"The Commitment Determination" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on May 7, 2015, ending the show's eighth season. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Steve Holland and Eric Kaplan, based on a story Chuck Lorre, Jim Reynolds and Maria Ferrari.
In the middle of a make out session with Amy, Sheldon brings up The Flash (2014). This makes Amy angry, leading her to temporarily separate from Sheldon.
Sheldon talks about the situation with Leonard and Penny, who then wind up feeling pressured to set a date for their wedding, since, as Sheldon points out, they've been engaged for a year now. Leonard and Penny decide to go to Vegas to get married.
Meanwhile, Raj is thinking of dumping Emily (Laura Spencer), who, among other eccentricities, wants to have sex in a graveyard. Neither Bernadette nor Howard think Raj would actually dump someone who wants to have sex with him.
Raj points out that Bernadette and Howard have not had the guts to evict Stuart (Kevin Sussman) from the Wolowitz home. As it just so happens, today is Stuart's birthday. Instead of kicking him to the curb, Bernadette and Howard give him a birthday cake.
Tropes
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Leonard confesses that while he was in the North Sea, he kissed one of his coworkers. Penny is less upset at this than with the fact that he chose to tell her just as they were in the middle of eloping.
- Bait-and-Switch: On their fifth anniversary of meeting each other, Sheldon wants to ask Amy something. Instead of proposing, however, he asks her if he should start watching The Flash (2014). This upsets Amy so much she ends up breaking up with him.
- Celebrity Paradox: Sheldon is thinking about whether to commit to watching The Flash (2014) or not. If he had, he would have seen Cisco wearing a "Bazinga!" T-shirt.
- Cliffhanger: All storylines in this episode end in one. Leonard and Penny are about to get married, only for Leonard to bring up the time he kissed someone during his North Sea expedition; Raj can't decide whether to keep dating Emily or not; Howard is trying to kick Stuart out; and the biggest one of all, Sheldon and Amy break up just as he was going to propose.
- Downer Ending: No one gets what they want in this the season finale.
- Elopement: Leonard and Penny decide at the last minute to just go to Vegas and get married.
- Take That!: Leonard mentions that Smallville nearly broke Sheldon due to its taking ten years just for Clark to finally become Superman.
- Wham Line: After Sheldon and Amy break up, Sheldon turns to a figurine of Gollum.Sheldon: Well, Gollum, you're an expert on rings. [takes out an engagement ring] What do I do with this one?
- Wham Shot: The very last one, with Sheldon taking out an engagement ring from his drawer.
