The Intimacy Acceleration

"The Intimacy Acceleration" is the sixteenth episode of the eighth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired, Thursday, February 26, 2015.

Summary
Penny and Sheldon conduct an experiment designed to make people fall in love. Leonard, Amy, Raj and Emily visit an escape room where they have to find an exit while being menaced by a "zombie." Howard and Bernadette's airline loses the ashes of Howard's mother after they return from her funeral.

Extended Plot
At dinner, Amy mentions that she read an article about an experiment where two people will fall in love in a matter of hours. Leonard feels that it really takes three to five years of shameless begging. Penny doesn't think either of them come out well in that story. Each participant answers intimate questions honestly and then after staring into each other's eyes for four minutes, they will fall in love. Sheldon considers the experiment nonsense since he has declared his love for Amy and the last time he stared into her eyes was because she had conjunctivitis. Neither Raj nor Leonard thinks that would work. Sheldon proposes dragging two street people into Penny's apartment and...Amy quickly tells him no. Raj suggests he try the experiment on himself. Penny wants to also do it since she can ask Sheldon awkward questions about his inner most feelings and assures him that she won't fall in love with him.

Heading into Penny's apartment, Sheldon asks Penny that if they fall in love she would drive him to GaryCon (co-creater of  Dungeons and Dragons) in Geneva, Wisconsin. Penny agrees and tells him she'll even throw in all the  tee-shirts he wants.

Raj thinks that Amy and Leonard are being calm about Penny and Sheldon possibly falling in love. He does not like to tempt fate. The other halves are not worried and decide to perform the experiment themselves. Question 1: "Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you like to have dinner with?" Leonard says Penny. Amy replies that she'd pick the janitor because she's about to throw up. They quit. Raj suggests that they do something with Emily. Howard and Bernadette are still travelling back from his mother's funeral in Florida. Raj says that Howard was taking it pretty well.

Switch to the airport arrivals area and Howard is screaming at the woman behind the desk who claims that the airline has lost the suitcase that contains his mother's ashes and he demands them back. He wants to know where she misplaced the only woman who ever loved him. Bernadette looks at him and he changes it to the first woman who ever loved him.

Starting the experiment, Penny asks Sheldon if he doesn't want wine. Sheldon doesn't want to deink when operating heavy machinery meaning his brain. The dinner guest question is first. Sheldon first mentions Euclid, the geometry founder, though he wears sandals and Sheldon can't eat dinner while looking at somebody's toes. Then he chooses himself, his own hero. Penny chooses Robert Downey, Junior a.k.a Ironman. Sheldon then says he would like to join them for dessert.

Raj picks up Emily. Amy tells them to chose the evening's activity since she and Leonard are tagging along. Emily suggests the group visit an escape room where you have to solve puzzles to get out of a room which includes being locked in with a zombie. Raj mentions that is similar to what Penny is doing with Sheldon.

Sheldon poses the next question to Penny which is to describe her perfect day. Penny replies that it would be sleep-in, yoga, beach, massage, drinks and dancing. Sheldon notes that she didn't mention Leonard and that he wouldn't enjoy none of that. Penny snaps that he was there and he brought a book. Sheldon's perfect day would start with French toast and then he would travel to the future through a wormhole where his towering intellect is used to save the last remnants of humankind from a predatory alien race. What about Amy? Sheldon explains that she made the French toast.

The guys are escorted into a room which contains remnents of the laboratory of the late Dr. David Saltzburg who experimented on slowing the aging process. He died in a laboratory accident... or did he?. Leonard lets the ladies go first and Emily wonders if he is being polite or scared. Leonard agrees. Inside is a huge lab and the door is locked. As they start to look for clues out bursts a chained-up zombie which scares them.

The airline employee tells Howard that his bag did arrive at the airport. Unfortunately maybe someone could have accidently picked it up. Howard sarcastically concludes that his mother could be anywhere in Los Angeles. The worst news is that this person could have gotten on an international flight. Howard again yells at her that her job is to find lost luggage and she has narrowed it down to the planet earth, She bursts into tears and offers him 500 frequent flier miles, enough to get him to Sacramento.

Next question: If you could wake up with any one quality or ability, what would it be? Penny mocks that she would like to turn water into wine to which Sheldon complains that she is not taking the experiment seriously. So then she replies that she wishes she could be as smart as everyone else in their social group. Sheldon scoffs at this but then admits that while Penny is not academically inclined, she has intelligence that he envies. Sheldon would like to be able to read minds because he misinterprets how people are feeling. Are people joking with him or making fun of him. Are they mad at him or just in a bad mood. Penny is surprised and remarks that he seems so confident and that she wishes she could make life easier for him. Penny then has a wave of affection for him that passes after Sheldon asks if its just too much Bible juice.

