Sheldon dealt with severe separation anxiety while Raj and Howard made music on The Big Bang Theory 9×04, “The 2003 Approximation.”
Moving on
Leonard and Penny break the news to Sheldon that they are officially moving in together. Their strategy for this delicate task has a solid foundation, but it turns out to be kind of half-baked. Neither Penny nor Leonard has a plan for what to do once Sheldon throws his predictable tantrum, and they have no way to ease the misery that effects Leonard so strongly.
On the lukewarm advice of Bernadette, Sheldon unhappily resigns himself the seemingly-inevitable. He and Leonard dissolve the sacrosanct Roommate Agreement — though Leonard finds it hard to sign his name.
This is probably because Leonard still can’t fully commit to choosing his life with Penny over his life with Sheldon. Even after the Roommate Agreement is liquidated, he feels intense guilt about leaving his friend — and even some apparent homesickness.
While we sympathize with the nostalgia, Leonard: It’s time to pick a team.
The good old days
Speaking of nostalgia, Sheldon tries to recruit Amy for the position of his roommate. If it wasn’t clear that Amy is determined to move on before, it certainly is now — though moving in with Sheldon was once a dream of hers, she now firmly rejects the idea. (As she should; there’s no reason why Amy should have to be Sheldon’s last resort.)
Unable to process the emotional pain of having Amy, Leonard, and Penny “leave” him, Sheldon decides to revert to the happy state of emotionlessness he occupied before meeting Leonard. It’s 2003 again, flip-phone included.
Leonard and Penny are both distraught by this behavior, though they suspect that Sheldon might be throwing a tantrum. He insists that he is “trying to figure out how to live my life now that everyone is leaving me.” We think both things are probably true, but Penny is swayed by Sheldon’s reasoning.
She decides that they will revert to their previous standard of living — Leonard will be Sheldon’s roommate, but sleep at her place sometimes. It’s not exactly a surprising development, given the nature of the sitcom, but Penny’s decision to share her husband with Sheldon doesn’t exactly feel emotionally authentic.
Behind the music
Meanwhile, Howard and Raj decide to form a nerdy filk band called “Footprints on the Moon,” and play at Stuart’s comic book store. (Stuart, for the record, is still refusing to move out of Bernadette and Howard’s house. We honestly think that Bernie might murder him.)
Howard and Raj come up with their first single, a Thor and Indiana Jones crossover song called (you guessed it!) “Thor and Dr. Jones.” They are both wildly enthusiastic about their work, though Emily’s lukewarm response nearly breaks up the band.
In the end, Footprints on the Moon performs their weirdly catchy song at the comic book store. Unfortunately, Stuart isn’t very impressed — he decides he wants something people can dance to.
Nerds dancing to filk in a comic book store: That’s either a beautiful dream, or a nightmare waiting to happen.