The Comic Book Store Regeneration

 "The Comic Book Store Regeneration" is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, February 19, 2015.

Summary
Amy is helping Barry Kripke and doing experiments on her friends. Stuart reopens his comic book store, while Howard is furious that Stuart is using his mother's furniture for his store. Howard's mother dies while visiting his aunt in Florida.

Extended Plot
Sheldon and Amy are eating in Amy's  and Sheldon tells her a science. "How many s does it take to screw in a ? None; he the idea and doesn't deserve his own joke. Jokes should entertain and inform." Barry Kripke shows up with a  for Amy, who helped him with a paper on string theory. He incorporated her string theory idea and has gotten a great response. Sheldon says that he'd like to read it and to send it to sheldon@bazinga.biz (bazinga.com was already taken). Kripke replies that Sheldon can suck s and leaves. Sheldon wonders why Amy never offered to help him when he was working on string theory. Amy reminds him that she did offer to help him, but he stated that the only thing s know is "three s minus one frog equals two frogs." Amy thinks that Sheldon is being petty since all she did was help a fellow. He reminds her of his al rivalry with Kripke and that if they were s, he would have told him to suck on something more pleasant, which causes Amy to.

Howard is on the phone talking to his mother, who is visiting Howard's Aunt Gladys in. He remarks to Bernadette that she is finally in a place where everyone complains about how y they are. Howard is not that his mother wants him to check in on Stuart. Who is going to check on him if he is ? Bernadette reminds him that he has a, and that things will probably change since Stuart is reopening the comic book store. Howard just wants things to get back to normal between him and his. Bernadette wonders what normal really is.

Sheldon is working on his as Penny enters the laundry room and he explains that he is mad at Amy. Penny thinks that helping someone else is a good thing, but he's not happy since Amy is helping Kripke. Sheldon left string theory because he thought it was a dead end and by working with his rival, Amy may prove that he was wrong. He angrily balls up his and throws it into the ... well, actually, at the dryer, since he missed the opening by about a  and a half. He apologizes that Penny had to see that display; she wishes she had a. Penny reminds him that he was always for the advancement of ; however, Sheldon is only interested in his advancement of science. Penny wants him to "let it go" and to talk to Amy. After berating her for what he thinks is advice, he complains that  is giving him s and he doesn't know what to do about it. Penny tells him that he should shove them somewhere, with Sheldon replying that now she is getting. Leonard, Raj and Stuart are working in Stuart's new store. Raj tells him that the place looks great and that he should have burnt it down years ago. An upset Stuart once again claims that he didn't intentionally burn it down, which earns him a "suuure, you didn't" from Leonard. Howard and Bernadette enter, and they both voice their appreciation for the new store... until Howard sees some of his mother's den  in it. This sets Howard off, who says that maybe Stuart should bring over everything else from the den including the art he made as a kid. Stuart shoots back that he must have spent ten whole s on it. Howard then retorts that maybe he should have gone to, opened up a failed comic book store, and mooched off somebody's mother. Bernadette wants them to leave, but Howard refuses since his mother's money help Stuart reopen the store. Leonard and Raj leave to get the  and exit an awkward situation.

Penny and Sheldon are in her apartment as she folds laundry (the wrong way, according to Sheldon, who takes over the out of sheer frustration with her methods). Sheldon wants to know how to let something go. She s him to think of something else, and he proceeds to think of a, though it still comes back to Kripke. Penny wants him to try and to imagine his problems are a : he should hold the pen and then let it go; however, Sheldon imagines such a special pen that he doesn't want to get rid of it. He tries another approach, telling Penny that Amy has been giving her s to compare Penny's to that of the s in her lab. Penny denies it until she remembers (via ) Amy giving her some to assemble, some s to sort by size, and a  in a. She gets mad at Amy and Sheldon tells Penny to let it go, and that he was rooting for Penny. She finds the whole very insulting to be compared to monkeys. Sheldon wants her to imagine a non-special pen, which gets him thrown out of her. Sheldon's happy because his worked: he was no longer mad at Amy.

Howard and Bernadette are sitting on his mother's in the comic book store with Bernadette commiserating with Howard. Bernadette reminds him that if the comic book store does well, Stuart will be able to move out of his mother's house. Howard reluctantly agrees, then petulantly says that he didn't marry her for her to make sense, he married her so that she could blindly support him no matter how ridiculous he was. Bernadette counters that that's why she had to rewrite their wedding vows.

