The Skank Reflex Analysis

"The Skank Reflex Analysis" is the first episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Thursday, September 22, 2011, as a back-to-back episode with The Infestation Hypothesis.^[1]

Summary

Penny worries that her behavior has screwed things up permanently with her friends. Meanwhile, Sheldon takes command of their paintball team, but the guys are too worried about their own personal problems to take it seriously.

Extended Plot

The episode starts at work a few hours later after the previous season 4 episode, with Sheldon trying to solve a "puzzle" presented by what Penny said in the last episode ("It's not what it looks like."). He comes to the conclusion that Penny was checking Raj's anal region because of what it looked like to him and because Raj is from India; a third-world country, greatly disgusting Leonard. Leonard then clarifies that Raj and Penny did have sex and she lied.

Howard and an embarrassed Raj arrive at Apartment 4A as Sheldon informs them about the university's interdepartmental Paintball Tournament. He asks Leonard if the situation is awkward because Raj had just slept with Penny in Leonard's own bed. After Leonard sarcastically answers that he's fine with it, Sheldon answers that he knows it's sarcasm but doesn't care. Sheldon then begins to ponder about his rank within his team; however, this is the last thing on the other guys' minds. Leonard and Howard quickly gang up on Raj, angrily asking him how he could sleep with Penny. Raj believes that Howard and Leonard are angry that he was Penny's second choice after Leonard, which Howard rejects claiming that he has a real shot. Leonard then counters Howard, saying that even Sheldon would be before Howard. Raj interprets the night to mean that he and Penny are in love, which shocks both Howard and Leonard. Sheldon then interjects that he has decided his own rank to be captain.

Howard rejects Raj's notion of being in love, with Leonard adding that Raj would fall in love with any girl who smiles at him, since he was writing poems about Bernadette just a month ago (which he had learned about from Priya in the previous season). Howard is shocked at the exposure, which Raj at first roundly rejects. When Leonard recites part of the poem ("Oh Bernadette, please play my clarinet"), Raj downplays the poem's relevance since he is now the "dusky half of Koothrapenny". Sheldon again interjects saying that he has genitals that are "functional and aesthetically pleasing".

At Penny's apartment, Penny grabs some wine and can't find a glass, so she improvises and uses a measuring cup instead. Amy arrives and compliments Penny for keeping track of her alcohol intake, implying that she knows about what happened between her and Raj. Penny admits her regret at screwing up everything, and that she feels like two different people, Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Whore. Amy then tells the inappropriate story of Catherine the Great having relations with a horse, much to Penny's disgust, to let Penny know that her reputation is redeemable.

At Raj's apartment, Bernadette storms in to question Raj about the poems he wrote about her, since they are causing Howard to freak out. Raj admits that he thought she liked him because she is nice, which Bernadette counters that she is nice to everyone. Bernadette demands that Raj straighten things out and assure Howard that there is nothing between them. When Raj asks Bernadette if he has a shot with Penny, and she tells him, still in a quite angry voice, that he is a cutie pie and that any girl would be lucky to have him.

Back at Penny's apartment, Penny is recounting her promiscuous past all the way back in kindergarten, where she hung herself upside down from the monkey bars because she couldn't marry a boy at recess. Amy informs Penny that neurobiologists refer to the behavior of using promiscuity to get dopamine as the skank reflex. Penny then decides to leave and go somewhere where no one has seen her naked. As they leave, they see Leonard and Sheldon at the hallway and Penny slams the door back shut. Penny then asks Amy if she can stay at her apartment, which Amy is excited for since she now has a best friend sleepover. They can make popcorn, stay up all night, and Amy can teach her secret language Op. Penny is uninterested about the language and goes to pack her bags.

At their apartment, Leonard is showing Sheldon his camouflage suit for the Paintball Tournament which he cites as unnecessary, while Sheldon pretends that the camouflage is extremely effective. Sheldon has called up Leonard's mother, Beverly Hofstadter, to console Leonard. After Leonard tells her his troubles, her sole piece of advice is an unhelpful "Buck up, sissy-pants."

