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The Big Bang Theory Season 5 Episodes
Season 5 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 2011 - 2012
Episode 1
The Skank Reflex Analysis
Thu, Sep 22, 201122 mins
In the aftermath of Raj and Penny's night together from which Raj believes he's in love with her, everyone seems to be mad at Raj. Although he has no intention of getting back together with Penny despite Priya having moved back to India, Leonard is mad at Raj for sleeping with his old girlfriend. Leonard turns to an unlikely source for advice about his feelings. Howard is mad at Raj for taking his supposed place as second in line (after Leonard) in Penny's loins. Howard is also mad at Raj when it comes to light that Raj fantasized about Bernadette. And Bernadette is mad a Raj for making Howard think that there was something going on between them. While Penny takes refuge away from the guys at Amy's, she contemplates her future, which includes thoughts of moving back to Nebraska since her acting career is no career at all. Ultimately, Penny and Raj need to discuss what happened, which Penny finds out is not quite what she thought. Through it all, Sheldon can only think about his leadership in the upcoming paint-ball battle against the geology department. Sheldon's actions may unwittingly bring the friends back together.
Episode 2
The Infestation Hypothesis
Thu, Sep 22, 201120 mins
With Priya having moved back to India, she and Leonard decide to try having a long distance relationship, which includes Skyping each other on a regular basis. Howard suggests that they take that communication one step further by having high speed on-line sex with each other. When conventional on-line sex between the two of them fails, Howard has some equipment that he thinks will enhance their on-line experience, which he demonstrates with Raj while an uncomfortable Leonard looks on. While Leonard and Priya are talking on-line, Sheldon takes refuge in Penny's apartment. Sheldon is in love with how comfortable Penny's new chair is, until he finds out that it is a used chair that she found discarded on the street. A freaked out Sheldon is certain that he has contracted some nasty bug from sitting in the chair, and does whatever he can to make Penny get rid of it. None of Sheldon's tactics works. Something else may make Penny think twice about keeping the chair.
Episode 3
The Pulled Groin Extrapolation
Thu, Sep 29, 201120 mins
After a group dinner at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment, Leonard and Amy are the unlikely pair left alone at the apartment as everyone else goes off for the evening. Despite it being a somewhat uncomfortable evening for Leonard, he agrees to accompany Amy to an upcoming wedding, she who refuses to take Sheldon based on a past incident. At the reception, Amy, who "whored" herself up to meet her perception of social convention, is the one of the two who tries to enjoy their time together in this social setting. Leonard ultimately appreciates Amy's attempts. But both Amy and Sheldon misinterpret Leonard's appreciation. Meanwhile, Howard tells a disbelieving Bernadette that he expects them to live with his mother in her house after they're married. After an argument, Bernadette at least agrees to go through a trial weekend at the Wolowitz house. And Sheldon is off in his own literally little world as he plays with his new HO model train set.
Episode 4
The Wiggly Finger Catalyst
Thu, Oct 6, 201120 mins
Especially with Howard and Bernadette's impending marriage, everyone, including Raj himself, is feeling sorry for Raj not having a girlfriend. The problem of Raj finding a girlfriend or one of his friends finding him a girlfriend is his inability to speak to women unless intoxicated. Penny, however, thinks she's come up with the perfect girl who at least gets around that talking issue. Emily, who Penny knows solely from her spin class, is deaf. Despite initially needing Howard to translate since Howard knows ASL - Howard who feels he needs to take poetic license in translating what Raj wants to say - Raj and Emily seem to hit it off. Raj quickly falls head over heals in love with her, and the gang believes Emily has fallen head over heels in love with Raj. However, they soon change their minds about Emily's feelings, believing that she has only one selfish interest in Raj, which makes them see Raj in a slightly different light. As the one who got Raj into the relationship, Penny feels she has to take whatever measure necessary to get him out of it, which Raj may or may not appreciate or fully understand. Meanwhile, to free up his brain for more important matters, Sheldon is leaving all trivial decisions of his life literally up to the roll of the dice.