Raj and Leonard are at a picking up food for the comic book store party, when Raj spots  sitting at a  eating his lunch. Raj suggests they ask him to do a signing at Stuart's new store. Leonard agrees, but is reluctant to approach him, because if he turns out not to be nice, it would ruin  for him. Raj approaches him and the man denies being an, then gets insulted when Raj tells him he's not that bad an actor. He again denies being who they think he is and tells them he just wants to eat his lunch.

Amy arrives at Sheldon's apartment just as Penny comes out of hers. Penny, who's still mad at Amy, goes into full-on mode, excitedly telling Amy that she got her  open all by herself, and to celebrate, she's going to throw some  around her. Amy gets mad at Sheldon for telling Penny about the s, which causes him to quickly shut the. They want Sheldon to opens the door, but he claims to be. Amy opens the door herself, and while she gets a very good view of Sheldon, Penny quickly tells him to pull his up. Amy then offers Penny $5.00, which is what she paid each of the s on which she performed the same intelligence test. Penny just wants her back, so Amy offers her $10.00.

Back at the deli, the man finally admits that he is Nathan Fillion, though a now-skeptical Raj wonders what he is doing eating alone in a deli. Nathan offers to have a taken with them, with Raj still skeptical. Nathan then asks if they want a picture of them with a guy that looks like an annoyed Nathan Fillion. That's good enough for, according to Raj, and the resulting picture shows a smiling Raj, a happy Leonard giving a , and an unsmiling, very annoyed Nathan Fillion. Leonard and Penny are now on the couch at the comic book store discussing how both Amy and Sheldon are doing experiments on both of them. Leonard brings up how hard the puzzle box was, with Penny expressing amazement that he couldn't get it open while she could. Amy and Sheldon walk in and Leonard and Penny say how dare they experiment on their friends and that they don't mind hurting their friends' feelings. Sheldon says, "That sounds like us," while at the exact same time Amy says, "It's not true." Howard comes in, still complaining, and Bernadette wants him to let it go. Sheldon says that he can help him with that, and tells him to picture an ordinary pen. Howard excuses himself to take a while Amy asks how she can help. Penny tells her that the is in this puzzle box: one hand wrapped around her raised middle. Howard finishes his call and rejoins the gang, looking like he's in complete. Leonard asks if he's okay and he says he's not: his mother took a and never woke up. Bernadette breaks into tears and s him tightly, and everyone else goes over to console him. Leonard expects Sheldon to say something inappropriate. Instead, he comments, "When I lost my own, I didn't have any friends to help me through it, but you do." Penny gets broken up and remarks that she thought that he was going to say to let it go.

Later, the gang is back at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. Raj finishes speaking to Bernadette on the : Howard is hanging in there, and they're leaving for Florida that night. The gang reflects on Mrs. Wolowitz's passing. Stuart can't believe she's gone, and will always be grateful to her for taking him in in his time of need, as he would have been otherwise. Amy remarks that one of them would have offered him a place to stay, and Stuart retorts that he doesn't remember any offers. Raj is going to miss her, and reflects on how she made him feel welcome when he first came to (especially when she though that Raj was the  the first few years). Penny reflects on how Mrs. Wolowitz had told her that she was too skinny and should eat more. Amy remarks that she had said the same thing to her, and Penny tells Amy not to take this moment from her. Sheldon didn't like the way that she yelled, but will miss it. Leonard offered to yell at him if he wanted, but Sheldon said it just wouldn't be the same. Leonard and the rest of the gang then Mrs. Wolowitz, saying she was a great  to all of them (which doubled as a toast by the cast to their own "mother," the late Carol Ann Susi, may she rest in peace).

