The Big Bang Theory – The Citation Negation

By starrymag | November 21, 2018

By: Sammi Turano

 

The episode opens with Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) at their apartment discussing their project. She asks him his opinion about putting the appendix at the end and he says that together they should decide to put it at the end. She quips that there is an “I” in team.

 

They are excited by what they made and say it has the best of both of them. She reminds him there is still a lot to do, so he says they have to divide and conquer. He wants her to track down the citations and he wants to pick the font. She doesn’t like this idea and thinks a grad student to do the citations. He doesn’t want a millennial to work on it and continues to argue with her. She suggests picking one of their friends to help, but he isn’t sure if they can trust their friends either.

 

They finally settle on Leonard (Johnny Galecki) to help but Sheldon wants to prove he can keep a secret. Sheldon goes over to tell him a made up story and tells him to keep it a secret. Penny (Kaley Cuoco) walks in and wants to know the secret, but he refuses to tell her despite it being stupid.

 

The next day, Amy and Sheldon meet Leonard in the cafeteria to tell him he passed the test. Leonard knew the cafeteria lady would never have an affair with him while Amy wonders why Leonard wouldn’t tell him about said affair had it been true. The two finally tell Leonard they want his help with their research and he agrees. He is even happier when he realizes they won’t be there.

 

Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) are playing a game on their laptops. Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) walks in and they explain it to her with Raj comparing it to “Bachelor in Paradise. “She wants to learn, so Howard lets her give it a shot. She says it wasn’t fun at all because she died so quickly. Howard says she said the same thing on their honeymoon.

 

Leonard has Raj help him with the research and discuss the affair rumor. Leonard says it was a trust test and Raj wishes he would have known before he called her a floozy. The two of them split up the work, causing Raj to freak out over the creepiness and Leonard to have an asthma attack.

 

Penny goes to get Bernadette for lunch and catches her playing Fortnite. She is frustrated with the game, so Penny helps despite wondering why Bernadette cares about the game so much.

 

Raj and Leonard keep looking for the citations and finally get Howard to help them translate some of them. They then discover that the project Amy and Sheldon were working on has already been done and disproves their theory. Raj and Leonard wonder how to tell them and try to get the other to break the news.

 

Bernadette goes to see Stuart (Kevin Sussman) at the store, but he isn’t there so she talks to Denise (Lauren Lapkus). They question each other’s taste in men before deciding that Denise will help Bernadette become a better Fortnite player.

 

Leonard is hemming and hawing telling Sheldon about his theory being disproved. Penny tells him to write an anonymous note, like she did in high school when her best friend’s boyfriend was cheating. She finally gets him to tell them, causing Amy and Sheldon to be heartbroken. Sheldon begins to destroy his work in a fit of rage.

 

Denise tries to teach Bernadette the game, but makes her even more stressed and nervous by yelling at her.

 

Amy tries to make Sheldon feel better, but she is angry as well and has a meltdown of her own.

 

Bernadette sees the guys playing and proves that she can play the game as well. However, Howard kills her and she throws the fact that she makes more money in his face.

 

Penny and Leonard are worried about Amy and Sheldon, so they go to check on them. They are despondent on their couch in their pajamas. Penny tries to encourage them to continue using football references, so Leonard jumps in to help. Amy thinks they don’t understand how much this meant to them. Sheldon demands their dinner, but then gets mad when it doesn’t have mango sticky rice.

 

The episode ends with Penny and Bernadette playing Fortnite. They then decide to go out.