"The Good Guy Fluctuation" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on October 27, 2011. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Bill Prady, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland, based on a story by Chuck Lorre, David Goetsch and Maria Ferrari.
Sheldon vows to pull a prank on Leonard, Raj and Howard after falling for their Halloween prank. Meanwhile, Leonard must resist temptation from an attractive woman, Alice (Courtney Ford), in order to stay loyal to Priya (Aarti Mann).
Tropes:
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Leonard agonizes about cheating on Priya while she's abroad. Then he finds out Priya had been cheating on him multiple times and has no shame about it. This is when he breaks up with her.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: As part of the guys' prank, a message in blood appears on Sheldon's office reading "SEE YOU IN HELL SHELDON!" The only thing Sheldon finds frightening about it is the lack of a comma.
- Electric Joy Buzzer: Sheldon rigs one to get Howard, but when he does, Howard appears to have a heart attack. It turns out to be another prank, and Sheldon does a Face Palm at falling for it... shocking himself in the process.
- Faint in Shock: Sheldon faints when he's scared by Leonard in a mask. The guys apparently were making bets on whether he would.Howard: Who had money on faints?
Raj: I had peed his pants.
Leonard: Hang on. Looks like everyone's a winner! - Halloween Episode: Sheldon is the victim of a Halloween prank, and spends the rest of the episode trying to get his friends back.
- Kick the Dog: Priya cheating on Leonard with her ex, after Leonard successfully resists the same temptation with Alice.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Sheldon mistakes Bernadette screaming from Howard's house for Mrs. Wolowitz.
- Mood Whiplash: Leonard had broken up with Priya for cheating on him and had lost Alice after he told her about Priya. Now all alone, he sits on the couch... and is spooked by Sheldon suddenly emerging from under the cushions in zombie makeup.Sheldon: Bazinga, punk! Now we're even.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Leonard's decision to not cheat on Priya turns out to be for naught when he finds out that Priya already cheated on him weeks ago.
- Out of Focus: Amy is entirely absent in this episode.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Averted. Sheldon tries to scare Raj by hiding a snake in his drawer. When Raj finds the snake, he finds it to be cute instead, and happily carries it off to the biology lab to feed it.
- Shot to the Heart: Shocking Howard causes him to go into cardiac arrest, and the only way to save him is for Sheldon to give him a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. Fortunately, it was just a prank on Sheldon.
- Shout-Out:
- The mask Leonard wears to scare Sheldon is of Balok, a creature from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Corbomite Maneuver".
- Sheldon having to revive Howard by jamming a syringe of adrenaline into his chest is a spoof of Vincent doing the same to Mia in Pulp Fiction.
