“The Financial Permeability” opens in the apartment with the guys staring a complex diagram on the magic marker board. They swear the problem is unsolvable. Turns out they are trying to find the perfect movie theater. They think they can solve the problem, but Sheldon refuses to substitute a Slurpee for an Icee. The guys decide they only have only one option: they head to the movies without Sheldon. Even the uber-genius concede it was the only solution.
Nothing drives me nuts more than trying to please everyone in a group that wants to do dinner and a movie. Between personal taste, ex-lovers in the kitchen, phobias and restraining orders, the best bet is a mall food court. By the time you finally decide on how to work the evening, the film has already been released on DVD. The ending of this scene once more proves Jim Parsons is the best supporting talent in a sit-com. His reaction to everyone splitting is pitch perfect. What’s it going to take to put this guy on the cover of People or Geek Boy Illustrated?
Sheldon opens up his front door. Penny comes racing up the stairs. She screams he needs to shut the door. She heads into the apartment. Turns out the landlord is downstairs and Penny is behind in the rent. Her hours have been cut and her car engine needed to be fixed. Sheldon suggests that she could solve her problems by earning more money. She isn’t amazed. But then he blows her mind. He opens up one of those cans of peanut brittle with the snakes flying out. He pulls out a wad of bills and offers to loan her the money. She can’t handle this act of charity, but he talks her into it. She promises to pay him back as soon as she can. Sheldon reminds her that it would be impossible to do that. She’s already regretting the loan.
While walking to the mailboxes, Sheldon announces to Leonard that he’d be a house pet to super-intelligent aliens. He wants to do it for the learning opportunities and get his belly rubbed. Penny arrives. There’s a box for her with a beret. She keeps insisting she bought the hat a month before she knew she was broke. Neither of the guys care. Later Raj, Howard, Leonard and Penny are eating Chinese food. Leonard insists she doesn’t need to pay for her meal. She wants to pay her fair share. Raj jokes that he’d get free Chinese food if he wore tight jeans and a low top. Penny gets nasty. She shames Raj.
Penny gets defensive about buying the takeout food. She swears Sheldon is giving her the third degree when he isn’t. He doesn’t care when she pays him back. She can’t deal with the pressure.
No matter what people say when you borrow money from them, you do feel guilty buying stuff until you’ve paid them back. I’ve known a couple people who didn’t care. But I don’t think they ever paid back a loan. Best to avoid delving too deep into this topic before I start naming names and the top shelf drinks they ordered on my dime.
Penny eats her food in a candlelit room. Turns out she had the power and water shut off. Leonard explains that Sheldon doesn’t care when she pays him back. It’s one of his few indicencracies that doesn’t bother him. She explains her plan to make back the money was to waitress for six months and become a movie star. Her back up plan was to be a TV star. Leonard pokes through her bills to see what she can cut back on. She can’t stop her acting classes. The biggest expenditure seems to be cash she loaned her ex-boyfriend for various tickets and court infractions. She fears having to move out of the apartment building. He protests and hints he wouldn’t mind being her roommate. She lets him know that it wouldn’t work cause she’d be all over his body. He believes her. She lets him know the acting classes are working.
Howard, Raj and Sheldon play a board game. Howard stomach feels bad after his mushu pork. Raj quotes a little kosher law. Dietary humor gets exchanged. Leonard enters. He wants the guys to join him on a quest to get Penny’s ex-boyfriend to cough up Penny’s money. The guys don’t want to do it. Last time they went to get something of Penny’s back from the guy, they returned home without pants. Leonard used the Lord of the Rings quest to empower them. They’re not biting. He begs.
Here’s a sad rule of life: Don’t do too much for women who think you’re a sweet friend. They have a name for those kind of guys: tool. No matter what you do for them, you’re not going to get laid. You might have a shot if they need you to help drink down their tequila inflated waterbed. Once you’ve been pegged as a tool by a woman, she knows that she doesn’t have to go all the way to get your help. Does the reverse happen for women? Nope.
They arrive at the ex-boyfriend’s apartment. They breakdown a gameplan that includes crying and wetting their pants. Leonard knocks and the ex-boyfriend answers. He’s still a hulk of a man. It’s like when the Three Stooges met a goon. There’s plenty of flinching when the ex. He’s not moved by the request and slams the door on them. Leonard refuses to take “she’ll see it when she she’s it” as an answer. He declares he doesn’t need back up because he has right on her side. Cut to the guys in the car driving back. Sheldon congratulates his roommate for getting the ex-boyfriend to acknowledge the debt. Leonard’s forehead is now an IOU note.
Penny knocked on Sheldon’s door. Leonard answers with a stocking hat pulled down to his eyes. She has Sheldon’s money. Turns out that the ex-boyfriend has given her back the cash. He wanted to do what was right. Leonard asks if he said anything else. Nope. She thinks the guy has changed. She’s going to wear her new beret on a date with the guy. She skips off happy. Leonard feels like a major tool. Sheldon thinks his buddy should be proud. The IOU on his forehead is a heros’ wound. Sheldon proclaims, “Minstrels will write songs about you!” He begins singing about their quest to get Penny’s money back.
“The Financial Permeability” lets us see that Sheldon’s character has a big heart when it comes to his friends He might not be the most human of friends, but he’s gracious. Jim Parsons’ facial expressions as he gives her the cash are priceless.
