"The Decoupling Fluctuation" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on October 4, 2012. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Eric Kaplan and Steve Holland, based on a story by Chuck Lorre, Jim Reynolds and Maria Ferrari.
As Amy and Penny help Bernadette sort through wedding gifts, Amy says she wants to marry Sheldon in exactly four years. Penny is considerably less certain of her feelings for Leonard and might even dump him.
At Raj's invitation, Stuart (Kevin Sussman) joins Sheldon and the others at a movie theater. Sheldon insists that Stuart act as a substitute for Howard, who is in orbit on the International Space Station.
Amy tells Sheldon that Penny might not be Leonard's girlfriend for too much longer, but Sheldon must not tell Leonard. Predictably, Sheldon is torn between his need to blab and Amy's request not to blab.
Sheldon tries to tell Leonard but doesn't quite exactly. Then he goes talk to Penny in the middle of the night, asking her not to hurt his friend, and to go back to using her green apple shampoo.
The next day, Leonard goes talk to Penny, worried that she might dump him. But instead she has sex with him.
Meanwhile, on the space station, Howard endures pranks from the other astronauts. His mother calls NASA, but that only makes the pranks worse.
Tropes
- As Himself: Real life astronaut Michael Massimino.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Once again Sheldon is tortured with a secret. Amy confides in Sheldon that Penny's thinking about dumping Leonard. This motivates much of Sheldon's actions for the rest of the episode.
- Potential Continuity Snarl: Sheldon holds hands with Amy in the movie theater. Their relationship agreement explicitly forbids hand holding except under specific conditions, the cinema not being one of them. Or maybe Amy and Sheldon agreed on an amendment to their agreement but this was not shown.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: The other astronauts posted to YouTube a video of Howard screaming for nine minutes.
- Shout-Out to the Transformers: Sheldon clumsily uses the transforming robots as a metaphor for Leonard's relationship with Penny.
