The VCR Illumination

"The VCR Illumination" is the tenth episode of the twelfth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, December 6, 2018.

Summary
Sheldon and Amy are still down about their being disproven, but a VHS tape from Sheldon's past inspires him not to give up. Also, Bernadette turns into a when she tries to help Wolowitz ace his  audition.

Extended Plot
While preparing for everybody’s in Apartment 4A, Leonard and Penny review a list of topics that are verboten since Sheldon is still upset about his super-asymmetry theory being disproven. . . . from "". . Russians; the country, the or  or "" where he fought a Russian fighter. Or science, success, failure or. Sheldon and Amy join them. Amy asks what they are doing and Bernadette replies, “Nothing.” Sheldon explains that that is where his career is going and the runs out followed by Amy. Poor Bernadette looks embarrassed as Howard tells her that that was “nice going.”

Early in the morning, Amy doesn’t find Sheldon in bed. He’s on up eating, reading, watching and listening to the  trying to reevaluate every opinion he ever had since he was wrong about super-asymmetry. He tries both and  and still doesn’t like either. Amy tells him that she is also upset about their theory.

Penny gets up in the morning finding Leonard having for. Leonard tells her that she knew he was a bad boy when she married him. Amy still in her robe comes in and is worried about Sheldon. Penny tells her to make him a cup of tea, but Sheldon now considers that “ soup”. Since Sheldon is now reevaluating everything, Amy is worrying what will happen when his reevaluation reaches her. Leonard suggests an old of the one person he really respects, himself. Sheldon gave it to Leonard years ago in case of an emergency.

At the Wolowitzes, Bernadette finds Howard working with a so that he can loan it to Amy. His test tape is supposed to be an old copy of “” recorded for his mother; however, Bernadette thinks that it’s probably. Instead they find a young Howard performing as the “Great Howdini”. He had been practicing his magic so that he could audition for the in. Howard never went through with it because he didn’t think he was good enough. Bernadette wants him to keep trying because she doesn’t want their kids to think that their father is a quitter. Amy walks into Apartment 4B with the VHS player and the tape. Sheldon has reached his  show and was now calling it “Fine with Flags.” She shows him the tape of his childhood emergency pep talk. He claims that he was saving that for when they stop making “Star Wars” movies, but he thinks that that is highly unlikely now. Eleven year old Sheldon appears, greets himself and tells him that at he must be at a point in his future life when he is questioning everything. First he asks Sheldon to give him the code word so that the future him knows that he is not an. Robot monkey. He then tells Sheldon to never forget no matter how bad things seem…then a  appears. His father had recorded over it with one of his games. Amy asks if there was anything she could do. Sheldon wants a to go back and tell his younger self that he should just give up since nothing works out the way you want it. Amy just wanted to offer Sheldon a cup of leaf soup.

Howard comes into the living room and finds that Bernadette had all his magic tricks from the garage set out. She wants the Great Howdini to be a member of the Magic Castle. She figures she can help him with all her experience. She going to be a great pageant mom for him like her mother was.

Leonard and Penny contact Leonard’s mother. Leonard asks for some professional advice that she is not interested in giving until she learns that Sheldon needs help. Penny tells her that since his paper was disproven, Sheldon was sad, angry and generally broken. Beverly says that Sheldon is over the loss of his paper just like having lost a loved one.

Bernadette has Raj over to see the act that she had developed for Howard. Raj knows that he can help since he has seen every episode of “”. Bernadette announces “The Great Howdini” who comes down the stairs singing “Magic to Do” from “” with a high. Then he throws in Raj’s face. He welcomes them to his act sounding like he was in the.

Back at Sheldon and Amy’s, the Hofstadters visit to cheer up Sheldon and act on Beverly’s advice. Things were going better only because Sheldon was lying down. Sheldon doesn’t want their help. The only person who can help him was erased. Leonard and Penny want Sheldon to symbolically bury his paper and say a few words over it. Amy suggests they bury in the park, however Sheldon wants to give it a. Instead of going to a lake and shooting it with a flaming arrow, the bathtub will suffice followed by a cold. In the bathroom, Sheldon explains that their theory was more than scientific endeavor, it was a new and beautiful way to describe the and one that he wanted to live in. Placing the paper in a pan, they set it on fire. It looks quite beautiful until it sets their on fire.