Episode 5
The Russian Rocket Reaction
Thu, Oct 13, 201122 mins
Since they are in the comic book store when he stops in, Leonard and Sheldon are invited by Wil Wheaton to a party at his house. Leonard has every intention of going, which may place his and Sheldon's friendship on shaky ground as Wil is still on Sheldon's arch enemy list. Can anything convince Sheldon to attend the party himself? If so, he may end up meeting more arch enemies. Meanwhile, Howard, whose project has been chosen by NASA for the International Space Station, has been asked by them to go on a three week mission to the station. He believes that all his friends will be as happy for him as he is excited about it. But one person who isn't excited at all is Bernadette, who doesn't want him to go. Bernadette uses a tactic to convince Howard not to go, but that tactic may actually paint Bernadette as the bad guy.
Episode 6
The Rhinitis Revelation
Thu, Oct 20, 201122 mins
Sheldon's mother, Mary Cooper, stops by for a visit before embarking on a Christian based cruise. Sheldon is excited about her visit if only to have his Mommy do Mommy things for him, like cook and clean. His expectations are even higher as he wants specific foods and wants to do specific things with her. But Mary seems to spend as much of her energies helping Sheldon's friends as she does Sheldon, if not more. She even refuses to hang out with him doing the things he wants to do - specifically go to a lecture given by a Nobel laureate just so that he can debunk his theories publicly - instead doing what she wants to do, such as typical Mary Cooper styled Hollywood sightseeing. Amy provides some insight into what Sheldon is going through, which doesn't make him very happy. But he unwittingly gets what he wants by being "common".
Episode 7
The Good Guy Fluctuation
Thu, Oct 27, 201120 mins
Leonard is nonplussed when he is approached by a beautiful woman named Alice while they're both in the comic book store. He figures that her interest in him is purely on that comic book level, especially when he finds out that she is a comic book artist herself. But he soon finds out that her interest in him also extends to the carnal. Leonard doesn't know what to do about the situation. For him, Alice may be that perfect and rare woman - both a nerd and beautiful - but he doesn't want to risk ruining his relationship with Priya, who he sees could one day be his wife and despite their current long distance relationship not being totally satisfying. He turns to the only one of his friends who has any relationship experience, Penny, for advice. He realistically wants her to tell him that he can have his cake and eat it too. Meanwhile, Sheldon is trying to get back at Leonard, Howard and Raj for a Halloween prank they pulled on him which made him both faint and relieve himself of some bodily fluids. But will Sheldon, who has less than conventional sensibilities, be able to pull off such stunts himself?
Episode 8
The Isolation Permutation
Thu, Nov 3, 201121 mins
While Amy and the guys are eating lunch in the cafeteria, Howard receives a text message from Bernadette about how her wedding and bridesmaids dress shopping is going with Penny. This news hurts Amy, who feels like she has through most of her life as the shunned person by who she thought were her friends. She turns to Sheldon for support, he who is not well equipped to handle Amy's request for support. As such, he turns to Howard and Leonard to get "their women in line". Howard and Leonard find out that Bernadette and Penny did have a specific reason for not inviting Amy. Feeling like they did betray their new girlfriend, Bernadette and Penny have to come up with a way to make it up to Amy in a meaningful way, otherwise they may face the continued wrath of Sheldon.
Episode 9
The Ornithophobia Diffusion
Thu, Nov 10, 201121 mins
A blue jay perched on his apartment window ledge is too much for ornithophobic Sheldon to handle. As no one - even the authorities (gasp) - seems to want to help him shoo away the bird, a scared Sheldon does whatever he can to get rid of the bird in any way he can. He turns to his two biologist friends, Amy and Bernadette, who try to help him get him over his fear. Their attempts have unexpected results. Meanwhile, Penny asks Leonard if he wants to go see a movie with her. He realizes that Penny's invitation is not a date, despite he deep down wanting it to be. But once he gets over the notion that this event is not a date, Leonard is able to relax and enjoy his time out, even more than when they were actually dating. As Leonard makes it abundantly clear to Penny that it not being a date has its own consequences, Penny decides to take her own actions to prove to Leonard that it is indeed not a date.
