The Big Bang Theory (season 5)

The fifth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory was originally aired
on CBS from September 22, 2011, to May 10, 2012, over 24 episodes.[1] The Big Bang Theory
(season 5)
At the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, The Big Bang Theory was nominated for
Outstanding Comedy Series, but Modern Family on ABC won.[2] The show was also
nominated for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a
Series[3] and Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series.
[4]

Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper) was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a
Comedy Series for "The Werewolf Transformation", but lost out to Jon Cryer.
Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler) was nominated for Outstanding Supporting
Actress in a Comedy Series for "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver", but lost out to Julie
Bowen.

Contents
Overview
Production Fifth season DVD cover art
Cast Starring Johnny Galecki
Main cast
Special guest cast Jim Parsons
Recurring cast Kaley Cuoco
Guest cast
Simon Helberg
Production
Kunal Nayyar
Episodes
Mayim Bialik
Release
Critical reception Melissa Rauch
Awards Country of origin United States
Distribution
No. of episodes 24
Broadcast
U.S. Nielsen ratings Release
Canadian broadcast Original network CBS
References Original release September 22,
External links 2011 – May 10,
2012
Season chronology
Overview
Penny regrets her sleeping with Raj and has become very good friends with Leonard, Leonard breaks up with Priya, Amy pushes
Sheldon in their relationship eventually becoming boyfriend and girlfriend, Penny and the other women become a clique of their
own, Howard prepares for his wedding and going into space to the International Space Station and Leonard asks Penny out as they
begin "Leonard and Penny 2.0".

Production
The fifth season was ordered in a three-year renewal forThe Big Bang Theory, extending the series through the 2013-2014 season.

Cast

Main cast Recurring cast Guest cast

Johnny Galecki as Dr. Christine Baranski as Dr. Katie Leclerc as Emily
Leonard Hofstadter Beverly Hofstadter Courtney Ford as Alice
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Aarti Mann as Priya Blake Berris as Kevin
Cooper Koothrappali,
Ashley Austin Morris as
Kaley Cuoco as Penny Brian George as Dr. V.M. Laura
Simon Helberg as Howard Koothrappali Josh Brener as Dale
Wolowitz Alice Amter as Mrs. Lance Barber as Jimmy
Kunal Nayyar as Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali
Speckerman
"Raj" Koothrappali Carol Ann Susi as Mrs. Jonathan Schmock as
Mayim Bialik as Dr. Amy Wolowitz
Jonathan
Farrah Fowler Wil Wheaton as himself
Jim Turner as Reverend
Melissa Rauch as Dr. Kevin Sussman as Stuart White
Bernadette Rostenkowski Bloom
Becky O'Donohue as Siri
Laurie Metcalf as Mary
Lynn Phillip Seibel as
Cooper Professor Rothman
Special guest cast John Ross Bowie as Dr. Peter Onorati as Angelo
Barry Kripke
Brent Spiner as himself Chriselle Almeida as
Mike Massimino as himself
Leonard Nimoy as Spock Lakshmi
(voice) Joshua Malina as President
Robert Clotworthy as Dave
Siebert
Roeger (voice)
Vernee Watson as Althea
Amy Tolsky as Joan
Casey Sander as Mike
Rostenkowski
Pasha Lychnikoff as Dimitri
Rezinov
Stephen Hawking as himself

Production
Several high-profile celebrities appear in the season. In "The Transporter Malfunction", actor Leonard Nimoy appears as a voice
actor, playing an action-figure Spock that Sheldon imagines talking to him. In the following episode, "The Hawking Excitation",
cosmologist Stephen Hawking appears as a guest star. Astronaut Mike Massimino appears in "The Friendship Contraction" and "The
Countdown Reflection".[5]

Stephen Hawking went on to appear in the season 6 episode "The Extract Obliteration" and the season 7 episode "The Relationship
Diremption". Mike Massimino later appeared in the season 6 episodes "The Decoupling Fluctuation" and "The Re-Entry
Minimization".

The season finale depicts Howard Wolowitz traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) on board a Soyuz rocket. Thanks to
technical consulting from astronaut Mike Massimino, who also plays himself on the show, the production crew was able to put
together sets that realistically depicts the Soyuz capsule and the ISS. The Soyuz capsule was constructed based on photos from
[6]
NASA, the Kansas Cosmosphere for dimensions, and scavenged parts from an aerospace junkyard in Los Angeles.
Episodes
 US
No. No. in Directed Prod.
Title Written by Original air date viewers
overall season by code
(millions)
Story by: Eric
Kaplan &
Maria Ferrari &
Anthony Del
"The Skank Mark
88 1
Reflex Analysis" Cendrowski
Broccolo September 22, 2011 3X6851 14.30[7]
Teleplay by:
Chuck Lorre &
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro

Raj finds himself in hot water with Leonard after his night with Penny and also with Howard after he discovers Raj's
fantasies about Bernadette. Raj has feelings for Penny and talks to her about the recent events. Penny feels that this
has damaged her relationship with the guys permanently and decides to move back to Nebraska, as she has not had
any worthwhile acting jobs since moving to Pasadena. Sheldon appoints himself as the captain of the guys' paintball
team.

Title reference: Amy's term for Penny'spromiscuous behavior that is responsible for releasingdopamine. Amy also
reminds her that whileCatherine the Great was accused of having sex with a horse, she still was considered "great".

