Synopsis for
"The Big Bang Theory" The Bad Fish Paradigm (2008)

After her first date with Leonard goes awry, Penny finds an unwilling confidant in Leonard's anti-social roommate, Sheldon.

The new season of The Big Bang Theory picks up from Leonard and Penny's date. Leonard explains what Penny had was not, technically, frozen yogurt. Unfortunately, Penny only asked him if he wanted some of it. They have a goodnight kiss that is being witnessed by a security camera set up by Raj and Howard. (Presumably, Howard is running the camera, as he is eager to get a shot of Penny's cleavage.) Unable to get away from the camera, he cuts the kiss off, and they say goodnight. Heading into the apartment, he immediately confronts Raj and Howard about the camera. Their purpose for the camera is to document how Leonard will ruin the relationship. Leonard doesn't feel he ruined the date, thinking that slowing things down, as Penny suggests, is a good thing. Sadly, even Sheldon knows thats lame. To Howard, thats the equivalent of "this fish tastes bad and will slow down and spit it out." Leonard tries to remain optimistic about the date, even though he and Penny havent set a second date. However, video analysis says otherwise, according to Howard, Raj, and even Sheldon. ("He was a lot more fun when he had no hope."---Raj)

Our first look at the apartment building's laundry room shows Sheldon doing his clothes, complete with a shirt-folding device. Penny comes in and wants to talk to Sheldon about her date with Leonard. She asks Sheldon if Leonard ever dated someone who wasnt a brainiac. (Perhaps she should also not fold Sheldon's socks from now on.) It turns out she lied about graduating community college during the date so she could not be embarrassed about Leonard's educational background compared to her own. After several poorly-thought suggestions from Sheldon, she asks him not to reveal any of this to Leonard. Sheldon is shocked: he cannot keep any sort of secret. He develops "more nervous ticks than a Lyme Disease Research Facility." But she's asked him as a friend to keep this secret. The fact that they were friends is something new to Sheldon.

Later, Leonard and Sheldon meet Penny in the hall. He tries to set up a second date, but she evades setting one. After she's gone, Leonard immediately thinks he's the "bad fish" and asks Sheldon about it. Sure enough, Sheldon's giving more tells than the first person to lose at the World Series of Poker. Sheldon runs like hell to the Cheesecake Factory and begs Penny to release him from the secret. He's so bad at keeping secrets, he was denied a job at a "top-secret military supercollider at a fake agricultural station 12.5 miles southeast of Traverse City, Michigan." (Oops.) She insists on Sheldon keeping her secret, so he comes up with a solution: he moves out of the apartment.

When informing Leonard he is moving out, he decides not to say why. Raj and Howard arrive and want to know why. The myriad of possible reasons (including adjusting the brightness or contrast on the TV, take off a Band-Aid, or make fun of trains) don't seem to apply. Sheldon goads Raj into letting him stay at his teeny apartment. It takes Sheldon all of about 30 seconds to wear out his welcome. (Never insult Aishwarya Rai in Raj's presence.) Therefore, he has to infiltrate Howard's house with a stripper-gram. Howard is getting the same results as Raj when it comes to Sheldon annoying him. (But at least we know that Halle Berry is Sheldon's 5th-favorite Catwoman.)

Howard dumps Sheldon back at Leonard's. However, whacked out of his mind on Howard's mother's valium, he confesses Penny's secret to Leonard. Leonard is shocked, and even slightly upset that Penny thinks he's too smart for her. Leonard goes to Penny to talk to her about it. He decides to come up with a solution: giving Penny a community college brochure. Penny, to say the least, is not amused. She thinks she has to be smart to date him. She slams the door on him, but at least Leonard knows where he went wrong this time.