Penny weaves a tangled web of deception, to Leonard's delight...

"The Boyfriend Complexity"

It's always a pleasure to see Keith Carradine crop up in a show, but his turn as Penny's dad in this week's Big Bang Theory provided an additional surprise in the form of his great comedy timing.

We all know that Penny's romantic history is littered with tattooed layabouts and ne'er do wells; no-one knows this better than her dad, who finally pays a visit to Penny in order to meet the great scientist boyfriend that - as it transpires - she has never had the courage to tell him she broke up with. For Leonard, it's the jackpot, as he's able to smooch a reluctant Penny in public, bond with 'Dad' over a game of Wii Fishing and generally live it up at the expense of Penny's inability to disappoint her father yet again.

Over in the other section of the Nerd Camp, Raj and Howard suffer a moment of physical mis-timing that ends up with a totally accidental kiss between them which proves an embarrassing hurdle to overcome at the canteen table the following day.

In the meantime, Sheldon has not been let in on the Penny/Leonard deception, and is spending his nights drafting a whole new set of house-rules to govern Penny's return into Leonard's love-life.

But pretty soon the party's over for Leonard, as cowardly old Penny spills the beans over the phone to her dad during yet another bonding session between the two men. But what threatens to be a severe rebuke from Dad turns out to be a plea that Leonard not give up on wooing his daughter: "I want grandkids, and I don't want them to grow up in a house on wheels!"

The Boyfriend Complexity has more great one-liners than any episode in season four to date, most particularly regarding what Raj should and shouldn't consider racist, and an absurd conversation about the hypothetical proctological exploits of Marvel superheroes.

Kaley Cuoco still has a lot of catching up to do in season four, but I hope it's not at the expense of Sheldon's odd relationship with Amy Farrah Fowler, now that Mayim Bialik is a confirmed Big Bang Theory regular. Sheldon took a bit of a back-seat for the first time this season, and that's only fair - just so long as he doesn't return to being the walk-on character that season two often reduced him to. Raj's character is getting more and more screen time, and that's working out brilliantly both in providing character development and big laughs.

Sometimes I feel readers might think I'm getting paid by the makers to review this show, but the truth is, Big Bang Theory has never been better, and the writers' continuing edging away from the 'PC leash' is paying dividends in season four.

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