"The Agreement Dissection" is the twenty-first episode of the fourth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Thursday, April 28, 2011.[1]
Summary
Sheldon is frustrated at Priya's nullification of the Roommate Agreement using her knowledge of law and contracts. When he hears that Penny, Amy, and Bernadette will be "trash-talking" Priya that night, he joins them for a girl's night out and takes them dancing.
Extended Plot
Leonard showering with Priya in the bathroom.
Sheldon barges into the bathroom while Leonard is showering, stating that he drank a 32-ounce smoothie and needs to urinate immediately. Leonard discourages it and points out Priya is in the shower with him. Sheldon is angered by this intrusion, claiming it is a violation of the Roommate Agreement, but he has no time to waste so he rushes over to Penny's place to urinate there. The following morning, Sheldon charges Leonard with two violations of the Roommate Agreement, but Priya defends Leonard with her lawyer skills, nullifying Sheldon's charges.
Amy's monkey smokes in Sheldon's face
Sheldon and Amy's first dance in The Agreement Dissection.
Sheldon's LCARS self-destruct countdown.
That night, Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Priya are eating Greek food on Pizza Night. When Sheldon arrives home, he realizes everyone is not eating pizza on Pizza Night which is a violation of the Roommate Agreement, but, before he can do anything, Priya uses her lawyer skills to legalize the Greek food. Sheldon gives in and begins eating a lamb kebab which he claims "tastes like sweat". Soon, Sheldon can't take it anymore, so he goes over to Penny's and congratulates her on hosting Pizza Night at her apartment. Penny declines as she is having dinner with Amy and Bernadette. Penny invites Sheldon, who initially refuses, but agrees upon hearing that they probably will be "trashing" Priya.
At a bar, Penny, Amy, and Bernadette are drinking alcoholic beverages while Sheldon is drinking milk. Amy warns Sheldon that they may go crazy and, soon enough, the girls are all drunk and in Amy's drunken state she asks Sheldon to kiss her and calls it a "scientific experiment". He declines and, instead, Amy kisses Penny. Soon, this action brings up the dance topic and since Sheldon claims to be good at dancing styles such as the Rumba, Waltz, and Cha Cha, the girls force him to go dancing. Later, at a dance spot, Sheldon and Amy are dancing together when an old man approaches Penny and Bernadette and asks Bernadette to dance with him, but she excuses herself on account of being engaged to Howard. The old man then asks Penny, who accepts. He dances with her, but keeps moving his hands down to her rear.
Sheldon and Amy's first kiss
Sheldon follows Amy back to her apartment. Amy invites Sheldon in and offers him some Yoo-hoo, which he accepts. When Sheldon is in the apartment he smells someone smoking and inquires about it, and Amy directs his attention to the smoking monkey who is a part of her department's nicotine addiction study. Next, Sheldon tells Amy about Priya nullifying his Roommate Agreement and the power that comes with it. Amy tells him to play dirty and then kisses him. Amy then tells Sheldon not to take her next action as a comment on the kiss; she dashes to the bathroom and vomits.
The following morning, Sheldon has written a new and improved version of the Roommate Agreement and wants Leonard to sign it, but he refuses. Sheldon, foreseeing this comment, activates a self-destruct sequence on his laptop, akin to how Captain Kirk in the Star Trek episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" activated the self-destruct sequence and threatened to blow up the Enterprise to kill both himself and an alien nemesis, unless he gave in to his demands. The self-destruct sequence will send an email to Mr. and Mrs. Koothrappali informing them about Priya's secret relationship with a white boy. Leonard signs the paper after Priya threatens to end their relationship if he doesn't. Sheldon exclaims to Priya that she may have gone to Cambridge, but he is an honorary graduate of fictional Starfleet Academy.
In the final scene, Amy, hungover, video chats with Sheldon and asks him what happened the previous night. Sheldon fills her in on the details including the kiss. They agree to restore their relationship to the point where both of them thought that it worked.
