The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 21, Recap: Amy and Sheldon Are One Step Closer to the Nobel

Tonight's Big Bang Theory opens with a “Previously on…” which means only one thing: We’re about to get an entire episode focused on Sheldon and Amy and Nobel Watch 2019. I’m OK with it, as long as not too much time is spent on Drs. Pemberton and Campbell. With only three episodes left, I want as many scenes with the main cast members as possible.

But of course, we start with Amy and Sheldon at lunch with said doctors as well as President Siebert. Amy apologizes for her outburst from a few weeks ago, when she called Pemberton and Campbell impostors. She wasn't wrong, but screaming it in a room full of Nobel winners probably wasn't the best way to do it.

Anyway, Sheldon tells the men that the whole thing has caused Amy so much stress that she chewed through her night guard. Pemberton—or is it Campbell? (honestly, who can keep track?)—says her words were hurtful since they thought they were all friends. Yeah, OK.

Pemberton says it’s fine because he talked to his therapist, who said Amy's outburst was more about her insecurities than him being an impostor. Amy does not take kindly to this; it gets even worse when Campbell says she's just angry at all the attention he and Pemberton are getting for their discovery.

Sheldon and Amy show remarkable restraint and tell Pemberton and Campbell that the Nobel committee will eventually realize that they came up with Super Asymmetry. “But we proved it,” Campbell says. “By accident!” shouts Amy. Pemberton butts in and says all breakthroughs happen by accident, but Amy isn't having it.

Meanwhile, President Siebert, who has the mediating skills of a sloth, says that if they don’t stop this infighting, the award will go to someone else entirely. Amy says Siebert is right. Like it or not, they have to be civil. Who wants to take a guess at how long this is going to last?

Apparently not long at all, because in the next scene Pemberton and Campbell run into Barry Kripke on their way out of the dining room. It turns out Kripke went to college with Pemberton. Once P&C leave, Kripke joins Shamy at their table and tells them Pemberton is a grade-A weasel. “His whole M.O. is to take other people’s ideas and turn them into his own,” he says. This whole thing seems a little too convenient, but I’m here for it.

Sheldon tells Kripke that’s exactly what he’s doing to them, and Kripke says he’s not surprised because Pemberton has plagiarized before. “You want proof?” Kripke asks. “I’ll make some calls.”

Sheldon can’t believe Kripke would do that for them (same), but Kripke says he really doesn’t want to see Pemberton win a Nobel. He also says he doesn’t want to see Sheldon and Amy win a Nobel, but I guess they're the lesser of two evils.

Amy's not sure if she wants Kripke to dig up dirt on Pemberton and Campbell because it seems sleazy. Kripke, however, says sleazy is where he thrives.

Later, Amy and Sheldon walk into Penny and Leonard’s apartment and for the first time since the episode started, we see the rest of the gang gathered for dinner. Sheldon says he and Amy are wrestling with an ethical question and perhaps they all can help. Once they fill everyone in, Leonard says that information won’t sit well with the Nobel committee. Penny, however, says it’s not fair to use something that someone did in school against them.

On the other hand, Bernadette says, if someone is a cheater, they should be held accountable no matter how far back it was. Howard counters that if Pemberton is exposed, it wouldn’t just knock him out of contention but blow up his whole career. Leonard takes Bernadette's side. “If Pemberton cheated, then maybe he shouldn’t have a career in the first place. There’s plenty of people that didn’t plagiarize.”

Sheldon continues to struggle with what to do. Raj adds that it’s because even though they want to win, they both know deep down it’s probably not the honorable way to do it. “Otherwise you would have done it already,” he says. Amy says that’s really wise, but Sheldon just chucks it up to Raj’s accent.

Later in the evening, Amy asks Sheldon whether they’re doing the right thing by not exposing Pemberton. “Of course,” Sheldon says. “Unless you think we’re not doing the right thing?”

Amy’s response: “Why would you think that I don’t think we’re doing the right thing?” I’d try to transcribe the rest of this conversation, but it’s basically two minutes of “Who’s on First” and I can barely keep track. In so many words, Sheldon wants to do what Amy thinks is ethically right, and Amy wants to do what Sheldon thinks is ethically right, and I think I’m not smart enough to follow this conversation after a long day at work. But we can all agree that people who cheat are bad people who don’t deserve to win. See how easy that is, guys?

Sheldon says he loves talking to Amy (“It’s like talking to me, but with a girl voice”), and I love watching these two converse in a scene. How Mayim Bialik has yet to win an Emmy for this role is beyond me. (But hey, Emmy voters, it's still not too late).

Over at the Wolowitzes' house, Bernadette and Howard have a chat about Sheldon and Amy's predicament. I don't know how much more of the "to expose or not to expose" conversation I can take, but Howard uses it as an opportunity to ask his wife what’s the worst thing she’s done to get something she wanted. He says if he tells her, he’ll reveal the worst thing he's ever done. Bernadette cracks up. “Right! ’Cause yours is going to be as bad as mine, OK!”

She eventually says that when they first met, there was another waitress at The Cheesecake Factory who thought he was cute. So what did Bernadette do about it? “I told her you had all the hepatitises, A to Z." I’d like to think she’s joking, but nope.

Bernadette says the woman still works there, and Howard wants to know who it is. Bernadette says it shouldn’t matter, and Howard—realizing that he’s walking on eggshells—says, “You’re right, it doesn’t, 'cause I got the best one.” Two seconds later he wants to know if it was Susan, but Bernadette won’t say.