Episode 10
The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition
Thu, Nov 17, 201121 mins
When Stuart meets Amy as she accompanies Sheldon to the comic book store, Stuart feels they had a moment. As such, Stuart wants to ask her out on a date. Not knowing what Amy's relationship status with Sheldon is, Stuart asks Leonard to ask Sheldon if it's OK for him to ask her out. Sheldon's ultimate response is that Amy is not his possession, so she is free to do whatever she wants. In reality, Sheldon's indirect allowance for Amy to date Stuart is only in the belief that Amy has no interest in Stuart. Sheldon's wrong as Amy does agree to go out with Stuart. Sheldon has to figure out what his true feelings for Amy are, and if they are in the realm of boyfriend/girlfriend, he has to figure out what to do to get her back.
Episode 11
The Speckerman Recurrence
Thu, Dec 8, 201120 mins
Out of the blue, Leonard receives a message through his Facebook page from Jimmy Speckerman, a high school acquaintance who bullied him all throughout school. Jimmy wants to get together with Leonard for drinks. Leonard, who has always hated Jimmy because of that torment through high school, is at a loss of what to do. Finally he decides to face his demons and agree to meet Jimmy to confront him and make him apologize for all the bad things he did. Sheldon, Howard and Raj go along for support, but will four nerds be able able to stand up to a physically big bully? Or does Jimmy have a truly admirable reason for wanting to meet? In discussing Leonard's issue, Penny and Bernadette come to the conclusion that Penny was a bully in high school. Although they all agree that Penny is a nice person now, they make Penny come to the realization that she has to do something significant to atone for her past mean acts. Has the years since high school made either Jimmy or Penny really come to an understanding of the errors of their bullying ways and/or what atonement really means?
Episode 12
The Shiny Trinket Maneuver
Thu, Jan 12, 201221 mins
On Sheldon and Amy's scheduled monthly date night, Amy becomes obviously upset with Sheldon. Penny, who witnessed the incident, tells Sheldon that Amy's anger is due to his indifference to news that she shared that was important to her, specifically that her article was published in a prestigious scientific journal. Sheldon is uncertain if he can feign interest in something he doesn't find interesting. Leonard convinces him that he can make it up to her by buying her a romantic gift, such as jewelry. But will Amy, who also has her own unconventional sensibilities, be swayed by pressurized carbon i.e. diamonds? Meanwhile, Bernadette reluctantly agrees to be Howard's assistant in his magic act at his little cousin's birthday party. What she is required to do as his assistant brings up the issue that she hates children and doesn't want any of her own, which ends up being a possible deal breaker in their relationship.
Episode 13
The Recombination Hypothesis
Thu, Jan 19, 201221 mins
After thinking about it long and hard, Leonard decides to ask Penny out on a real date again, which not only garners a shocked reaction from Penny, but the same from the rest of their mutual friends. Penny accepts Leonard's date request. While Bernadette and Amy give Penny their two cents worth of advice, Howard and Raj give Leonard theirs. After what can be described as a disastrous date, Leonard and Penny make a decision on what to do about whether or not to get back together again. Much of their decision is based on Penny's assertion that Leonard over-thinks everything. An action by Leonard shows just how much he over-thinks everything. Meanwhile, Sheldon contemplates whether or not to keep the "Zachary Quinto" life-sized cardboard cutout of Spock he received, when he really ordered the "Leonard Nimoy" Spock. And a clueless Sheldon, while playing a game with Howard and Raj, has no idea his comments are laced with sexual innuendo.
Episode 14
The Beta Test Initiation
Thu, Jan 26, 201221 mins
Leonard and Penny have decided to start dating each other again, but Penny is worried that any little glitch in their second time around will stall or halt them getting back together. As such, Leonard proposes that they follow a computer software development process model, where each party directly involved in the development process provides constructive comments on the "product" i.e their relationship, so that they collectively can fix the problems before the product goes into the next phase of external testing. Penny agrees. However, the comments that each provides in and of themselves end up being viewed hypercritically by the person being criticized, and thus may halt the process in its tracks unless the critic can delve deeper into the psyche of the criticized, which in turn may have its own unintentional consequence. Meanwhile, Raj has started "dating" Siri, the voice of his new smart phone's voice recognition system. And Sheldon, with Amy's assistance, decides to host a once a week/fifty-two week video podcast on the fun of vexillology.
