Recap / The Big Bang Theory S 2 E 18 The Work Song Nanocluster

Plot

Penny tries to start a home business. Unfortunately, things get out of control when Sheldon takes over.

Tropes:

• Analogy Backfire:
  Sheldon: That is not the American Spirit. Did Davy Crocket quit at the Alamo? Did Jim Bowie?
  Howard: They didn't give up, they were massacred! By, like, a gazillion angry Mexicans!
• Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with the guys playing Secret Agent Laser games.
• Bottle Episode: Only the main characters are present and the action takes place entirely in the main apartment sets.
• Calvinball: The episode begins with the guys playing "Secret Agent Laser Obstacle Chess". Howard suggests a strip variant. In The Stinger, they play Secret Agent Laser Obstacle Lunch, which Leonard admits is just stupid.
• Didn't Think This Through: Leonard installs a 1-day rush option for Penny's business without even consulting Penny on whether she can handle business at such a fast pace or not. An order for 1000 blossoms from the East Rutherford New Jersey, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alliance is placed for a 1-day rush, forcing the main cast to exhaust themselves into intense labor.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: More like a "freeze-frame and zoom in" bonus, but the label on the box Sheldon delivers to Penny lists her full name and address, seemingly showing her famously elusive last name to be Teller. Word of God ultimately denied it was canon.
• Must Have Caffeine: Sheldon is against drinking coffee, as he considers it a drug. After drinking a few cups, he's acting like The Flash.
  Sheldon: I'll be back before this banana hits the ground.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure:
  Sheldon: Penny, I am a physicist. I have a working knowledge of the entire universe and everything it contains.
  Penny: Who's Radiohead?
  Sheldon: [after an awkward pause] I have a working knowledge of the important things in the universe.
  • Later on Penny calls Davy Crockett, Jiminy Crockett. Justified as she had been up all night.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Just as the group finish one thousand Penny Blossoms, another order for 1000 blossoms from the East Rutherford New Jersey, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alliance was placed for a 1-day rush. At that point, Leonard, Howard and Raj all abandon ship against Penny's pleas to stay.