White Asparagus Triangulation

White Asparagus Triangulation
Writers	Stephen Engel (Teleplay), Richard Rosenstock (Teleplay), Dave Goetsch (Story), Steven Molaro (Story)
Director	Mark Cendrowski
Starring	Sara Rue as Stephanie
Air Date	24 November 2008
Vanity	Card #229
Guide	Episode #209
Quotes	Episode #209
Forums	Discuss Episode

Season 2, Episode 9 (0209)

Lizard-Spock Expansion . . . << White Asparagus Triangulation >> . . . Vartabedian Conundrum

Summary

(Edited from Wikipedia:)

Sheldon is concerned that Stephanie is the only girl Leonard has dated that he "finds tolerable". He tries to force himself into conversations with "urban slang" to "help" Leonard in the relationship with Stephanie, as "history suggests" he will fail ("You're [Leonard is] Kirk, I'm [Sheldon is] Spock, Wolowitz is Scottie, Koothrapalli is the guy that always gets killed…and now we've got McCoy [Stephanie]"). Leonard attempts to get away from Sheldon by going to the movies with Stephanie, but Sheldon is able to follow them despite Leonard only leaving a note. ("If you were trying to make it impossible to locate you, you couldn't have done a better job." "Oh, clearly I could have.") After believing that Leonard is losing Stephanie, he runs to Penny for advice. Penny, however, is no help, so Sheldon runs to Wolowitz and Koothrapalli, but all they give is, in Sheldon's words, either "apocalyptic genocide" or "go easy on the cologne". Sheldon once again runs to Penny, but she refuses to talk. Afterwards, Sheldon attempts to prove Leonard's physical superiority to Stephanie by having him open a jar of white asparagus, which is what the title refers to. However, Leonard shatters the jar by accident and has to get stitches. Wondering why Leonard can't supposedly keep a date, Sheldon remarks, "You seem like a perfectly pleasant person. I can't understand why women have such a hard time loving you."

Following the trip to the hospital, Leonard finds his Facebook status has been changed to "In a relationship". Leonard also finds the cause: Sheldon hacked his account. Leonard angrily tells him off and forbids him to speak, but to everyone's surprise, Stephanie changes her Facebook status to "In a relationship" to match Leonard. Sheldon closes the episode by stating "If I am permitted to speak again, Dr. Sheldon Cooper for the win."

Episode Outline

I. First floor of the building, Stairway and hallway in front of apartments

• Sheldon tells Penny how important Leonard's new relationship was to him.

Titles and opening theme

II. Living room

• Leonard and Stephanie are having a date but Sheldon joins them for dinner.

III. cinema

• Leonard and Stephanie are having another date but again Sheldon joins them.

IV. hallway in front of Leonard's bedroom, at night

• Sheldon is worried about Leonard's relationship.

V. hallway in front of apartments

• Sheldon offers Penny banana bread to receive an invitation to enter her apartment and talk to her.

VI. Penny's apartment

• Sheldon tries to question Penny about the reasons her relationship with Leonard went wrong.

VII. Cafeteria

• Sheldon questions Howard and Rajesh about advice to prevent Leonard's relationship from failing.

VIII. hallway in front of apartments

• Sheldon offers Penny zucchini bread but again offends her with his questions.

IX. Living room

• Leonard and Stephanie are having another date.
• Sheldon enters and pretends he couldn't open a glass with white asparagus to give Leonard a chance to show to impress Stephanie. It goes wrong when Leonard badly cuts himself.

X. Hospital

• Leonard got stitches in his hand.

XI. Living room

• The guys are having lunch when Penny congratulates him to the change in his Facebook status.

Resources

List of entries from this episode

Wikipedia episode guide

IMDb page for this episode

Timeline

This episode covers the events of several days. At the end Leonard and Stephanie have been dating for two weeks (according to Penny, while Leonard states they have been dating for a "few weeks"). Assuming the events of the last episode went on over one week, this suggests that this episode features the events of one week as well.

Title

(edited from Wikipedia)

"Triangulation" could be a reference to Sheldon's constant intrusion on Leonard and Stephanie's dates, which culminates in Leonard cutting his hand while trying to open a jar of white asparagus for Sheldon.