The Big Bang Theory recap: 'The Solo Oscillation' 

Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Scott Halberstadt, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Frank Pacheco

Everything is coming up roses for our favorite group of friends. Raj’s planetarium show is getting media attention, Amy and Howard’s project was highlighted in a journal, and Bert is working with Leonard to shake things up in the experimental physics department. Let’s not forget the fact that Bernadette is growing a baby and Penny is happily making hats out of newspaper.

When he complains that he has nothing of interest to pursue, Amy encourages Sheldon to use this downtime as an opportunity to refocus on something he is excited about. Sheldon agrees and immediately kicks his fiancée out of the apartment so he can refocus in peace. Amy is forced to take her Neti pot and clean her sinuses in Penny and Leonard’s kitchen sink.

Go Mayim Bialik for actually cleaning your sinuses with a Neti pot on a nationally ranked network show.

Sheldon’s first attempt to rediscover his passion for dark matter proves to be a great big bust, so he once again kicks Amy out of the apartment the next day. She happily passes the time with Leonard since she learned the evening before that they both were former spelling bee champions. Nothing says “fun Friday night” like stumping your friend with fancy spelling words like “expeditiously.”

Leonard and Amy are eager to recreate old science fair projects and calculate wave speed formulas. Much like Penny, I almost fell asleep typing that sentence. Penny makes herself useful by offering to pick up dinner. (Read: She was bored and needed to get out of the house.) When she hears her husband and best friend cheering over algorithms, she makes the bold decision to take the pizza to Sheldon.

Penny can tell that Sheldon is flailing. She asks a simple question that makes him pause: What got you excited about dark matter in the first place? Sheldon explains that dark matter is cool and he wanted to give it a whirl. Penny astutely points out that dark matter is his rebound. It’s the science Sheldon uses to make himself feel pretty again. Brilliant.

Sheldon reminisces about his days with string theory and elegantly teaches Penny the basics. He also admits that people have been stuck on string theory for decades and Penny immediately taps out since even Einstein couldn’t figure it out, which makes perfect sense since strings just get all knotted up anyway.

Sheldon is quick to educate his prodigy that you can’t have knots in four dimensions. But then a light bulb flashes and he amends that statement. You can have knots if you consider the dimensions sheets.

I know. It’s a bunch of science talk. But the moral of the story is that Sheldon will more than likely have to share his Nobel Prize with Penny because he has discovered something big in the field of string theory.

In other news, Footprints on the Moon is back and playing bar mitzvahs. But this time they’ve added another musician to the band. When Raj hears Bert’s original song about a boulder, he mentally checks out. As soon as he discovers the point of view is from the boulder that chases Indiana Jones, Bert lands a spot on the monthly rotation.

I love these guys. I’m metaphorically holding up a lighter right now.

PENNY: I remember telling Jenny Runyan that I would teach her how to flirt with boys if she put my name on her project. I got an A. She got pregnant.

AMY: Girls like you are why I had to come straight home after school.

PENNY: I didn’t think anything could top last night’s spelling bee, but here comes math!