Howard is suffering from glitter up his nose. Bernadette plans to take the day off and help Howard run through his act. Howard really interested, however, Bernadette doesn’t want him to be a quitter and she wants to do everything her way since she is the pageant mother and the victory is hers! Howard decides he really just wants an act that is more magic than pageant.

Now Sheldon wakes up and finds Amy is in the living room watching his father’s football game on the old VHS tape to find if any of his speech survived. His dad then appears giving his team a pep talk. He tells the team that they’re not going to win this game, but that that does not make them losers. They can learn from failure as much as they can learn from success. Sheldon remembers that they lost that game and that their opponent let one of their kick a. Sheldon then considers that he is not that much different from his father. Amy then adds that from one viewpoint that he has his father’s lives are symmetrical and from another viewpoint they are asymmetrical. She postulates that what if symmetry and asymmetry are ? Then the Russian paper would be right, but from only on perspective. Sheldon gets excited and tells Amy that they have a paper to fix! She runs off and Sheldon thanks his Dad.

At the Magic Castle, the Great Howdini is performing his Act. He borrows and expensive, smashes it, however, the watch is smashed and the magic doesn’t work.

Credits

 * Guest starring:
 * Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter
 * Iain Armitage as Young Sheldon
 * Lance Barber as George Sr.
 * Montana Jordan as Georgie
 * Kurt Scholler as Judge
 * Teleplay: Maria Ferrari, Andy Gordon & Jeremy Howe
 * Story: Steve Holland, Steven Molaro & Bill Prady

Critics

 * Caroline Preece at Den of Geek! -
 * IMDb user review

Trivia

 * The Big Bang Theory will have a crossover with Young Sheldon.
 * Sheldon would rather listen to himself than anyone else, but finally learns something from his father.
 * The Great Howdini makes a reappearance after showing up as at one of Howard's cousin's birthday parties.
 * Leonard's mother Beverly Hofstadter seems to have again slightly reverted to her old ways when she tells Leonard that not everything is about him and when she is not interested in giving him advice until she finds out that it's Sheldon who needs help.
 * In the previous episode. Sheldon tells Leonard and Penny that a pep talk will not help him; however, in this episode, watching his father give his high school football team half-time pep talk helps him and inspires him to continue.

Quotes

 * Penny: Okay, Sheldon and Amy are still pretty upset about their theory being disproved.
 * Leonard: So we have made a list of subjects for everyone to avoid.
 * Penny: Symmetry.
 * Leonard: Asymmetry.
 * Penny: Oh, "Sim City". Sounds too much like symmetry.
 * Leonard: That also applies to "The Simpsons", Simba from "The Lion King", and cymbals.
 * Penny: Russia or Russian in any context. The country, the dressing, the roulette.
 * Leonard: Uh, also, no talk of "Rocky IV".
 * Bernadette: Why "Rocky IV"?
 * Howard: Because he fights a Russian. I'm sorry about her.


 * Penny: We should just try and avoid anything that makes them think of their project or science or Nobel Prizes or successes or failures.


 * Penny: Have you tried making him a cup of tea?
 * Amy: He's re-evaluated tea. Now he thinks it's nothing but leaf soup.


 * Amy: He's re-thinking everything. How long is it gonna be before he gets to me?


 * Amy: How long has it been since you've seen it?
 * Sheldon: Not since the day I recorded it. No, I had just watched "Back to the Future II", where Marty McFly gets a glimpse of his future self, and that got me thinking, the day may come where I needed my help, like they did with that movie. That was not great.


 * Young Sheldon: Hello, Sheldon.
 * Sheldon: Hello, Sheldon.
 * Young Sheldon:If you're watching this, I assume something bad has happened. Something unfortunate and unforeseen. Something that's making you question everything.
 * Sheldon: I'm so smart.
 * Young Sheldon:Now just to make sure it's really you watching this and not an imposter, what am I thinking of? On the count of three. One, two, three.
 * Both: Robot monkey butler.
 * Young Sheldon:Okay, good.
 * Amy: Should I leave you two alone?
 * Young Sheldon:Sheldon, never forget, no matter how bad things seem, you al...