At Amy's apartment, Amy is combing Penny's hair as she admires Penny's blonde hair as a waterfall of liquid gold. Penny reveals that she is considering moving back to Nebraska, since she hasn't gotten any acting breakthrough except a callback for a hemorrhoid commercial. Amy tries to diffuse the idea since her thriving social life greatly depends on Penny. Just then, Raj enters, and Amy is excited that she has "a guest in my trundle bed and a boy at my door", which would have been dream for 13-year-old Amy. Penny is shocked that Raj knows about her whereabouts, which he reveals is because of Amy's Facebook page sharing about Penny. Amy goes to clear out space for Penny's stuff as she leaves Penny and Raj alone.

After Amy leaves, Raj asks Penny to go on a date, which Penny awkwardly turns down. Penny admits that she slept together with Raj only because she was really drunk, and that it was a huge mistake that ruins friendships. She tells him that she wants to go back the way they were - as friends, which Raj accepts. Before they end the discussion, he claims to her that they didn't have sex in the "conventional sense." Penny gets the wrong idea and angrily asks him if he pulled some weird "Indian crap" on her. Raj reveals to Penny that when they were about to have sex, but Raj was having a hard time putting on the condom, and they both instead fell asleep. Penny is both shocked and relieved by this admission but agrees to not tell the others.

As the boys are discussing strategies in a paintball shack, Sheldon shows an overhead display of the paintball field via Google Earth and explains his plan to take out the Geology Department. Leonard, Howard, and Raj are not in the mood to play paintball. Sheldon blames himself for his team's lack of motivation and tries to rip off the Captain insignia he had sewn on, but he is unable to do so. Sheldon begins to exit the shack, and when Leonard asks him where is he going, Sheldon replies that he is "following the footsteps of Captain Kirk, Crunch and Kangaroo." Sheldon leaves the shack, stands in the open and provokes the enemy by saying "Geology isn't a real science!", in turn sacrificing himself, and is shot at least 20 times. Enraged, Sheldon's team attacks the enemy and emerges victorious.

Back at the apartment, the boys are celebrating their victory and toast their Captain, who has, with his last breath, awarded himself a battlefield promotion to Major Sheldon Cooper. Penny enters the apartment, proclaiming that she is going back to Nebraska because her acting career is failing. Right that moment, her agent calls her and tells her that she got the part for the hemorrhoid cream commercial. In the final scene, the gang watches the commercial with Penny.

Credits

• Guest starring:
  • Christine Baranski as Dr. Beverly Hofstadter
  • Stacey Travis as Sandy
• Teleplay: Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady & Steven Molaro
• Story: Eric Kaplan, Maria Ferrari & Anthony Del Broccolo

Critics

• The TV Critic: "We don't really understand how Penny and Leonard see one another with much depth. We don't really understand Raj's feelings beyond him being a bit sad and lonely but with an edge of jerk to make him funny. That story has so little emotional resonance because we spent our time on the cameos. Similarly, I don't know if Sheldon really had a master plan to win the paintball game...That story has so little emotional resonance because we spent our time on the cameos... A new season, but very much the same show." ^[2]
• The A.V. Club gave this episode a B+^[3]
• IMDB user reviews

Notes

• Title Reference: Amy refers to Penny's incident with Raj as "The Skank Reflex", which is, according to her, what neurobiologists call promiscuous behavior.
• Chuck Lorre's vanity card; however, the joke was originally written by Kevin L. Schwartz in 2002^[4]
• This episode was watched by 14.30 million people with a rating of 4.9 (adults 18–49).^[5]
• This episode aired in Canada on September 22, 2011, with 3.718 million viewers and a weekly ranking of #3.^[6]
• In the United Kingdom, this episode aired on on November 3, 2011, with 1.339 million total viewers and a weekly ranking of #13^[7]
• In Australia, it aired on October 10, 2011, with 1.505 million viewers and a weekly ranking of #11.^[8]
• Episode transcript [1]

Costume Notes

• Sheldon sports his ManBot t-shirt, arguably his favorite as it is the one he has worn in more episodes than any other - and in more colors (green, blue, and purple). He also wears his Flash distressed athletic jersey tee.
• Leonard is seen in a "Lunar Cycles" t-shirt from Urban Outfitters (discontinued) and a Little Timmy Robot t-shirt from Karl Addison (discontinued).

