The Leftover Thermalization

"The Leftover Thermalization" is the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode will air in March, 2015.

Summary

The final dinner cooked by Debbie Wolowitz is served when the loss of electricity defrosts her freezer. A magazine publishes an article on Sheldon and Leonard's work without mentioning Leonard's contribution.

Extended Plot

Amy and Sheldon are returning to the apartment while he is finishing a recitation of pi to one thousand places. Amy is thrilled. Sheldon gets his Scientific American magazine which has an article on the theory that Leonard proposed and Sheldon helped develop, but they only mention Sheldon as having worked on it.

Raj and Howard head over to his mother's house to go through her things.

Sheldon tells Leonard about the omission of his name in the article and tries to help by giving him a massage and mentioning that Steve Ditko is never mentioned as a co-creator of Spiderman; only Stan Lee is ever mentioned. Leonard is very unhappy.

Stuart tells Howard that there is no power to the freezer which will cause all the food to go bad since it can't be refrozen. Howard decides to invite everyone over for a meal and it will be like its the last time his mother cooked for the gang.

Leonard is depressed so Penny proposes to buy him a helicopter with a camera (drone) making him feel better. Sheldon finds out that the author of the article has been following his work for years and only did the article because Sheldon's name was connected with it.

On the way to the Wolowitz house, both Sheldon and Leonard are complaining to their girls about the magazine article.

PLD — Filming the drive over to Howard's house.

Howard finds strange things in the freezer like cake from his Bar mitzvah. The meal consists of three briskets, four meat loafs, ravioli, and a tub of matzo ball soup. Table discussions includes that the meal feels like they are in a French salon due to the lack of lighting, Leonard's name being forgotten in the article and female equality among super heroes. Finally when a food fight almost starts, Bernadette gets angry and demands that Sheldon and Leonard go into the living room. She is heard yelling a the top of her voice. Howard wants to know if everyone thinks that she sounds like his mother. No one ever noticed that.

Finally everyone is overstuffed lying around the living room. Someone says that the research paper was mentioned in another magazine and that Leonard was credited. A dishearten "yay" is heard as Bernie comes down the steps saying that she found the Tums for their upset stomachs. A bigger "yay" is then heard. Finis.

Notes

Title Reference: The title refers to all the leftovers that are going to spoil if not eaten.
Taping date: February 18, 2015
This episode was watched by xx.xx million people with a rating of x.x (adults 18-49).
Total viewers including DVR users xx.xx million.
The Big Bang Theory was ranked #x for the week ending xx March 2015.
This episode aired in Canada on March, 2015 with xx million viewers with a weekly ranking of #X.
In the United Kingdom, this episode aired on {date} with xx million viewers and a weekly ranking of #X.
In Australia, it aired on {date} with x million viewers.

Critics

To be entered.

Trivia

Even though Howard asks if everyone thinks that Bernadette sounds like his late mother and they disagree, others have noted the similarity. In "The Good Guy Fluctuation", Sheldon mistakes Bernadette's voice for Mrs. Wolowitz and calls the similarity unsettling.

Quotes