The Relationship Diremption

"The Relationship Diremption" is the twentieth episode of the seventh season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, April 10, 2014.

Summary
Sheldon is depressed over his lack of progress in his  of work on. Howard and Bernadette go out with Raj and Emily who had an earlier very embarrassing with Howard.

Extended Plot
In the Caltech cafeteria, the guys are discussing the recent primordial discoveries. Their work on the theory elevates those  to the level of  - though without the. Sheldon is not impressed because work on s doesn't help the. Sheldon is really because the origin of the  has been explained and he has been working on String Theory for the last  s, with no similar discoveries. Sheldon claims that he has had other, more important things on his including watching shows during this golden age of. Kripke tells Sheldon that there is big string theory from work done at the Large Hadron Collider. Sheldon is interested until Kripke taunts him; the news is that Cooper will believe anything. Sheldon reminds Kripke that he is also a string theorist. Kripke says he is really a string theory ; when there is something that cannot be proven, he applies for financial grants and spends the money on and. Sheldon then wonders if he is wasting his life on something that cannot be proven.

As Penny wakes up and heads for her  in apartment 4A, she finds Sheldon up early because he can't. She asks what is bothering him; he doesn't feel that she would understand. Penny is still willing to listen. Sheldon feels he has wasted his life because he has concentrated on string theory and has had no significant discoveries - making him feel like a. Even though Penny didn't understand all the jibber-jabber in the middle, she admits that she knows what it feels like to put your and  into something and get nothing out of it. Sheldon asks if she talking about her failed attempts in her, going back to , or the lack of progress with her  with Leonard. Those were not the things that Penny was thinking about. Sheldon's string theory work sounds like a failed relationship. Penny has had many failed relationships; she has learned to put them behind her and have the to move on. Leonard comes in, blowing his loudly and asking where his  is. Sheldon then tells her to break it off and move on.

At Caltech, Raj describes how dating two is going. Lucy learned about Emily and couldn't handle it, so Raj is now only Emily. Howard wants to meet Emily soon before Raj screws it up. Sheldon brings in a of his old string theory, offering them to his friends. Since Penny compared his string work to a relationship, Sheldon read in that one way to get over a relationship is to get rid of all reminders of that relationship. He would have burned them as suggested, but fears the smell would remind him too much of s in. He reminisces over a he made based upon his work for his, gets upset, and runs away. Howard then kids Raj, asking whether Raj was still together with Emily.

Howard and Raj are playing a at Raj's Apartment. Howard tells Raj that he and Bernadette are free the next night for. Dinner is fine with Raj, but he doesn't want Howard kidding him about Raj's extremely close relationship with his dog, or that Raj took. Howard is still convinced that Emily is a blow-up rubber. Sheldon is now considering a, which was also suggested by Cosmo, so Penny is giving him a new. Leonard thinks that his old look is "well-groomed doll". Sheldon wants to look like a cross between and. Leonard wonders what new work Sheldon is going to pursue. Sheldon suggests and. Penny doesn't understand what dark matter is - and neither does Leonard (according to Sheldon). Penny finishes with Sheldon's hair and both Leonard and Penny think that Sheldon looks good. Sheldon sees himself as a member of a scientific - as the dreamy one and the  one. Amy shows up and doesn't like Sheldon's new look. She fears all the s are now going to go after Sheldon since he looks like " sex on a stick." Sheldon agree that he looks "too hot."

Howard and Bernadette are waiting in the for Raj; Howard is hoping that Raj doesn't blow it with Emily. When Raj and Emily arrive, Howard recognizes Emily from a previous embarrassing escapade. Emily recognizes Howard, but can't place him. She thinks perhaps she remembers him from spin class. Raj wonders when Howard ever went to spin class. Emily is a. She may have seen Howard because he was an who went to the space station. Finally, Emily remembers that they once had had a, four years earlier. Howard, who was that night, clogged up her  and he was so humiliated that he escaped through the   like Lucy used to. Emily also blames Howard for not getting her apartment rental deposit back. Howard apologizes profusely. She is cool about it and says that all her loved the story and call him "Clog-zilla" - then Howard becomes the butt of Raj's jokes. Later, Bernadette wonders why Emily got into dermatology. Emily says she likes to into people and, in all other circumstances that is illegal. Raj loves her because she is scary, but "cute" scary. The bathroom incident is still bothering Howard, however, Bernadette assures him that everyone else has moved on. Howard then mentions that the restaurant could have filled up his soup more, causing everyone to snicker about his problem with the aforementioned overflowing toilet bowl.

