The Big Bang Theory: Killer Wobot Wound Wobin (recap)

By Jen Smith
Fancast.com

The Big Bang Theory is back from its winter break just in time to introduce us to the newest member of the family: Marte. Marte is a killer robot, built to race in the upcoming Southern California Robot Fighting League Round-Robin Invitational. Although Marte is only strong enough to kill a toaster oven, it manages to scare the crap out of Penny, who doesn’t understand the lure of killer robots. So, she’s never seen Transformers?

Howard explains to Penny that the contest is kind of a big deal in their circuit. It’s got an awards ceremony and a dance and everything. He invites Penny to the dance, but makes a critical mistake by saying she’d be the only doable girl in the room. Instead of being flattered (like I would be), Penny is insulted and calls Howard a pig. Howard, being a pig, thinks Penny is flirting. She dashes his hopes rather quickly when she calls him pathetic and creepy, saying he’s going to die old and alone. As brash as it is, the girl’s got a point.

This throws Howard into a state of depression. He skips work, leaving Raj, Leonard, and Sheldon without their engineer for the invitational. It seems one of their rivals has shown up for some trash talking. Barry Kripke, who seems to suffer from an unfortunate speech impediment reminiscent of Elmer Fudd, thinks they should scrap the contest and have a street fight Robato a Robato.

Leonard doesn’t want to lose this robot war, so he goes to Penny’s in an effort to convince her to apologize to Howard. At first, she refuses. But then Leonard reminds her of the time that he got his pants stolen from her steroid-laden ex-boyfriend. She concedes begrudgingly. That’s when things turn from worse to worser. Howard gives her the cold shoulder for a few minutes but eventually breaks down into tears. This is reminding me way too much of my senior prom.

As a means to terrify his competitors, Kripke has sent Leonard, Sheldon, and Raj a video of his killer robot. Unlike Marte, who’s a glorified table saw, the “Kwipke Kwippler” is actually capable of killing. It practically tears a cheap American car into scrap metal. Sheldon ponders the idea of improving Monte without Howard, but can’t manage to get the tool box open. He should call his dad. Dads always love tools.

Back at Howard’s, Penny is forced to sit there and listens to about 15 years of girl problems. Sometimes being a shoulder to cry on really sucks. But when Penny tells Howard how much of a catch he is, Howard gets the wrong impression and tries to make out with her. Oh, sweetie. No. As a natural reflex, Penny punches him square in the nose. I would have probably just pushed him off, but hey, she’s got more upper body strength than I do.

It’s time for the robot death match of the century! Sheldon attempts to break Kripke’s spirits with a little psychological warfare, but he fires back with some impressive flameage from the front of the Krippler. Needless to say, they all run from the big mean bully. In the end, everyone learns a valuable lesson. Everyone except for Marte, that is—he’s kind of dead now.

Funny Quotes of the Night

Penny: “It almost killed me!”
Sheldon: “If it wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

Sheldon: “Your robot is inferior and it will be defeated by ours because ours exceeds yours in both design and execution. Also, I’m given to understand your mother is overweight.”

Leonard: “He’s been in bed for two days.”
Penny: “Probably with a blowup doll.”

Howard: “The way I see it, I’m halfway to pity sex.”