'The Big Bang Theory' Recap: 'The Hofstadter Insufficiency' and 'The Deception Verification'

Last night, the first two episodes of The Big Bang Theory premiered. Season 6 left off with Leonard Hofstadter leaving his girlfriend, Penny, and his friends to go on a four-month expedition at sea. Also at the end of last season’s finale, Raj Koothrappali discovered he can talk to women without the help of alcohol and Amy and Sheldon’s relationship took an unexpected turn towards intimacy during a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

“The Hofstadter Insufficiency” starts off with Leonard in the middle of a storm at sea, talking to Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon is asking him about a mix up of his Back to the Future DVDs. When Leonard tries to rush him off the phone, we hear an unsettling sound from the sea. A giant tentacle of a Karken comes over the boat and grabs Leonard. Sheldon wakes up screaming and runs over to Penny’s apartment. He claims that he is worried that Penny is missing Leonard. He doesn’t want to admit that he misses Leonard, so he tells Penny that he had a bad dream that Back to the Future 2 was in the Back to the Future 3 case. He then asks to stay at Penny’s so she “won’t miss Leonard as much.” He then proceeds to go into Penny’s room and shut the door to go to bed.

Sheldon, Raj, and Howard Wolowitz are in the university cafeteria for lunch when Raj starts to tell a story about an oil stain in the parking garage that reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, Lucy. Sheldon of course, is unsympathetic to Raj. Howard says that it should be easy for him to meet someone else since he is able to talk to girls now. He suggests that he go to a party that is being held in order to meet someone. He reluctantly agrees.

Bernadette (Bernie) and Amy are away together on a neuroscience conference. While at the hotel, Bernie is on the phone having a nice “couple-like” conversation with Howard, while Amy is ensuring Sheldon that she will not bring home any bed bugs.

Sheldon tries to get Penny to play 3D chess with him, still trying to avoid admitting that he misses Leonard.

At the party at the university, Raj starts talking to a woman, but the conversation falls flat. Howard suggests that Raj should go talk to Mrs. Davis from Human Resources since her husband left her. When she walks over, Raj tries to make small talk about infidelity among penguins. This doesn’t go over quite the way he had hoped, causing her to walk away.

Meanwhile at the hotel, Bernie and Amy are having drinks talking about brain lesions. While mid discussion, a waiter brings them over drinks that were ordered for them. Amy gets all giddy and says that guys were actually hitting on them, not just trying to get to Penny, which is what usually happens.

Back in the 3D chess game, Penny is trying to get the game to end, but Sheldon won’t capture her piece because he is having too much fun. Penny suggests calling Leonard, and Sheldon brushes it off. That is until Penny starts to make the call and Sheldon gets excited and asks for her to put him on speaker.

Leonard is seen dancing at a party on the boat with a full beard. Leonard answers and tells them he is having the best time of his life. They are all partying and doing shots. Penny gets a bit upset that he is having a good time and she is sitting there missing him.

At the hotel, Bernie goes over to the guys that bought them drinks and tells them that they weren’t available. Bernie suggests that Amy should still go over and talk to them, hinting that she can do better than Sheldon. Amy gets offended and insults her husband, Howard.

Penny is still upset and is ranting to Sheldon, thinking that Leonard doesn’t miss her. Sheldon tries to comfort her, but as usual, fails to say something nice. Instead he points out that maybe she is picturing him “engaging in drunken coitus with another woman.” Penny starts to miss him again when Sheldon tells her that Leonard asked him to look after her while he is gone.

Raj tries to approach Mrs. Davis again and apologize to her. Raj starts to tell her about his current heartbreak, although she doesn’t seem interested.

Sheldon is trying to get rid of Penny, but she doesn’t want to go. She instead asks Sheldon to tell her something she doesn’t know about him. Since he doesn’t come up with anything but the number of pants and underpants he owns, Penny shares with him that she once did a topless scene in a low budget horror film about a killer gorilla. She expresses her embarrassment and says she is glad it never came out. Sheldon tells her that it did come out and that he saw it. It was called “Serial Apeist.” He said Howard found it online the day they met her.

Sheldon tries to say something personal, but again he fails when he tells her about a revelation he had with Youtube’s rating system. Penny decides to just leave, so Sheldon opens up and tells her that she hurt his feelings because he opened up to her about his feelings with Youtube and she dismissed it. She apologizes and hugs him.

Bernie and Amy are talking in bed about the men in the bar. They soon realize that the one Amy was attracted to sounds like Howard, and the one that Bernie was attracted too sounds like Sheldon. They then awkwardly say goodnight and turn out the light.

Mrs. Davis is leaving and Raj actually is able to say something nice. Raj believes that they had a moment.