Story by: Bill

Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Maria Ferrari
"The Infestation Mark
89 2
Hypothesis" Cendrowski
Teleplay by: September 22, 2011 3X6852 14.94[7]
Chuck Lorre &
Jim Reynolds
& Steve
Holland

Penny gets a new chair, which Sheldon enjoys until he finds out that she picked it up from the street. He becomes
paranoid about the chair due to his mysophobia and constantly pesters Penny to dispose of it, to no avail. Meanwhile,
Leonard begins a long distance relationship with his girlfriend Priya, who has returned to India, via Skype. On
Howard's advice, he decides to engage incybersex with her.

Title reference: Sheldon worrying over what hazards Penny's chair might contain.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Eric Kaplan &
"The Pulled Jim Reynolds
Mark
90 3 Groin
Cendrowski
Teleplay by: September 29, 2011 3X6853 14.74[8]
Extrapolation" Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Dave
Goetsch

Sheldon goes to the model train store to hear a lecture on HO gauge model trains, and is convinced into buying an
HO gauge model train set. Amy decides to take Leonard instead of Sheldon as her date to a wedding for two
scientists from the primatology department as Sheldon behaves like a child during weddings. Meanwhile, Howard and
Bernadette's relationship hits a snag when Bernadette tells Howard that she would not move in with him and his
mother after they get married. Howard asks her to stay with him and his mother for the weekend as a "trial", to which
she agrees.

Title reference: Sheldon hitting Leonard after misinterpreting Leonard's pulled groin was caused by having sex with
Amy.

91 4 "The Wiggly Mark Story by: October 6, 2011 3X6854 13.92[9]

Finger Catalyst" Cendrowski Chuck Lorre &
 Dave Goetsch
& Anthony Del
Broccolo
Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Steve
Holland

Penny sets up Raj on a date with her deaf friend Emily, for whom his selective mutism is no longer an issue.
Meanwhile, Sheldon decides to use the Dungeons & Dragons dice to help him make trivial decisions so that his mind
is free for more important things. Although this allows him to get some important work done more efficiently, it also
results in him eating things he would not normally eat, and making odd decisions.

Title reference: Raj and Howard's use of sign language to communicate with Emily
.

Story by: Bill

Prady &
Steven Molaro
"The Russian & Jim
Mark
92 5 Rocket
Cendrowski
Reynolds October 13, 2011 3X6855 13.58[10]
Reaction" Teleplay by:
Chuck Lorre &
Eric Kaplan &
Maria Ferrari

Howard is ecstatic to learn that he will be traveling to the International Space Station as a payload specialist to assist
in the implementation of a deep space telescope designed by his engineering team. Meanwhile, while Sheldon and
Leonard are at the comic book store, Wil Wheaton shows up and invites them to a party at his house that Friday
.

Title reference: Bernadette's reaction to Howard planning to fly to the International Space Station with a Russian
Soyuz rocket.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Eric Kaplan &
Steve Holland
"The Rhinitis Howard
93 6
Revelation" Murray
Teleplay by: October 20, 2011 3X6857 14.93[11]
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Jim
Reynolds

Sheldon's mother comes to Pasadena for a weekend visit while waiting to board a Christian cruise called the "Born
Again Boat Ride". However she decides to spend her time eating out and going sightseeing around Los Angeles with
Leonard, Penny, Howard and Raj instead of cooking and watching Sheldon embarrass a Nobel laureate. This upsets
him, creating a standoff between himself and his mother. When he talks about his mother's behavior to Amy, she
counsels him that while he is a genius, his emotional reactions to his mother ignoring him are no different from that of
any other human being, and that the less intelligent might be able to handle their emotions better by not over thinking
them. While returning home that evening, he gets caught in the rain and comes down with a fever, prompting his
mother to nurse him back to health.

Title reference: Sheldon comes down with a case ofRhinitis after discovering the truth of his emotional development.

94 7 "The Good Guy Mark Story by: October 27, 2011 3X6856 14.54[12]
Fluctuation" Cendrowski Chuck Lorre &
Dave Goetsch
& Maria Ferrari
Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
 & Steve
Holland

Leonard meets an attractive female comic book enthusiast named Alice at the comic book store and immediately gets
attracted to her. However he is still in a committed relationship with Priya and as a result is torn between cheating on
her with Alice or staying loyal to her. He goes to Penny for advice, but he does not find her advice useful, so he goes
to Sheldon, who quotes Friedrich Nietzsche's views on morality (Morality is just a fiction used by the herd of inferior
human beings to hold back the few superior men). Leonard surprisingly takes Sheldon's advice and goes to Alice's
apartment. But just when they are about to have sex, Leonard's conscience gets the better of him. He tells Alice that
he already has a girlfriend, prompting her to throw him out of her apartment. Later he tells Priya via Skype about how
he tried to cheat on her. To his surprise, Priya accepts his actions, but then reveals that she cheated on him by
sleeping with her ex-boyfriend. Leonard becomes very upset at this and closes his laptop on Priya, indicating their
breakup. Meanwhile, Sheldon becomes the victim of a successful Halloween prank by the guys and decides to take
revenge by pranking them back. But due to his lack of guile, none of his pranks are successful; Leonard reverses his
airbag prank on him; Raj does not get scared of the snake which Sheldon hid in his drawer in their office; Howard and
Bernadette pretend that Howard had suffered a heart attack after Sheldon gives him an electric handshake, which
actually scares him more. However he manages to finally scare Leonard by leaping out from under the couch
cushions in zombie face paint after Leonard speaks with Priya.

