The Werewolf Transformation

The Werewolf Transformation is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. It is set to air on February 23, 2012.

Summary
Sheldon goes to get a haircut and finds that his regular barber is deftly ill. He tries to let the nephew cut his hair, but Sheldon bolts as soon as the barber starts to tell a story. As usual Sheldon is driving the gang crazy since his world is out of order. Penny offers to trim his hair; however, Sheldon declines her “skills of the hill folks”. Howard gets a letter requesting him to report for astronaut training in Houston, which he is excited about; however Sheldon’s hair problem seems to be the topic of the day.

While at Amy’s apartment desperately looking for a new barber, Amy suggests that he would look sexy with really long hair. Then she leaves to have a long session brushing her teeth.

Howard video chats with Bernadette about his first day of training and describes his experiences with zero G gravity and his vomiting reaction. Sheldon goes to visit his barber who is in a coma and brings him a bear, tries to get him to wake up and gets chased out by the nurse thinking he had escaped from the psychiatric floor.

Leonard teaches Penny how to play chess and she beats him the very first time. Sheldon comes in first letting Penny sit in his spot and then lamenting how the order of his life is falling apart. Penny suggests that he embrace the chaos and that it might be fun. Sheldon agrees and decides to wear his Tuesday night pajamas on the wrong night.

Back in astronaut training, Howard describes his outdoor survival test that included sleeping in a hole with an armadillo and eating a butterfly. Bernadette takes pity on him and flies to Houston to take care of him quickly learning that Howard’s mother was already there.

Sheldon wakes everyone up at 3 AM playing the bongos as did the noted physicist Richard Feynman. Penny runs over very annoyed. Sheldon keeps repeating what everyone says using the rhythm of his bongo playing. Since Sheldon’s world is now in chaos, he doesn’t even care when Leonard tries to invoke the Roommate Agreement. Sheldon leaves playing the bongos and ends up falling down the stairs.

The next morning Penny and Leonard find Sheldon asleep on Amy’s couch. Penny again offers to cut Sheldon’s hair reminding him of all the other times she’s taken care of him. Sheldon asks Amy’s opinion and she says that there isn’t a hair on her body that she wouldn’t let Penny cut.

Penny finishes his haircut and though he thinks it’s a bit Hollywood, Sheldon is happy with it. As she tries to trim his neck, Sheldon giggles and then she shaves off some of his hair in the back. After Sheldon innocently leaves, she tells herself that she is going to have to move after that little discretion.

Title Reference
The title is derived from Sheldon missing out his haircut schedule, due to his regular barber being hospitalized and he refuses to get his haircut somewhere else, which leads to his hair growing out a little bit, thus equating this situation to a werewolf transformation.

Quotes
Sheldon:'' To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a nephew.''

Sheldon: Get well 'beary" soon!

Penny: If I were you, I'd be worried that a girl who never played chess before just kicked your ass.

Sheldon: Hello!

Penny: (sitting on Sheldon's spot, starts to move when she sees him) Hey, sorry Sheldon, I'll move.

Sheldon: (does not seem bothered by Penny) ''Why? My spot, your spot, what difference does it make? ''

(Penny and Leonard frown at him)

Penny: Okay, what just happened?

Leonard: ''I don't know... Between you playing chess like Bobby Fisher, and Sheldon being okay with you sitting in his spot... I'm guessing someone went back in time, stepped on a bug and changed the course of human events.''

Sheldon: It's been six days since I was supposed to get a haircut.

Leonard: Would you stop that!

Sheldon: (flips his hair) I can't help it, I feel like a teen-heartthrob.

Sheldon: I have spent my entire life, trying to bring order into the universe.

Sheldon: Let's embrace the chaos!

Leonard:'' What are you gonna do first? ''

Leonard: Don't be Sheldon with bongos!

Sheldon: (Playing his bongo and in a sing-song voice) Hel-lo Leonard, do you like my bongos? ''Bongo solo! ''(Hits on his bongos wildly)

Leonard: Stop it!

Penny: Where are you going?

Sheldon: Wherever the music takes me, kitten.

Sheldon: Never play the bongos walking down the stairs.

Howard: Tonight, when she's asleep, I'll spoon you like an armadillo.

Amy: There's not a hair on my body that I wouldn't let this woman trim.

Howard: ''Y'know, it does have an 'o' in front of it... Oh my god, I'm an astronaut and you're dying of jealousy!''

Leonard: Sheldon, be nice!

Sheldon: I'm sorry, it's the bad boy attitude that comes with this hair.

Amy: Well, this isn't a crisis, why don't you just let your hair grow out a lil'.

Sheldon: ''Why don't I let my hair grow out?! Um, why don't a start wearing Birkinstocks, and seeking validation of my opinions by asking 'Can you dig it?".''

Amy: ''I don't know. I think you might look sexy with long hair. With the kind that...flows down to your shoulders, and blows back while riding on a horse. Bare back and bare chested... I'm gonna go brush my teeth, it might take a while.''

Howard: ''Don't worry. Once she's asleep, I'll spoon you like an Armadillo.''

Trivia

 * Sheldon claims he has haircut records.
 * Sheldon claims his hair grows at 4.6 yoctometers/femtosecond. That converts to 1.2 cm in 30 days which is consistent with normal hair growth rates.
 * Penny beats Leonard at chess the first time she ever plays. It might be because Leonard is really bad at playing chess, as Sheldon has claimed many times.
 * Analogous to Richard Feynman, Sheldon plays the bongo drums. In fact, playing the bongos was a defining characteristic of the former. In The Vacation Solution, Sheldon emulated the famed physicist when he went to work in Amy's biology lab after a forced vacation was imposed.
 * After this episode, there will be a one week hiatus, with a repeat. After episode 19, the show will go on a five week hiatus, with repeats.
 * This is the first episode ever where Sheldon does not care that Penny sat in his spot; an occurrence that only happened because he is heartbroken over his barber.
 * The song Amy sings is Bon Jovi's "Wanted (Dead or Alive)".
 * Amy obliquely makes a reference to Gerard, her masturbatory aid toothbrush, after picturing Sheldon with long hair and bare chest, on horseback.
 * Penny makes a callback to The Zarnecki Incursion, when she kicked a cyber-bully who had stolen Sheldon's virtual treasure in the crotch.
 * Althea, a minor character, makes an appearance after an absence of a few seasons.

Video
thumb|left|300px|Sheldon playing on his bongos thumb|left|326px|The Werewolf Transformation Canadian Promo 332px|left|The Werewolf Transformation Promo

Reference

 * Taping report by ennaxor
 * Press release by CBS