 * Amy: Is there anything I can do?
 * Sheldon: Yes. You can build me a time machine so I can go back and tell my younger self to give up, because nothing's gonna work out the way he wants.


 * (Skype ringing)
 * Beverly: Yes?
 * Leonard: Hello, Mother.
 * Penny: Hey, Beverly.
 * Beverly: Hello, Leonard. Hello, Penny.
 * Leonard: To what do I owe this call? I need your professional advice.
 * Beverly: Well, I'd love to help you out, dear, but I'm very busy at the moment. Perhaps we can schedule a time next week.
 * Leonard: It's about Sheldon.
 * Beverly: Oh, well, I-I suppose I can spare a minute or two.
 * Leonard: Wh-Why did you just say you're too busy, but--
 * Beverly: Leonard, please, not everything is about you. (Leonard is now exasperated) Penny, go on.
 * Penny: Ever since his paper got disproven, he's been a wreck. He's been sad and... and angry. He just seems kind of broken.
 * Beverly: Well, it sounds like he may be grieving.
 * Penny: Really? Over a theory?
 * Beverly: Of course. You can grieve over any emotional loss. The more you care about something, the greater the trauma of losing it.
 * Leonard: Oh, boy. He cared about this a lot.
 * Penny: Yeah. What can we do to help him?
 * Beverly: Well, grieving is a process. Every culture has its own rituals and traditions to facilitate mourning. The ancient Egyptians had their mummification, the Tibetans had their sky funerals.
 * Leonard: And when I was little and my dog died, my mom sat me down and very gently told me that she wished the truck had hit my dad instead.
 * Beverly: I was trying to lighten the mood. Your dog had just died.


 * Sheldon: The only fitting send-off: a Viking funeral.
 * Leonard:You mean, like, push it out into a lake and shoot it with a flaming arrow?
 * Sheldon:This guy gets it.
 * Penny: How about a bathtub and a match?
 * Sheldon: How about a bathtub and a flaming arrow?
 * Amy: How about a bathtub, a match, and an ice-cold Yoo-Hoo after?
 * Sheldon: Sold.


 * Howard: I'm not scared. I don't like the act. It's over the top and weird, and has more jazz hands than magic.
 * Bernadette: Why didn't you say something earlier?
 * Howard:You seemed like you were so happy, and then when I tried to say something, you seemed like you were so mad.
 * Bernadette: Hey, this isn't about me. I just wanted you to have your dream, and I wanted to control everything about how you looked and acted so that your victory was mine.
 * Howard: Well, that's... honest.


 * George Sr.: [on the tape] I know we're down, by a lot. And if I'm being honest with you, we're probably not gonna win this one. In fact, we're definitely not gonna win this one.
 * Amy:Do you want me to turn it off?
 * George Sr.: But we're not gonna quit, either. And if we do lose, you need to know that doesn't make you losers. You learn as much about who you are and what you're made of from failing as you do from success. Maybe more. So you can spend the next half feeling sorry for yourselves, or you can get out there and give 'em hell.
 * Georgie: Yeah! Let's give 'em hell!
 * George Sr.: Oh... watch your mouth, your mom might...


 * Sheldon: It's interesting. I've always thought that my father's journey and my own were so different, but he also faced failure and setbacks. Maybe our lives mirrored each other more than I thought.
 * Amy: So, from one viewpoint, you and your father's lives are asymmetrical, but from another vantage point, they're symmetrical. Sheldon, what if symmetry and asymmetry are observer-relative? That would mean that the Russian paper was right...
 * Sheldon: But only from one perspective. If we look at it from a deeper view in more dimensions, our theory still stands.
 * Amy: Not only stands, i-it might be an even bigger idea than the one we were originally proposing.
 * Sheldon: Go get your laptop. We have a paper to fix.


 * Sheldon: Thanks, dad. We're gonna give 'em hell.