While the zombie cries out that he wants some brains, they solve the cipher code. Amy and Leonard use it to find a city on a globe to get the combination to the safe. The Zombie wants them to slow down and not figure it out so fast. They don't get a refund for finishing early.

At the airport, Howard is bothered that he didn't drive his mother to the airport on her way to Florida since that would have been the last time he would have ever seen her. He was too busy and he made her take a cab. Bernadette is moved and informs the attendant, "You'd better find my husband's mother because either way, we're walking out of this airport with a dead woman," implying that if she doesn't find the ashes, Bernadette will kill her. The employee bursts into tears again.

In the safe, they find a copy of Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species" and in the book containing a black light. A riddle is hidden on the wall which Amy solves and Emily finds the key to open the door behind a picture. Emily had hoped the puzzles would have been harder, but the geniuses figured them out quickly and they spent $200 for six minutes of fun. All the gang members have advanced degrees. The zombie tells them to remember when they talk about their escape room on Yelp.

Back at Penny's apartment and they are having dinner, Penny asks if Sheldon were to die today and couldn't communicate with anyone, what would he most regret not having told someone? Sheldon says that there is something satisfying dying on one's birthday. Today was Sheldon's birthday? Not even Amy knows when he was born. Sheldon despises gift giving and dreads surprise parties more that the term "George Lucas' director's cut". Sheldon told Penny because the point of the experiment was to be completely honest with somebody which really touches Penny. and he avoids them. Penny promises not to tell anyone though she wouldn't have thought he was a Pisces. Sheldon quips that she is making it hard for him to love her.

Finally the airport finds Howard's bag. Howard apologizes to his mother that he didn't take her to the airport and that she'll remain close to him the rest of his life. Bernadette is worried that the urn will end up in their bedroom.

For the final part of the experiment, Penny and Sheldon then stare into each other's eyes without talking. They are supposed to keep eye contact for a full four minutes and both struggle with this. Both find the experience creepy though they both admit that they are comfortable around each other and that they look on each other like a brother and sister. Sheldon says sometimes he fells like Penny is a mother which Penny finds creepy. Letting their minds wander, Penny can't believe it's been eight years. Sheldon can't believe she is still eating their food and he can tell her how much she owes them. Penny can't even remember a time when the guys weren't in her life. Sheldon can. The alarm goes off. Sheldon says it is safe to say that they are not in love with each other, but they do feel closer to each other. Given their new intimacy, they have some tough choices to make. How how are they going to get to Garycon? And who gets to be Gary?

Penny walks Sheldon home or across the hall to his place. Sheldon thanks her for a very interesting evening. Inside, the guys jump out at him shouting "Surprise!" with a makeshift birthday party causing Sheldon to scream. Sheldon turns mad at Penny because he let her be Gary.

Critics

 * Jesse Schedeen at IGN - The premise behind "The Intimacy Acceleration" was a good one... {Penny and Sheldon}'s snarky but ultimately affectionate interplay is always good for some laughs... {and} celebrating the bond that has formed between these two unlikely friends over the years...{T}he two really do have a sibling-like love for each other. This episode was a stark reminder that Sheldon opens up to Penny in a way he doesn't with anyone else in his life; not even Amy. That's sad in a way, and possibly a bad omen for the ongoing health of the Sheldon/Amy romance...{Howard and Bernadette'} subplot managed to offer a solid blend of humor (with Bernie's icy threats to the beleaguered baggage clerk being particularly funny) and drama (as we saw Howard is clearly struggling with this sudden tragedy)...Howard's close, sometimes creepy relationship with his mother has been far too integral a part of his character over the years.

Trivia

 * The GaryCon is held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a long way for Penny to drive.
 * This is the first episode of The Big Bang Theory involving four of the characters (Amy, Leonard, Raj, and Emily) or any of the characters in an.
 * Another episode that tests the Shenny principle.
 * Sheldon was  a zombie in "The Good Guy Fluctuation".
 * The escape room contains the laboratory of the late Dr. David Saltzberg who is the science consultant for TBBT series.
 * Goof: Amy doesn't know Sheldon's birthday; however, she has read his Caltech employee information sheet in |The Tangible Affection Proof" and the one's birthdate is standard employee information.

Quotes
Bazinga