‘The Big Bang Theory’ Recap with Spoilers: ‘The Retraction Reaction’

The gang sits around Leonard and Penny’s apartment eating dinner. Bernadette is further along in her pregnancy and everyone is talking about it. Leonard reveals that he’s going to be speaking on public radio about his work for the university.

That visit to the radio show doesn’t go as planned. On the show, Leonard slips up and says that there really isn’t anything happening in physics, making Cal Tech look pretty bad. This leads to a very awkward lunch the next day. Leonard tries to defend himself, but his friends let him know how big of a deal his mistake was.

In her lab, Amy talks to Bernadette about all of the new funding she is receiving for her work. She’s worried to talk to Sheldon about her new success since she knows his work is not going as well.

That’s when things go from just plain awkward to downright bad. Leonard gets called into the dean’s office and she says donors have been emailing all day asking where their money is going. The dean asks Leonard to lie and issue a statement correcting what he said on the radio.

To try and help him cheer up, Penny gives Leonard some wine. He explains what happened and admits that he might get fired for what he did. He shares that he may have to sell-out to keep his job– an idea Penny supports.

Sheldon is working to try and fix Leonard’s mistakes, but when Leonard comes over, Sheldon admits that his friend might actually be right. It looks like Amy was right to be worried.

After the commercial break, Sheldon and Leonard are trying to write the statement when they decide to have a drink. At Bernadette’s, Amy complains that she can’t ever brag about her accomplishments to Sheldon. The ladies decide they can brag to one another, but this doesn’t go well. They both start attacking each others’ jobs.

Sheldon, Penny and Leonard are trying to work through the issue of how to fix the problems of the physics industry when Howard and Raj show up. Instead of helping, those two obviously make things worse. As the crew gets drunk, they’re falling deeper into their state of depression. Fortunately for the sad and boozy bunch, Penny steps up and gives an inspirational speech. Howard says that they have to go visit Richard Feynman, an iconic physicist.

The gang approaches Feynman’s grave and they talk about everything they learned from him. Leonard says that physics is only dead when they stop enjoying it.

Of course, the crew couldn’t simply enjoy their rekindled love for the science. The episode ends with the dean calling Leonard back into her office to read an email. It’s unsurprisingly an email that Leonard sent while he was drunk.

The End.