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"The Meteorite Manifestation"[1] is the fourteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode aired on Thursday, January 31, 2019.

Summary[]

Sheldon is thrilled to help Bernadette and Howard navigate bureaucratic paperwork, until he discovers they are breaking the law. Also, Leonard is disappointed when his friends exclude him from a scientific project.[2]

Extended Plot[]

Howard and Bernadette prepare to use their hot tub when their new neighbor's floodlights come on blinding them. Bernadette is reluctant to change in front of the lights. The balcony overlooks their fence and their neighbors’ only suggestion is to plant some trees. Also the lights are operated by motion sensors so they have to be still to shut them off. Bernadette wonders how Howard is going to make motionless love to her.

In Leonard’s lab, Dr. Hofstadter is showing Sheldon, Howard and Raj his new europium laser. Howard is having a problem with his neighbors, while Sheldon still has his Nobel Prize submission problem. Bert comes in and asks Raj as an astrophysicist to look at a meteorite with him. Leonard wants to cut it open with his new laser, but Bert declines. Both Raj and Howard leave to check the meteorite out. Leonard doesn’t care because he still has his real cool new laser.

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Leonard and his cool laser.

Howard and Bernadette go to the city zoning office or the “zone-zone” to see what can do about their neighbors. The clerk tells them that they can check and see if their neighbors had a permit. The Wolowitzes need to go to the Office of Code Compliance and fill out a form for an nuisance, an encumbrance or an encroachment. There is a different form for each of them.

At the comic book store, Leonard is going through a rack of comic books and then suddenly sneezes. Stuart tells him that he just bought a rack of Batman comic books. Leonard says that is just his allergies. Stuart offers him something from his large collection of medicines. Raj comes in and describes the unique spectrographic signature they found in Bert's meteorite. Leonard again offers to use his laser to cut open the meteorite which really bothers Stuart. He asks them if they haven't learned anything from reading all the comic books he sells. Space viruses. Pod people. Raj thinks that Stuart is being a bit crazy. Denise retorts that Stuart is the only one making any sense. Raj jokes that it's nice that Stuart and Denise have found each other. Raj then turns down Leonard's offer again.

Having dinner in apartment 4A, Howard complains that a day at the zoning office solved nothing. Sheldon gets excited that they could spend the day there and then Bernadette asks him to help them out. Leonard tells everyone that Raj is working on his stupid meteorite as he sneezes saying that he is feeling rundown. Sheldon looks tiffed and then marches Amy, Howard and Bernadette into his apartment making sure that they all use Purell before entering.

Back in Apartment 4A, a sickly Leonard can't stop complaining about the guys not using his new laser. Penny suggests that Leonard is just being jealous. Also she offers to get him some medicine, but Stuart already gave him some at the comic book store. Penny wonders that Stuart really needs all of his medicine. Penny offers to sleep on the couch, but Leonard says that he'll take the couch. Penny quickly accept the idea, calls him a "snot-bag" and runs off for their bedroom.

Sheldon and Amy inspect the Wolowitz backyard and Sheldon thinks that that is their neighbors are exhibiting classic encroachment. When the floodlights snap on, Sheldon says that the brightness must be at least 10,000 lumens. Howard quips that when you have lumens you should make lumen-ade. Sheldon asks if that is a joke. Then Sheldon finds out that Howard didn't have a permit to build their outdoor deck which worries Sheldon. Howard also didn't get a permit for their bathroom improvements. Sheldon is horrified.

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There's something in the meteorite.

Driving home Sheldon is disgusted that he doesn't really know his friends and that they are rule breakers. Poor Amy is about to drive into oncoming traffic because Sheldon is complaining to his wife so much. Of course that would also break the rules. Sheldon wants to get his friends back on the side of "Johnny Law". Amy is appalled since Howard would have to tear out all of their improvements and it would probably end their friendship. Sheldon retorts that only animals build decks without permits. Amy replies that animals don't have decks. Hasn't Amy heard of beavers and their dams?

Leonard goes into the geology lab and sees the fancy water-cooled saw. He tries to take the meteorite, but it's too heavy, so he rolls it out on a chair.

At the city zoning office, Sheldon finds the clerk's “zone-zone” joke funny. Sheldon wants to know if he should turn a code violator in. He philosophically debates the clerk on whether he should turn-in law breakers. The clerk doesn't tell Sheldon to turn him in.

As Leonard is about to cut into the meteorite Raj and Bert run in wanting to know what he was doing. He cuts it open and they find a glowing purple light emitting from it. Raj finds the rock pretty. Leonard approaches it and gets zapped. His eyes start to glow purple, he gets ravishingly hungry and attacks Raj and Bert taking a bite out of them.

Leonard finds himself waking up on the couch and Penny tells him that he's having a bad dream. As Penny checks his temperature, Leonard's eyes start to glow purple again and he attacks Penny. Her scream wakes him up as she comes running down the hallway. Leonard asks what color his eyes are and Penny can't decide between green and brown. At least he is finally awake.