Trivia

• Bernadette is only seen with one speaking scene in this episode (The scene where she is gigantically furious with Raj) and she has a small one-second silent appearance with the rest of the gang watching Penny's commercial at the end of this episode.
• Raj and Penny did not have sex, instead, both just fell asleep.
• This show is the third of five episodes to have a "Previously on The Big Bang Theory" review of past events. It includes clips from "The Herb Garden Germination" (S4E20) and "The Roommate Transmogrification" (S4E24), and it is narrated by Johnny Galecki.
• In this episode, ironically, it is Leonard who reveals Raj's "love" to Bernadette to Howard, causing a turmoil among Howard, Bernadette and Raj, since previously in "The Herb Garden Germination" (S4E20) Leonard told Penny, "Well, the point is, if this got out, it would destroy Howard and Raj's friendship." Leonard also cites Raj's poem "Oh Bernadette, please play my clarinet", which was also first referred in that episode. This narration was used throughout the remainder of the series to remind the viewers of past events.
• Sheldon and Beverly Hofstadter think Leonard likes to point out the obvious since he was a toddler.
• Beverly has written books about parenting, which are (not in real life) available on Amazon.com.
• Sheldon thinks he follows in the footsteps of Captain Captains Kirk, Crunch and Kangaroo.
• Amy has a secret language, which she dubs "Op." In the language she spells out every word (except for the first in a sentence) and adds 'op' to the end of each consonant. For example, instead of "sounds great," it's "sounds gop rop e a top!" It is probably a tribute to Pig Latin. They use it much later in the series, but they don't follow the rules set up here.
• Sheldon still takes things literally. For example, when Penny tells the guys in the season 4 finale that her sleeping with Raj is "not what it looks like," he spends the rest of the morning trying to figure out what she meant. He comes to the conclusion that Penny was checking Raj's anal region because of what it looked like to him and because Raj is from India; a third-world country. Leonard then clarifies that they did have sex and she lied.
• Howard claims Penny would've slept with him before Raj if he wasn't engaged to Bernadette. Leonard believes Sheldon would have a better chance with Penny than him.
• Penny is willing to drink wine out of anything. She thinks that after drinking wine from a measuring cup, that wine glasses should have handles. Amy mentions that is good that she is now measuring her alcoholic intake.
• When Penny is about to go out with Amy, she says she wants to go "somewhere where no one's seen me naked", and then they open the door to see Sheldon and Leonard, who both have seen her naked - Leonard in various episodes of Season 3 (when they have sex), and Sheldon in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency" (S3E08).
• Raj is always "packing" condoms.
• This episode is the first of a three-episode whiteboard arc continued in "The Infestation Hypothesis" (S5E2) and "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation" (S5E3). The calculations on the whiteboards refer to attempts to create axions in an artificial Sun generated by focusing on 192 lasers onto a small pellet at the National Ignition Facility of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. As shown on the whiteboards’ Feynman diagrams, electrons in the Sun's core could produce a detectable number of axions. Axions are particles originally conceived in the late 1970s to give a natural explanation in quantum chromodynamics of why the strong nuclear force obeys certain symmetries.
• When Sheldon falls to his knees after being shot numerous times in the paintball match he strikes the same pose as Sgt. Elias from the movie "Platoon". It is also played by Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) in "Topic Thunder".
• Penny lets Raj tell other people that their love burned too brightly, but not that he ruined her for white guys.
• This season premiere takes place immediately after the last episode of the previous season.
• Penny is steadily becoming an alcoholic from her guilt over the loss of Leonard.
• Leonard called Sheldon's mother twice, so Sheldon called Leonard's Mother when he thought he needed help.
• Sheldon wears the army rank of captain and at the end of the episode he promotes himself to major.
• This show is the second episode where Sheldon puts on imaginary safety equipment. The first episode was "The Euclid Alternative" (S2E5).
• Leonard calls Sheldon 'Sherlock'. Both Sheldon and Sherlock Holmes are believed to have Asperger's Syndrome, though it is unlikely since they don't enough of the same symptoms to be diagnosed as such.
• During Penny and Amy's sleepover, Penny says that she "hasn't gotten a single acting job since [she] moved out [to L.A.]". In "The Hofstadter Insufficiency" (S7E1), we learn that this is actually not true. Shortly after she moved to L.A., she had a part in "Serial Ape-ist".
• Amy's made up language Ubu Dubbi is revisited in "The Veracity Elasticity".

