The D & D Vortex

"The D & D Vortex" is the sixteenth episode of the twelfth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, February 21, 2019.

Summary
When the gang finds out Wil Wheaton hosts a celebrity Dungeons and Dragons game involving William Shatner, Joe Manganiello, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Smith, deception and betrayal are the path to make it to the one open seat.

Extended Plot
Dr. Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler are quest stars on Wil Wheaton’s Professor Proton science show. Both try to explain their Super-Asymmetry theory with Sheldon getting hopelessly complicated. There is a knock at the door and William Shatner joins them as an extra special guest.

Sheldon gets excited exclaiming “Captain on the bridge! Captain on the bridge! “He wants to call him Captain, but Shatner just says to call him Bill. Then Sheldon wants to be called Science Officer Cooper. When Bill agrees, Sheldon gets so excited that he vomits all over William Shatner.

After the guys see the clip, they make fun of poor Sheldon who is convinced that he is going to see the guy that played Captain James T. Kirk again since he believes that Shatner thinks the world of him.

Sheldon goes to Will Wheaton’s house to apologize though Wil is obviously busy. Sheldon then hears a Dungeons and Dragons game being played with William Shatner and some others which Wil denies as he closes the door on Sheldon.

The guys are having dinner in 4A when Sheldon returns all excited about Wil’s secret celebrity D&D game. He is sure that Shatner is in it. Leonard and the guys decide to graph who else that Wil knows that might be in the game. Penny quips that “this” is going to be the rest of their night. Amy figures that it’ll be the rest of their lives. Howard finds a picture on Instagram where Wil is playing D&D with Shatner, Kevin Smith, Stuart and others. The guys wonder why Wil invited Stuart and not them. The girls tell each other that they know the answer to that question.

Stuart enters the Wolowitz kitchen with Howard, Raj, Leonard and Sheldon waiting for him. He’s late. Stuart claims that it was a crazy night at the pharmacy. They plummet Stuart with questions causing him to breakdown telling him that he doesn’t know the answers about who was there and how they get in the game.

Wil received a call that he can’t play anymore because he is under way too much pressure and that he’s said too much to the guys. Wil doesn’t really understand him.

Howard is trying to call Wil, but his number is blocked. He gets him and pretends to be William Shatner who is supposedly hanging out with Christopher Walken. Wil guesses that it is Howard.

Sheldon is going for a walk in a Wild West game when Wil calls Leonard and invites him to fill Stuart’s spot in their D&D game. Leonard accepts; however, Will tells that he has to keep it a secret especially from Sheldon. At the game Wil is the dungeon master playing with Leonard, Bill Shatner, Kevin Smith, Joe Manganiello and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The players are up against a monster and they argue how to deal with it. Kill it or talk to it to death. Kareem asks Leonard what they should do and he just exclaims that he is having the greatest day of his life ever. Bill then comments that someday he’ll meet a girl.

Leonard returns home and tells Penny that the “lecture” he went to was the greatest one ever. Penny figures he just went to House of Pies again. Then Leonard breaks down slowly telling her about the game and that Bill Shatner, Kevin Smith and some tall guy named Kareem was there. Penny is surprised he didn’t know who Kareem was. He then mentions Joe Manganiello who gets Penny excited because in was in the movie “Magic Max”.

Penny joins Bernadette and Amy with the exciting news about Joe Manganiello and the D&D game. Bernadette hadn’t seen “Magic Max” all the way through since Howard made them leave after he found out it wasn’t about magic. Amy saw it one “or seven” times. Penny and Amy now have an urge to go play D&D!

Penny, Bernadette and Amy arrive on the Professor Proton set to confront Wil. As they flirt with Wil he figures out that Leonard had told them the secret. And he guesses right that it was Joe Manganiello that they were interested in.

In the cafeteria, Leonard just can’t stop smiling which puzzles the guys. Wil calls and throws him out of the game since Leonard had told the girls. Looking sad, they guys ask him and he admits that he had been in Wil’s game. This hurt the guys; however, Leonard said that they would have done the same thing. Sheldon says that there is now an open seat in the game!

Raj, Howard and Sheldon go over to Wil’s house to get into the game. Wil opens the door and says, “No. No. No. And hell no.” to Sheldon. After they plead, Wil complains that they just want to play with celebrities which sucks since he doesn’t know if they like him or just that he is a celebrity. The guys apologized and then Sheldon adds that he doesn’t even consider Wil a celebrity. Wil shakes his head and closes the door.

At Apartment 4A, they are starting a D&D game. Leonard feels bad and calls Wil to invite him to join them. Sheldon wants Wil to bring a snack. Wil declines because he is already playing with his friends and the girls. Shatner says that he is going to go all “Wrath of Khan” on the ogres. Kevin Smith tells him to put another dollar in the Star Trek jar. Amy is gushing over Joe Manganiello. Penny is ready to attack the ogres to which Bill likes her “moxie”. Penny thinks that he is using grandpa words. Amy tells Wil that they won’t tell their husbands though Wil wants to send them a photo of them all together. The guys get a message on their phones and find the photo. Amy has her head on Joe Manganiello, while tiny Bernadette looks up at Kareem who had his head cut off. Leonard figures that they deserve what they got.

Credits

 * Guest starring:
 * Kevin Sussman as Stuart
 * Wil Wheaton as Himself
 * as Himself
 * as Himself
 * as Himself
 * as Himself
 * Teleplay: Eric Kaplan, Andy Gordon & Tara Hernandez
 * Story: Steve Holland, Maria Ferrari & Anthony Del Broccolo

Critics

 * To be entered.
 * IMDb user review

Trivia

 * Second episode of the last ten episodes.
 * It took twelve years for TBB Tto have their last dream guest star on, William Shatner.
 * By the end of the series they had both the original Captain James T. Kirk and Spock on TBBT.
 * Another Dungeons and Dragons episode.
 * il Wheaton returns.
 * Two generations of Star Trek characters mix in this episode.
 * Director Kevin Smith was previously in "The Communication Deterioration" on Wil Wheaton's pod cast about Penny's monkey movies, really liked Penny in it and offered her an audition in his next movie.
 * Penny calls Bill on using Grandpa words when on the Priceline commercials he was her father.

Quotes
To be entered.