The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition

"The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the   The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on March 30, 2009.

Summary
Penny is not the only girl in town when another, slightly more successful actress named Alicia moves into the building and the guys can't do enough for her.

Extended Plot
Penny comes down the hallway in Apartment 4A, telling them that she killed the spider in the bathroom. As they sit down to dinner she mentions that the neighbors upstairs in 5A are moving out. This statement bothers Leonard because he hadn’t told Sheldon who is freaked out by this revelation. Though he had never met them, they were the perfect neighbors because they never made any noise. No awkward hellos in the halls, no clickety-clack of high-heel shoes on hardwood floors. They might have well been a family of cats just jumping around from drape to drape, Howard suggest that he could move in upstairs to get way from his mother to which Penny uses Sheldon’s earlier exclamation, "The horror! The horror!"

The guys are willing to help Howard to move. Sheldon has negotiated it up to a Sony. He rejected the mountain bike. Howard's mother decides to threaten Howard with cutting the cord completely if he moves out. Also, Penny no longer needs to put her head in the oven.

Back at the apartment lobby, they find moving boxes and meet their tall, blonde, hot new neighbor Alicia. Leonard is immediately smitten, but Sheldon is not yet impressed. He has a few questions for Alicia. He asks if she is light-footed, a salsa, Irish folk, or break dancer, fertile (crying infant possibility) and pro-rug. Her answers make him to welcome her to the building.

Alicia has Leonard carrying a heavy box up to the 5th floor. They run into Penny dressed in a " 2008" t-shirt. Alicia claims to be dressed like a slob, but isn't They leaves as Penny’s jealousy shows and she imitates Alicia. Sheldon amazingly picks up and does his General Ackbar impression from “Return of the Jedi”.

As Sheldon is "air computing," Penny comes in looking for Leonard so he can hook up her printer as promised. Leonard is still up at Alicia's, hooking up her stereo with Howard and Raj. Penny seems to have issues with that as well as her jealously shows again.

Up at Alicia’s Howard is trying to hit on her as Leonard works on her stereo. Penny walks in, under the guise of presenting a welcoming bottle of wine to Alicia, with high heels and a dress that leaves as little to the imagination and complaining that she is dressed like a slob. Leonard tells her that Alicia is also an actress with several national commercials and a recurring role on soap. Alicia has their full attention with a wink and a few "sweeties" and "honeys" thrown in. Penny asks Leonard to set up her and she gets “Don't nag me!" She tries a physicist’s joke that bombs before a liquored-up Raj hits on Alicia.

An angry and dejected Penny returns to Sheldon, who is unaffected by Alicia. He is complaining about the noise from upstairs and about a special he saw on bees. Sometimes a new queen bee enters a hive and they have to have a battle to the death. Penny asks if he thinks she is threatened by Alicia and that it’s time for her to go. Sheldon was just talking about bees, not trying to give her advice.

Penny now tries to win back favor with the guys by buying them Chinese food. She even remembers follows Sheldon detailed instructions (diced instead of shredded, brown rice, mustard and low-sodium soy sauce from the market.) She us offering to play Halo or watch "Battlestar Galactica", when Alicia comes to the door. She needs a ride to an audition for where she would play a hooker who gets killed. Leonard runs out to give her a ride; Howard will practice lines with her and them. Alicia will take them out for Chinese food...even though there's Chinese food right in front of them. Alicia even got Howard to drive to to get her television like Penny got Leonard and Sheldon (see Pilot) to do though Penny considers that apples and oranges.

Penny is very upset that Alicia and decides to confront her about it the next day in the laundryroom. Alicia was disappointed that don't make a lot of money. They are also going to paint her bedroom and install a. Penny explains that her guys are special and don't know how to use their like on Star Trek. Penny is shocked that she is using a Star Trek. She doesn't want her to take advantage of them. Alicia gets ticked off and says that she does the same thing. After she calls her a bitch they get into a fight. All the guys come into the lobby and find them fighting. Howard is excited and holds back Leonard knowing that he’ll break it up.

