The Good Guy Fluctuation

The Good Guy Fluctuation is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on October 27, 2011.

Summary
Leonard finds himself drawn towards a pretty comic book enthusiast. Meanwhile, Sheldon tries to scare the gang for Halloween after they pulled a prank on him.

Extended Plot


Stuart spots a good-looking girl entering the Comic Book store, tries to speak to her and fails. She picks up a comic book that Leonard wants and tries to flirt with him to get it. He says that she would be using her superpowers for evil which she kids that her Kryptonian father forbids her from doing that. She introduces herself as Alice (Courtney Ford),another comic book enthusiast. She thinks he is cute, gives him her phone-number to discuss trading for the rare comic book. At the apartment, she shows him a comic she made based on her life after which they end up making out. Leonard finds himself in a dilemma - he can either be a "good guy" and stay loyal to Priya, or a "bad guy" and have an affair with Alice. A discussion with Penny doesn't help, but after Sheldon offers him some advice from Friedrich Nietzsche, Leonard decides to go to Alice's apartment. They begin kissing as she begins to undress herself and Leonard is not stropping her. Then he winds up changing his mind and confesses to Alice that he has a girlfriend overseas.She says that she "doesn't believe this" and that she thought he was different than other guys (and not just another jerk). Leonard asks if they can still be friends and that his superpower is being a good guy. He immediately gets thrown out of her apartment.

Meanwhile, a successful Halloween prank from the group enrages Sheldon, who starts working on ways to get revenge. However, his efforts always backfire - Leonard reverses his airbag prank on him, Raj thinks the snake Sheldon hid in his top drawer is a present, and when he attempts to trick Howard with an electric handshake, Howard and Bernadette pretend he has a heart condition and scare Sheldon further.



At the end, Leonard Skypes Priya and confesses to his actions. Priya is seemingly okay with it, but then reveals she has also cheated, and had sex with her ex-boyfriend a couple of weeks ago. Leonard is upset, and ends the call early. At that moment, Sheldon leaps out from under the couch cushions in zombie face paint, scaring Leonard successfully. He triumphantly shouts "Bazinga, punk! Now we're even!"





Notes

Title Reference: Leonard describes his super power as being a good guy.

== Critrics == 

"This was very enjoyable. The two plots were set up early on, both were clear and easy to get into with clear motivations for all involved. The Sheldon story played to his strengths. His inability to be subtle and hide his real motives make pranks ideal comedy...Leonard's story was really good. It was a simple moral dilemma that anyone and particularly guys could relate to...This was such a simple episode and it was really effective. It drove the plot while making use of the season and the characters." - The TV Critic's Review ==Quotes== Penny: It's a rough month when Halloween and PMS hit at the same time.

Leonard: No, no, I messed up a little, you messed up a lot.

Priya: Well it's not a competition!

Leonard: Ohhhh yeah it is, and you won...

Sheldon: ''Bazinga punk! Now we're even.''

Alice: I'm forbidden by my Kryptonian father to do so.

Sheldon:'' I tried to scare a Indian with a snake. Come on Cooper, you're better than this!''

Video
thumb|300px|left



Triva

 * The mask Leonard uses to frighten Sheldon is a mask of the character "Balok" from the Star Trek original series episode "The Corbomite Maneuver".
 * Like Raj, Sheldon urinates himself, among other things, when he is scared, just as Raj voted. In The Bozeman Reaction, he uttered for the second time, "I am the master of my own bladder," as a frightened Sheldon crawled across a window ledge. The first mentioning in that episode was simply because he was too scared to go to the restroom, on the other hand.
 * In the beginning of the episode, Sheldon applies a CPT transformation to the quantum state of an antiproton.
 * Sheldon aptly says, "It’s not suspicious that I’m fixating. It’s consistent with my personality." Leonard pointed this out in The Infestation Hypothesis, revealing, "Sheldon, you do this all the time. You fixate on some crazy idea and then blow it way out of proportion."
 * Oddly Sheldon does not say anything about Leonard sitting in his spot at the end of the episode.
 * Leonard finally meets a beautiful girl who shares his interests who could give Penny trouble.
 * Alice is played by Courtney Ford, who is married to Brandon Routh , an actor known for his role as Superman in Superman Returns &mdash; Superman is Leonard's favorite superhero as seen in The Big Bran Hypothesis , The White Asparagus Triangulation , and The Justice League Recombination . Alice even makes a reference to Superman, "I’m forbidden by my Kryptonian father to do so."
 * Sheldon uses a screwdriver, but can't even open a tool box in The Killer Robot Instability.
 * As Leonard asks Sheldon what he is doing, Sheldon responds, "Science. You wouldn’t understand." He similarly mocked Leonard in The Monopolar Expedition, when he said, "Perhaps you mean a different thing than I do when you say science."
 * Alice could be serious competition for Penny since she is good looking and has geekish interests.
 * This is the last appearance of Priya Koothrappali in the show.
 * Stuart praises Leonard as the first guy to pick up a girl at the comic book store and says he gets his picture placed upon the "wall of heroes", despite Stuart himself having accomplished the same feat before in The Hofstadter Isotope, getting a date with Penny , no less.