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The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 18

The Prestidigitation Approximation

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AIRED: Mar 10, 2011

8.0

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Episode Summary

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Sheldon is baffled by Wolowitz's magic trick. Meanwhile, Priya disapproves of Leonard continuing to be friends with Penny.

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

Funnier

8.0

By dragondude4, Aug 17, 2011

In this episode Howard does a magic card trick and it get's Sheldon's attention and it's so freakin' funny how Sheldon goes threw a lot of trouble just to find out how did Howard do it. Meanwhile Priya tries to get Leonard to not see Penny any more even if Priya is smokin' hot she could be a little bi#chy sometimes and I though that Howard did the magic trick with the card but it was just Raj and Howard teaming up to mess with Sheldon LOL and to think Sheldon was gonna get urianim to find out how howard did it.moreless
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3/10

6.0

By thefanof, Apr 01, 2011

People speculated that CBS was moving The Big Bang Theory to Thursdays to be "the new Friends." They certainly are delivering the same amount of laughs Friends did.

Okay, to be fair I did chuckle a few times during this half hour, and the storylines were not bad tonight, but The Big Bang Theory would be best not having two women arguably fighting over Leonard. The appeal of this character to fans (if there is any) is that he is a realistic portrayal of a lot of Americans. That would not make him like the realistic male.

Sheldon being stumped as I said was kind of clever, but I think they went too far with his reaction. He committed federal crimes and they called his mother? Really TBBT?moreless
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THE PRESTIDIGITATION APPROXIMATION...

7.0

By AjMc91, Mar 31, 2011

I doubt that I would be the only person who never suspected that slapstick would be what was missing from The Big Bang Theory, but it turns out that it kind of was. Taking a break from the usual attempts at long worded technobabble and simply reverting to a basic premise to further the plot was a nice change of pace for The Big Bang Theory that I welcome with open arms.

The episode centered around two plots: one being Sheldon's inability to understand a card trick and the other being Priya wanting Leonard to distance himself from Penny as she obviously sees her as a threat. Getting to see Sheldon knocked off of his high horse of knowledge is always welcome and brings out a great side of Jim Parsons in his acting, but the best part of the episode is what it has set up for the rest of the season. It wasn't particularly emotional but now that Leonard and Penny have parted ways somewhat it is bound to be the catalyst that will ultimately drive the show to some point. Namely their reconciliation. Throw in Johnny Galecki walking into people, walls and doors throughout the episode and you've got yourself a pretty reasonable episode of The Big Bang Theory!moreless
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418

8.5

By Canogaparkcindy, Mar 31, 2011

Great episode of The Big Bang Theory tonight, and definitely reminded me of the old days when this show was consistently good on a weekly basis. Kaley Cuoco was just hilarious here and her reaction time was fantastic.

Sheldon's story line made me laugh the most with Howard & Raj tricking him in to thinking that magic was real. The whole scene in the restaurant was my favorite though, haven't laughed that hard in a while.

I'm not loving Priya's character in general, but I'm kind of liking the rift she is causing between Penny & Leonard, and I'm looking forward to some kind of payoff at the end of the season. Great episode tonight with a lot of noteworthy scenes.moreless
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Howard: I say, believe in magic, you muggle!

9.5

By doguineta, Mar 31, 2011

Sooo, we get 2 plots.

Leonard-Pryia: Pryia doens't like Penny haging around cause she's Lenny's ex, and asks him to talk to her. He tries but cna't. Then she bumps into them in a restaurant making Pryia all unconfortable. Penny gets it and says she'll stay away, which Leonard regrets. Sheldon plot: Howard tells Raj he learned a maigc trick, and after preforming it, he leaves Sheldon dazed. Sheldon tries restlessly to figure it out to the point of hacking a supercomuter and attempting to buy uranium. But then it's revealed Howard doens't reallly know the card and the others play along to spite Shel. He never finds out.

Title Reference: Prestidigitation = magic.

Overall: Great episode. Pryia's plot reminded me of Friends when Emily didn't want Ross near Rachel. And Shel's plot was the perfect comic relief to contrast a more serous plot. 9.5/10.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Johnny Galecki	Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons	Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco	Penny
Simon Helberg	Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar	Rajesh Koothrappali

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Aarti Mann

Priya Koothrappali

Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons on The Bi...

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Simon Helberg, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco ...

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Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki on The Bi...

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Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Na...

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (5)
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- Penny: (on the secret of the card trick) Not knowing is part of the fun.
  Sheldon: "Not knowing is part of the fun." Was that the motto of your community college?
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- Penny: (to Wolowitz) I think I know how you did the card trick.
  Sheldon: Oh, now please. If I don't know, you don't know. That's axiomatic.
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- (Sheldon has hacked into the Oakridge National Laboratory)
  Leonard: That computer is used for national defense. Hacking into it is a federal crime!
  Sheldon: Relax, we're not under attack right now.
  Leonard: All right, I'm leaving before the black helicopters get here.
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- Howard: Have you ever noticed whenever [Sheldon] thinks really hard it smells like bacon?
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- Sheldon: Apparently, you can't hack into a government supercomputer, and then try to buy uranium, without the Department of Homeland Security tattling to your mother.
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NOTES (2)
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- International Airdates: Australia: May 9, 2011 on Channel 9; United Kingdom: August 4, 2011 on E4; Turkey: November 22, 2011 on CNBC-e; Czech Republic: December 5, 2011 on Prima COOL; Slovakia: December 14, 2011 on Markiza
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- This episode's end titles has Chuck Lorre's Vanity Card #335.
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