The Big Bang Theory recap: Penny helps Sheldon with string theory

When Sheldon decides he needs a new project, Penny steps in to help. Meanwhile, Raj and Howard’s band may have to break up.

When Amy and Howard find out their project is being covered by the local news, Sheldon is jealous on The Big Bang Theory, titled “The Solo Oscillation.” He’s not got a current project, but he doesn’t really want his friends to know that. Of course, they’ve already worked it out. Deciding he needs to find some meaning in his life, he starts to work on dark matter.

Meanwhile, Raj and Howard’s band is booked for a bar mitzvah. It should be an exciting time, except life starts getting in the way of Howard. Is it possible Footprints on the Moon will go the same way as *NSYNC?

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Penny helps with string theory

Realizing he needs to find something or get some sort of project going, Sheldon decides to work on finding dark matter. All he does is procrastinate, finding the probability of his mother bumping into someone who used to live in the local area, the probability of him dying and writing down all the natural disasters that could happen.

Needless to say, his research is going nowhere. But he has kicked Amy out of the apartment for this, and she’s currently doing fun preschool and high school experiments with Leonard in Leonard and Penny’s apartment. So, Penny decides to get dinner and take it to Sheldon’s instead.

As Sheldon becomes disappointed he’s done nothing, Penny asks him why he got excited about dark matter in the first place. He didn’t, really. Everyone was doing it and he thought it would be cool when his string theory research came to a dead end. So, Penny decides to help him get back to his original research: string theory.

Again, it comes back to the dead end Sheldon was at before, until Penny starts talking about knots. But you can’t get knots in string theory, can you? Well, Sheldon looks at it from another angle and it could be possible. The two may have just had a breakthrough and it’s yet another reason Sheldon should have picked Penny as his “Best Man.” The episode also showed us that Leonard would have made an awesome “Maid of Honor” choice for Amy.

Raj and Howard’s band breaks up

Footprints on the Moon was great while it lasted. With Bernadette on bed rest and Howard soon to be a dad of two, he needs to help out more at home. So, despite the two being booked to play at a bar mitzvah, Howard decides to leave. Raj wastes no time in asking Burt to join the band, who has an interesting song about the boulder from Indiana Jones. It’s right up Raj’s alley and Burt plays the song, giving Raj a chance to really show his musical skills as he steps in with a harmony without even asking for the chord structure.

Howard decides to use the time to go solo, creating his own astronaut musical. Bernadette suddenly realizes that she doesn’t need Howard’s help at home and insists he goes back to the band. The duo becomes a trio and they perform the Indiana Jones boulder song at the bar mitzvah. Yes, it goes down with the kids just as you’d expect.

Next: 4 reasons Penny should be Sheldon's Best Man on The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory Season 11 continues on Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS.

Did you love seeing Penny and Sheldon working together again? What did you think about Burt showing up again? Share in the comments below.