The Big Bang Theory Recap with Spoilers – The Separation Oscillation

The episode opens with Sheldon and Leonard commiserating over their respective relationship trouble in the middle of the night. (You'll recall that Amy and Sheldon are "officially" broken up and Penny and Leonard are still sorting through Leonard's brief infidelity with Mandy Chou during his boat trip a few years ago). When Penny enters the apartment to try to talk things over, she and Leonard try to figure out how to restore the trust in their relationship. Sheldon suggests that Penny make out with a random dude to "right the scales" and volunteers, as he's now single. As Leonard looks on in horror, Sheldon shoves his tongue down Penny's throat, much to her surprise and pleasure. Luckily, Leonard wakes up in his bed, having just dreamt the whole thing.

After the commercial break, Sheldon reminds Amy that, despite breaking up with him, she still has an obligation to their "Fun with Flags" web show. Amy says she's not doing the show, even after Sheldon points out that Sonny and Cher still did a show together years after their divorce.

Over at the comic store, Raj catches up with the drama between Leonard and Penny. He seems less upset about Leonard's marriage crumbling after just a day than Howard knowing about Leonard's infidelity for years and didn't tell him about it.

Sheldon arrives at Amy's apartment to return some of her things, along with one of Penny's bras, in a transparent attempt to make her jealous. While Amy answers the door since Sheldon didn't knock three times like he always did, she sees through the ruse and reminds Sheldon what a crummy boyfriend he was to her. As Sheldon leaves Amy's apartment, he fulfills his knocking compulsion by knocking on a table three times and discovers that knocking on tables works too. They do say that you learn something about yourself when a relationship ends.

Meanwhile, Bernadette and Howard discuss the ongoing Leonard/Penny drama. It seems that Howard told Bernadette about Leonard's lip lock on the boat years ago and she's worried that Penny will somehow figure out that she knew. In fact, she's too worried about Penny and Leonard to react when Howard mentions that he bought a "George Clooney Manscaping Kit", which I presume he'll use to shave batnipples into his chest hair.

Leonard looks into marriage counseling but is put off by the cost, even for marriages that have only been on the books for less than a day. Penny comes over to discuss their relationship issues, but the pair are quickly interrupted by Sheldon, who returns Penny's bra to her. Penny explains that she's still insecure about Leonard working with a woman he made out with and then hid from her, leading Sheldon to suggest that Leonard just have Penny talk with Mandy Chou and show that there's nothing to fear. Leonard doesn't take the suggestion well, despite both Sheldon and Penny pointing out how weird he's reacting to the whole thing.

At girl's night, Penny hashes out her issues with Leonard to Bernadette and Amy. While Bernadette nervously tries to act like she didn't already know, Amy says that maybe Penny shouldn't judge Leonard for a moment of weakness. Bernadette adds that Leonard has shown time and time again that he wants to be with Penny, even when they now know he had an opportunity to be with someone else.

Sheldon finally gets around to filming his "Fun with Flags" episode sans Amy. He points out to his audience that he doesn't need Amy around, since his right hand can do everything she did just as well (he's talking about starting and stopping the camera, of course). He then introduces the theme of the episode: "Flags of Countries Torn Apart and the Women Who Are Probably Responsible".

Leonard sees Mandy sitting in the cafeteria at the university and decides to talk to her about their tryst on the boat (after Raj and Howard both make several SUPER classy double entendres about marine biologists). Leonard learns that Mandy doesn't even remember kissing him and that he wasn't the only person she got involved with on the boat. After explaining his current relationship problems to her, Mandy suggests that Leonard that he might be sabotaging his relationship with Penny, mirroring what Penny said last week. Leonard realizes that she might be right and proceeds to explain all of his unresolved issues with women (they all stem from his insecurity and his frosty relationship with his mother) in the cafeteria, much to Mandy's horror.

Speaking of horror, Amy finally gets around to watching Sheldon's "Fun with Flags" and discovers that the entire episode is just him using flags as a thinly veiled metaphor to insult Amy and their relationship. While Sheldon and Amy fall farther apart, Leonard and Penny finally patch things up, with Leonard admitting that he still gets insecure that a gorgeous girl like Penny would want to be with him and Penny explaining that she's always worried that Leonard will leave him for someone smarter. They kiss and make up and head to the bedroom to finally consummate their marriage.

The episode ends with Sheldon giving Leonard and Penny a wedding present: a trip to San Francisco for three (Sheldon's coming, of course). The happy moment is interrupted by Amy barging in and demanding that Sheldon take down the "Fun with Flags" episode. Sheldon's convinced that Amy's anger means that he's making progress getting back together with her, but Amy notes that she only watched it because he emailed a link to her with a subject line of "This Will Make You Angry".

And that's another episode of The Big Bang Theory in the books. How did you like the episode?