History TheBigBangTheory / SeasonTwelve

** Despite having dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize all his life, Sheldon is totally unprepared for the level of fame that comes with it, hiding from the hordes of reporters wanting to interview him.

** After realizing that Beverly's attempts at bonding were just more "research" for her next book, Leonard finally accepts that his mother is never going to change (TruthInTelevision regarding most AbusiveParents) and decides to just forgive her and move on, even though she doesn't deserve his forgiveness (forgiveness is about letting go of one's own pain rather than letting the one who harmed you off the hook.)

** After returning home from Sweden, the cast goes in to have a living room sit down for Chinese, as they always do at the end of the opening. And while they do so, a slower acoustic cover of the theme plays as the camera pans out and fades to black. End series.

** After Amy explodes at Dr. Pembleton and Dr. Campbell, she and Sheldon are forced to do damage control by the university in order to not lose their chances at winning a Nobel. They also have to apologize to Pembleton and Campbell.

With Sheldon and Amy married, the rest of the group contemplate the changes in their lives and where they go from here. Penny confesses to Leonard that she is not interested in ever having kids. Raj gets engaged to Anu via an ArrangedMarriage.

* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: When Leonard is talking about Wil Wheaton's guests to Penny in "The D&D Vortex", she is shocked that he has no idea who Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is. Played with Creator/JoeManganiello, whom Leonard recognizes from ''Series/TrueBlood'', while Penny and (especially) Amy know from ''Film/MagicMike''.

* BookEnds: After returning home from Sweden, the cast goes in to have a living room sit down for Chinese, as they always do at the end of the opening. And while they do so, a slower acoustic cover of the theme plays as the camera pans out and fades to black. End series.

* TemptingFate: PlayedForLaughs in "The VCR Illumination" when Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, and Amy give a VikingFuneral (see below). Amy expresses doubt about its safety, so Leonard assures her that it IS safe, since it's in a bathtub filled with water. [[spoiler:Barely a second after Leonard's statement, the curtains are set on fire, prompting the "funeral attendants" to throw bathtub water at the curtains to put out the fire.]]

* ProductPlacement: A really blatant one with ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' and Bernadette's scenes in "The Citation Negation".

* MarriedToTheJob: She moves to London for her dream job when she's offered it at the conference she attends in London. [[spoiler:This is why Raj DidNotGetTheGirl.]]

** Penny herself does it during the final episode. The fish she consumes in the hotel doesn't seem to mesh well with her, and the scene of the next day opens with the shot of the empty hotel bedroom and the sound of Penny vomiting in the bathroom, while Leonard tries to help her through it.

** Leonard is put in charge of deciding who to give excess grant money to in "The Grant Allocation Derivation". Instead of choosing one of three eligible recipients (Raj, Kripke and a woman working with crows), he instead [[spoiler:uses the grant money on himself and gets a high-powered laser. That way instead of at least two people hating him, all three hate him but he at least gets a laser for himself.]]

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: At the end of "The Maternal Conclusion", Stuart and Denise try to convince Denise's roommate to move out, arguing that they're deeply in love enough to commit to each other together in the same room. Denise's roommate asks Stuart to Denise he loves her -- he does -- and then asks Denise to say it back to Stuart (she does), before asking Stuart and Denise to say it to HIM. Cue Stuart and Denise staring back at him in awkward silence.

** Penny herself does it during the final episode. The fish she consumes in the hotel doesn't seem to mesh well with her, and the the next day opens with the scene of the empty hotel bedroom with the sound of Penny vomiting in the bathroom, with Leonard trying to help her through it.

* VomitDiscretionShot: Done with Sheldon throwing up on [[spoiler:Creator/WilliamShatner]] in "The D&D Vortex". The ColdOpen shows the scene leading up to it, then cuts to the guys watching a video of it on a phone, followed by the sound of Sheldon vomiting.

* BookEnds: After returning home from Sweden, the cast goes in to have a living room sit down for Chinese, as they always do at the end of the opening. Ans while they do so, a slower acoustic cover of the theme plays as the camera pans out and fades to black. End series.

** PlayedForLaughs with Bernadette's subplot in the same episode. She spends the entire episode training to be good at Fortnite and challenges Howard to a rematch at the end of the episode... only for Howard to immediately kill her character.

* GuineaPigFamily: In "The Conference Valuation", Sheldon brings a book of science experiments to perform on babies so they could try them out on Howard's kids. This reminds Leonard of the way his mother did psychological experiments on him, and she calls her about it. Beverly reveals that [[spoiler:the experiments are still ongoing.]] (The book, by the way, was Amy's way of getting Sheldon interested in having children.)

* ScheduleFanatic: Sheldon, as usual. In the season premiere, Amy argues about him scheduling marital sex with each other.

** When Penny convinces Leonard to be more assertive in "The Decision Reverberation", Leonard makes decisions with the assertion that Penny approves, culminating in him demanding that, either President Siebert to approve of a plasma physics project idea, or he quits if his demand isn't met. In the end, [[spoiler:his demand isn't met, but he's not quitting, either -- Siebert gives him co-leadership over a photon entanglement project, which Leonard accepts.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: Leonard is put in charge of deciding who to give excess grant money to. Instead of choosing one of three eligible recipients (Raj, Kripke and a woman working with crows), he instead [[spoiler:uses the grant money on himself and gets a high-powered laser. That way instead of at least two people hating him, all three hate him but he at least gets a laser for himself.]]

* TakesAThirdOption: Leonard is put in charge of deciding who to give excess grant money to. Instead of choosing one of three eligible recipients (Raj, Kripke and a woman working with crows), he instead [[spoiler:uses the grant money on himself and gets a high-powered laser. That way instead of at least two people hating him, all three hate him but he at least gets a laser for himself.]]