- Raj falls apart after his date sneaks out on him, and Sheldon reluctantly returns the favor after Penny helps him out with his "Fun With Flags" program.
- Raj and Lucy have coffee together after they meet at the comic book store and get along until she unexpectedly runs off. Raj gets depressed and won't leave his apartment. Sheldon has Penny as a guest on "Fun with Flag" honoring the flag of her home-state, Nebraska. The gang goes to see Penny in her acting class' performance of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Sheldon is dragged to it and is impressed by Penny's acting skills. Howard takes a note to Raj from Lucy with her phone number on it. They get together and find that both of them have social skill problems and agree to another date.—originial work by laird-3
- Raj is heartbroken that his coffee date with Lucy ended when she snuck out into the night through the coffee shop bathroom window, especially as he thought the date was going so well up to that point. Depressed, Raj decides to retreat from life and all worldly pleasures, and in turn hole up in his apartment forever. Leonard, Howard and Bernadette try to get him out of his funk, but truly understanding why Lucy left may be the only way Raj will willingly reenter the real world, at least as he knew it before this incident. Meanwhile, Sheldon's next guest on "Fun with Flags" is Penny, who ends up giving him what he considers constructive advice on how to appear on camera. Sheldon is as grateful as Sheldon can be, but based on advice from Amy, Sheldon has to decide what form that gratitude will take while still remaining within his own sensibilities.—Huggo
- Raj and Lucy, the girl who left with him after the Valentine's Day party at the comic book store, are having coffee the same evening. Raj tells her how he went to Cambridge University, which reminded him of Hogwarts, where he fell in love with astronomy. He then asks about her, but first she excuses herself to go to the restroom. Raj thinks that everything is going great until we see Lucy passing the front window.
The next day, Sheldon is taping a Fun with Flags episode in his apartment. He apologizes to the audience for not airing an episode last week because Leonard pointed out that when he dressed up as George Washington Carver for Black History Month that that show was racist. Penny is Sheldon's guest and is described as a flag virgin. Penny joins him and says that she has many times been at parties and has not been able to join in the discussions about flags. Penny stops the taping and shows him how to loosen up using things she learned in acting class like talking to his guest and not to the camera. Also he should have his arms opened instead of crossed thus welcoming everybody in. Sheldon then looks too relaxed almost like Penny and he are a couple. Penny then says that she is from Nebraska so Sheldon shows her and describes the Nebraska state flag now sitting stiffly.
Howard, Bernadette, and Leonard go to visit Raj after not hearing from him for a few days. Howard says that he can always feel when Raj is in trouble. They get him to open the door after he complains that nothing good ever happens to him. Inside they find Raj moping over Lucy looking terrible and his apartment is a wreck. Raj tells them that he was humiliated by yet another woman. Raj explains that he took her to get coffee and that she left. She had climbed out a very tiny window in the bathroom meaning that she was highly motivated to leave. Raj tells them to leave him alone and goes into the bedroom. Before they leave Bernadette says they could talk about it over lobster, saying only she had the decency to wait on her lobster craving until he left the room.
Sheldon is video chatting with Amy who is monitoring her cigarette-addicted monkeys who are now going through withdrawal and are getting on her nerves. He tells her that his "Fun with Flags" episode went well and that Penny's acting tips were very helpful. He demonstrates opening his arms and saying "Welcome to my world" and subsequently folding his arms and saying "Not welcome to my world". Amy asks if he told Penny that she was helpful and had done a nice job. Amy says that she is his friend and that he should.
Penny walks out her door with the trash not giving Sheldon a chance to knock. She asks if she should close the door until after he does his knock, but Sheldon says that he's fine since he had not started. He then tells Penny that he was thinking about her performance and thanked her for the great job she did. His comments included using her name three times, each time with three taps on the door completing his knocking sequence. Penny then invites Amy and him to her acting class play on Friday night. Sheldon walks away and says that he is not interested in that. Back at his computer, Amy is seen teasing her monkeys by not giving them their cigarette lighter. Sheldon tells Amy about the play and Amy tells him that he was rude not accepting the offer since she had helped him out. Sheldon complains about all the crazy rules as the monkeys start to throw their feces at Amy. Back at Penny's door, at first Penny doesn't want him to come under obligation. Then they argue about how he "wants to go because he has to want to go".
At the comic book store, Sheldon mentions how he hasn't seen Raj lately and if he is now out of their social group. Howard tells Sheldon that Raj has decided to never leave his apartment again. Sheldon thinks that that idea is brilliant and wishes he could do it. Lucy enters the comic book store and approaches Stuart. She asks if he remembers her, and Stuart mentions that she left the party with Raj, which gets the guys' attention. Howard tells her that he is Raj's best friend and that Raj is devastated. Lucy says that she is sorry and asks Howard to give Raj a note. Howard replies that Raj is a proud man and that if she walks out again, she is only going to have five or six more chances.
Howard is sitting in Raj's apartment and he is now dressed in only Tighty-Whities underpants and a plastic bib eating lobster. Howard shows Raj the note, and tells him that he should celebrate and call her. Raj doesn't want to call her and replies that he is going to be a monk, and renounce all his worldly pleasures except eating lobster. Howard leaves with Lucy's note. After Howard leaves, Raj runs down the street in his underwear and boots to get the phone number back from Howard.
Leonard is getting ready to go to Penny's play and asks Amy how her monkey addiction project is going. Sadly, she is no longer associated with that project since she was flinging their feces back at them and was called unprofessional. Sheldon enters the living area reluctant to go to the "stupid" play. First Leonard takes away from Sheldon several gaming systems (a Nintendo DS, a Nintendo 3DS, a PSP, a Nintendo Game Boy), a Rubik's Cube and an Etch-A-Sketch. When Sheldon finally hears the play's name, A Streetcar Named Desire, he gets excited because he thinks it will be about actual streetcars.
Lucy hesitantly walks up to Raj's door and knocks. Raj and his place have been cleaned up. Lucy says that she can't stay and that running out on him was not cool. Raj asks why she ran out on him. Lucy replies that she has a hard time around people she doesn't know. She had seen the flyer about the party and forced herself to come to get out of her comfort zone. Lucy doesn't even like comic books. Raj first agreed with her and then said that he did like them. Raj then admitted that he couldn't talk to her without his beer and that he has major psychological problems. Though Lucy thinks he might not be telling her the truth, she agrees to go on another date to find out.
Penny is on a small stage performing as Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Sheldon is wondering when the streetcars come in. Leonard is engrossed in Penny's performance and even Sheldon says that she is remarkable. Amy calls her friend a star. Sheldon wonders how she can remember all those lines and yet forget to leave out the tomato on his hamburger when she is working as a waitress.
Title reference: Raj tries to isolate his own "monster" (social problems), hoping to find love. He also isolates himself in his apartment.
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