The Staircase Implementation (17 May 2010)

After Leonard and Sheldon get in a fight over the thermostat, Leonard goes to Penny's apartment and tells her about how he met Sheldon for the first time and how they became roommates...and what happened to the elevator.

Director:

Mark Cendrowski

Writers:

Chuck Lorre (creator), Bill Prady (creator),

Stars:

Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Johnny Galecki	...	Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons	...	Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco	...	Penny
Simon Helberg	...	Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar	...	Raj Koothrappali
Carol Ann Susi	...	Mrs. Wolowitz (voice)
Ally Maki	...	Joyce Kim
Steven Yeun	...	Sebastian
Ajgie Kirkland	...	Louie
Edward Lieberman	...	Announcer (voice) (as Ed Lieberman)

Storyline

After Leonard and Sheldon have a heated argument about what Sheldon sees as Leonard making a major breach in the roommate agreement, Leonard takes refuge at Penny's apartment. Despite the seriousness of the argument, Leonard assures Penny that Sheldon was much more difficult to live with when Leonard first moved in. Leonard recounts to her his first meeting with Sheldon seven years earlier when Leonard answered Sheldon's advertisement looking for a new roommate. He also recounts Howard and Raj's first encounters with Sheldon, what happened to the now broken elevator which was working when Leonard first moved in, and why Leonard decided to stay despite Sheldon being such a difficult and unusual roommate.

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Plot Keywords:

yelling | female spy | painting toenails | asian woman | crossdresser | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

17 May 2010 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chuck Lorre Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

20 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The hitherto unseen characters of Joyce Kim, a North Korean spy who dated Leonard, and the pairs' original neighbor, Louie/Louise , the "two hundred pound transvestite with a skin condition" are seen.

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Goofs

It is stated that the elevator wasn't functional for two years and that maybe it should be reported. Later, in season 3, episode 22, the elevator was destroyed by Leonard when he first moved in seven years earlier, and that Sheldon didn't rat Leonard out to the building supervisor and homeland security (hinting that it was investigated and therefore known about).

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Quotes

Sheldon Cooper: Oh, Ubuntu, you are my favorite Linux-based operating system!

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Connections

References Babylon 5 (1994)

User Reviews

An episode I've been waiting for since the beginning!

Ever since the start of the show, the big question on everyone's mind is "what happened to the elevator?" Finally, in a flashback episode to reveal how everyone met -which are always fun- it is shown why they must walk three flights of stairs.

From start to finish, this episode is a laugh riot and makes your stomach hurt from all the laughing. It's creative and interesting to learn how Leonard comes to live with the freak Sheldon. It's interesting how Sheldon is worse before Leonard arrives and it's great to see that Howard and Raj have always been lovable and quirky.

It would have been interesting to watch the show starting back in 2002 and venturing all the way until Penny moved in and such, but it's a great show and seems to improve with each episode.