"The Agreement Dissection" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on April 28, 2011. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro and Eric Kaplan, based on a story by Bill Prady, David Goetsch and Eddie Gorodetsky.
When Sheldon finds Leonard and Priya (Aarti Mann) taking an unscheduled shower when Sheldon needs to use the bathroom, Sheldon charges Leonard with violating the Roommate Agreement.
Since Priya is a professional lawyer, she examines the agreement and finds that several provisions of the contract to be entirely unenforceable and therefore invalid.
Having chafed under the Roommate Agreement for years, Leonard is now happy to no longer be subject to many of the contract's more ridiculous provisions. But Leonard's joy is short-lived, as Sheldon finds a way to revalidate the Roommate Agreement.
Tropes
- Blackmail: Sheldon uses this to reestablish control of the apartment by having Leonard sign a revised version of the Roommate Agreement, or else he'd send an email to Priya's parents explaining that Leonard and Priya are dating. Priya, not wanting her parents to know, forces Leonard to sign if he doesn't want a breakup.
- Cut the Juice: Leonard tries to unplug Sheldon's computer during his blackmail sequence, to which he taunts him for since his computer's at full charge.
- Evil Is Petty: Leonard, Howard and Raj decide to get Greek food, which they know that Sheldon hates, on Pizza Night just to tick off Sheldon. Sheldon even notes that Leonard hates Greek food to which Leonard responds "Not as much as you" and that Sheldon hates it more.
- Loophole Abuse: Priya looks between the lines of the Roommate Agreement, allowing her and Leonard to get away with stuff without violating it, much to Sheldon's dismay.
- Potty Emergency: In the Cold Opening, Sheldon has to tinkle. Unfortunately, to his dismay, Leonard and Priya are in the middle of a Shower of Love, forcing him to use Penny's bathroom.
- Shout-Out: Sheldon uses a mock Self-Destruct Mechanism to send the email to Priya's parents in a nod to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", where Captain Kirk threatens to self-destruct the Enterprise unless his alien nemesis agrees to turn over control of the ship.
- Tastes Like Feet: Sheldon tries some Greek lamb kabob.Sheldon: And what a civilization is the Greeks'. They gave us science, democracy... and little cubes of charred meat that taste like sweat!
- Tempting Fate: During the girls night out, Penny is approached by an elderly Japanese man who asks if she cares to dance. Penny, not dating anyone at this point, declares "Oh, what the hell." and that it won't be so bad. Until when they do dance, he gropes her butt.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Leonard roots for and aids Priya in antagonizing Sheldon at every chance he gets which includes barring Sheldon from using the bathroom when he has an urgency to pee, insulting Sheldon's intelligence as Priya finds loopholes in the Roommate Agreement and forcing Sheldon to eat Greek food on pizza night.
- You Said You Couldn't Dance: The girls want to see Sheldon dance, thinking he would be, in Bernadette's words, "like a spider on a hot plate." Turns out Sheldon is an excellent dancer, thanks to cotillion classes he was forced to take as a child in Texas.
