"The Intimacy Acceleration" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on February 26, 2015. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Jim Reynolds and Steve Holland, based on a story by David Goetsch, Eric Kaplan and Tara Hernandez.
Certain that she would never fall in love with Sheldon, Penny agrees to an experiment in which she has an intimate conversation with Sheldon ending with four minutes of staring into his eyes. Sheldon reveals that today is his birthday, something he hasn't told Amy. The experiment concludes with Sheldon saying for sure that Penny has not fallen in love with him and he hasn't fallen in love with her.
Bernadette and Howard can't leave the airport because Howard's mother's ashes have been misplaced. The airline's concierge (Stephanie Escajeda) can't even guarantee the urn isn't somewhere else in the world. But, after a stern talking to from Bernadette, the concierge suddenly finds the urn.
Meanwhile, Amy, Emily (Laura Spencer), Leonard and Raj go to an escape room. The scenario is that they have to follow the clues to escape the laboratory of the late Dr. David Saltzberg, who is now a zombie (Max Adler). It only takes six minutes for the four of them to figure out how to find the key and escape. The actor playing the zombie breaks character a few times, the last time to make a suggestion regarding a Yelp! review.
Tropes
- Birthday Hater: Sheldon confesses to Penny that it's his birthday, something not even Amy knows because of his hatred of birthday parties.
- Continuity Nod: Penny recalls the first day they met. Sheldon observes that she still eats their food.
- Died on Their Birthday: Discussed when Penny and Sheldon are carrying out an experiment together, and Penny asks Sheldon a hypothetical question about him dying on this particular evening. Sheldon responds, "Well, I suppose there's something satisfying about dying on my birthday." He had been keeping his birthday a secret because he doesn't enjoy presents or like the thought of people jumping out and yelling, "Surprise!"
- Grammar Nazi: Sheldon gets ahead of Penny asking if he's saying things right, so defied.
- Implied Death Threat: Bernadette tells the airline attendant that "you'd better find my husband's mother, 'cause one way or another we're walkin' out of this airport with a dead woman!"
- Parting-Words Regret: Howard regrets not driving his mother to the airport, knowing now that it would have been the last time he would see her alive.
- Room Escape Game: Leonard, Raj, Amy and Emily go to an escape room and solve it in under six minutes, with a chained-up zombie in the room constantly breaking character to remind them that they're not entitled to refunds even when they solve all the puzzles in record time.
- Tuckerization: The escape room is themed as the laboratory of one Dr. David Saltzberg, who in real life is the show's science consultant.
- Western Zodiac: Penny had previously assumed Sheldon to be a Taurus, presumably because he's so stubborn, though it's not made clear what information she used to make that assumption. So in this episode, which presumably takes place on its original airdate, Penny is surprised to learn that Sheldon's actually a Pisces.
