The Lizard-Spock Expansion is the 8th episode of the 2nd season of The Big Bang Theory. It originally aired November 17th, 2008. This is the first of the "Stephanie" trilogy.
Sheldon adds Lizard and Spock to the rock-paper-scissors game in order to settle out his many disagreements with Raj, but they both want to be Spock because he's far cooler than all other options including lizard.
Howard shows up at Apartment 4A wearing an eye patch and explaining his new technique to pick up women: give them backhanded compliments. It doesn't work on Penny at the apartment and it doesn't work on any women at the club.
But Howard does entice Dr. Stephanie Barrett, M.D. (Sara Rue) with an offer to drive the Mars Rover. So he takes Stephanie to the university lab, where he gets the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch.
Howard calls on his friends to help him out. Stephanie wants to go home, so Howard has Leonard drive her home. Stephanie's so taken with Leonard, they wind up making out in his car, and later having sex in her apartment.
Leonard feels guilty and is about to tell Howard. Upon finding out, Howard declares Leonard is dead to him. But with the simple offer of a double date with Stephanie's friend Lisa, Howard forgives Leonard and Stephanie.
Still stuck in the ditch, the Mars Rover discovers definitive evidence that Mars once had life. But because Raj and Sheldon helped Howard delete all data of how the vehicle got stuck in the first place, no one can get credit for the discovery.
Tropes:
- Ask a Stupid Question...:Howard: I got the Mars Rover stuck in a ditch.
Sheldon: Where?
Howard: On a dusty highway just outside Bakersfield... Where do you think? On MARS! - Big Beautiful Woman: Stephanie is on the heavier side and considered very beautiful and desirable by both Leonard and Howard.
- Captain Obvious: Mrs. Wolowitz claims "I have a coupon from the paper" for Olive Garden.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Leonard admits this (in the trope's exact words) when he tried to instruct Sheldon not to say anything about him leaving, when really all he had to do was leave to go see Stephanie as nobody really cared what reason he had to leave at night.
- Also Howard for blindly deleting all the evidence that he was responsible for the Mars Rover falling into a crevasse. Howard's assumption that there would be nothing but consequences backfires on him since it turns out he unraveled fresh, new knowledge of Mars' surface.
- Sheldon could have easily beaten Raj at any Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock game by just picking paper or lizard since Raj will always choose Spock. That way he could get anything he wants it his way without Raj's interference. But because Sheldon has no self-control, he also is predisposed to only picking Spock.
- Dirty Coward: Not wanting to be held responsible for putting the MARS Rover in a crevasse, Howard in an act of cowardice enacts a ridiculously risky (and illegal) plan to erase all the evidence that he is responsible.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Howard in the midst of being too excited of getting to have sex with Stephanie that he neglected paying attention to the MARS Rover and he ended up letting it drive into a crevasse.
- Double Date: In the end, it's Leonard and Stephanie along with Howard and Lisa, as Lisa just recently went through a break-up.
- The Drag-Along: Mrs. Wolowitz has no qualms about forcing her son to bring her on his date with Stephanie to Olive Garden, or Howard's preferred Red Lobster.
- Expospeak Gag: Sheldon, as usual. The below statement is Sheldon telling Howard that he's "up shit creek without a paddle".Sheldon: I believe the appropriate metaphor her involves a river of excrement and a Native American vessel without any means of propulsion.
- Eyepatch of Power: Invoked by Howard, who wears an eyepatch to attract the attention of women. It doesn't impress Penny (who came to ask Howard to move his moped) when he tries it; she just pulls on it and snaps it back.
- Fight for the Last Bite: The guys play Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock to see who gets the last dumpling. They all draw Spock.
- It's All About Me: Mrs. Wolowitz (Howard's mother) wants Howard and Stephanie to go on their date at Olive Garden, because she has a coupon for that place and wants to eat there. Howard sternly refuses to go to Olive Garden, to which she (sarcastically) replies "Mr. Big-Shot with his Red Lobster".
- Jerkass Has a Point: Sheldon is actually completely right about the Defcon scale. Defcon 5 means no danger, Defcon 1 means a crisis serious enough that requires everyone to take action. Leonard has the Defcon scale backwards, thinking that 5 must be worse than 1. In fact, the Defcon scale acts like a countdown, so 5 is best, 1 is worst.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Howard thought that he invoked this trope by driving the Rover on MARS into a crevasse and so he orders Sheldon and Raj to help him delete all evidence that he was responsible. But then NASA realizes that the Rover falling into that crevasse captured photo evidence that life may have existed on Mars in the past, and they don't know who to credit for this scientific discovery. That discoverer would have surely received a financial reward plus notoriety and fame. Guess how Howard reacts.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Penny mentioned that Howard sexually harassed her with comments about her ass.
- Rock–Paper–Scissors: Sheldon suggests using the rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock variation invented by software engineer Sam Kass in 1998. One problem: everyone keeps picking Spock, rendering the original purpose of adding two extra choices to avoid stalemates moot.Sheldon: It's very simple. Scissors cuts paper. Paper covers rock. Rock crushes lizard. Lizard poisons Spock. Spock smashes scissors. Scissors decapitates lizard. Lizard eats paper. Paper disproves Spock. Spock vaporizes rock. And, as it always has, rock crushes scissors.
- Silent Treatment: After Howard finds out that Leonard hooked up with Stephanie after believing she was his girlfriend and making dinner plans to introduce her to his family, he declares Leonard "dead to him" and refuses to acknowledge him, with Sheldon acting as the middle man for him. He also calls Stephanie "Mrs. Dead to Me", which Sheldon calls "violating his metaphor" by acknowledging her and refusing to help him anymore. After Leonard and Stephanie reveal they wanted to hook up Howard with Stephanie's friend, he declares "They're both alive".
- Stealth Insult: Howard tries to use "negging" as a way to catch women aback when hitting on them. He attempts one on Penny; it doesn't work.Howard: May I say, Penny, not a lot of women could look as hot as you do with such greasy hair.
Penny: [pulls on his eyepatch and snaps it back] Yeah, just move your stupid scooter before I pick it up and throw it in the dumpster.
Howard: [after she leaves] Ow! - Take That, Audience!: Sheldon and Raj's bickering and childish arguing over which Star Trek movie is the worst is definitely nothing less than Satire.
- Terrible Pickup Lines: Penny recalls that Howard once asked if she was from Mars cause her ass was out of this world.
- Time for Plan B: After failing to move the Mars Rover, Howard says it's time for Plan B.Raj: What's Plan B?
Howard: Erase all the hard drives, grab the surveillance tapes, wipe our fingerprints off every surface and run.
Sheldon: Why wasn't that Plan A?
