The Champagne Reflection

"The Champagne Reflection" is the tenth episode of the eighth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, November 20, 2014.

Summary
Howard, Raj and Leonard cleanup the life's work of another professor who passed away, Bernadette faces up to her bullying and Sheldon records the last episode of "Fun with Flags".

Extended Plot
Sheldon is taping the final episode of "Sheldon Cooper presents Fun with Flags." Amy sets off a party popper than scares Sheldon. After only 232 episodes the Internet series is over. 233 if Amy hadn't failed to hit the record button on a Fourth of July episode.

Leonard, Howard and Raj are cleaning out Professor Roger Abbot's office, throwing out a life's work. Raj thought the job was going to be boring, but then he found a set of dentures and decided it was also  gross.Howard mused that someday someone else will throwout their work. Leoanrd said that it was Sheldon and he did it yesterday. and wondering if there are any important discoveries among the files. Raj finds a pen which when tilted, a girl's bathing suit falls off. Leonard finds a 50 year old bottle of champagne with a note from Professor Abbot's mother. The bottle is to be opened after he makes his first great discovery. While Leonard is reflective, Howard and Raj thinks it's funny that his name sounds like Roger Rabbit.

Penny meets her boss Dan at a company banquet and he greets her as his newest star employee who is the third best sales rep. Bernadette is still parking the car. Dan calls her dear, sweet vicious little Bernadette. Penny tries ro defend her: however, Dan describes how she yelled at him and his grandson for losing the three-legged race at the company picnic. His grandson called her the mean little kid with the big boobies. When Bernadette arrives, Dan disappears.

Sheldon is showing the highlights of his "Fun with Flags" series where viewers have learned, laughed, wondered and even shed a tear or two while learnign about flags. Amy appears in a kangaroo costume for Australia, Sheldon is dressed as Betty Ross debunking her myth, both of them are on a beach talking about beach warning flags and Barry Kripke is a guest playing the game "Fwag, Not a fwag" as picture cards are flashed in front of him. In the beach scene Amy keeps looking at Sheldon's legs.

Leonard is reviewing some of Professor Abbot's notebooks that are full of numbers. He wonders what the professor was working on and wants to find some time on the supercomputer to decrypt the notebooks. Howard agrees to help until he admits he has no idea how to decypher them. Raj tells him to talk to the fellow he shared the office with, Professor Sharpe.

At the banquet, Dan, Penny and bernadette are sharing a tabble. Penny asks about  Dan's grandson who is seven. Bernadette remmebers him from the picnic crying like a wuss. Her Dad always said that that the only ones who like cry babies are mommies and democrats. Dan goes to get another drink. Penny points out that she can be rough on people at times, while Bernadette still sees her as the sweetest person she knows. Her Dad always taught her to stand up for herself.

Levar Burton is back as a FWF's guest. He is appearing under the assumption that Sheldon will erase his contact information in his presence. Sheldon shows Levar the episode where he dressed up as George Washington Carver for Black History Month. His black-face tribute Leonard called "wildly racist". When Levar watched it, he said "Hell, no." Sheldon assumed that missed Levar was disagreeing with Leonard, especially since Sheldon always thought Leonard was wrong, and concluded that he approved.

The guys visit Professor Sharpe's apartment in a run downbuilding to discuss the notebooks Leonard had found. Raj thinks that they are some kind of interstellar coordinate system for an updated veriosn of Hubble's Law. Sharpe explains that it is a caloric diary Professor Abbot had kept under the assumption that restricting calories was the key to living forever. Raj asked if it really worked. Howard looked at him funny and asked if he was serious. Even though he was dead he could have been hit by a bus. As to his physics work, Professor Abbot never accomplished anything significant. Raj asked about Professor Sharpe's work. He rpleid that one gets an apartment like this for winnign a Nobel Prize.

Penny continues to discuss Bernadette's personality. Bernadette says that she is tough, but that she isn't a bully.Her Dad always taught her to stand up for herself. Penny replied that thier is a difference between  being tough and telling your friend that her new pants look like a saggy diaper. "Did she retrun them to Babies R Us?" Bernadette snaps back. She did it again. Bernadette wants to leave since she thinks that everybody hates her. People find her quite intimidating and she just has to show them how sweet she is.Penny insists that they are going to stay and fix this situation together even though er dress is ugly.

Sheldon finishes his final episode throwing a salute to all his "flag-keteers" He wishes he could run them all up a flagpole and salute them. He thanks Amy and mentions that she is the first woman to co-host a flag or banner-related internet show. Amy adds, "Take that, glass ceiling shatterers!" Sheldon gets very sentimental as he signs off using his white flag as a handerchief. Amy says that she thinks his signoff was beautiful and all Sheldon can do is again ask her if she hit the record button.

Professor Sharpe's office is now empty. As the guys are throwing out the last of his files, Leonard sighs that that is the end of Roger Abbot. Raj adds that they never found out who framed him. Not everyone achieves something great in their lives. Some people just have to concentrate on the small moments that make up their lives, muses Howard; however, he doesn't have to worry about that because he went into "space". Since the leftover bottle of champagne was meant to celebrate a great discovery, the guys decide to open it when one of them makes one. They will toast Professor Abbot, celebrate their achievement and also rub their success in Sheldon's face. Everyone agrees that that would be the best part.

Penny and Bernadette approach Dan at the bar so she can apologize. Dan is nervous talking to her. Bernadette is sorry that she yelled at his grandson. Dan tells he rnot to worry about it. Then she adds that Penny says that everybody is afraid of her. Dan nervosly asks why anybody would say that. Bernadette plans on being more senstive toward people in the future. Fine. Dan then tells her that the company is goign to stop paying for everybody's coffee and that it started five months ago. No one wanted to tell her and everyone else has been paying for Bernadette's coffee by using the money from their "Swear Jar". They also gave her a private bathroom due to her attitude. Bernadette feels terrible and thinks that everyone sees her as a monster. Dan quips that she is liek the cute one eyed one from  Monsters Inc. Bernadette breaks into tearsa and says that she wants to quit, but Penny says that the company needs her. Dan tells her that they will still pay for her coffee or even better get her a an espresso machine. Bernadette sobs that that would be nice AND has found a new way to get what she wants.

Leonard returns home late with the bottle of champagne. Sheldon is hunched over his laptop not getting any comments on his last FWF episode. Sheldon feels that his efforts were for nothing, not unlike Leonard throwing out al of Professor Abbot's life's work which showed no significant accomplishments. Sheldon tells Leonard that he doesn't know how he feels. Sad? Then Sheldon realizes that Leonard does get his attitude. Then one short note arrives to his website that someone was sorry FWF had ended. "The people are heatrbroken!" Sheldon is going to bring the series back. He wants to celebrate and opens up the 50 year old bottle. Not wanting to drink it, he just wanted to hear the pop, though it still scared him.

Finally, Sheldon visits Levar's house knocking the usual three times. He wants Levar to know that the show is back and Levar can be his first guest. Wil Wheaton had told him to get a gate. Since Levar was born in Germany would he like to help with an episode on German flags? And would he mind dressing up as a swastika? The door is slammed in his face.

Critics
To be entered.

Trivia

 * Howard muses that not everyone does something great with his life, but it's not him because he has been in space. Raj also achieved something great earlier in the show where he discovered a planetary body.
 * Clips of previously unseen episodes of "Fun with Flags" are viewed.

Quotes
To be entered.