Critics

 * Jesse Schedeen at IGN - Since the tragic passing of actress Carol Ann Susi last November, Big Bang Theory fans have wondered how the show would move forward. Would the producers retire the Mrs. Wolowitz character altogether, or would they attempt to recast the part and keep that shrill, disembodied voice as a recurring element on the show? I think most would agree the latter option would have been a classless way of handling things. Luckily, it's a non-issue now thanks to "The Comic Book Store Regeneration." This episode allowed Susi and her character to exit the show gracefully. Though whether this was really the ideal episode to tackle that development is open for debate.
 * IMDb user reviews

Trivia

 * This episode doesn't end with audience laughter because it ends sadly.
 * Between Howard's news about his mom dying and Sheldon's news about losing his own father. There is no audience laughter in that scene.
 * This episode marks the passing of Howard's mother and acknowledges the passing of Carol Ann Susi, the actress who played her for the last eight years.
 * Amy is back working with and performing experiments on her friends, too.
 * Stuart's comic book store is reopened.
 * guest stars in this episode.
 * This episode is the second time a was used, the first being "The Terminator Decoupling".
 * Even though Bernadette says that she changed their s, each of them wrote their own in the wedding episode, "The Countdown Reflection".
 * When the gang is recalling their experience with Ms. Wolowitz, Stuart remarks that she took him in after his store burned down; however, what actually happened was that Howard and Bernadette hired him to be Ms. Wolowitz's and Ms. W. let him stay since he had no other place to go.
 * Sheldon is continually talking about his "letting it go" pen visualization technique, but never mentions the song from the movie "" even though he is a big and  fan.
 * Third episode where Sheldon accidentally says something sexual. First were "The Recombination Hypothesis" and "The Habitation Configuration".

Quotes

 * Raj: Thanks, Bernadette. Okay. Okay. Bye. Well, they booked a flight. They’re heading to the airport now.
 * Penny: How’s Howard hanging up?
 * Raj: He’s hanging in there.
 * Leonard: How are you doing, Stuart?
 * Stuart: I still can’t believe she’s gone. I mean that woman took me in. If it weren't for her I would have been homeless.
 * Amy: One of us would have taken you in.
 * Stuart: Nyahh, I don’t recall any offers. But you know what? I’m a glad it worked out the way it did. I got to know this wonderful person.
 * Raj: Yeah. Mrs. Wolowitz was pretty special. When I first moved to America Howard was my only friend and she made me feel so welcomed in her home. Which says a lot because the first few years she thought I was the gardener.
 * Penny: Whenever I saw her she’d said I was too skinny and tried to feed me. {laughs}
 * Amy: She did that to me too.
 * Penny: Don’t take this away from me.
 * Sheldon: I didn't care for her yelling. But now that I’m not going to hear it again, I’m sad.
 * Leonard: If you want, I can yell at you.
 * Sheldon: It won’t be as good.
 * Leonard: Well, let’s have a toast. Mrs. Wolowitz, loving mother … to all of us. We’ll miss you.


 * Howard: Well, I’m her son. How come she doesn't send someone to check if I’m lonely?
 * Bernadette: Because you have a wife.


 * Bernadette: And it’s just furniture.
 * Howard: It’s my Mom’s furniture. It belongs in the house I grew up in plain view of what for a ten year old was a quality piece of string art.
 * Bernadette: Howie, if the store succeeds he’ll have a source of income and can move out of your mother’s house. I think some old furniture is a reasonable price to pay for that.
 * Howard: That is a good point. But I didn't marry you for good points I married you so that you would blindly support me no matter how ridiculous I’m going to be.
 * Bernadette: This is why I had to rewrite our wedding vows.


 * Penny: Hey, did you see that? I figured out to open the door all by myself. Maybe I’ll fling some feces around my cage to celebrate!


 * Leonard: So you guys were testing us both? What is the matter with you?
 * Penny: Eh, what’s the matter with them is they think they’re so smart they don’t care if they hurt other people’s feelings.
 * Sheldon: Sounds like us. /Amy: That’s not true.


 * Leonard: Hey, you.re okay?
 * Howard: Uh, no.
 * Leonard: What’s wrong?
 * Howard: Um, my mom died.
 * Bernadette: What?
 * Howard: Uh, that was my aunt. And Ma took a nap. She never woke up.
 * Bernadette: Oh, Howie. (Crying).
 * Leonard: I’m so sorry.
 * Raj: What can we do?
 * Howard: I don’t know.
 * Sheldon: May I say something?
 * Leonard: Not right now Sheldon.
 * Sheldon: But I think it would be comforting.
 * Leonard: Buddy…
 * Howard: What?
 * Sheldon: When I lost my own father I didn't have any friends to help me through it. You do.
 * Penny: I really thought he was going to say “Let it go”.