Quotes

Leonard: (After Howard claims Penny would've slept with him instead of Raj) Please! Sheldon would've been before you, and he might not even have genitals!

(One minute later, after much conversation)

Sheldon: For the record, I do have genitals. They’re functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Penny: (looking for a glass to pour some wine, settles on a measuring cup) Yep. That's good. Wine glasses should have handles.

Amy: Keeping accurate track or your alcohol intake. Smart idea considering how trampy you get when you've had a few.

Penny: You heard, what I did?

Amy: Well, I heard who you did.

(The scene of a knock on Raj's apartment door when Raj finishes his quick sip of beer, gets up from his desk sighing to himself and opens the door to see Bernadette, who is immediately furious at him with an enormous amount of anger for confessing his fleeting feelings for her to Howard)

Bernadette: (She is so totally furious) You jerk face!

(Raj runs backwards nervously whilst Bernadette immediately yells at him with massive fury)

Bernadette: What did you tell Howard? Did you say there was something going on between us? Because he thinks there is! He’s completely freaking out!

Raj: Please, come in.

Bernadette: (she asks a question to Raj with huge violent anger) What the hell is wrong with you?!

Raj: You were always so nice to me; I thought maybe you liked me.

Bernadette: (she yells with a big blast of gigantic rage) I’M NICE TO EVERYONE!

Raj: I'm sorry.

Bernadette: (she's still extremely furious) Damn right, you’re sorry! (she is just about to exit and then stops to yell at Raj with more enormous fury) And you tell Howard there’s never been anything between us!

Raj: I will. Hey, Bernadette?

Bernadette: (she's asking Raj with another huge yell of fury) What?!

Raj: Do you think I have a shot with Penny?

Bernadette: (she shouts really loudly with rage for one last second) Of course you do! You’re a cutie pie! Any girl would be lucky to have you!

(Bernadette suddenly leaves in a huff and slams the door. Then the scene ends with a loud sound of door slamming while Raj puts on a reacting smile).

Penny: You know I've done this before. In kindergarten, I was supposed to marry Jason Saridson at recess, by the time my class got out there, he was already engaged to Chelsea Himmelfarb. What did I do? Hung upside down from the monkey bars, let all the boys see my underpants.

Amy: You can't blame yourself. When your prefrontal cortex fails to make you happy, promiscuity rewards you with the needed flood of dopamine. We neurobiologists refer to this as the "skank reflex."

(Scene: Amy's apartment; Amy is brushing Penny's hair)

Amy: Ninety-nine, one hundred. It’s like a waterfall of liquid gold. My turn.

Penny: You know, I don’t even know what the point of me staying in L.A. is. I haven’t gotten a single acting job since I moved out here. The closest I came was last month, I got a callback for a hemorrhoid commercial.

Amy: Oh, I could so see you being the face of hemorrhoids.

Penny: I know, right? Maybe I should just move back to Nebraska.