Critics
- The TV Critic: "This really was a good episode until those final few moments. The writing is sharp and the characters are entirely believable despite all the silly things they say. And yet the creative team betray their morality in those final moments. Sheldon is the reason the show is successful but he is also selfish and mean. That needs to be addressed or all this good work can be quickly undone."[2]
- The A.V. Club gave this episode a C-.[3]
- IMDb user reviews
Notes
- Title Reference: Priya "dissects" the Roommate Agreement using loopholes she finds in it to get around Sheldon's claims of violations.
- Chuck Lorre's vanity card.
- This episode was watched by 10.71 million people with a of 3.3 (adults 18-49).[4]
- This episode aired in Canada on August 18, 2011 with 2.624 million viewers and a weekly ranking of #4.[5]
- In the United Kingdom, this episode aired on August 25, 2011 with 1.301 million total viewers and a weekly ranking of #13.[6]
- Episode transcript [1]
Costume Notes
- Sheldon wears his Flash distressed athletic jersey tee.
Trivia
- This is the first episode to show Amy's romantic feelings for Sheldon.
- Amy sang the chorus of "I Kissed a Girl" (by Katy Perry) in the car after kissing Penny.
- Sheldon claims that when Franconi's went out of business, they switched to Graziano's for their Pizza Night, but in "The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem", Sheldon says he eats pizza from Giacomo's for Pizza Night, suggesting they have changed more than once.
- Sheldon is an "honorary graduate of Starfleet Academy".
- Sheldon took dance lessons (against his will) when he was younger. He says, "In the South, pre-adolescent children are forced through a process called cotillion, which indoctrinates them with all the social graces and dance skills needed to function in 18th century Vienna." (Refer to this page on the late 18th and early 19th century Vienna formal dances and the cotillions.) However, Sheldon questions dancing in "The Middle Earth Paradigm", stating that Leonard, Raj, and he can't dance in "The Dumpling Paradox", and assures Penny that that in none of the infinitely many universes is he dancing in "The Gothowitz Deviation". Notably, he still sees dancing as punishment in this episode.
- Howard and Raj only appear in one scene in this episode. This is the second time it happens. The first time is in The Maternal Congruence (S3E10).
- Sheldon and Amy's have their first kiss is which Sheldon describes as "fascinating"; a favorite word used by his idol Spock.
- The taxi driver is played by Arnold Chun.
- The dispatcher's voice (in the taxi) is Tom Yi.
- When Sheldon is asked who else has he kissed in his life he does not mention Leonard's mom who kissed him in "The Maternal Congruence". This time was mentioned by fans to The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady via his Twitter account, who replied that she didn't count as Beverly came on to Sheldon. Sheldon, Penny, and Beverly also mentioned that they would never say anything about it.
- According to the producers, the smoking monkey was achieved through combining footage of a real nonsmoking monkey with CGI effects.
- Priya incorrectly uses the legal principle "ambiguity in a contract benefits the party that did not draft it" (in that such terms are construed against the party seeking to have them enforced) when she dissects Sheldon and Leonard's roommate agreement, since "bathroom emergency" is a vague, but not an ambiguous term.)
- As in "The Boyfriend Complexity", Sheldon once again demonstrates his ignorance of the law in this episode. In believing he has effected what he should comprehend to be a valid novation with Leonard, Sheldon instead forms what is at best a voidable contract with Leonard. This is due to the prospective validity of the defense of duress to potentially effect an avoidance by Leonard of any enforcability of the Roommate agreement. At another point in the episode, Sheldon also once again demonstrates a misapprehension of the basic aims of contract law as distinguished from criminal law when he mischaracterizes a complaint for a cause of action sounding it a breach of contract as an arraignment (and Priya humors him).
- In "The Bad Fish Paradigm", several ways are stated regarding how to annoy Sheldon. One of them was "Talk to him through the bathroom door"; however, in this episode it is shown that Sheldon talks to Leonard while he (Leonard) was in the bathroom. It may mean that Sheldon doesn't mind talking through the bathroom door as long as he is outside the bathroom.
- Sheldon dances with Amy even though he cannot conceive a universi where he would be dancing.