Cut to Penny and Leonard who are talking about—you guessed it—Sheldon and Amy. Leonard can't believe Sheldon doesn't want to tell on Pemberton because "he loves telling on people when they break the rules.” Penny says maybe he’s changed, but Leonard says that's not it.

Whatever the case, Penny is proud of Sheldon and Amy because they want to win the Nobel on their own merit and not by knocking out the competition. “But what if they don’t win?” Leonard asks. “Pemberton and Campbell have done an amazing job of associating their names with Super Asymmetry. They have all the momentum right now.”

Penny says she doesn’t like the idea of them losing either, but this is Amy and Sheldon's decision to make. Leonard thinks otherwise. “If Sheldon and Amy don’t want to expose Pemberton, that doesn’t mean someone else can’t do it for them. They don’t have to know.”

Penny is intrigued, but I’m not sure why. Has she already forgotten about new Leonard? Leonard says they deserve the Nobel, and he's not going to let two frauds steal it from them. "If that means getting my hands dirty, so be it!”

So, the next morning, Leonard pays Kripke a visit, where he hands over the proof of Pemberton’s plagiarism. However, on Leonard’s way out, he runs into Amy and gets all awkward before walking off.

After work, Amy and Penny chat over a glass of wine, and Amy mentions that Leonard was acting weird today. Penny is confused. “Are you sure you don’t mean your husband?” she wonders. “No!” Amy says. “He was acting all sketchy, almost like he was guilty or something.”

Penny tries to cover it up, but Amy figures out she’s hiding something. Penny confesses that Leonard went to Kripke to get the dirt on Pemberton so Sheldon and Amy wouldn’t have to, thereby taking the high road. Only problem is that now that Amy knows about this, it implicates her.

When Amy and Sheldon have dinner that night, Sheldon picks up that his wife is acting strange. He thinks it must have something to do with being not sure what to get him for their first anniversary, but he says she needn’t worry. “I’ll give you a hint. It’s already in my Amazon basket. Just click ‘buy now.’ I filled out the gift card for you. Apparently, I’m the light of your life.” Boy, moments like these make me realize how much I’m going to miss this show.

Amy gets all serious, ruining his mood and mine. “Sheldon, if someone were going to do something ethically murky on your behalf, would you rather know about it or not know about it to retain your innocence?”

Sheldon says that now that there’s a thing to know, he has to know. Cut to Sheldon storming into Leonard and Penny’s apartment and telling them he doesn’t want them to do their dirty work. Penny can’t believe Amy told Sheldon what she told him, and I’m wondering if Penny’s ever seen this show before.

Leonard says Sheldon isn’t doing anything wrong, and that’s why he’s doing it instead of him. “But it’s still wrong,” Sheldon says. Leonard says it'll be even more wrong if he and Amy don't get the recognition for their discovery. “If that means having to do something shady so you don’t have to, I’m OK with that,” new Leonard says.

Amy thinks it's sweet that Leonard wants to help, but she doesn’t want him compromising his integrity for them. “Really?” asks Sheldon. “I thought we were just worried about looking bad!” Then Sheldon says something about this whole thing being too complicated, and I couldn't agree more. I’m going to get a migraine just from trying to follow this episode.

Next up, Howard tells Bernadette he went to The Cheesecake Factory to try and figure out who the mystery woman was; he didn’t, but that’s fine because he really didn’t care. “The truth is it was all about my vanity, and why should I need to be validated by another woman liking me when the best woman in the world already loves me?”

Bernadette then busts his chops by saying the restaurant manager already called because he creeped a lot of people out. Nice going, Howard. “I regret that,” he says. “The only woman I want to creep out is the mother of my children.” Ew.

Now, with a few minutes left in the episode, you know something big is going to go down. Sure enough, we see Amy and Sheldon having lunch with Pemberton and Campbell. After a minute of small talk, Sheldon hands over the envelope with proof that Pemberton plagiarized his college thesis. “We’re giving you this so no one can use it against you,” Sheldon says. “We want to win on our own merits, not by tearing you down.”

Campbell can’t believe Pemberton did this, and Pemberton admits it all rather freely and quickly. “It was years ago,” he says. “I was going through a very hard time.” Campbell says his name is attached to this; if this gets out, it'll ruin his career as well. Pemberton says it won’t, but Campbell can't believe what he's hearing. “Linda is right, you’re always looking for shortcuts.”

Wait: Has Campbell been talking to Pemberton's ex-wife? Pemberton wants to know, and this is where things get all Days of Our Lives on us. It turns out Campbell is in love with Linda. Pemberton loses it, and the two get into a physical fight in the middle of Cal Tech's posh dining room.

An hour or so later, a drunk Campbell stumbles into Sheldon's office and tells him and Amy that he published all the information about Pemberton’s plagiarism and lost his job already. Oh, and now Linda is sleeping with her contractor. Campbell tries a Hail Mary by asking Sheldon and Amy to team up with him, but he basically shoots himself in the foot by admitting all the rumors about his unethical behavior are true as well. I can't keep up.

Amy can't get Campbell out of there fast enough and closes the door on him. Sheldon is stunned. “Frankly, I don’t know what Linda ever saw in either of them!”

And that, my friends, is "the end." To be continued.