While Penny, Leonard, and Amy have dinner, Sheldon is going through the books in the looking for a new field to work on until he found a  book in the bookcase and describes geology as "the  of science." Amy and Leonard suggest other fields that Sheldon could get into including Theory (which he used to argue with Leslie Winkle about and still has no respect for). Penny feels that he shouldn't rush into something new and maybe something will find him. Sheldon thinks that that isn't bad. He got into string theory because that was the biggest book some used to hit him with. String theory found him. Penny gets the guys to to Sheldon's new-found freedom. Finally, Amy puts a Sheldon to bed.

The next morning Sheldon wakes up, horrified, staring at the next to him. But it wasn't Amy. In fact, he had been sleeping with a geology book. A hung over Sheldon comes out carrying the offending book and Leonard asks Sheldon to introduce him to his. Sheldon denies that the book is his friend. Leonard s him that he was very loud last reading from the book. Sheldon reacts as if Sheldon had a drunken. After he learns that Amy put him to bed, he starts to call her to apologize. Then he finds out that, the night before while he was drunk, he left multiple phone messages for Stephen Hawking.

Having lunch together, Howard and Sheldon are both depressed about the previous evening's embarrassing activities. Sheldon tells Howard the story of a who had a  made - a ring that would make him happy when he was sad. On the ring was inscribed. "And this, too, will pass." Barry Kripke then comes in and mocks Sheldon about calling Hawking and calls Howard "Cwog-zilla". Finally several of the s Sheldon left are heard on Hawking's. Stephen Hawking is heard calling Sheldon a.

Critics

 * Jesse Schedeen for IGN-"...really enjoyed the way the writers framed Sheldon's disillusionment with String Theory like a breakup with a woman he had been involved with for years. It allowed him to be vulnerable and hyper-emotional in a way he probably wouldn't be if he were dumped by Amy. Seeing him turn to Cosmo as a guide during these difficult times was a hoot. And it led to a number of memorable lines, with one of my favorites being, "Now I realize I was just a simple country boy, seduced by a big city theory with variables in all the right places." ...This was definitely one of his more entertaining episodes in recent memory, as he suffered through every phase in the stereotypical sitcom breakup saga, but with a fun twist. Yes, his material could have used more direct resolution, but when does this show ever wrap up an episode without loose ends?"
 * Dhruv Rao of The DR Club gave the episode a B-: "It seems as though the writers are facing a distraction at the office which is creating many tiny errors that have accumulated into episodes like these. This episode isn't bad because of its use of drama (like "The Friendship Turbulence"), but it's actually a little bit too ostentatious at its attempt to make us laugh. Furthermore, the writers really need to fix their distribution of screen time to each character, because I don't think it's fair to consider Melissa and Mayim as secondary characters after their hard work of almost four years now..."
 * IMDb user reviews

Costume Notes

 * Sheldon wears his Hawkman t-shirt.

Trivia

 * The discovery of primordial gravity wave (AKA ) that makes Leonard and Raj excited was made by in reality, and announced on March 17, 2014. This discovery is considered a key proof to support the theory of, thus it makes Sheldon realizes, as he himself says in the show, he is "wasting his life on a theory (Sheldon's string theory) that can never be proven" - thus he becomes jealous and frustrated.
 * Sheldon refers to "exciting areas" such as s and . Leonard suggests the of particle physics and  for new fields of inquiry, while Amy posits nuclear matrix elements, all of which Sheldon quickly shoots down. Notably, Sheldon has already done research in dark matter and loop quantum gravity.
 * Sheldon's doodle of a hyperelliptic Riemann surface was the basis of his.
 * Sheldon looks down upon geology again after "The Pants Alternative" (S3E18) and "The Skank Reflex Analysis" (S5E01). In the former episode he also got into an embarrassing scientific situation due to alcohol.
 * When trying to remember Howard, Emily asks him if she knows him from spin class; coincidentally in "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst" (S5E4), Penny introduces a girl called Emily to Raj as someone she knows from spin class.
 * Second time Sheldon has let Penny cut his hair; the first was in "The Werewolf Transformation".
 * Again, Sheldon humiliates himself after getting drunk. The first time is in "The Pants Alternative" (S3E18).
 * Sheldon again berates Loop Quantum Gravity Theory, which he used to argue about with Leslie Winkle who specialized in that field.
 * Howard at first is kidding Raj about his foibles at dinner and ends up to be one being joked about.
 * Howard and Raj are seen playing Killer Instinct (2013) at Raj's Apartment.  No game footage was shown, but certain sound effects from the game can be heard if listened to closely and an opened case of the game can be seen next to Raj's television.  At the date of this episode no retail version of the game was available, this game was a digital download only till the retail version was available, on Sept. 23rd 2014 (US).
 * Four years before this episode aired Howard jumped out of the bathroom window at Emily's house similar to Lucy (Raj's ex-girlfriend) jumped out of bathroom windows.
 * The equations on the boards are taken from the paper On orbifolds of M-strings.
 * First time Sheldon is seen topless.

