The Locomotive Manipulation

"The Locomotive Manipulation" is the fifteenth episode of the seventh season of the  The Big Bang Theory. The episode first aired on February 6, 2014.

Summary
For, Amy plans a weekend trip to  onboard a vintage. Leonard and Penny are staying home watching Cinnamon for Raj and have an.

Extended Plot
Sitting on the in Sheldon’s apartment, Amy and Sheldon are conducting the annual state of the relationship summit. Under item 28, Amy is not happy with Sheldon’s s for her, and Flaky. Previously he had also suggested Princess Corncob and, neither acceptable to Amy. Item 29, is where Amy feels that both of them can enjoy her plan, going to a  in. Sheldon doesn't want to eat with strangers, however; Amy has the Wolowitzes joining them. Sheldon doesn't want people talking about them sharing a and Amy counters that she got two rooms. She has also arranged to travel on a  which appeals to Sheldon though not enough to hug her.

While everyone is having, Bernadette invites Leonard and Penny to join them. Penny is just planning a quiet evening at home, while Leonard doesn't want to take Penny to where is made. Penny actually doesn't feel upset at his comment due to the wine buzz she is already feeling. Sheldon wonders which Howard was bringing, however Howard doesn't own one which Sheldon finds strange. Raj wants Leonard and Penny to watch Cinnamon since he will be in the  over Valentine’s Day. Amy thinks looking at the then is romantic even though he doesn't have someone to share it with.

Entering the, Sheldon finds the place magnificent and thinks that this will be the best Valentine’s Day ever. He almost says that he loves it, but first want to check to see if there are any on the train.

In his, Leonard gets off the with Raj and then decides to not deliver Raj’s  to Cinnamon. Penny enters with and  for Leonard, while Leonard has   for Penny. He tells her that she is obviously trying to get him out of his, while Penny can take someone to the that would really enjoy it. They start to and Leonard suggests they move over to Sheldon's Spot. After not pleasing Penny with his comments, they had to move to Leonard’s room.

Back on the train, after their describes the, Sheldon is more interested in the type of  between the cars. A fellow dorky train enthusiast answers Sheldon’s questions from the table next to them. He describes the coupler and the sound it makes that gets Sheldon excited. Amy looks unhappy and Howard is ready to jump off the train.

Leonard, looking very happy, returns with Penny to find that the dog has eaten up the chocolates which can be deadly for. Penny wants to take her to a, which among Leonard’s long list of regular , he doesn't have.

In the dining car, Sheldon has joined his new while they are both doing train impressions. Amy does one for Howard and Bernadette of her blowing her out. Sheldon’s friend Eric had an accident at and now just rides trains and collects, which he repeated twice. Bernadette gets Sheldon to come back, however he invites Eric to join them. Bernadette sighs that now they have “two of them”.

At the veterinarian’s they tell the  vet named Yvette that Cinnamon ate the whole box of chocolates. Leonard reminds Penny that she had already eaten some of it. Penny says that she may have saved the dog’s life, however the vet doesn't like her making since Cinnamon could be very. Raj runs in very. He tells the pretty vet that is no object and that he’ll buy any  she needs. She asks if he is the and Raj adds  and. The vet doesn't think that Cinnamon is too bad off, so she takes her away to give her an. Raj wants her to sing to her if she gets too scared. The vet leaves telling herself that she should have been a.

At the Valentine’s Day dinner, the trainiacs are exchanging train. Howard, Amy and even the waiter are getting tired of the Sheldon and Eric. Sheldon doesn't want their day to end and Amy agrees that it isn't ending. They both head off to see the.

Raj is still mad at Penny for letting her eat chocolates, which Penny reminded him weren't cheap, they were free. The vet returns and assures Raj that Cinnamon is responding and that she will be fine. Raj wants to visit her since it is past their and they do share a bed. The vet also shares one with her dog. People aren't supposed to go back to the, but she makes an exception for Raj. She did sing Katy Perry to Cinnamon. Penny think that there is romantic something going on between them.

Amy looks as Bernadette and Howard try to cheer her up. She points out that Sheldon did decide to come which met something between them. Bernadette explains how she straightened out Howard who used to be a mess.

Penny is getting hungry because Raj and the vet have been gone for half an. As Penny and Leonard head off to a, they return with Cinnamon. Raj can now take her. The vet gives him a list of things to look out for and tells him to call if anything happens. Penny tries to reassure her that nothing happened and that they love. The vet asks if they have one which Penny denies. Then the vet tells her that that is good.

On the train, Howard and Bernadette are ing in front of Amy and Howard apologizes. Sheldon and Eric return telling Amy that they missed a great time. The has the same pocket watch as Sheldon and he is willing to come back to the bed and breakfast and play his  for them. Amy stands up and asks everybody to leave. Howard and Bernadette head to a car with a where they can watch the stars together. Bernie thinks that that is romantic, while Amy tells them to “give it a rest”. Amy complains that this was supposed to be a romantic weekend. Sheldon counters that it was supposed to be something they both enjoyed. Amy admits that she may have tricked him, but she insists that she deserves romance. Sheldon gets angry and then says that he is going to give her romance. He sees the and drinks it calling it  that burns. Then he gazes into Amy’s for a few seconds and then tells her that she ed first. Finally he says that kissing is romantic and then kisses Amy. At first he does it to prove a point, but seems to enjoy it and lingers for a while, and leaning closer. Amy is stunned and tells him quietly that his kiss was nice. Sheldon replies “Good,” and then mentions that the conductor was going to show him how they deal with a. Still stunned Amy tells him that he can go, but Sheldon s her to come with him. As they leave Erik is following behind them.