Later, Penny is having dinner and is a mess with a, busted lip, and chipped tooth. Howard tells her that she looks great to and she accepts the compliment. Howard realizes that she her spirit is broken. The stereo comes on from upstairs. Per Howard, she is seeing one of the producers on CSI. Noise comes from the bedroom as Penny comments, “Dead whore on TV, live one in real life." Sheldon then complains that the couple is merely jumping up and down on the bed while Penny realizes they are having some heavy-duty sex.

Critics

 * "Excellent stuff. It’s sad in a way that it has taken two seasons to finally produce a proper character episode for Penny. But when it is this good, I won’t complain." - The TV Critic's Review\
 * IMDb user reviews

Costume Notes

 * Sheldon wears a worn (distressed) light blue shirt with a Superman logo (also available at TVStore.com) and his Flash Jersey tee.

Trivia

 * The quantum physics joke Penny tells the guys was told to the producers by Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Dr. George Smoot (CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #247) and was originally written by comedian Kevin L. Schwartz in 2002(The Best Science Joke on the Internet ).
 * This is the highest rated episode by The TV Critic.
 * Valerie Azlynn has, in fact, been in a CSI:NY episode, but not as a prostitute.
 * Sheldon has a lifting belt now, as he stated otherwise in "The Big Bran Hypothesis".
 * When Sheldon and Leonard meet Alicia for the first time, the dialogue among the three are quite analogous to that when Sheldon and Leonard first met Penny in the pilot: repetitive "hello's" and Leonard's redundant explanation.
 * Penny is seen wearing a Penny Blossom that she made in the previous episode.
 * The line "The horror" was referencing the film . Penny says this line in a similar fashion in "The Toast Derivation" (S4E17).
 * The line "They're here" was referencing the film .
 * The pink spotted dog seen in the milk crate during Alicia's discussion with Sheldon while she is moving in can be seen previously in Season 2 on Penny's dining room table.
 * In the scene where the gang leaves Sheldon and Penny with the Chinese food that Penny bought, her rant is poorly edited in that the whole time she goes from fork to chop sticks and then back and forth the whole time she rants.

Quotes

 * Howard: ENOUGH WITH THE GUILT, MA, WE'LL STILL SEE EACH OTHER, AND I'LL COME OVER EVERY NIGHT AND HAVE YOU FOR DINNER!
 * Mrs. Wolowitz: THE HELL YOU WILL! WHAT AM I RUNNING HERE, A FANCY RESTURANT?! DOES THIS LOOK LIKE OLIVE GARDEN?!
 * Howard: OKAY, I GET IT, YOU'RE ANGRY... YOU DON'T WANNA SEE YOUR LITTLE BIRD LEAVE THE NEST!
 * Mrs. Wolowitz: LITTLE BIRD?! YOU'RE ALMOST 30! FLY, FOR GOD'S SAKE!
 * Howard: FINE! I'LL STAY! YOU HAPPY, CRAZY OL' LADY! I SURE AS HELL HOPE SO BECAUSE YOU'RE RUININ' MY LIFE!


 * Sheldon (to Penny): Ah, mimicry. I've been working on my impression of Admiral Ackbar. "It's a trap!"... You have to imagine me with a giant squid head.


 * Howard: Oh my god! Girl fight! (Grabs Leonard's arms)
 * Leonard: What are you doing?!
 * Howard: I know you, you're stupid enough to break it up!


 * Penny: They aren't like other guys. They're Special.
 * Alicia: Okay, they're special and..?
 * Penny: Well let's see how can I explain this. Um. They don't know how to use their shields.
 * Alicia: Shields?
 * Penny: Yeah, You know like in Star Trek and you're in battle, and you raise the shields. (Realizing what she said) Where the hell did that come from?