Title reference: Leonard torn between being loyal to Priya or having an af

fair with Alice. When confessing to Alice,
Leonard calls "being a good guy" his "superpower".

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Eric Kaplan &
Tara
"The Isolation Mark Hernandez
95 8 November 3, 2011 3X6858 15.98[13]
Permutation" Cendrowski Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Steve
Holland

Amy becomes extremely upset when Penny and Bernadette go shopping for bridesmaid dresses without her and cuts
all contact with everyone, including Sheldon. A worried Sheldon goes over to her apartment, where he ends up
cuddling her after rejecting her suggestion to have sex. This step further into their relationship makes him
uncomfortable, so the following morning, he demands Leonard and Howard to force Penny and Bernadette to
apologize to Amy, as he is not her 'snuggle bunny'. When they confront Penny and Bernadette over Amy, they reveal
that they did not take Amy because she was very over-enthusiastic about being a bridesmaid and would have been a
hindrance to their dress shopping, but feel guilty when they find out that she became really upset over the snub. They
go to her neurobiology laboratory to apologize, but she brushes off their apologies, telling that she is used to being
shunned by people whom she considers as friends. Later that evening, Amy calls Sheldon and tells him that she is
drunk in a liquor store parking lot, prompting him and Leonard to immediately rush there and take her home. The next
morning, Penny and Bernadette again try to apologize to Amy. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Bernadette decides
to end their standoff once and for all by asking Amy to be her maid of honor at her wedding. She immediately
becomes excited at this and forgives them. The episode ends with Amy filming a dress shopping trip with Penny and
Bernadette.

Title reference: Penny and Bernadette isolating Amy by going wedding dress shopping without her
.

96 9 "The Mark Story by: November 10, 2011 3X6859 15.89[14]

Ornithophobia Cendrowski Chuck Lorre &
Diffusion" Dave Goetsch
& Anthony Del
Broccolo
Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
 Steven Molaro
& Eric Kaplan

Leonard and Penny decide to go to the movies as friends. However Leonard refuses to exhibit the familiar deference
to her that he formerly displayed to her as her boyfriend to make her amenable to sex, insisting that they see a
documentary on dams instead of a Jennifer Aniston movie and making her pay for her ticket and food. Irritated by
Leonard's behavior, Penny begins to flirt with Kevin, a geeky screenwriter. Leonard retaliates by flirting with a woman
named Laura. Penny then sabotages Leonard's meeting with Laura, leading to a fight between Leonard and Penny
before they decide to return home. Outside the apartment, they apologise to each other and Penny tells Leonard that
she actually liked his new-found confidence, but he misses the opportunity to get back together with her by defaulting
to his usual deference. Meanwhile, Sheldon, who suffers from ornithophobia, is afraid and upset when he sees that a
large Black-throated magpie-jay(incorrectly identified as a blue jay) has made a nest in his apartment windowsill. He
tries all means to get rid of the bird, including mimicking a cat's meow and making Howard design an ultrasonic
machine to scare away the bird, all of which fail. Eventually he decides to shoo the bird away using a broom, but when
he opens the window, the bird enters the apartment and lands on his spot on the couch. A terrified Sheldon then asks
Amy and Bernadette to get rid of the bird, but instead they help him overcome his fear by encouraging him to touch
the bird. Sheldon soon grows fond of it, calling it "Lovey-Dovey" and decides to keep it as a pet. However, when
Sheldon opens the window to shift the bird's nest to his apartment, the bird flies away, to his dismay. The episode
ends with Sheldon revealing to Leonard that he found an egg in the nest and expressing his intention to become "a
mommy" by incubating the egg.

Title reference: Sheldon overcoming his fear of birds, most commonly referred to as "ornithophobia".

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Steven Molaro
& Dave
"The Flaming
Mark Goetsch
97 10 Spittoon November 17, 2011 3X6860 15.05[15]
Cendrowski Teleplay by:
Acquisition"
Bill Prady &
Jim Reynolds
& Steve
Holland

When Amy visits the comic book store with the guys, she meets Stuart, who takes an immediate liking to her and asks
her out, which she accepts. When Sheldon hears about this, he becomes jealous, though he denies it as usual. To
make Amy jealous, he asks Penny out, who refuses and instead tells him to reveal his feelings to Amy. Later he
interrupts Amy's date with Stuart and finally admits his feelings for her. He then proposes a 31-page Relationship
Agreement, which Amy finds romantic and accepts, though she regrets it later when she finds out that she has to take
care of her boyfriend's injuries as per Section 4 of the agreement. Meanwhile, Leonard, Howard and Raj discover that
a new expansion pack forMystic Warlords of Ka'a called Wild West and Witches has come out. Leonard tries to return
his expansion pack but Stuart's assistant Dale (who is filling in for Stuart) refuses to take it back. Later Raj buys the
Deluxe Limited Edition of the same pack in a collector's tin which annoys Leonard, but he too ends up buying it
anyway.

