"The Septum Deviation" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on November 13, 2014. Directed by Anthony Rich. Teleplay by Eric Kaplan, Steve Holland and Tara Hernandez, based on a story by Steven Molaro, Bill Prady and Maria Ferrari.
Leonard and Penny come back from the doctor. It turns out that Leonard has a deviated septum, which explains his snoring. The doctor has scheduled Leonard for a simple surgery to get his septum back in place next week.
Sheldon becomes gravely concerned. There's a 1 in 700,000 chance that Leonard could die during surgery from the anesthesia. Sheldon, always the smart idiot, ponders increasingly unlikely scenarios, such as that the surgeon could be an epileptic who has a seizure during surgery, Leonard for some reason going to a hospital in Nicaragua during monsoon season, an asteroid strike, etc.
Sheldon seems to ignore likelier possibilities for California, like earthquakes and power outages. Leonard takes an earlier surgery appointment while Amy tries to distract Sheldon. But Sheldon quickly realizes what's happening and demands that Amy take him to Leonard.
Leonard's already in surgery when Amy and Sheldon arrive at the hospital. There's a slight tremor followed by a power outage. Sheldon frantically goes to look for Leonard, but doesn't get very far on account of smashing his nose into a door.
Back at Apartment 4A, both Leonard and Sheldon have bandages on their noses. The two of them will be just fine, though Sheldon points out Leonard's not out of the woods yet: there's still the risk of infection or a blood clot, as well as other more fanciful and less plausible scenarios.
Meanwhile, Raj worries he won't be able to find an appropriate gift for his parents, who have been married for almost forty years now. Howard casually expresses amazement at being married to someone for forty years, predictably getting him in hot water with Bernadette.
Raj calls his parents on the phonenote and is saddened to learn that they have divorced.
Tropes
- A Rare Sentence: Sheldon worries that a spider might have crawled into Leonard's nose during the surgery and laid eggs inside his head.Sheldon: The minute you sneeze web, I'm moving out.Leonard: I never thought I'd say these words, but [crosses fingers] come on, nose spider!
- Blatant Lies:
- Sheldon picks up on Amy's odd behavior when she tries to keep up the lie that Leonard and Amy went swimming instead of to the hospital for an earlier appointment.
- Bernadette promises she won't get mad if Howard tells her one thing he doesn't like about her. He's not fooled.
- Comically Missing the Point: Sheldon kept going around the revolving door because a large plant in the lobby made it look like the outside.
- Continuity Snarl: In this episode, Sheldon says he was initially annoyed by Leonard's snoring, but after five or six years, he got used to it. But dialogue in "The 43 Peculiarity" seems to contradict this. In that earlier episode, Sheldon fails to assuage Leonard's insecurities about Penny, and instead points out Leonard's below average "height, vision, athleticism, or ability to digest dairy products."Leonard: I'm talking about important things like emotional maturity.Sheldon: You were just spying on your girlfriend through a peephole.Leonard: I liked it better when you thought I wasn't here.Sheldon: I'm not saying you don't have attractive qualities. Your choice of friends is impeccable, you're a good sleeper, and last but not least, you buy the grapes I like. You're a real catch compared to some snoring guy with a fridge full of lousy grapes. [emphasis added]
- Foreshadowing: Howard and Bernadette joke about divorcing after Raj tells them his parents have been married for forty years. When Raj calls them, they tell him they've decided to get divorced.
- Grave Humor: Sheldon buys monogrammed funeral urns for him and Leonard. Leonard's reads "Here lie the ashes of Leonard Hofstadter. He thought he was right, but his roommate knew better." Sheldon's reads "I'm with stupid."
- It's All About Me:
- Playing 20 Questions with Amy, Sheldon is convinced he's himself no matter what Amy says. At one point, he's supposed to be Nicola Tesla, described by Amy as "an under-appreciated genius" with a car named after him. After those clues, the smart idiot still thinks himself to be the answer, citing the Mini Cooper.
- When Leonard tells him he's going to have nose surgery to fix his deviated septum, Sheldon is upset because it takes away the white noise he falls asleep to.
- Pun: Bernadette and Howard try to cheer Raj up by bringing him muffins and telling him there's muffin he can do about it.
- Sarcasm Mode: Howard and Bernadette's attempt at better communication in their marriage devolves into trading passive-aggressive barbs.
- Shout-Out to Jay-Z: The rapper comes up when it's Amy's turn to guess. Sheldon's clue is rather unhelpful: Jay-Z is supposedly "most famous for never having gotten his nose mutilated with elective surgery and never living the rest of his life in the shadows as a hideous, disfigured freak." Though in his defense, Sheldon couldn't give a better clue because his ignorance of rap music led him to suspect "Jay-Z" was a typo.
