Bernadette and Wolowitz leave their kids for the first time; Penny and Leonard try to keep a secret; Sheldon and Amy stick together; and Koothrappali makes a new friend, as the gang travels together into an uncharted future.
Episode Tropes:
- And the Adventure Continues: Much of the season was setting up big events for certain characters, almost as though it was the beginning of a new Story Arc, but had very little in the way of an actual resolution. Thus things like Stuart and Denise moving in together, Raj calling off his engagement to wait for someone he truly loves and Penny stepping into a new pharmaceutical career path has no continuation but serves as an open-ended but optimistic conclusion for those plotlines. This episode itself is monumental in that Sheldon and Amy earn a Nobel Prize while Leonard and Penny are expecting a baby, but this doesn't change the paradigm of the last twelve years of the shownote . The last image is the main cast enjoying take-out together like they do in the opening credits.
- Artistic License – Awards: A Nobel in Physics is not usually granted for years if not decades after the discovery is made, not just after the discovery as is shown in the series. Also, acceptance speeches must be submitted in advance so they can be translated to Swedish (when applicable) and prepared for press release.
- As Herself: Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is sitting next to Raj on the plane and becomes his date for the Nobel Prize ceremony.
- Babies Ever After: It's revealed that Leonard and Penny are expecting a child with Penny two months pregnant.
- Back for the Finale: Bert's final appearance in the series takes place in which Raj entrusts him to take care of Stella, Raj's dog, while Raj himself is away to attend Sheldon and Amy's Nobel Prize ceremony.
- Book Ends: The last shot of the episode is of the gang all eating takeout together, just like they do in the intro.
- Brick Joke: During the flight, Raj is convinced the woman sitting next to him (and sleeping with a mask on her face) is Sarah Michelle Gellar. Guess who appears as Raj's (somewhat reluctant) date during the ceremony.
- Continuity Nod:
- Amy wears the tiara Sheldon bought her in "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver" during the ceremony.
- In his speech, Sheldon mentions what Leonard said in the very first episode about how his children with Penny would be both smart and beautiful.
- Cutting the Knot: When heading down from Apartment 4A, the group realizes that they cannot fit themselves and all their luggage inside the repaired elevator. They resolve this by putting all their luggage in the elevator, pressing the down button, and walking down the stairs to pick it up in the lobby.
- Failed a Spot Check: Amy fails to comprehend the implication of the need for Penny's dress to be let out, even given that this is normally something Penny might have freaked out about but (presumably) doesn't. Penny herself lampshades that Amy would normally have noticed something was up, but was too pleased about the fact that her own dress needed to be taken in.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Amy and Penny return from the tailor, the former mentions that the latter had to have her dress let out. Not long after, we find out why.
- Gender-Inclusive Writing: When Sheldon congratulates Leonard for his expecting child as an apology for his bad initial reaction to the news, he mentions, "I can't wait to meet it."Leonard: "It"?
Sheldon: "It" as in "gender-neutral pronoun". If you're offended, take it up with the English language. - Grand Finale: In this, Sheldon and Amy finally win a Nobel Prize and Penny and Leonard are expecting a child. The last shot, however, is of the gang eating take out like in the opening, suggesting that they will continue to hang out like they’ve always done.
- I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: Penny tries pickled herring and ends up enjoying it.Penny: Sounds gross, looks gross, smells gross... IT'S DELICIOUS!
- Jerkass Realization: When Sheldon once again angers his friends by not caring at all about their personal lives, they are beginning to consider going home. They don't feel like supporting Sheldon when he never does so for them. When Sheldon complains about this to Amy, she tells him that he has been putting his needs over his friends and the only reason they have tolerated it for years is because he has never meant to. Sheldon asks if this also includes her. She sadly says that, at times, it has. This leaves him stunned.
- Last Episode Theme Reprise: A slower, acoustic version of the theme song is played on the final scene.
- Mistaken for Disease: On the flight to Sweden, Sheldon notices that Penny had been taking frequent trips to the bathroom, and assumes she has a stomach virus threatening to infect him and ruin his big day.
- Motor Mouth: Sheldon's attempt to compress his prepared yet very long Nobel Prize acceptance speech to ninety minutes involves this.Amy: Nobody's gonna be able to understand a word you're saying.
Sheldon: Welcome to my life. - Not a Date: Sarah Michelle Gellar has to remind Raj that going to the Nobel ceremony does not count as a date.Raj: Yeah, I know.
Sarah: Then why are you holding my hand? - Pregnancy Makes You Crazy: Penny finds herself liking pickled herring and salted cod.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Amy gives Sheldon one for letting his Innocently Insensitive and selfish behavior get in the way of his big day.Amy: Sheldon... nobody's happier than I am to win the Nobel, but it's not more important than our friends.
Sheldon: How could you call them "friends" when they're abandoning us?
Amy: They're abandoning us because you broke their hearts!
Sheldon: ...I didn't mean to.
Amy: I know! You never mean to! It's the only reason people tolerate you!
Sheldon: Does that include you?
Amy: ...Sometimes, yeah. - Shout-Out: Amy gives one to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with her dry: "No. Stop. Be reasonable."
- Slapstick: Stuart relates Halley's tumble down the stairs. She found it hilarious.
- Staircase Tumble: Stuart tells Howard and Bernadette that Halley tumbled down the stairs. She's okay, except she lost a tooth, and they can't find it, so she probably swallowed it.
- Time Skip: The episode begins two months after the previous episode.
- Title In: The opening shot is of Sheldon and Leonard just as they finish gluing back together the DNA model Leonard accidentally wrecked in the previous episode, as the words "two months later" appear on the bottom of the screen.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: The weight of winning a Nobel Prize causes Sheldon to significantly regress to his rude behavior, even disregarding Penny's pregnancy as an ailment he can't catch. It's only after Leonard calls him out on it and Amy tells him off that he finally reconsiders his behavior.
- Throwing Out the Script: Sheldon prepared a very self-centered Nobel Prize speech that calls out everyone who ever doubted he'd win, starting with his high school science teacher, as well as extensive rambling about his childhood in a ham-fisted attempt to be "warm and relatable". Plus, he planned to make it last ninety minutes (even when taking Motor Mouth to account). When the time finally comes to deliver his speech, he decides to set his prepared one aside and give credit to his friends and family for their roles in molding him into the man he is today. He even makes his friends in the audience stand up so they can share in his spotlight.
- Unseen No More: We finally see Haley and Michael Wolowitz in person.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: This happens to Penny once her Morning Sickness comes along, where the scene of the next morning opens with the shot of the empty hotel bedroom and the sound of Penny vomiting in the bathroom (at which point the laughter of the Studio Audience, who had been dead silent during the entire previous scene where Amy called Sheldon out on his recent behavior, promptly starts being heard again), while Leonard tries to help her through it.Leonard: I guess we'll be staying.
- Wacky Cravings: The pregnant Penny finds herself surprisingly enjoying pickled herring and salted cod, at least on the way down.
- ♫ Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started, wait...
The earth began to cool, the autotrophs began to drool
Neanderthals developed tools
We built a wall, we built the pyramids...
Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery...
That all started with the Big Bang. ♫