Episode 15
The Friendship Contraction
Thu, Feb 2, 201221 mins
As Leonard is feeling sleep deprived because of Sheldon, Leonard is in no mood to have to drive Sheldon to the dentist's office as per the roommate agreement. As such, Leonard willingly invokes what Sheldon tells him is clause 209 in the agreement, namely that the agreement be dissolved, that they no longer be friends, and that their only formal responsibilities to each other be payment of rent, payment of utilities and the perfunctory "'sup" as they pass each other in the hallway. Sheldon is equally as willing. However, Sheldon may change his mind when no one in his social circle, even Amy, seems willing to take on the duties that used to be performed by Leonard. Sheldon tries to show Leonard that he needs him as a friend, while Leonard really doesn't mind doing these little favors for Sheldon but wants them not to be a mandatory part of their relationship. Meanwhile, Raj has noticed that all Howard's astronaut colleagues have cool nicknames, while Howard doesn't. As Howard states that the nicknames are provided by the other astronauts, Raj comes up with a plan to get Howard's nickname to be what he wants it to be, namely "Rocket Man".
Episode 16
The Vacation Solution
Thu, Feb 9, 201222 mins
Much to Sheldon's chagrin, President Siebert orders him to take his mandatory vacation time immediately. Sheldon does whatever he can to pretend to take his vacation but still go to work. Since that doesn't work, he decides to do what he considers the next best thing: invade someone else's laboratory, namely Amy's. Amy welcomes him, but will Sheldon, who believes he's superior to everyone else regardless of the field of endeavor, be able to take a subservient role in his girlfriend's laboratory work? Meanwhile, Bernadette is worried that Howard won't take the news well that her father wants him to sign a prenuptial agreement since she makes more money than he does.
Episode 17
The Rothman Disintegration
Thu, Feb 16, 201221 mins
With Professor Rothman's retirement - or what could be considered him being forced out due to mental instability - there is a battle in the physics department between Sheldon and Barry Kripke for his lucrative office space. Each feels entitled to the office, Sheldon because he has a longer tenure and is smarter, Kripke because he said dibs and was actually in the office first. Their department head will not deal with the matter and President Siebert wants them to figure it out themselves, he who doesn't really care who gets it. So Leonard, Howard and Raj try to determine a fair "duel" to see who should get the office, the activity not one that they are equally adept at, but rather one that they are equally bad at. Meanwhile, Amy gives her bestie Penny a gift to show her how much she appreciates Penny in her life. Unfortunately for Penny, she hates it and doesn't know what to do with it, especially due to its large size and Amy noticing if it went missing.
Episode 18
The Werewolf Transformation
Thu, Feb 23, 201221 mins
Sheldon's orderly world is thrown into a tailspin when his regular barber, Mr. D'Onofrio, is in the hospital with a coma when Sheldon's regularly scheduled appointment arrives. He won't let anyone else in the area cut his hair since he believes Mr. D'Onofrio is the only one who can since he has all Sheldon's haircut records from Texas (or so Sheldon's mother told him). Even after his regularly scheduled haircut appointment is one day overdue, Sheldon can't stand it as he can hear his hair growing out of control. If Sheldon can't get Mr. D'Onofrio out of his coma, he will either have to let someone else cut his hair, or live with longer than usual hair. But what's worse, Sheldon believes that total anarchy will ensue since world order is based on his own personal order. The result of not getting is haircut makes Sheldon reevaluate his life plan. Meanwhile, Howard is scheduled to begin his astronaut training. Howard finds that the anticipation of the excitement of the training is nowhere close to the reality of training itself.
Episode 19
The Weekend Vortex
Thu, Mar 8, 201220 mins
Raj comes up with the idea of going down memory lane by the guys having a weekend long gaming marathon like they used to do, this time playing the new game, Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011). Despite Howard, Leonard and Sheldon being in relationships, they all agree. However, the three respective females in their lives may have some say about what happens on the weekend. Leonard hopes that Penny will care and have something to say about not spending the weekend with him, which means that their relationship is progressing back into true boyfriend/girlfriend status. Howard may not be able to choose between spending the weekend gaming or spending it with Bernadette. But Sheldon, who previously agreed to go to Amy's aunt's 93rd birthday celebration, has quite an easy decision between spending the weekend with the guys or with Amy and her aunt: he chooses the guys. A hurt Amy has to decide what to do in light of Sheldon's obvious disregard for her feelings. But someone other than Amy may be even more hurt by how the weekend progresses.