Title reference: One of the new cards in the newMystic Warlords of Ka'a expansion pack.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Bill Prady &
"The Steve Holland
Anthony
98 11 Speckerman
Rich
Teleplay by: December 8, 2011 3X6861 14.02[16]
Recurrence" Steven Molaro
& Eric Kaplan
& Anthony Del
Broccolo
Leonard receives a Facebook message from a high school bully Jimmy Speckerman which says that he is in
Pasadena and wants to have a drink with him. When Leonard meets Speckerman at a bar, the latter reveals that he
needs Leonard's help for implementing his potentially money-making idea- a pair of glasses that can convert any
movie into 3D- to which Leonard replies that it is impossible to make such a pair of glasses. Sheldon then stands up
for Leonard and tells Speckerman that he should apologize to Leonard for all the heinous acts he committed against
him while in high school. Later that night, Speckerman comes over to Leonard and Sheldon's apartment drunk and
apologizes to Leonard for all the atrocities he committed on him. Leonard forgives him and then lets him stay for the
night as he is too drunk to drive, despite Sheldon's opposition. The next morning however, Speckerman once again
bullies Leonard, forcing Leonard to finally stand up to his high school bully. This fails; Leonard and Sheldon end up
being chased by Speckerman down the stairs instead. Meanwhile, the girls discuss Leonard meeting his high school
bully and their own encounters with bullies. Penny tells that she had played a prank on a smart girl in high school by
tying her up and leaving her in a cornfield, revealing that she was actually a bully in her teens. She feels bad for her
behavior at school and tries to make amends by calling the people she had bullied to apologize, but they refuse to
forgive her. Amy and Bernadette then tell her that she could make up for her past behavior by doing charity. Penny
decides to give away her old clothes that she no longer wants, but when the girls go to the clothing bin, they instead
steal other old clothes already in the bin. The next night, they return to the bin to steal more clothes, but then Penny
realizes that what they are doing is wrong and puts back the clothes they had collected in the bin. However,
Bernadette decides to take some boots Amy showed her earlier, and runs away saying "It's okay, I serve soup to poor
people!"

Title reference: Jimmy Speckerman—Leonard's high-school bully re-entering his life.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Steve Holland
& Tara
"The Shiny
Mark Hernandez
99 12 Trinket January 12, 2012 3X6862 16.13[17]
Cendrowski Teleplay by:
Maneuver"
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Jim
Reynolds

Amy and Sheldon's relationship hits a snag when Sheldon refuses to appreciate the news that Amy's paper is being
published in the reputed scientific journal Neuron, causing her to leave their date midway in a huff. When Penny
confronts Sheldon over his behavior to his girlfriend, he replies that he is not interested in biology. Later when he
discusses the issue with Leonard, Leonard tells him to buy something for Amy to make up for his behavior. He then
goes with Penny to the jewelry store. Amy feels insulted initially when Penny tells her that Sheldon bought her jewelry,
thinking that he is trying to buy her forgiveness, but changes her mind when she sees it is a tiara. She becomes
ecstatic and kisses and hugs him, leaving him confused. Meanwhile, Howard and Bernadette's relationship also hits a
snag when Bernadette reveals to Howard that she hates children and does not want to have them after they get
married. This upsets Howard, who wants children of his own, and whose mother continuously nags him to give her
grandchildren. He begins to reconsider his relationship with Bernadette and mulls calling off the wedding. Later
Bernadette comes over to his house and tells him that they can have children of their own after they get married in
respect for his feelings. However she adds that he should stay at home and take care of them while she works, to
which he reluctantly agrees. Howard then suggests they use a condom before they have sex.

Title reference: Sheldon buying Amy a tiara at the jewelry store, in an attempt to make her forgive him.

Story by:
"The Chuck Lorre
Mark
100 13 Recombination
Cendrowski
Teleplay by: January 19, 2012 3X6863 15.83[18]
Hypothesis" Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
When Leonard and Sheldon arrive home Leonard sees Penny through her open door and asks her out, who after
initial hesitation, accepts. Their date progresses smoothly until he asks her whether they will get back together. They
get into a big argument, following which Leonard returns home in a huff. Later that night, Penny calls Leonard and
asks him to come out of his apartment. As he does this, Penny kisses him full on the mouth and they end up having
sex in her apartment. After this, they decide to pursue their relationship once again, but also decide to take things
slow and pretend they are still single. Leonard finds it difficult to keep the relationship secret; when he returns to his
apartment at 3 am, he is forced to lie to Sheldon (who saw him entering the apartment); the next night at the
Cheesecake factory, he overplays his fake annoyance over Penny, following which the duo again engage in a heated
argument. But later that night, they again have sex. After this, he asks her what they are doing, since every scenario
that he plays out about them ends badly, to which she responds that it is because he over-thinks things. It is then
revealed that Leonard daydreamed the entire episode. He is still outside his apartment with Sheldon. Realizing he
does over-think things, he goes over to Penny's apartment and asks her out. After initial hesitation, she accepts. The
episode ends with Penny preparing for her date. She imagines a scene where she marries Leonard, but is heavily
pregnant, prompting her to decide to go to thedrug store before the date.

