The Loobenfeld Decay

"The Loobenfeld Decay" is the tenth episode of the first season of the   The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on March 24, 2008.

Summary
Leonard hears Penny and it is not good. When she asks them to come to a Leonard lies and says that he and Sheldon have plans. Sheldon is uncomfortable with the which Leonard gives and so he comes up with a new one.

Extended Plot
Leonard enters the apartment building with Sheldon and tries to explain some irregularities in the to him, the two of them suddenly hear terrible  from the upper, they soon discover it was Penny who was singing terribly. Penny announces that she has landed the role of Mimi in the musical show;. Upon hearing this, the two refused to go and Leonard makes a flimsy about a  on   given by Dr. Emil Farman-Farmaian to avoid attending Penny's show and hurting her feelings. Sheldon is deeply disturbed as he feels Leonard's lie is full of holes and is easily seen through.

So, the next Sheldon has conceived a new lie in which he tells Penny that Leonard lied because he wants to protect Sheldon from the embarrassment of having a  addicted  "Leopold Houston", which he made up. Additionally, Penny has agreed to act as if the original lie (Leonard's lie) was in play to avoid embarrassing Leonard. On the day of her show, Penny stops by at apartment 4A to see Leonard and Sheldon before their for "Leopold" at, she acts as if they were attending the symposium, upon hearing that Howard and Raj has been left out of the symposium, Howard starts getting. Penny then asks Sheldon to reveal that they are not going to the symposium but rather an intervention, Penny then leaves for her show. After Penny leaves, Sheldon and Leonard tell Howard and Raj about the lie. After a, they decide to go to Long Beach (where they were supposed to travel for the intervention) to see the. Later that night, Sheldon confronts a Leonard (because he was woke up in the middle of the ) about the lie, he tells Leonard that there is a slight  based upon the personality and motivation of his fictional cousin.

As Leonard is in no condition to talk, Sheldon decides to discuss the matter in the morning. The next morning, Leonard discovers a eating  in his apartment, when questioned the man answered he was Sheldon's cousin "Leopold". Sheldon later clarified that the man was Toby Loobenfeld, a assistant at the University but he also minored in, this is why Sheldon enrolled his help to act as his drug addicted cousin. Penny comes by to check how the intervention went, Sheldon tells her he has failed to convince "Leopold" to go to but was successful in getting him back to the apartment. Penny is introduced to "Leopold", but soon it turned into an fight as he and Sheldon disagree on the  that Toby portrays. Penny then invites Leonard over to see a of her performance, he reluctantly agrees. Soon, "Leopold" begins to bond closely with Penny which disturbs Leonard.

Critics

 * "The focus on one story gives the episode a clear structure and a memorable identity. It is both funny and plausible but is not a classic episode of comedy. The humor just isn't strong enough to match the clever story." - The TV Critic's Review
 * IMDb user reviews.

Costume Notes

 * 41dxAsh9oFL._UX385_-1-.jpg31ovRBQ1baL._SL246_SX190_CR0,0,190,246_-1-.jpg episode opens to Sheldon in his orange Space Invaders shirt . When he goes to talk to Penny, he sports a green on green striped t-shirt (discontinued at Urban Outfitters). Trying to pass off their lie to Penny, Sheldon is seen in a red and gray fractal pattern shirt (discontinued from Urban Outfitters). After visiting the ship, he sports an appropriate Queen Mary shirt, presumably from the ship's gift shop . The rest of the episode finds Sheldon in his Green Lantern athletic jersey t-shirt, until the last scene where he sports a blue t-shirt with horizontal stripes of small gray dots (probably also from Urban Outfitters).


 * Leonard starts the episode in an unknown tee with a global graphic, possibly related to weather or satellite tracks (hard to tell with his darn jacket on all the time). Then he wears his adrenaline molecule shirt and an olive drab shirt with the radioactive emblem (often available at your local army supply shop, or find many radiation logo styles at CafePress). In the final scene he sports a red shirt with unknown design (due to the jacket, again).

Trivia

 * Raj and Howard only appear in one scene of this episode.
 * First episode where Sheldon knocks on a door repeatedly while saying someone's name. However, he knocks four times in this episode as opposed to three.
 * Sheldon poses the following riddle to Leonard: "Assuming all the good were originally evil Terminators created by, but then reprogrammed by the future , why would Skynet, an artificial  intelligence, bother to create a petite hot 17 year-old killer robot?" He is referring to Cameron from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, who is played by Summer Glau. In "The Terminator Decoupling", Summer Glau guest stars as herself.
 * Despite being described as a, Sheldon takes out the packed he had previously thrown in the  for consumption later, as he doesn't like waste as well. While the chicken was protected in a container inside a bag, the bag as well as Sheldon's hands were contaminated by the bin, thus compromising the integrity of everything else.
 * There is  merchandise in Leonard's room after they get back from the.
 * After Howard says "So, road trip to Long Beach!", Leonard sits in Sheldon's spot. Sheldon either doesn't notice or care.
 * Sheldon knows some neuroscience, presumably from the Journal of American Neuroscience, which he mentioned earlier this season. Unsurprisingly, this is two seasons before Amy Farrah Fowler, a neuroscientist is introduced.
 * The second episode where a character wishes they were more dangerous at an earlier time when bothered by another character. The first was "The Luminous Fish Effect".
 * Penny finds out about her bad singing in "The Guitarist Amplification", where Sheldon reveals that Leonard does not like her singing most of the time, and her message to Leonard is to drop dead. She barges in on him later.

Quotes

 * Sheldon: I was analyzing our lie, and I believe we're in danger of Penny seeing through the ruse.
 * Leonard: How?
 * Sheldon: Simple: If she were to log onto www.socialphysicsgroup.org/activities/other, click on "Upcoming Events", scroll down to "Seminars", download the PDF schedule, and look for the seminar on molecular positronium, well then, bippity-boppity-boo, our pants are metaphorically on fire.


 * Toby: The Philippines. 1992. The Subic Bay Naval Station. A young boy on the cusp of manhood. His only companions mongrel dogs and malarial mosquitoes. Desperate and alone he reached out to a man who promised to introduce him to a merciful, loving God, but who instead introduced him to a gin pickled tongue shoved down his adolescent throat. What choice did he have but to drink, shoot and snort his pain away.


 * Sheldon: Remember how Leonard told you we couldn't come to your performance because we were attending a symposium on molecular positronium?
 * Penny: I remember symposium.
 * Sheldon: Yes, well, he lied.
 * Penny: Wait, what?
 * Sheldon: He lied, and I’m feeling very uncomfortable about it.
 * Penny: Well imagine how I’m feeling.
 * Sheldon: Hungry? Tired? I’m sorry this really isn’t my strong suit.


 * Toby: And that he loved the companionship and the wisdom that his own father failed to provide.
 * Sheldon: Your parents made the right decision.
 * Toby: I cannot work like this!