Howard and Bernadette who eventually give Raj the money to go, explaining that the money is back-pay for all the times that Raj helped take care of little Halley.

Even though Raj’s financial predicament is solved, he gives back the money and decides that he would rather not go this year. Leonard decides to not attend either, hoping that he and Penny can do something together that weekend that they both want to do. With Sheldon and Howard being the only ones attending, Howard then backs out as well. This leaves Sheldon a few months to locate a friend to go with him, as he will not miss a single Comic-Con. But when Stuart goes to volunteer, even Sheldon is reluctant to attend with him.

Later we see Sheldon attempting to put the moves on Amy to go with him. She is adamant about not attending with him until he mentions he has something in his pants for her. Intrigued, Amy turns to face Sheldon only to find that he has produced a “long” list of panels for Comic-Con from his pocket.

Will Sheldon get to go to Comic Con? How will Raj continue handle being financially independent? We’ll find out next time on The Big Bang Theory!