Title reference: Leonard contemplating the ramifications of asking Penny out on a date.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Steven Molaro
"The Beta Test Mark & Eric Kaplan
101 14 January 26, 2012 3X6864 16.13[19]
Initiation" Cendrowski Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
Dave Goetsch
& Maria Ferrari

Leonard and Penny have started dating again. With Penny wanting to take things slow and Leonard determined to
ensure that their relationship works out this time, they agree to an alpha test relationship - instead of them arguing
with each other, they highlight each other's faults and work on them. However this goes poorly as Leonard gives
Penny a huge list of her faults, while Penny retaliates by giving Leonard a huge list of his faults. When he tries to
patch things up by taking her target shooting, he accidentally shoots himself in the shoe, barely missing his toe. Later
Penny assures him that their relationship is progressing smoothly. Meanwhile, Raj buys a new iPhone 4S and falls in
love with its Siri as it is a female voice he can speak to without being drunk. He starts making decisions only after
consulting Siri and even defends it after Kripke criticizes it for giving erroneous answers on his iPhone 4S (due to his
rhotacism). Later Raj has a nightmare in which he finally meets Siri, who is a beautiful woman, but cannot talk to her
due to his selective mutism. Elsewhere, Sheldon and Amy start a podcast about flags titled "Fun With Flags". Amy
provides some suggestions during the podcast, which Sheldon unexpectedly accepts, indicating a deep bond
between the two.

Title reference: Leonard proposes to re-establish the relationship with Penny as analpha test experiment to iron out
all the bugs in their relationship, but Penny mistakenly calls it abeta test.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Eric Kaplan &
Jim Reynolds
"The Friendship Mark
102 15
Contraction" Cendrowski
Teleplay by: February 2, 2012 3X6865 16.54[20]
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Steve
Holland

Sheldon keeps Leonard awake all night with a quarterly disaster preparedness drill. The next day, a tired Leonard
refuses to take Sheldon to the dentist as he wants to sleep. Leonard then invokes Section 209 in the Roommate
Agreement, which reduces his friendship with Sheldon to an acquaintance, freeing him from his obligations to
Sheldon. It soon turns out that Sheldon is stranded without Leonard, as none of his other friends are willing to help
him. One night, when the power goes off, Sheldon tries to win back Leonard by showing him an extensive emergency
kit, but the latter prefers to go over to Penny's apartment for wine. Sheldon comes over and offers Leonard s'mores
and water (distilled from urine) if he accepts him as a friend again. Leonard refuses, but Penny feels sorry for Sheldon
and advises Leonard to reconcile with him. Leonard then tells Sheldon that he would accept him as a friend again if
he appreciates what he does for him once in a while. Sheldon provides a counter-proposal, offering to celebrate
"Leonard's Day" once a year, where Leonard's achievements would be acknowledged. Leonard agrees and reconciles
with Sheldon, who then indirectly reveals that he is responsible for cutting the power to the entire apartment so that he
could win back Leonard's friendship. Meanwhile, Howard is anxious as to what nickname the other astronauts in his
space mission are going to give him. Raj attempts to get them to choose the nickname "Rocket Man" (an Elton John
song) by having Howard change his ringtone to that song and then calling him during a conference call with Mike
Massimino. This backfires as during the call, Howard's mother yells that his Froot Loops are getting soggy, and he
ends up with "Froot Loops" as his new moniker
.

Title reference: Leonard and Sheldon's relationship is reduced from friends to mere acquaintances.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Anthony Del
Broccolo &
"The Vacation Mark Tara
103 16 February 9, 2012 3X6866 16.21[21]
Solution" Cendrowski Hernandez
Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Maria Ferrari

After being forced to take a vacation by President Siebert, Sheldon decides to spend it working with Amy in her
neurobiology lab. However he refuses to do even basic work for Amy properly, such as cleaning beakers or counting
bacterial spores, and instead forces her to allow him to do brain dissection. When Amy eventually allows Sheldon to
perform brain dissection, he cuts his thumb accidentally and faints after seeing it bleed. Meanwhile, Bernadette's
father wants Howard to sign a prenuptial agreement. Howard, unwilling to sign any prenup, is upset that Bernadette
did not tell him directly about the prenup. Later Penny confronts both Sheldon and Howard at the Cheesecake Factory
bar for their behavior towards their girlfriends. The next day, Sheldon goes over to Amy's lab again to apologize for his
behavior the previous day. She then invites him to work with her again, but gives him the same basic work of cleaning
beakers. Meanwhile, Bernadette tells Howard that her father is insistent on him signing the prenup, at which Howard
says that he would talk it out with her father. But when Bernadette reveals that her father is a far right ideologue who
hates Jews, Howard decides to put off the talk until he is in the space.

Title reference: Suddenly forced to take his vacation time, Sheldon decides to go to work with Amy in her biology lab.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Bill Prady &
Steve Holland
"The Rothman Mark
104 17
Disintegration" Cendrowski
Teleplay by: February 16, 2012 3X6867 15.65[22]
Steven Molaro
& Eric Kaplan
& Jim
Reynolds

The deranged Professor Rothman is forced to retire, leaving his office vacant. Both Sheldon and Kripke fight for the
office and bring it to the attention of President Siebert, who is not interested in listening to their argument. Sheldon
and Kripke decide to settle their argument once and for all by playing a game of basketball, as both are bad at sports.
However it soon becomes evident that both do not know how to play it, and the challenge is reduced to who bounces
the ball highest. Sheldon wins the challenge and gets the office. He enjoys his new office until he finds out that the
thermostat for the air conditioner is in another room where its occupant is experiencing hot flashes, the upstairs
geology department is too noisy and the mockingbirds are "completely out-of-tune" with the wind chimes. Meanwhile,
Amy gives Penny an enormous painting depicting the two of them, which Penny absolutely hates. When Bernadette
sees the painting, she comments that Penny looks like a man in it, prompting Penny to remove it from her wall and
deciding to hang it only when Amy comes to her apartment. Unfortunately, Amy finds out that Penny removed the
painting and becomes upset, thinking that her friendship with Penny is one-sided. Penny consoles Amy by lying that
she removed the painting from the wall because Bernadette was jealous that she was not in the painting. Later Penny
hangs the painting on thefourth wall.