Raj is back at his apartment putting Cinnamon to bed. Reading the doctor’s note, she says that she was dreading Valentine’s Day and thanked him for spending it with her. She also gave him her and Raj talks about calling her back.

At apartment 4A, Sheldon returns later that weekend. Sheldon tells Leonard that his trip was wonderful. He made a new friend that liked trains, he kissed Amy on the lips and the conductor played his banjo for him. Leonard asked for more details. His new friend’s name is Eric, Amy’s lips tasted like the they had for  and the conductor played even with missing a. Leonard wondered which his favorite of those experiences was and Sheldon thinks that he need to collect more. Leonard calls him “you dog” and then Sheldon heads off wondering how listening to other nine fingered banjo players qualified him to be a dog.



Critics

 * Dhruv Rao of The DR Club gave the episode an A-, saying that Raj stole the limelight and that Shamy's kiss was long-impending.
 * Jesse Schedeen from IGN - Forget Halloween or Christmas, Valentine's Day is the most important holiday on The Big Bang Theory...And to my surprise, "The Locomotive Manipulation" went a lot farther than most fans would have predicted...The payoff is what really made the episode. Amy finally (and justly) called out Sheldon on his poor behavior, which launched him into a little tantrum and caused him to kiss Amy. What started as a mocking gesture clearly turned into something more pleasurable. Again, it was quite a shock, as the writers have kept the two characters dangling on that precipice for years now. Amy deserves this victory after everything she's had to put up with recently, and maybe we'll see a bit more humanity and tenderness creep into Sheldon's personality going forward. Maybe.

Trivia

 * Sheldon and Amy's kiss lasted 12 seconds.
 * This is the second episode filmed on a train heading to the San Francisco area, the first being in "The Terminator Decoupling" (S2E17).
 * The idea of taking a train to Napa Valley was previously suggested by Raj for Howard's bachelor Party in "The Stag Convergence" (S5E22).
 * The idea of double date of Sheldon, Amy, Howard and Bernadette was previously suggested by Amy in "The Recombination Hypothesis" (S5E13) - although finally it turned out to only happen in Leonard's day dream.
 * Previously Leonard and Penny have intended to make out on Sheldon's spot in "The Pirate Solution" (S3E04) but that time they are interrupted by Howard.
 * Sheldon prefers to take a train with a pocket watch because a real train conductor always carries one. In this episode he is excited at finding the conductor of that train carries a same pocket watch as his. Also, previously in "The Shiny Trinket Maneuver" (S5E12), Sheldon bought himself a pocket watch and commented "I look like a train conductor" (with the pocket watch).
 * Alex Ball, the actor that portrays the waiter serving Sheldon, Amy, Howard and Bernadette on the train, appeared previously in "The Hofstadter Insufficiency" (S7E01) - interestingly, also as a waiter - he served Bernadette and Amy in the hotel that time.
 * This is the third time that Raj is spending all night in the telescope lab. He did this previously in "The Boyfriend Complexity" (S4E09) and "The Proton Resurgence" (S6E22).
 * Also, this is the second time that Raj has had to ask a couple in his friends to take care of Cinnamon because of this: Howard and Bernadette were asked in "The Proton Resurgence". In both times the couple make a careless mistake in watching Cinnamon.
 * Penny seems to be unsatisfied about the short duration (9 minutes in this episode) of the sex between Leonard and her. This characteristic of Leonard was mentioned several times before: in The White Asparagus Triangulation (S2E09), Howard and Raj recalled the sex between Leonard and Leslie Winkle: according to Raj, she dubbed him "Light of Speed Leonard"; in The Precious Fragmentation (S3E17), when Sheldon asked "Leonard, what do the two of you talk about after the coitus?", Howard taunted Leonard by replying "My guess is, 'Hey, four minutes! New record!' "; and in The 21-Second Excitation (S4E08), when talking about the break-up of Leonard and Penny, Howard said, "I'm guessing 21 seconds had something to do with that, too."
 * This is the second time Sheldon and Amy have had a conversation regarding sharing a room for their trip, the first time being in "The Love Car Displacement". Both times have resulted in rejection. The first time, Sheldon and Amy agreed that "we wouldn't want to jeopardize our relationship by getting to know each other too well", with Sheldon commenting "Nothing sours a good friendship more than knowing each other's toilet routine." This time, Sheldon was a little more concerned about cautiously approaching sexual intimacy in their relationship, all while Amy had gotten separate rooms for them both. However, whether or not the rejection in this episode may somehow change after the kiss is somewhat unclear.
 * Sheldon finally kisses Amy on his own initiative.
 * Cinnamon's vet gives Raj her phone number.
 * When quizzed by Leonard, Sheldon himself does not seem to be aware of the significance of his kiss in his relationship with Amy. This is quite analogous to what happened to him in "The Grasshopper Experiment" (S1E08): in that episode he talked with Lalita Gupta with pleasing words, and then the two had dinner together. While everyone else were thinking he was hitting on her, Sheldon himself was not aware of it. However, in this episode, when he kissed Amy, he seemed to be aware of the kiss, yet doesn't exactly want to talk about it fully yet.
 * It is strange that Sheldon totally cannot understand Leonard's "you dog" at the end of this episode, because previously in "The Herb Garden Germination" (S4E20) Leonard has used exactly the same phrase on Sheldon when talking about the rumor made up by Sheldon and Amy that they had sex, and that time Sheldon seemed to be able to associate the "you dog" phrase with their sex rumor. It is possible that in this episode, he seemed to understand Leonard's comments with both his new friend and his steps in his relationship with Amy, but in a weird way, attempted to associate the banjo player's music with the term as well.
 * In the final scene, Sheldon states that "Amy's lips tasted like the Brownies we had for dessert". This may be a Production mistake, because Amy, Howard and Bernadette are seeing eating a pie for dessert while Sheldon is away with Eric. There is no other scene showing a dessert, so it must be assumed that no other dessert was served. Ergo Amy's lips should have tasted like pie.

