"The 43 Peculiarity" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on November 15, 2012. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Jim Reynolds and Steve Holland, based on a story by Chuck Lorre, David Goetsch and Anthony Del Broccolo.
Raj and Howard try to figure out where Sheldon disappears to every 2:45 PM. Meanwhile, jealousy erupts within Leonard and Penny's relationship.
Tropes:
- Accidental Declaration of Love: After they've gotten back together, Penny, who has been afraid of saying "I love you" too soon due to having it backfire in the past, accidentally tells Leonard she loves him when trying to tell him he shouldn't be jealous every time she's around other guys. Leonard is touched and both nearly cry (though it's Played for Laughs) because it's such a big deal for Penny to admit it out loud.
- Artistic License – Statistics: Unusual for a series that tries (and generally succeeds) in getting the science and analysis right: Sheldon, while playfully unnerving Leonard by chipping at his vulnerabilities, remarks that as Leonard is of average height, automatically, it implies that half of the people in the country are taller than he. This is not true of the average; to take a small example, in a room with people 5'4", 5'5", 5'8", 5'7", 5'9", 5'9", 6'7", 6'5" and 5'10", no one would be the average height of 5'9.78", and the 5'10" person, who is closest to the average height, is taller than most of the people in the room, with two people taller and six people shorter. Sheldon's statement may be true if he were talking about the median height, (in this case, 5'9"), which is the value exactly at the middle of the sample (with an even numbered sample, it would be the average of the two values in the middle). In fact, in this example Sheldon's statement would still be false, since the median height is shared by two people, with more people shorter than taller.
- Brick Joke: In the Cold Open, Sheldon is sketching a containment unit for a small wormhole to serve as a portal to parallel universes. Later, the video he fakes for Howard and Raj has him seemingly creating such a portal.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Leonard tries to intimidate Cole by claiming that Penny's boyfriend is large and intimidating, and in a gang.Cole: She told me he was a scientist.
Leonard: That's the name of his gang. The Scientists. They're crazy! - Call-Back: As Raj pointed out, 43 is also the element number of Technetium, which was an answer to a Physics Bowl question back in Season 1's "The Bat Jar Conjecture" back when Dr. Gablehauser asked, "What is the lightest element on Earth with no stable isotopes?". Technetium-99m is the most common medical radioisotope used by the world and the United States.
- Camera Spoofing: After finding the camera Howard installed in his secret room, Sheldon prepares a fake video of him making an interdimensional portal and being attacked by an alien.
- Jump Scare: As Howard and Raj freak out over the fake video, Sheldon sneaks up behind them and drops the alien prop in front of them, making them freak out even further.
- Out of Focus: Amy and Bernadette are completely absent in this episode.
- The Peeping Tom: Howard and Raj try to find out what Sheldon writing 43 means after sneaking into his private room and seeing 43 written on a board. Sheldon is not pleased that they (attempted to) invade his privacy and punishes them both by inserting false footage of him pretending to be eaten by a squid-like alien from another dimension. And as a bonus, he tosses the squid-alien prop in front of them right as they're watching the footage in horror.
- The Reveal: The audience gets to know what Sheldon wrote 43 for at the very ending. Sheldon is trying to break his record of how many times he can bounce a hackey-sack, and his record was 43. He keeps his hackey-sack bouncing private in that room.
- Scooby Stack: Howard and Raj, when they peek around the corner trying to see where Sheldon is going. Done pretty straight, for live action
- Shout-Out: Raj thinks 43 is in reference to the Meaning of Life from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Howard corrects him, saying that it's actually 42.
- The "I Love You" Stigma: Penny finally says I Love You to Leonard, they're both left overwhelmed by the revelation.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Leonard gives Alex the "Mr. is my father" variant.Leonard: Call me Leonard, Dr. Hofstadter's my father. And my mother. And my sister. And our cat. Although, I'm pretty sure Dr. Boots Hofstadter's degree was honorary.
