The Barbarian Sublimation Season 2, Episode 3 -  Aired October 6, 2008

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When Penny feels down on her luck, Sheldon introduces her to online gaming. After Penny finds herself addicted to the virtual world, Sheldon regrets the monster he's created.

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Guest Stars: Mark Hames as Tom, Tyler J. Olson as Blaine

Writers: Nikki Lorre (Story), Steven Molaro (Teleplay), Eric Kaplan (Teleplay)

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Viewers: 9.39 million Households Rating: 6/9 Adults 18-49 Rating: 3.7/10

Available on iTunes

Episode Notes

  • The title references the "barbarian" Penny changed into as she became addicted to the game.

Episode Quotes

Raj: What's with him?
Leonard: Penny is keeping him up at night.
Howard: Me too. But probably in a different way.

Sheldon: Level 3 and she thinks she's rich. What a noob!

Leslie: Hello men. Sheldon.

Dr. Gablehauser: What colorful nickname did you call Dr. Cooper this time?
Leslie: Dr. Dumbass.

Sheldon: I'm surprised you struck out with Penny. Apparently she's a big ol' five.

Recap

Sheldon gets distracted from playing Age of Conan when he nears noises coming from the hallway. He goes out to find Penny struggling to get into her apartment after she accidentally used her car keys to open the door. Penny explains her frustrations to Sheldon, who invites her into his apartment to wait until the locksmith arrives. When Sheldon returns to his game, Penny is interested to see what he's doing and has him explain the game to her.

Penny is soon obsessed with the game and starts troubling Sheldon for advice, even going into his bedroom at night for assistance. When Sheldon visits his boss to mediate a dispute with Leslie Winkle, Penny's call for help proves inopportune for Sheldon. Sheldon asks Leonard for help to get Penny off his back, so Leonard goes over to see Penny. An unkempt Penny dismisses Leonard's arguments, so he ventures to the online world to try talk to Penny. Still unwilling to hear Leonard's arguments, Queen Penelope chops off virtual Leonard's head.

Leslie Winkle approaches the guys in the cafeteria and upon hearing about Penny's gaming addiction, suggests she's probably compensating for her lack of a sex life. Sheldon accepts Leslie's hypothesis and sets out to find Penny a mate, asking the guy at the next table for his phone number. Sheldon visits Penny and tricks her into answering questions so he can set up an online dating profile for her.

Leonard returns to the apartment to find another guy, Tom, there. Sheldon explains he was identified as a good match for Penny by a dating site. However, when a scruffy Penny arrives at the apartment, Tom isn't interested as she looks nothing like her picture. Later, Howard's character, Sir Howard of Wolowitz, invites Penny on a quest. When Penny realizes she's just agreed to spend virtual time with Howard, she finally understands she needs help.