Quotes
Amy: Bang! Splat! Thud!

Howard: Fun fact, I'm gonna jump off this train.

Penny: Happy Valentine’s Day.

Leonard: Flowers and chocolates? You trying to get me out of my panties?

Penny: Don’t be surprised if you find five chocolates missing and three gross coconut ones with a bite taken out. Came that way when I bought it.

Leonard: I got you a little something too.

Penny: Oh my. Jewelry. Oh, my God. Lakers’ tickets.

Leonard: It gets better. Instead of me, you can take someone who will actually enjoy it.

Penny: Aww! You are the best boyfriend ever!

Leonard: Thank you, seriously, please don't make me go.

Sheldon: What is your problem?

Amy: It’s Valentine’s Day. We’re supposed to be having a romantic weekend.

Sheldon: Oh really? Because I remember you saying that trip was going to be something we could both enjoy. Did you really mean that or were you just trying to trick me?

Amy: Fine, it’s true. I deserve romance and I didn't know how else to make it happen.

Sheldon: Well, if you want romance, let’s have romance. Oh, look, there’s wine. (take Amy's wine glass and drink) Grape juice that burns. Um, let’s now gaze into each other’s eyes. (looks at Amy's eyes in a childish way) You blinked, I win.

Amy: Sheldon.

Sheldon: What’s next? Oh, kissing’s romantic.

(Sheldon kisses Amy for 12 seconds, first ever in the whole series. Amy seems enjoyed)

Amy: That was nice.

Sheldon: Good. Um. The conductor said if I come back to the engine room he’d show me how to bring the train through a crossing.

Amy: OK, have fun.

Sheldon: Do you want to come with me?

Amy: Really? I do.

Amy: Item 28 your pet name for me. Time’s running out on this. You need to make decision.

Sheldon: I submitted you a notarized list.

Amy: I sorry, but Golum and Flaky are not acceptable.

Sheldon: Well, you don’t like Princess Corncob. You don’t like Fester. You’re just impossible to please.

Sheldon: We've only been dating three years. If we share a room people might talk.

Bernadette: You sure you guys don’t want to come with us to Napa. You can probably still get a room.

Penny: No. I think we’ll just have a quiet weekend at home.

Leonard: Of course I’m not sure it’s a great idea to take Penny where wine comes from. What? It’s a joke. Oh, come on. We bust on each other. I wear dorky glasses and you might have a problem. It’s all for laughs.

Penny: That would really piss me off if I didn't have a buzz going on.

Raj: Oh and I’d like for at least one of us to see some action so if you guys happen to have sex it’s cool if she stays in the room.

Penny: The same goes with the two of you with Amy.

Amy: I’m trying to put lipstick on a pig here so work with me.

Penny: Should we take this little party to the bedroom?

Leonard: We don’t have to. We have the whole place to ourselves.

Penny: Oh that’s true.

Leonard: In fact, if you want we can do it right here on Sheldon’s spot.

Penny: That is the least sexy thing anyone’s ever said to me.

Leonard: To the bedroom!

Amy: Why do I even try?

Bernadette: I’m going to fix this right now.

Howard: OK. Just make it look light an accident

Bernadette: Excuse me. You at a Valentine’s dinner with your girlfriend. Now get back over there and be with her.

Sheldon: You’re right. That was insensitive of me. I have to got back to my table now. You should join us.

Eric: All right.

Bernadette: Great. Now there’s two of them.

Raj: You do whatever it takes to save her life. If she needs any new organs I’ll buy any dog necessary and scrap them for parts.

Yvette: I should have been a dentist.

Howard: A world I don’t want to live in. Seriously I don’t want to live in this world.

Sheldon: I never want this day to ever end.

Amy: Feeling like it never well.