Title reference: The disintegration of Professor Rothman's mental state.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Todd Craig &
Gary Torvinen
"The Werewolf Mark Teleplay by:
105 18 February 23, 2012 3X6868 16.20[23]
Transformation" Cendrowski Bill Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Jim
Reynolds &
Maria Ferrari

Sheldon's regular barber Mr. D'Onofrio has been hospitalized in a coma and he refuses to get his hair cut from his
nephew Angelo. Penny offers to cut Sheldon's hair as she used to cut her brother's hair, but he refuses. A week later,
Sheldon has still not got his haircut and on Penny's advice, decides to relax his regimented lifestyle and "embrace the
chaos". He begins to do things he never used to do before, like wearing his Tuesday pajamas on Thursday night and
playing bongos at 3 am. This wakes Leonard and Penny, who plead with Sheldon to stop playing the bongos, to no
avail, and he leaves the apartment still playing them. The next morning, they find him asleep on Amy's couch. With
Amy's vote of confidence, Sheldon agrees to let Penny cut his hair. Sheldon is impressed with the way Penny had cut
his hair, but when she is trimming his neck, she shaves off the back of his head accidentally. Meanwhile, Howard goes
for astronaut training in Houston to prepare for his space mission. He confides to Bernadette via webcam his
experiences in training, which involved vomiting during Zero-G training and having a horrible survival test. Bernadette
feels pity for Howard and rushes to Houston, where she quickly finds out that his mother is already there to take care
of him.

Title reference: The transformation in Sheldon's routine and attitude, when his comatose barber is unable to cut his
hair.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Bill Prady &
Tara
"The Weekend Mark Hernandez
106 19 March 8, 2012 3X6869 15.04[24]
Vortex" Cendrowski Teleplay by:
Steven Molaro
& Eric Kaplan
& Steve
Holland

Raj suggests that he and the guys spend the entire weekend together engaging in a gaming marathon in which they
would play the new Star Wars online game. However Sheldon already promised Amy that he would attend her Aunt
Flora's 93rd birthday party and meet her family during the weekend and reluctantly decides not to take part in the
marathon, but still tries to convince Penny to make Amy change her mind, to no avail. Sheldon eventually decides to
go with Amy, but also brings his laptop so that he can play with the guys remotely. Amy gets peeved at Sheldon and
tells him to return to his apartment if playing with the guys is more important than honoring his commitment to her,
which he does. Later Raj gets furious at Howard when he brings Bernadette to the marathon after being forced to
include her. Meanwhile, Amy, having returned from her aunt's birthday party, confides her feelings about Sheldon to
Penny, who then tells her to create a scene at her boyfriend's apartment. She does this, with Penny too admonishing
Sheldon for being a bad boyfriend. At this, Raj goes ballistic and yells about how different the group was before
Leonard, Howard and Sheldon got girlfriends, how he is the only one in their group who does not have a girlfriend and
adds that even if he gets a girlfriend, he has to face the shame of being the guy who got a girlfriend after Sheldon.
The girls immediately leave the apartment and the guys get back to their marathon. The next morning, the marathon
ends when Howard's mother bangs on the apartment door demanding an explanation for Howard's weekend-long
absence and forcing him to return home.

Title reference: The girls interfering in the guys' plan to playStar Wars: The Old Republic for an entire weekend.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Bill Prady &
"The Maria Ferrari
Mark
107 20 Transporter
Cendrowski
Teleplay by: March 29, 2012 3X6870 13.96[25]
Malfunction" Steven Molaro
& Jim
Reynolds &
Steve Holland

After Sheldon complains about Penny's constant mooching of their food, she buys him and Leonard each a mint-
condition vintage Star Trek transporter from 1975. She is disappointed when both refuse to take them out of their
boxes since they want to preserve the toy's value. That night, Sheldon has a dream where his Spock action figure tells
him to open his transporter and play with it. When Sheldon does this, he breaks his transporter accidentally. He then
exchanges his broken toy for Leonard's toy, figuring that he will never find out since he does not plan to open his.
Later Sheldon has a nightmare where his Spock action figure chastises him for switching the two transporters. When
Leonard decides to play with his toy since it is a gift from his girlfriend, Sheldon admits to breaking his toy and
switching it with Leonard's. Meanwhile, faced with the prospect of attending Howard's wedding alone, Raj tells his
parents to find a suitable girl for him. He meets the prospective bride Lakshmi in a restaurant and both hit it off
immediately. It soon turns out that Lakshmi is a lesbian and accepted to meet Raj as it is difficult to come out in Indian
culture, but nevertheless decides tomarry him as she thinks he is gay. Raj too contemplates marrying her, despite the
fact that he is never going to have sex with her, and rebuffs Howard's advice to find some other girl. Finally, Howard
and Bernadette give Raj aYorkie puppy to cheer him up and make him forget about Lakshmi.

Title reference: Sheldon breaking hisStar Trek transporter collectible, after electing to open it.