Episode 20
The Transporter Malfunction
Thu, Mar 29, 201221 mins
To show her appreciation for all the free meals she's had at their apartment, Penny, using money from an acting residual check, gives Leonard and Sheldon each a gift: a vintage, mint, in-the-box, 1975 Mego Star Trek (1966) Transporter, with real transporter action - apiece. They both love their gift. It has additional special meaning for Leonard since it was given to him from Penny with love. And it has additional special meaning for Sheldon since his Leonard Nimoy Spock miniature action figure would fit in the toy. However, Penny is dismayed to learn that neither Leonard or Sheldon plan on opening their respective gift to play with it since doing so would diminish its value. Later, Sheldon, hearing the voice of his Spock miniature action figure in his dreams telling him to do so, decides to open his gift to play with it. The result makes him contemplate secretly switching his now useless toy with Leonard's mint condition, still-in-the-box toy. Meanwhile, on the question of whether he will bring a date to Howard and Bernadette's wedding, a girlfriendless Raj makes a drastic decision: he will allow his parents to arrange a marriage for him. Although he really likes Lakshmi, his parent's choice of a wife for him, after their initial first few dates and thinks she may indeed be the one, an admission on her part makes Raj have to decide if marriage at any cost is worth it.
Episode 21
The Hawking Excitation
Thu, Apr 5, 201219 mins
Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking is coming to the university for an extended guest lecture series, and an excited Howard has been asked to maintain the equipment on his wheelchair for his entire stay. Since Howard knows that Sheldon is enamored with Hawking considering him the only person on the face of the planet that is his intellectual equal, Howard plans on introducing Sheldon to Hawking, that is until Sheldon, who is yet unaware of Hawking's visit or Howard's connection, makes yet another of his condescending remarks about Howard's intellect or lack thereof. So Howard changes his mind. After Sheldon's pleading, Howard compromises: he will show Hawking Sheldon's just written paper on the boson particle, and if Hawking wants to meet him after that, he will arrange it. But first, Sheldon has to do a few favors for him, which Howard knows he can make as painful and degrading as he wants since this meeting is Sheldon's dream. Regardless, the paper will prove whether Sheldon really is Hawking's intellectual equal.
Episode 22
The Stag Convergence
Thu, Apr 26, 201221 mins
It's two weeks before Howard and Bernadette's wedding. While the gals have a gift bag packing evening while talking about Bernadette's chosen married name and some other unmentionables mentioned by Amy, the guys are out for what Howard assumes will be a subdued stag party since he has promised Bernadette that there will be no strippers at the event. It does end up being subdued as most bachelor parties go, but some information that comes to light at the stag threatens the wedding as well as Bernadette's friendship with Penny. Penny and Howard do whatever they can to right whatever wrongs came to light.
Episode 23
The Launch Acceleration
Thu, May 3, 201221 mins
With only a few weeks until the launch, Howard's space mission is scrapped due to technical difficulties. Rather than be disappointed, Howard is relieved, since he had always been scared of dying in space, something that he doesn't mention to anyone. However, NASA decides they do want him to go after all, instead sending him on an earlier mission... one that is scheduled to launch two days before his and Bernadette's wedding. He is hoping that Bernadette or Bernadette's tough as nails father will demand that he not go. Meanwhile, Penny decides that she wants to speed things up with Leonard, which Leonard is more than happy to do. But Leonard accidentally speeds things up just a little too much. And Amy does some speeding up of her own regarding her and Sheldon's relationship, regardless of if Sheldon likes it or not.
Episode 24
The Countdown Reflection
Thu, May 10, 201221 mins
As Howard is in the Soyuz space capsule awaiting the launch to the International Space Station, his new wife and their friends are at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment watching the launch on the NASA channel. Howard, still scared about dying most specifically now by a botched launch, reminisces about the lead up to what was his and Bernadette's wedding. Bernadette was the one who decided that they should get married before the launch in a small but special ceremony, with only their immediate family and closest friends in attendance. The ceremony was threatened by the fact that their first and at that time only option of a civil ceremony at city hall couldn't happen due to a backlog. But Raj came up with what they all believed was an even better second option on launch day if they could pull it off. The personal issues of each within the wedding party had the potential of overshadowing what should have been Howard and Bernadette's most important day. That important day may also be shattered if Soyuz itself shatters upon launch.
