The Big Bang Theory Recap with Spoilers – The Spock Resonance

The episode opens with Raj, Leonard and Penny talking about a new study that claims that popular [...]

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The episode opens with Raj, Leonard and Penny talking about a new study that claims that popular children often struggle as adults. Raj refutes the theory, since he was very popular (with his family servants) as a child. Sheldon comes in to tell the gang that Will Wheaton emailed him about participating in a documentary about Spock's legacy that Leonard Nimoy and his son were working on before the Star Trek actor passed away. When Sheldon asks Penny for advice, Penny warns him not to take off his shirt, even if the director tells him to. Sheldon assures Penny that, since it's a Spock documentary, any nudity would be tasteful and classy.

Bernadette interrupts Howard's video game session to talk to him about redecorating the house so it feels more like "their" home instead of the house that Howard grew up in. After Howard makes a crack about Bernadette doing all the cleaning in the house, Bernadette decides to stop asking and says that she's redecorating with or without his permission.

Sheldon leaves Amy a voice mail asking her if she wants to watch him get interviewed for the "Spockumentary". Will Wheaton and Adam Nimoy come to the door and Sheldon greets them by expressing admiration that Adam's life began in Leonard Nimoy's scrotum.

After Howard turns up the guilt trip on Bernadette, she offers to compromise by renovating one room, just to see how it goes. After a back and forth about what room (they can't renovate the kitchen or the bathroom because Howard associates both of those rooms with his late mother), they settle on the dining room.

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(Photo: CBS)

Adam starts to interview Sheldon about his memories of Spock. Adam asks him about his earliest memory of the character, to which Sheldon gives a delightful anecdote about how his brother farted on his head when Sheldon watched his first episode of Star Trek. Sheldon explains he was attracted to Spock because of his cold, logic driven personality and says that Vulcan's emotionless philosophies appealed to him as a child. Sheldon tells Adam about his Leonard Nimoy signed autograph (which Penny gave him several years ago) and then reveals he's stored it in a secret wall safe guarded by a security camera hidden in an Aquaman figure.

Howard calls Raj to support him in Bernadette's renovation project, as Bernadette has enlisted her father to help with the labor. Upon learning that Bernadette's father is doing the work for free, Raj abandons Howard to join Bernadette's "side". After Howard comments they don't know if a wall they're considering tearing out is load bearing, Raj tells Howard to check by going into their crawlspace.

After Sheldon shows off his signed napkin to the camera, Penny asks Sheldon to show off the rest of the safe's contents. Most of safe's contents are pretty standard stuff (Sheldon's passport, his will, his Will Wheaton action figure), but also in the safe is the engagement ring Sheldon planned to give Amy. Penny's pretty shocked about the ring and pushes Sheldon a little too hard about his breakup with Amy, causing Sheldon to suddenly lash out. Trying to break the resulting awkward silence, Sheldon uses his "Spockumentary" joke on camera, but it doesn't help matters at all.

After the commercial break, Sheldon tries to get his mind back on track by talking more about Spock. He tells Adam that he replaced his mother's popular "What would Jesus do" saying with his own "What would Spock do?" to help him deal with the stresses that came up in life. Sheldon claims that he spent his entire life rising above human emotion. Penny calls Sheldon out again, saying that Spock was half human and only pretended that he didn't have emotions. Sheldon tries to use his break up with Amy as an example, but he ends up getting upset again and rushes into his bedroom. Will Wheaton, instead of showing concern for Sheldon's wellbeing, is ecstatic about all the material Sheldon is bringing to the documentary.

Howard and Bernadette's father crawl under the house to see if the dining room wall is load-bearing. After Bernadette's father mentions that the den could easily be converted into a nursery if Howard could get behind having children, Howard says that he does want to have kids, but Bernadette is the one holding them back. Overhearing their conversation from the dining room, Bernadette tries covering up her lies by faking an earthquake by jumping up and down, but she only manages to cover Howard and her father with dust.

Sheldon comes out his bedroom after Will and Adam Nimoy leaves and asks if his outbursts are going to appear in the documentary, to which Leonard and Penny reply that they definitely will. Sheldon realizes that the only way to fix things is to propose to Amy and get some closure, and leaves the apartment to find his ex-girlfriend.

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(Photo: CBS)

Bernadette explains to her father and Howard that she didn't want to disappoint her father by not wanting kids, so she lied and said that Howard was holding her back. Bernadette's father tries to explain the joys of parenthood to his daughter, but Bernadette reminds him that her mother did all the child rearing while he sat on their couch and drank beer. After Bernadette's father makes a quick getaway, Raj tries to psychoanalyze the pair, but Howard kicks him out of the house too. Howard realizes that Bernadette is concerned that Howard wouldn't help raise their child and ensures her that he would be there for their child. Bernadette agrees to think about it.

Sheldon heads to Amy's apartment, but upon seeing another man kiss her at the end of a date, he puts the ring back in his pocket and walks away without saying a word.

The episode ends with Sheldon ranting to Leonard about how foolish he was to emulate a fictional alien like Spock. Leonard tells Sheldon to consider modelling himself after the people already in his life. Sheldon concedes this is good advice, but is disappointed he heard it from Leonard instead of someone on the TV.

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