The Plagiarism﻿﻿﻿ ﻿Schism﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

"The Plagiarism Schism" is the twenty-first episode of the twelfth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, May 2, 2019.

Summary
Kripke has proof that Dr. Pemberton his  in, and Sheldon and Amy aren’t sure if they should turn him in or not. Also, Wolowitz is happily surprised to learn that Bernadette wasn’t the only at the Cheesecake Factory who had a crush on him back in the day.

Extended Plot
President Siebert is hosting a for the two feuding parties in the Super-Asymmetry  competition. Amy apologizes for her outburst calling the others s, but Dr. Pemberton and Dr. Campbell still think that the Coopers are mean and. They also claim that Sheldon and Amy think that they are going to win the Nobel Prize. Not true! Siebert tells all of them that if they don’t stop the in-fighting the Nobel committee will chose some other. Pemberton claims that they are all linked on this subject just like super-asymmetry links every in the universe. Amy jumps in that that is not how the works when they again show that the two of them don’t know a thing about it.

As Pemberton and Campbell leave, they run into Barry Kripke who went to with Pemberton. Kripke gives him a friendly greeting, but tells the Coopers that he hates him after he sits down at their. Kripke calls Pemberton a grade “A” turning other people’s ideas into his own. He his. Amy calls that a serious charge; however, Barry is willing to make some calls to get some proof. He doesn’t want Pemberton to win, though he is not happy with Sheldon winning either.

Sheldon and Amy join the gang in Apartment 4A and they propose their  whether to expose Pemberton or not. First Howard wonders if he is the. Howard and Penny think they should keep it to themselves. Leonard and Bernadette feels that Amy should expose him even if it ruins his. Raj explains that they feel that they want to win, but they don’t feel it’s the honorable thing to do and that is why they haven’t done it yet.

Sheldon and Amy head to discussing the subject and convince themselves that they are really good people and they don’t want to do it.

Howard and Bernadette head to bed with Bernadette still saying that their s should do what they have to do to win. Howard asked if she had ever done that. She admits that there was another at The Cheesecake Factory who thought that he was  and Bernie told her that Howard had every form of. Howard wonders who it was; however, he admits he got the best waitress.

As the Hofstadters get in bed, Penny is proud that the Coopers are taking the, but Leonard doesn’t want them to lose to the frauds. Leonard is willing to do it just so Sheldon and Amy can win. He is willing to get his dirty which is something Penny has never seen him do. Neither of them plan to tell Sheldon or Amy.

Leonard gets the information from Kripke and runs into Amy looking very.

Howard brags to Raj that two women at had a thing for him. Raj does not believe it. Howard goes through all the waitresses having remembered their names, eye colors, and whether they were attached.

Amy is having with Penny telling her that Leonard was acting funny or even guilty. Then Penny starts acting in a similar manner. Penny confesses which bothers Amy because now she is implicated in the action.

At dinner Sheldon is complimenting Amy on how round her in the  are while Amy has very little to say. She asks him whether he would want to know about something that is ethically shady that is being done on his behalf. He has to know. They go to confront Leonard who claims that he (Sheldon) is not doing anything wrong. They still don’t want Leonard doing it. Amy doesn’t want Leonard to himself ethically, while Sheldon doesn’t want him to make them look bad.

Howard goes to to Bernadette that he went down to the  to try and find out, but he decided that he doesn’t need to know since he has the best. Bernie already knew since the manager called and that Howard was creeping everyone out. Then he admits that Bernadette is the only woman he wants to creep out to which Bernie replies that he is.

The Coopers invite their to lunch with them expecting another apology. Instead Sheldon hands over the on Pemberton’s plagiarism. Pemberton first accuses them of. Amy says that it’s the opposite. Pemberton wonders if they are blackmailing the Coopers. Amy again yells at him asking him how he is up for a Nobel Prize? Campbell asks if the plagiarism is true. Yes. Then Campbell realizes that this could also ruin his career and he admits that he has been with Pemberton’s, Linda. Pemberton throws a into Campbell face which causes a  on the. AND he used Sheldon’s ice tea!

While Sheldon and Amy are having lunch together, Dr. Campbell stumbles into Sheldon's office. Campbell published the plagiarism evidence getting Pemberton (and Campbell, too!) fired though Campbell was no longer seeing Linda. He wants to join their team. Amy pushes him out of the, while Sheldon couldn’t see what Linda saw in either of them.

