The Big Bang Theory walked the line between hilarious and emotional with “The Closet Reconfiguration” as Howard confronted his painful past. Check out our review right here.
“The Closet Reconfiguration” begins with Howard “cleaning” his and Bernadette’s room by indiscriminately stuffing his things into the closet before the rest of the gang arrives for a dinner party. Bernadette protests, and Howard muses that they could let Sheldon organize the closet, an idea she agrees to when Sheldon shows up with takeout.
As Sheldon’s blissful organization of the closet comes to an end, he asks Howard where to file a letter from his dad. Howard reacts angrily, saying that it is years old, but he has never read it. A concerned Bernadette asks Howard later what he wants to do. Howard decides that he is still too angry at his father to read the letter and burns it.
Bernadette admits to Penny and Amy that she is curious about the letter’s contents, so Penny volunteers to ask Sheldon – with Bernadette as a casual witness. Sheldon spills the beans, courtesy of a touch of legalese, and Leonard and Raj find out as well. Just before Leonard and Penny’s (copycat) dinner party, Bernadette and the gang admit that they know what the letter contains. Howard is furious, but eventually calms down at home.
The gang arrives with a solution to Howard’s conflicting desires to both ignore the letter and know what it held: Raj, Sheldon, Amy, Penny, Leonard and Bernadette all tell Howard one thing that the letter might or might not contain. With one notable exception (coughSHELDONcough) the options are all comforting messages of love, and Howard decides that he doesn’t need to know the exact truth.
In the end, everyone relaxes at Leonard and Penny’s party. No one is happier than Sheldon, who gets to clean out Penny’s closet… though Penny might regret taking advantage after Sheldon’s discretion proves unequal to the contents of her closet.