Line #15 Recap/TheBigBangTheoryS10E2TheMilitaryMiniaturization


1	'''"The Military Miniaturization"''' is an episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' that first aired on September 26, 2016. Directed by Creator/MarkCendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Steve Holland and Creator/MariaFerrari, based on a story by Creator/ChuckLorre, Eric Kaplan and Jim Reynolds.
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3	Last week, Howard got a call from Colonel Richard Williams (Creator/DeanNorris) of the U. S. Air Force. The military likes Howard's guidance system invention but wish he could make it smaller.
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5	Howard worries that if the Department of Defense takes over his invention, he will never be able to make money from it in the private sector. So he calls his lawyer cousin Marty (Creator/JoshZuckerman) for advice.
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7	As he feared, Howard's project is taken over by the Department of Defense and becomes classified. On the plus side, he and his team get a secret lab with a retinal scanner at the door.
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9	Meanwhile, Bernadette is angry that the whole office knows about her pregnancy because it means she won't get an important research project. Bernadette wants to know who leaked, and blames Barbara Chen. Turns out Penny was the leaker.
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11	!! Tropes
12	* BaitAndSwitchComment: When Leonard and Howard are concerned about their invention being used for military applications.
13	-->'''Colonel Williams:''' Let me put your mind ease, gentlemen. What we're going to use it for is... none of your damn business!
14	* BeeAfraid: Raj isn't in on the meeting. There's a bee in his office.
15	* BerserkButton: Sheldon is exasperated by several things the Colonel says, but is clearly pushed over the edge by his referring to "the Death Star from Star Trek."
16	* ConsummateLiar: Invoked. Amy is fascinated by how good Penny is at lying.
17	* ContinuityNod: Sheldon doesn't think engineers (or MIT grads) are real scientists.
18	* DistinctionWithoutADifference:
19	-->'''Sheldon:''' I am not a know-it-all. I am a person who knows lots of things and likes to correct other people when they're wrong.\
20	'''Leonard:''' That's the definition of being a know-it-all.\
21	'''Sheldon:''' [[GratuitousGerman Or in German, a Besserwisser.]]
22	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Leonard warns that the military could deem their project classified ruining their chances of selling it commercially.
23	* GroinAttack: Discussed.
24	-->'''Bernadette:''' I learned when you're four-foot-eleven and eye level with every guy's crotch, that's where you punch.
25	-->'''Penny:''' [[{{double entendre}} I learned something different.]]
26	* InsufferableGenius: Discussed. When it's suggested they get a lawyer, Sheldon says they don't need one, because they have him.
27	* LiteralMinded: When told not to "sign anything," Sheldon asks if he were to make a painting, would he be forbidden to sign it?
28	* LoopholeAbuse: When Sheldon is forbidden to speak in the meeting, he tries to find a way around it by using text-to-speech software.
29	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: To Leonard and Howard's dismay and fury, Sheldon blurts out to Colonel Williams that they will have the gyroscope done in two months instead of four months, whilst disobeying Leonard and Howard's order that Sheldon is not allowed to speak. Needless to say, they were still mad at him in the next episode.
30	* NotHyperbole: When Raj asks Howard if he has a relative who is a lawyer, Howard takes offense due to seeing it as a Jewish stereotype and compares it to him asking Raj if he has a cousin who works at a Call Center. Raj responds by saying that his cousin really does work at a Call Center. Howard withdraws his offense and admits that his cousin is a lawyer.
31	* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Colonel Williams refers to "the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]] from ''Franchise/StarTrek''."
32	* RecursiveReality: Discussed. Sheldon talks about Elon Musk's theory that our reality is really a game created by hyper-intelligent beings.
33	-->'''Leonard:''' So some alien kid spent his money on the glasses and inhaler upgrade for me?\
34	'''Sheldon:''' Well, he doesn't say its a good game.
35	* RootingForTheEmpire: Sheldon is excited about becoming a "cog" in the military wheel.
36	-->'''Sheldon:''' In ''Franchise/StarWars'', when the Stormtroopers would march in perfect formation harassing civilians, didn't you ever think "Hey, that could be me"?

Context Recap / TheBigBangTheoryS10E2TheMilitaryMiniaturization