Quotes
- Sheldon: Leonard, are you in the shower?
- Leonard: I can't hear you, I'm in the shower!
- Sheldon: I have to skip the chitchat! Emergency!
- Leonard: What kind of emergency?
- Sheldon: Mathematical! Thirty-two-ounce banana smoothie, sixteen ounce bladder!
- Sheldon: According to the Roommate Agreement, paragraph nine, subsection B, the right to bathroom privacy is suspended in the event of force majeure, and believe me, I'm experiencing a very majeure force!
- Priya: Hang on, no. My client does not waive reading of the charges.
- Leonard: Cool, I've got a lawyer... and I've seen her naked.
- Leonard: Top of her class. Cambridge University. Licensed to practice law in three countries and your face.
- Priya: Section seven here, on the right to enter the bathroom in emergency situations, is not specific as to what constitutes an emergency.
- Sheldon: That's ridiculous. A bathroom emergency is self-explanatory.
- Priya: Is it? If Leonard forgot to trim his nose hair, could he barge in while you were showering?
- Sheldon: Irrelevant. Leonard doesn't trim his nose hair. He thinks because he's short, nobody can see up there.
- Priya: My point is, Sheldon, the legal principle is ambiguity in a contract benefits the party that did not draft it. In this case, Leonard. So much for count one.
- Sheldon: But--
- Priya: There's no buts, Sheldon. That's how the law works.
- Leonard: Schooled!
- Sheldon: (knock-knock-knock) Penny. (knock-knock-knock) Penny. (knock-knock-knock) Penny.
- Penny: Hey, what's up?
- Sheldon: The mean Indian lady tried to make me eat lamb. Congratulations, pizza night will now be at your apartment. Order one.
- Penny: Sorry, honey, I'm meeting Amy and Bernadette for dinner, but you're welcome to tag along.
- Sheldon: A girls' night? Oh, I don't know if I'm up for an evening talking about rainbows, unicorns and menstrual cramps.
- Penny: Okay, suit yourself. We'll probably be trashing Priya a little.
- Sheldon: Shotgun!
- Amy: Fair warning, we can get crazy.
- Bernadette: Yeah. Last week we smoked cigars and pretended to be dragons.
- Sheldon: Really, Amy? Tobacco and alcohol? Need I remind you not a lot of scientific discoveries were made by people having a good time?
- Amy: (to Penny) Why did you bring him? He's harshing my buzz.
- Amy: (singing) I kissed a girl and I liked it... (mumbling) Hope my boyfriend don't mind it...
- Sheldon: What happened to you?
- Priya: So, what happens when it counts down?
- Sheldon: Unless Leonard signs the new agreement in the next 41 seconds, this computer will send an email to your parents in India, saying that you're in a secret relationship with the whiter-than-marshmallow-fluff Leonard Hofstadter.
- Sheldon: You may have gone to Cambridge, but I'm an honorary graduate of Star Fleet Academy.
- Sheldon: Oh, memory impairment. The free prize at the bottom of every vodka bottle.
- (Ricky the smoking monkey is screeching in the background)
- Amy: They were out of menthol's, get off my back! Not easy living with a temperamental little primate.
- Leonard: (shouting from the bedroom) Come on, Priya, just admit I embarrass you!
- Sheldon: You're preaching to the choir, sister.
- Sheldon: (triple knock) Penny. (triple knock) Penny. (triple knock) Penny.
- Penny: What?
- Sheldon: Move. Move. Move!
Gallery
References
- ↑ The Big Bang Theory - The Agreement Dissection (TV Episode 2011) - IMDb
- ↑ The TV Critic's Review
- ↑ The Big Bang Theory: "The Agreement Dissection" - TV Club - The A.V. Club
- ↑ Thursday Final Ratings: 'Idol,' 'Grey's,' 'Big Bang,' 'CSI' Adjusted Up; 'Community' Down + 'The Office,' 'Parks & Rec' Finals - Zap2it
- ↑ Top Programs – Total Canada (English) April 24 – May 1, 2011 - BBM Canada
- ↑ BARB via Wikipedia
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