Sheldon comes to talk to Howard and Bernadette. He had thought of turning them in, but he decide that the unwritten rules of friendship overrides the city zoning office regulations. He also looked into their neighbor's balcony and found out that it did encroach their property line. He had so much pent up energy that he turned their neighbors in.

Leonard visits the geology lab and apologizes to Bert and Raj since he was jealous. Bert calls his cutting device "Terry Brad-saw". Leonard explains about his dream and Bert thinks it's nice that Leonard attacked him first.

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Where is everyone??

Howard and Bernadette are having wine watching their neighbor tear out the balcony. Their neighbors apologize for the noise and they wonder who Sheldon Cooper is who filed the complaint. Sheldon Cooper? The Wolowitzes have never heard of him.

Finally at the comic book store, there have been no customers all afternoon and Stuart and Denise haven't see anyone out on the street. Maybe cutting open the meteorite unleashed a space plague. Stuart locks the door as he and Denise wonder if they are the last couple on earth. Do either of them have special skills to rebuild civilization? Stuart draws and Denise can play the clarinet. Denise agrees that they'll have to start repopulating the planet. She is fine with doing that and runs off to brush her teeth. Sheldon shows up and Stuart tells them that they are closed. He runs off after Denise. Sheldon is going to complain on Yelp.

Credits[]

Notes[]

  • Title Reference: The title refers to the meteorite that the gang is working on.
  • Taping date: January 14, 2019
  • This episode was watched by 13.66 million people with a rating of 2.4 (adults 18–49).
  • Total viewers including DVR users 21.82 million.
  • This episode aired in Canada on January 31, 2019.
  • Chuck Lorre's vanity card.[1]

Critics[]

  • Nicholas Graff at Science Fiction.com - Well, from this point forward there are only 10 episodes left of ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ and as a long-time viewer, that comes as somewhat of a relief as the series continues to struggle through its final season, unable to find any comedic consistency. This week's beleaguered episode felt like little more than filler, pitting the Wolowitz's against their neighbor's encroaching balcony, and making Leonard jealous of all the attention those around him have been getting this season due to their own story advancement. Nothing really exciting happened, little plot movement forward for the season, and few laughs...In what is arguably the funniest bit of the episode, Stuart and Denise are concerned when they hear Raj and Leonard talk about cracking open the meteorite while shopping at the Comic Book store, and warn them that if comics have taught them anything, it is to not mess with objects from space. [2]
  • IMDb user review [3]

Trivia[]

  • The guys are working again with Bert the geologist when he wants to cut into a meteorite.
  • Denise returns to the comic book store.
  • Denise is closer to Stuart's personality than she was portrayed earlier. Like Stuart, she worries about what alien presence might be in the meteor and whether they are the last people on earth when everything gets quiet and no one is around.
  • Denise has played the clarinet for ten years.
  • Goof: During closeups of Sheldon on the deck at night, Bernadette (or someone else blonde) is between him & Amy but in group shots she is on the other side of Howard.

Quotes[]

Stuart: Whoa, whoa! You’re not gonna cut open a meteorite, are you? Have you not learned anything from comic books? Space viruses? Pod people? I sell nothing, but warnings.

Sheldon: I went down to the city compliance office to turn you in.
Howard: Are you kidding?
Sheldon: But I didn’t do it. I filled out the form and then realized that the unwritten laws of friendship are more important than the written rules of the city of Altadena City and Planning Department.
Bernadette: Aw.
Howard: Really? Aw?
Sheldon: And you’ll be happy to know that while I was there I did look into your neighbor’s balcony and it is encroaching on your property line. I had all this pent-up snitch energy so I reported him hard.
Howard: What did they say?
Sheldon: He’s going to have to remove it.
Bernadette: So the good guys win?
Sheldon: Well, I don’t know if I’d call you the good guys. You’re enforcing a law on him which you’re willfully ignoring yourselves.
Bernadette: Uh. All right, fine. The morally compromising guys win!
Sheldon: Apparently so.

Stuart: Is it me or has no one been in the store for hours?
Denise: Yeah, it’s weirdly quiet. Nobody’s in the street.
Stuart: Huh, that’s strange.
Denise: You thinking what I’m thinking?
Stuart: They cut that meteorite open and unleashed a space plague.
Denise: Exactly.
Stuart: Let me just lock up here.
Denise: Okay, so what do we do?
Stuart: Uh, well, if this is a worst case scenario and we’re the last two people alive we’re gonna have to rebuild civilization.
Denise: Do you have any special skills?
Stuart: I can draw. How bout you?
Denise: I can play clarinet.
Stuart: I didn’t know that.
Denise: Yeah. Ten years. Ah.
Stuart: You know, it, uh, might also be up to us to repopulate the earth.
Denise: I’m okay with that.
Stuart: So shall we?
Denise: Wait here. I’m gonna brush my teeth.
Stuart: (Sheldon shows up) We’re closed.
Sheldon: This is going on Yelp.

References[]

Gallery[]

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