Amy: No, I can’t let you do that.

Penny: Why not? (There is a knock on the door)

Amy: For the first time ever, I have a thriving social life. And no pressure, but it kind of lives and dies with you.

Raj: Hi, Amy. Can I talk to Penny?

Amy: A guest in my trundle bed and a boy at my door? I wish I could tell 13-year-old me it does get better.

Penny: How did you know I was here?

Raj: It’s all over her Facebook page.

Amy: I’ll take your stuff to the bedroom and clear out a drawer.

Penny: Thanks.

Amy: No problem. Try and keep it in your pants, okay?

Penny: So, hi. What’s up?

Raj: I was wondering if you’re free Friday. They’re having a Totally ’80s Night at the Greek. Hall & Oates, Katrina and the Waves and three-fifths of Kaj-a-goo-goo.

Penny: Oh. Gee, that’s really sweet, but the thing is…

Raj: Aw, there’s a thing.

Penny: Look, honey, I was really drunk and made a huge mistake last night. We should’ve never slept together. It’s what ruins friendships.

Raj: You can’t ruin a friendship with sex. That’s like trying to ruin ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.

Penny: Come here. Just listen to me. I want to go back to the way we were before. You know, friends. No sprinkles.

Raj: Oh. All right.

Penny: Thank you.

Raj: Well, uh, as your friend, you might like to know that, um, we didn’t have sex in the conventional sense.

Penny: Oh, God. Did you pull some weird Indian crap on me?

Raj: No, no. After we got undressed and jumped in bed, you, you asked if I had protection.

Penny: Oh, you did, didn’t you?

Raj: Of course. I’m always packing. Anyway, um, I had trouble putting it on and you tried to help and, that was all she wrote.

Penny: So, we didn’t actually…

Raj: I did. It was beautiful.

Penny: Oh!

Raj: Penny, please, please promise me you won’t tell anybody about this.

Penny: Of course I won’t. No, I won’t.

Raj: Oh, good. Um, can I tell people that our love burned too bright and too quickly? Kind of a Candle in the Wind deal?

Penny: Sure.

Raj: Cool. Can I say it fell apart because you were all, I want to have your babies, and I was like, I’m too rock and roll to be tied down?

Penny: No.

Raj: Can I say I ruined you for white men?

Penny: Also no.

Raj: Okay, just the candle thing.

Penny: Yeah.

Raj: Cool. All right friend.

Penny: Hmm.

Raj: I’ll see you around.

Penny: Okay. Raj, wait. Thank you for being my friend. (hugs Raj)

Raj: Penny?

Penny: Mm-hmm?

Raj: It’s getting beautiful again. (Penny lets go with a disgusted face.)

Sheldon: (During a paintball game against the Geology Department) Geology isn't a real science!

Sheldon: Penny’s brain teaser this morning. She and Koothrappali emerge from your bedroom. She is disheveled, and Raj is dressed only in a sheet. The sole clue, it’s not what it looks like.

Leonard: Just let it go, Sheldon.

Sheldon: If I could, I would, but I can’t, so I shan't. Now, knowing Penny, the obvious answer is, they engaged in coitus. But, since that’s what it looked like, we can rule that out. Let’s put on our thinking cap, shall we? (Mimes doing so) Raj is from India, a tropical country. Third World hygiene. Parasitic infections are common, such as pinworms. Mm-hmm. The procedure for diagnosing pinworms is to wait until the subject is asleep, and the worms crawl out of the rectum for air. (Leonard spits out food) Yes, just like that. Penny could have been inspecting Raj’s anal region for parasites. Oh, boy. That’s a true blue friend.

Leonard: SHE LIED.

Sheldon: Oh. Well don't I look stupid wearing this.(Mimes taking thinking cap off)

Sheldon: If there's ever a church of Sheldon, this will be when it started.

Sandy: (Penny's commercial) How are you doing?

Penny: Sittin' pretty.

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