The episode closes with Leonard showing his friends on the boat the shower scene from Penny’s movie. He swears to them that she is his girlfriend. They all start chanting his name.

The second episode, “The Deception Verification,” starts off with Penny and Sheldon carrying groceries up the steps. Sheldon is going on about weather, and Penny is not amused.

Sheldon mentions that since Leonard will be home in a few days, she won’t have to go shopping with him anymore. He does say they can have “one last blow-out” if the apples turn out to be mealy.

Penny goes into her apartment to find Leonard inside.

She gets excited and Leonard tries to quiet her down. He tells her that the experiment finished a few days early, so he thought he would surprise her and they could have some alone time. While hugging Leonard, Sheldon shouts from outside informing her that it is her lucky day and to grab her keys because three of the eggs “are clearly not jumbo.”

After the opening, Sheldon is at the comic book store looking for a welcome home gift for him. He asks Stewart for help and tells him he is looking for something “nautical.” He suggests an Aquaman statue, and Sheldon scoffs, saying this isn’t a gag gift. Stewart then makes a remark about it being a rare and he will save it for a real collector. This piques Sheldon’s interest.

Howard and Raj are also at the comic book store. Howard mentions that he is on a diet because he gained a couple of pounds.

At the register, Sheldon ends up paying $1,200 for the Aquaman statue. He decides he wants to keep it for himself and that he should throw in a Batman squirt gun for Leonard. Stewart then tells him that the squirt gun is also rare.

Leonard is showing Penny pictures from his trip. The two of them order pizza and while Penny is at the door, Sheldon walks up the steps with his Chinese food. He says that they should share one last meal together. Penny tries to get out of it, but Sheldon hears the toilet flush. She claims that it has been doing that randomly, so Sheldon invites himself in, saying he can fix it.

While inside, he notices two wine glasses and Chinese take-out containers in the trashcan, when they are usually not put in the can. Sheldon is about to leave when he asks Penny if she wants to spilt the price of a $200 squirt gun as a gift to Leonard.

Howard walks into his house and Bernie offers him unhealthy food that he says he cannot have since he is getting fat. Bernie then notices that the cream he has been rubbing on his mother contains estrogen, which is getting absorbed by his skin. That is the reason he is moody and gaining weight. She says the hormones will last a couple more weeks.

Amy is telling Sheldon about the rules of her made up language, but he is distracted. Sheldon tells Amy that he fears that Penny is cheating on Leonard. Amy disagrees, saying that Penny wouldn’t do that to Leonard. That is when Sheldon tells her there were Chinese food containers…in the trashcan. This made Amy believe that she was being unfaithful.

The two of them stand outside Penny’s with their ear up against the door. They hear giggling and kissing. Sheldon decides to open the door with his key and they find Leonard and Penny on the couch.

Leonard explains and apologizes to Sheldon. Sheldon is upset saying that he is sorry that their friendship is a burden. He tells Leonard there is no need for him to pretend to like him anymore. Leonard says he is being silly and gives him the sailor hat he brought back for him.

Sheldon puts it on and decides he will be Popeye for Halloween. He tells Leonard that this changes nothing.

Howard invites Raj to his apartment. Howard lifts his shirt to ask him if his boobs got bigger because of the estrogen. Raj says it is hard to tell and that he should jump up and down to see if they jiggle and then to shake them about. After doing so, Raj says they look like they can be bigger. Raj then stands up and lifts his shirt to show him that his jiggle too. Raj then touches Howard while he touches himself. Bernie walks into the room with the two of them with their hands on each other and themselves discussing if he went up a cup size.

Sheldon is still upset at Leonard, but he needs him to drive him to work. Sheldon goes on saying that Leonard probably always lies to him. The bickering ends in Leonard not driving Sheldon.

Amy instead has to drive him. Amy tells Penny that Sheldon is also mad at her because she is a “succubus that stole her friend.” He is upset about her betrayal since he thought that they got close while Leonard was gone.

At the university cafeteria, Sheldon is still expressing his anger. Howard speaks up and holding back tears, he tells Leonard that Sheldon is upset because he missed him, and that Sheldon should be happy for Leonard because he has love. He then talks about his own love, Raj, who held his breast for him. He says they should put aside their differences and get along and they agree.

Sheldon happily tells the group of all the things him and Sheldon did during their day together. Penny says she is happy they are friends again, and Sheldon says he is happy that he is friends with Penny again. He gives her a Vagisil coupon and he tells her to “think of him when she applies it.”

Raj says that he missed everyone hanging out together. Leonard notices that Raj is speaking in front of the girls without a beer. Bernie tells him it happened right after he left. Leonard is upset no one told him. Howard starts to tear up saying that he can’t believe they forgot to tell him. Penny then hands him her coupon for Vagisil and tells him: “think of Sheldon when you apply it.”

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