The Terminator Decoupling

Season 2 / Episode 17

 

 

Pack up your daffodil satchels and your blue cotton argyle socks, the guys are taking the train to San Francisco for a symposium. Nobel Prize winner "George Smooo-tuh" is the keynote speaker and Sheldon is hoping to dazzle the man with his paper on "Astrophysical Probes of M-Theory Effects in the Early Universe."

Trainman Cooper takes maddeningly exquisite care in maneuvering the gang into prime seats on the Coast Starlight, away from the dismal panorama of Jiffy Lubes and Costcos and an inconsiderate suspension system. But before they can begin reaping the endorphic rewards, they discover they're sharing the car with a winsome Terminator, and Sheldon realizes he's lost his chance to watch Smoot's face light up by his brilliance. "...you forgot your flash drive...you forgot your flash drive..." mock the steel wheels on polished rails.

While the would-be lotharios vie with one another over the Terminator, who is actually actress Summer Glau and not a Skynet imposter from the future, Dr. Wackadoodle negotiates the choppy lines of communication with his distracted, toe-painting neighbor. FINALLY though, having armed her with an exasperatingly precise flash drive retrieval plan, Penny stomps her way to success. Literally.

Alas, Smoot turns out to be somewhat of a diva, and a practically catatonic Summer Glau, having endured an exhausting onslaught of suddenly speechless astrophysicists and ice-skating fart goblins (or somesuch), hastily exits at the Santa Barbara stop.

 

 

By Check E. Light