The Big Bang Theory - The Grant Allocation Derivation - Review

There are some funds left in the general administrative grant of the university and no other than Leonard has the honor to decide which scientist is to receive the extra money. The task turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing when all of Leonard's colleagues are suddenly beyond friendly and welcoming to manipulate him into giving them the financial cushion. Several ridiculous proposals are sent Leonard's way and he is forced to decline them all. However, there is still one perk to his task: Penny finds this authoritative side of his rather attractive. It was nice to watch an entire episode in which Leonard and Penny do not have to overcome a serious hurdle in their relationship. This gives me hope that their marriage might last after all.

After Leonard narrows his decision down to 3 projects he is unable to decide which participant deserves the money more: Raj, Kripke, or Dr. Lee (the crow lady). He makes pros and cons lists and even comes up with scoring systems to determine the best project but in the end, none of this helps. Therefore, he decides to ask President Siebert to free up some more money. This way each project would get the extra financial support. Unsurprisingly, Siebert declines his suggestion. There is no money available for that, a decision has to be made. The sole purpose of giving Leonard this task is to let him be the bad guy for a change. Siebert is not going to take the task off his hands. So, Leonard continues to suffer because of his inability to make up his mind. No matter who he gives the grand to, at least two people would end up being mad at him. He wants to find a solution that makes everyone happy. As a last resort, Leonard approaches Sheldon for help. He wants Sheldon to make the decision for him because Sheldon does not care what other people think of him. Sheldon however, declines. Apparently, he only meddles into other people’s affairs when he is not supposed to.

When Leonard finally makes a decision, he is quite content with it. He chooses to give the extra money to ... *drum roll*... himself. He is funding his own project: “I realized that, no matter what decision I made, people were gonna be mad at me. And this way, I get a laser.”
It seems that over the last few years Leonard has learned more from Sheldon than he would like to admit.

The second storyline in this episode is about Bernadette and her struggle to find time for herself between her job, her kids and her husband. Instead of going home straight after work she starts hanging out at her kids' play house to have an hour of downtime. She keeps telling Howard that she has to work late when actually she is drinking wine in their backyard. Bernie feels somewhat guilty about it and talks to Penny. When Penny has enough of Leonard’s obsession over the decision who gets the extra funding, she joins Bernadette in the toy house. Amy immediately knows that the two ladies have been doing something without her and demands to be part of their “secret club”. And when Amy wants something she gets it. In the end, all three ladies end up drinking wine and eating Easy-Bake quesadilla in the playhouse.

When Raj and Howard go for a soak in the hot tub, Raj mentions that he believes to have heard someone in the kids’ playhouse. Turns out Howard knows that Bernadette is hiding in there. He understands that she needs a break and is in general rather cool about her occasional disappearance. “That's how marriage works. Three years ago I told her I got life insurance, and I totally didn't. Someday, she's gonna find out. I'm gonna say, "Haha! I know you've been hiding in the playhouse. “ Problem solved.

How did you all like the episode? Let us know in the comments!