Big Bang Theory - The Mystery Date Observation

Here's the thing - I have a grievance with the fact that this show has been whittled down to 19 minutes of actual content because of stupid commercials, but then they used a whole minute for a recap that didn't need to be nearly that long (they included unnecessary punchlines when they could have just hit the major plot points. Chuck and Friends used to be so good at that.)

Sheldon decided he needs a new girlfriend so that he will focus on his work again. He asks Howard and Raj to find him one and they get distracted, because that's what they do.

Jon recognizes this trope

Amy is wearing a short dress - all the way to her knees! And she finally gives Penny and Bernadette a few details about her new beau, and OH MY GOD PENNY AND BERNADETTE ARE TOTALLY LIKE MY ROOMMATES WITH THE SQUEALING and now they're planning to spy on Amy on her date - I hope mine would never do that...

Raj and Howard plan out a bunch of puzzles that a woman needs to solve before she can get his contact information. Funny - but in the real world I'm sure something like that would sit around for months if not years before anyone took a crack at it.

Oh my god! Amy's date is Stephan Merchant!! That British dude who you may all remember as the spindly-legged fellow from this video who is not Joseph Gordon-Levitt:

(But you should definitely watch that video because yes, JGL is the best part of that video, as he is in all the things)

Bernadette would make an excellent spy. She's got the equipment, but hardly the subtlety. It still seems weird to think of Leonard and Penny as married.

And OF COURSE Amy's date has heard of Sheldon! And he's a fanboy. Just wants to know everything about him. And meet him. This is the second time in three episodes that Bernadette has taken off on someone she was supposed to drive home. But she backed into Dave's car, and they came out and saw them, and freaked out over Leonard because apparently he's famous too.

Sheldon really didn't want the girl who solved the puzzle to be Jennifer Lawrence. Because she's not too busy to be solving puzzles on the Internet. But hey, it's another girl with similar hair! Played by Analeigh Tipton! I did not know she cut her hair... But he shuts the door in her face because she missed the deadline by less than a minute (and found electronic spectroscopy boring). There is officially no hope for Sheldon.

... Or for Amy.