Credits

 * Guest starring:
 * John Ross Bowie as Kripke
 * Joshua Malina as President Siebert
 * Sean Astin as Dr. Pemberton
 * Kal Penn as Dr. Campbell
 * Mimi Gianopulos as Trina, the last Cheesecake Factory waitress
 * Teleplay: Steve Holland, Dave Goetsch & Tara Hernandez
 * Story: Eric Kaplan, Maria Ferrari & Adam Faberman

Critics

 * To be entered
 * IMDb user review

Trivia

 * Seventh episode of the last ten episodes.
 * Bernadette might be playing a joke on Howard that a waitress had a crush on him who worked at The Cheesecake Factory.
 * Probably the last appearance of Barry Kripke.
 * We found out Dr. Pemberton plagiarized his material and is out of the Nobel nomination and it was not Sheldon and Amy who rat out the Nobel committee. It was Dr. Campbell who rat him out and was dating his ex-wife. So Pemberton is out of Nobel nomination and his career is over. Dr. Campbell is still safe.
 * Even if Pemberton is out of Nobel nomination, it doesn't guarantee that Sheldon and Amy are gong to win.
 * It is unknown which other waitress had a crush on Howard besides Bernadette, Bernadette probably played on a joke on him. The Cheesecake factory didn't appear.
 * Amy again yells at Penny that she was a princess (at the Renaissance Fair) like she did when she got her tiara from Sheldon in "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver".
 * Penny claims that she plagiarized her work on "The Scarlet Letter" in high school because it was so boring.
 * Leonard loved the story "The Scarlet Letter" because it gave him a taste for bad girls - like Penny.
 * Howard visited The Cheesecake Factory with Raj, but the scene didn't make the final episode edit.

Quotes

 * Pemberton: The point is we should take it as a compliment that even you guys think we’ll win the Nobel Prize.
 * Amy: Uh, no. We certainly do not think that.
 * Sheldon: The Nobel Commttee will realize that we came up with this theory.
 * Campbell: But we proved it.
 * Amy: By accident.
 * Pemberton: All breakthrough happen by accident.
 * Amy: No, they don’t!


 * Campbell: You know when you think about it, we’re linked together the same way super-asymmetry links together every atom in the universe.
 * Pemberton: Hmm.
 * Amy: That’s not what it does at all!


 * Kripke: Pemberton is a grade “A” weasel.
 * Sheldon: How do I know you’re not just being polite when you say it’s nice to see me?
 * Kripke: I have literally never said that to you.
 * Amy: Why do you say he’s a weasel?
 * Kripke: Pemberton’s whole M.O. was to take other people’s ideas and turn them in as his own.
 * Sheldon: That’s exactly what he’s doing to us.
 * Kripke: I’m not surprised. I heard that the only work he did on his thesis was Googling, “Where can I buy a thesis?”


 * Sheldon: Why is this decision so hard?
 * Raj: Maybe because you want to win, but deep down you know it’s no the honorable way to do it. Otherwise, you’d done it all ready.
 * Amy: That’s really wise.
 * Sheldon: Yes, but it may just be the Indian accent.


 * Sheldon: I love talking to you. It’s like talking to me, but with a girl voice.


 * Leonard: Can’t believe it. Sheldon loves telling on people when they break the rules.
 * Penny: Yeah, well, maybe, he’s changed.
 * Leonard: He hasn’t changed. Last week when the vending machine gave me two bags of chips he called my mom.
 * Penny: Well, that didn’t ruin your life.
 * Leonard: Well, it ruined my day. And I had to talk to my mom, who by the way is polyamorous now. So that’s fun to think about.
 * Penny: Look, I’m proud of Sheldon and Amy. You know, they want to win on their own merits, not by knocking out the competition.
 * Leonard: Yeah, but what if they don’t win. Pemberton and Campbell have done an amazing job associating their names with super-asymmetry. They have all the momentum right now.
 * Penny: I don’t like the idea of them losing either, but this is their decision to make, not ours.
 * Leonard: Maybe it is ours.
 * Penny: What do you mean?
 * Leonard: Well, if Sheldon and Amy don’t want to expose Pemberton, that doesn’t meant that someone else can’t do it for them. They never have to know.
 * Penny: Really? You’d do that?
 * Leonard: They deserve the Nobel. I’m not goon let two frauds steal it from them. And if it means getting my hands dirty, then so be it. [Penny laughs.] What’s so funny?
 * Penny: Just realized I’ve never actually seen your hands dirty.


 * Pemberton: Hold on, are you blackmailing us?
 * Amy: No, the opposite.
 * Pemberton: We’re blackmailing you?
 * Amy: How are you up for a Nobel?