Story by: Bill

Prady &
Steven Molaro
& Steve
"The Hawking Mark
108 21
Excitation" Cendrowski
Holland April 5, 2012 3X6871 13.29[26]
Teleplay by:
Chuck Lorre &
Eric Kaplan &
Maria Ferrari

Howard is hired to maintain Stephen Hawking's motorized wheelchair while he is guest-lecturing at Caltech. He plans
to introduce Sheldon to Hawking (Sheldon considers Hawking his idol) until Sheldon insults him yet again about his
lack of a doctorate. Sheldon pleads with Howard to introduce him to Hawking, to no avail. He then asks him to give his
paper on the Higgs boson to Hawking, to which he agrees, but only if he does several tasks for him. Howard then
asks him to give him a compliment about his job. Sheldon replies that he never said that Howard is bad at his job, he
just feels that his job is not worth doing. Howard accepts his backhanded compliment and reveals that he had already
given Hawking his paper three days ago and that he wants to meet him. Hawking is very impressed with Sheldon's
paper, but then mentions that he had made an arithmetic mistake as a result of which the entire paper is wrong. At
this, a shocked Sheldon faints.

Title reference: Sheldon's excitement over the possibility of meeting Stephen Hawking.

[27]
 109 22 "The Stag Peter Story by: Billy April 26, 2012 3X6872 12.65[27]
Convergence" Chakos Prady & Steve
Holland & Eric
Kaplan
Teleplay by:
Chuck Lorre &
Steven Molaro
& Jim
Reynolds

The guys are planning Howard's bachelor party. Howard tells them that no strippers should be hired for the party, as
he had promised Bernadette. Stuart, Kripke and Wil Wheaton are also invited. At the party, everyone offers a toast. A
drunk Raj talks about his friendship with Howard revealing various and sundry things about Howard. Wheaton records
Raj's entire speech and uploads it onto YouTube. When Bernadette, who doesn't know anything about Howard's
perverted and womanizing past, sees the video, she becomes extremely upset and becomes unsure about marrying a
man that she doesn't seem to know. She even becomes upset at Penny because she was the one who introduced her
to Howard, despite knowing about Howard's past. She confines herself to her bedroom, not returning Howard's calls.
Howard gives Penny a message to pass on to Bernadette saying that he is sorry, that he is as disgusted by his past
as she is and credits her for reforming him, which reduces Penny to tears, moved by the genuineness of his apology.
When Bernadette hears this, she immediately forgives him, though she is still mad at him, and adds that the wedding
will still take place. The episode ends with Leonard wanting to have sex with Penny in the laundry room, which she
refuses.

Title reference: The guys coming together for Howard's bachelor party
.

Story by:
Chuck Lorre &
Steven Molaro
& Jim
"The Launch Mark
110 23
Acceleration" Cendrowski
Reynolds May 3, 2012 3X6873 13.91[28]
Teleplay by:
Bill Prady &
Steve Holland
& Maria Ferrari

Howard receives a call from NASA saying that his mission to the International Space Station has been cancelled due
to problems with the Soyuz capsule during a pressurization test. He is ecstatic as he is actually terrified of going to
space and looks forward to his wedding. However he later receives another call from NASA saying that he will be sent
to space after all as they want his telescope on the International Space Station, though his launch date will be pushed
up to the Friday before his wedding. He decides to talk to Bernadette's father to postpone the wedding. To his
surprise, Mike strongly approves of him going to space and reveals that he did not think that he was suitable for
Bernadette until he heard about the space mission. Meanwhile, Leonard and Penny decide to take their "beta test"
relationship to the next level by having sex. However Leonard proposes to Penny during sex as a result of which
Penny becomes extremely upset. After unsuccessfully trying to pacify her, he leaves her apartment. Later when the
couple meet each other in the apartment stairwell, Penny says no to Leonard's wedding proposal, though they will still
date. Elsewhere, Amy tries to use transference to increase Sheldon's feelings for her by making him happy using his
love for various other topics (his mother's cooking, video games etc.). Amy's actions seem to work on Sheldon who is
not happy about it but makes no attempt to stop her
.

Title Reference: Howard's NASA launch being bumped up two days before his wedding.

111 24 "The Mark Story by: Bill May 10, 2012 3X6874 13.72[29]
Countdown Cendrowski Prady & Eric
Reflection" Kaplan &
Steve Holland
Teleplay by:
Chuck Lorre &
Steven Molaro
 & Jim
Reynolds

Howard and his two fellow astronauts Dimitri Rezinov and Mike Massimino are in the Soyuz capsule, awaiting lift-of
f to
the International Space Station from Kazakhstan. Nervous and not looking forward to the launch, Howard begins to
reflect on the last couple of days, revealing that he married Bernadette before he left. When Bernadette receives a
necklace from Howard with a star pendant on it which he plans to take with him to space, she tells him that they need
to get married before he goes to space. They decide to get married in City Hall that very afternoon with only their
friends as guests. Amy is devastated that her position as Maid of Honor has been reduced to nothing, but is allowed
to wear the dress she bought to City Hall. Unfortunately, they do not get married that day as there are too many other
couples in front of them. Raj then suggests that they get married on the roof of Leonard, Sheldon and Penny's
apartment building on Sunday morning, which will coincide with the Google satellite taking new photographs of
Pasadena, with himself, Leonard, Sheldon, Penny and Amy asministers. The wedding takes place successfully
. While
Howard and Bernadette exchange their vows, the camera pulls back from the apartment roof - showing a glimpse of
Mrs. Wolowitz - and then pulls back further to a view of the planet Earth. The episode ends with Howard being
launched into space. Everyone nervously watches the space launch from Leonard and Sheldon's apartment.
Bernadette takes Raj's hand, Penny takes Leonard's hand, and a very surprised Amy has her hand taken by Sheldon
who wishes Howard well with the words "Boldly go, Howard W
olowitz".