Quotes

 * Sheldon: Am I wasting my life on a theory that can never be proven?


 * Penny: What do you think?
 * Sheldon: I suppose I can see myself in a scientific boy band, and of course, I'd be the dreamy one and the smart one.


 * Stephen Hawking: What a jackass!


 * Leonard: I got to tell you the more I read about the primordial gravity wave discoveries the more excited I get.
 * Raj: So being an astrophysicist right now is like being a rock star.
 * Howard: Only without the sex.


 * Penny: OK, I get it. Not all the jibber jabber in the middle. I know what it’s like to put your heart and soul into something and get nothing out of it.
 * Sheldon: You mean your acting career.
 * Penny: No.
 * Sheldon: Your relationship with Leonard.
 * Penny: No.
 * Sheldon: Your failed attempt to go back to college.
 * Penny: NO!! I’m saying your string theory sounds like a relationship and I know what it’s like to be in one and realize it’s never going to turn out the way you want.
 * Sheldon: I said Leonard. You said no.
 * Penny: I’m talking about other guys.
 * Sheldon: OK. Well. What do you do?
 * Penny: I just have to have the courage to end the relationship. You know, break it off, shake hands, walk away.


 * Sheldon: It suggests that I set these on fire, but the smell of burning books reminds me too much of church picnics in East Texas.


 * Sheldon: But now I realize I was just a simple country boy seduced by a big city theory with variables in all the right places.


 * Leonard: As you sure you want to do this?
 * Sheldon: The magazine article suggests that one of the ways to get over a breakup is a new look.
 * Leonard: What about your old look? Well groomed ventriloquist doll.
 * Penny: [Using Sheldon as a doll] OH my God. I do look like that!


 * Sheldon: I suppose I could see myself in a scientific boy’s band because I’d be the dreamy one and the smart one.


 * Amy: What did you do?
 * Penny: I gave him a new look. Cute! Huh?
 * Amy: Yes, cute. That’s the problem. I don’t want other girls seeing him walk around like sex on a stick.
 * Sheldon: She’s right. I’m too hot.


 * Penny: What’s wrong with geology?
 * Sheldon: Let me put this in a way you’ll understand Penny. You remember how you explained to me that the Kardashians aren't real celebrities? Well, geology is the Kardashians of science.


 * Sheldon: I didn't seek out string theory. It just hit me over the head one day.
 * Amy: How did that happen?
 * Sheldon: A bully chased me through the school library and he hit me over the head with the biggest book he could find.


 * Bernadette: So Emily. Why did you decide to specialize in dermatology?
 * Emily: I like cutting people with knives, but all the other jobs where you get to do that are illegal.
 * Bernadette: You’re kidding, right?
 * Raj: She’s scary, but it’s a cute scary.


 * Leonard: [Sheldon waking up with a Geology Book.] How you feeling?
 * Sheldon: Not so good.
 * Leonard: Are you going to introduce me to your friend?
 * Sheldon: It’s not my friend. Nothing happened!
 * Leonard: I don’t know. I heard you reading pretty loud last night.
 * Sheldon: Oh dear lord. Where’s Amy?
 * Leonard: After she put you to bed, she went home.
 * Sheldon: Oh. I should call her and apologize. Oh no.
 * Leonard: What?
 * Sheldon: Apparently, I called Stephen Hawking last night.