S11E02 - The Retraction Reaction

No: 233 | Season: 11 Episode: 2 | Air Date: 2017-10-02 | Runtime: mins

On the other hand, contrary to predictions, the collider didn't create a small black hole "that devoured the Earth and life as we know it." So, money well spent.

Summary

Leonard angers the University and the Physics Community when he gives an embarrassing radio interview. Bernadette and Amy compare their successes at work.

Director and Writers

Director: Mark Cendrowski
Writers: Story by: Steven Molaro & Steve Holland & Maria Ferrari / Teleplay by: Dave Goetsch & Eric Kaplan & Anthony Del Broccolo

Script

Script: S11E02 - The Retraction Reaction

Quotes

Penny: (Penny is drinking Romulan Ale -vodka with blue dye- with Sheldon and Leonard) I don't know who the Romulans are, but those guys know how to party!

Howard: Yeah, this is public radio. Doesn't he realize that dozens of people might hear him?

Janine Davis: I think that you are the smartest physicist at this university.
Leonard: Really?
Janine Davis: See? Lies. They're not that hard.

Bernadette: At the office, I have two assistants. I don't even know their names, I just call them Thing One and Thing Two.

Janine Davis: So if I just said I was worried you might not have a job next week, how would you feel?
Leonard: Light-headed, and glad you asked me to sit down.

Leonard: It just turns out that Physics is exactly like Lost. It started out great and turns out just a big ol' waste of time.

Amy: Has he ever called you to tell you he found three peanuts in one shell? 'Cause Sheldon has.

Leonard: I have to say I'm a little nervous.
Janine Davis: You should be.

Bernadette: You know, there's so much money in pharmaceuticals, we don't even wash out our test tubes. We just throw them out and get new ones.

Sheldon: And the last time I assumed a woman was pregnant, it did not go over well.

Leonard: Do you have any alcohol around here?
Sheldon: Not surprisingly, when Penny moved out, she took every last drop.

Leonard: If we weren't physicists, what would we be?
Howard: I don't know. Popular?

Amy: I know. The university has been throwing money at my study. With any luck, there'll be a brain disease with my name on it.

Leonard: -Oh, hi, you wanted to see me?
Janine Davis: Yes. I wanted to talk to you about the e-mail you sent me last night.
Leonard: I sent you an e-mail?
Janine Davis: You bet you did. "Hello. Shalom and aloha from the grave of Richard Feynman."
Leonard: Oh, it's coming back to me.
Janine Davis: Please accept the following retraction: I know I said physics is dead, but it is the opposite of dead. If anything, it is undead, like a zombie. Speaking of which, if Richard Feynman came back as a zombie, I would totally let him bite me.
Leonard: Any chance that's the end?
Janine Davis: I got bit by a squirrel once. "I had to get rabies shots. I cried so much, my mother said don't be a baby.In conclusion, physics is great. Squirrels suck, and someday, I'm gonna put my mom in a cheap nursing home. Yours truly, XOXO, Dr. Leonard Hofstadter.

Sheldon: He publicly maligned the love of my life, Lady Physics.

Leonard: Yeah, who wouldn't want to hire the physicist who publicly said physics is dead?

Leonard: I went to high school with a girl named Theresa Gluino, but it didn't cost $2 billion to find her.

Raj: The only part of me that's been to Brazil is my bikini line.

Howard: Sheldon's right. I would never ask a woman if she was pregnant, unless she tells me or I see a human being wiggling out of her.

Notes and Trivia

Richard Feynman is really interred in Altadena, CA. He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Founders Lawn, Lot 4390, Grave 11, Curb No. 1617.

Romulan Ale is a popular drink in the Star Trek universe. In the shows, there is an uneasy truce between planet Romulus and the Federation of Planets (of which Earth is a member), and like Cuban cigars, the drink is considered illegal in the Federation due to a trade embargo imposed on the Romulans (which, as Leonard mentions, was temporarily lifted during a brief alliance period). Romulan Ale is also somewhat akin to marijuana, as it is known for its rather extremely intoxicating properties, considered illegal except for "medicinal purposes", and despite all the prohibition, its acquisition, consumption and acceptance is relatively widespread among Federation members.

This is the third and final time that an interview with Ira Flatow causes a fuss, after Kripke used the opportunity to prank Sheldon in The Vengeance Formulation (2009), and after Sheldon believed that Flatow was mocking him in The Discovery Dissipation (2013).

Goofs

None

Cast

Johnny Galecki	Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons	Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco	Penny Hofstadter
Simon Helberg	Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar	Raj Koothrappali
Mayim Bialik	Amy Farrah Fowler
Melissa Rauch	Bernadette Rostenkowski
Regina King	Janine Davis
Ira Flatow	Ira Flatow