Title reference: Howard's flashback of the events leading up to his wedding with Bernadette as he is about to launch
into space.

Release

Critical reception
.[30]
On Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of seven critics gave the season a positive review

Oliver Sava of The A.V. Club gave the season a B+ rating.[31] He described Raj as the "weak link of the show" as he has not "
[evolved] like the rest of the cast" and is "trapped in season one mode".[32] Sava gave high ratings to episodes where Raj did not
feature prominently, such as "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation"[33] or "The Russian Rocket Reaction"[32] and described "The Wiggly
Finger Catalyst" (an episode focusing on Raj) as "one of the series' worst",[32] giving it a D+ rating.[34] Sava's favorite relationship
on the series is between Amy and Penny.[31]

Jenna Busch of IGN disliked the previous season but said that season 5 "is far more balanced";[35] Busch gave season 5 episodes
ratings between 5.5 and 9, with an average rating of 8.0.[36] She also noted that the show has "matured" by including other women in
the main cast.[35]

Tom Gliatto from People gave the season 3 out of 4 stars, stating that it is "bright and obvious as a cartoon, yet written with a clean,
precise patter of jokes".[37]

Awards
At the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, The Big Bang Theory was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, but Modern Family on
ABC won.[38] The show was also nominated for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series[39] and
[40]
Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series.

Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper) was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for "The Werewolf Transformation",
but lost out to Jon Cryer. Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler) was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
for "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver", but lost out to Julie Bowen.
Distribution
The season premiered on CBS on September 22, 2011. It was released on DVD with an aspect ratio of 16:9 format[41] on September
11, 2011, in Region 1, on September 2, 2012, in Region 2 and October 3, 2012, in Region 4. The episodes can also be purchased on
Amazon Video[42] or the iTunes store in the US.[43]

Broadcast

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Rating/share Viewers
No. Title Air date
(18–49) (millions)

1 "The Skank Reflex Analysis" September 22, 2011 4.9/15 14.30[7]

2 "The Infestation Hypothesis" September 22, 2011 5.1/14 14.94[7]

3 "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation" September 29, 2011 4.9/15 14.74[8]

4 "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst" October 6, 2011 4.5/14 13.92[9]

5 "The Russian Rocket Reaction" October 13, 2011 4.6/14 13.58[10]

6 "The Rhinitis Revelation" October 20, 2011 5.1/16 14.93[11]

7 "The Good Guy Fluctuation" October 27, 2011 4.6/13 14.54[12]

8 "The Isolation Permutation" November 3, 2011 5.4/16 15.98[13]

9 "The Ornithophobia Diffusion" November 10, 2011 5.3/15 15.89[14]

10 "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition" November 17, 2011 5.3/15 15.05[15]

11 "The Speckerman Recurrence" December 8, 2011 4.6/14 14.02[16]

12 "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver" January 12, 2012 5.3/15 16.13[17]

13 "The Recombination Hypothesis" January 19, 2012 5.3/15 15.83[18]

14 "The Beta Test Initiation" January 26, 2012 5.5/16 16.13[19]

15 "The Friendship Contraction" February 2, 2012 5.5/16 16.54[20]

16 "The Vacation Solution" February 9, 2012 5.6/16 16.21[21]

17 "The Rothman Disintegration" February 16, 2012 5.1/15 15.65[22]

18 "The Werewolf Transformation" February 23, 2012 5.3/16 16.20[23]

19 "The Weekend Vortex" March 8, 2012 5.1/15 15.04[24]

20 "The Transporter Malfunction" March 29, 2012 4.7/15 13.96[25]

21 "The Hawking Excitation" April 5, 2012 4.4/15 13.29[26]

22 "The Stag Convergence" April 26, 2012 4.1/13 12.65[27]

23 "The Launch Acceleration" May 3, 2012 4.7/16 13.91[28]

24 "The Countdown Reflection" May 10, 2012 4.4/15 13.72[29]

Canadian broadcast
In Canada, The Big Bang Theory aired on CTV Television Network. The season premiere ("The Skank Reflex Analysis") garnered
3.72 million viewers[44] and the finale was watched by 4.04 million households.[45] Most episodes were the most watched
programme in Canada that week. The highest rating in season 5 was 4.05 million, for "The Infestation Hypothesis",[44] and the
lowest rating was 3.17 million, for "The Stag Convergence".[46]

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General references

"The Big Bang Theory Season 5 episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
"Shows A-Z – big bang theory, the on CBS". the Futon Critic. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
"The Big Bang Theory: Episode Guide". MSN TV. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
"The Big Bang Theory Episode Recaps". CBS. Retrieved October 1, 2011.

External links
List of The Big Bang Theory episodes on IMDb
The Big Bang Theory: Season 5at Rotten Tomatoes

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Big_Bang_Theory_(season_5)&oldid=848404370

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