"The Infestation Hypothesis" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on September 22, 2011. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Chuck Lorre, Jim Reynolds and Steve Holland, based on a story by Bill Prady, Steven Molaro and Maria Ferrari.
Sheldon likes a new chair Penny has in her apartment... until she tells him that she found it on the street and hired a couple of guys to bring it up. Sheldon rushes to the shower, and demands Penny get rid of the chair. Since Penny's unconvinced by Sheldon's arguments, he sends Amy to try to convince Penny to get rid of the chair.
Meanwhile, Leonard tries to make his long-distance relationship with Priya (Aarti Mann) work, but the Internet connection is lacking. Sheldon is very annoyed, because Leonard and Priya's "self-abuse" is "hogging the bandwidth."
Howard suggests a remote kissing machine. A remote kissing machine terminal consists of lips, a tongue, a column and a base. Leonard would have one terminal, Priya the other. Howard and Raj demonstrate the remote kissing machine on each other, to Leonard's embarrassment.note
Tropes
- Daydream Surprise: Penny convinces Sheldon to sit on the chair, and is suddenly covered by a swarm of bugs. Then he wakes up.
- Here We Go Again!: After Penny throws the infested chair out, Howard and Raj find it and bring it back up to Sheldon's apartment.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: While racing down the stairs after learning there was something in the chair, Penny makes Amy swear to never let Sheldon find out he was right.
- Metaphorgotten: Leonard gets carried away when Priya responds to him calling her "dirty", so he goes on to call her "disgusting" and "revolting".
- Mundane Utility: The guys use the university's new, very expensive thermoforming press to make panini.
- Noodle Incident: The examples Leonard gives of Sheldon fixating on ideas and blowing them out of proportion.Leonard: How about when you put GPS trackers in your garbage because you were convinced North Korean spies were stealing your doodles? The chicken nuggets you were sure were human nuggets. The strangely shaped cloud that was following you around town. The time you put on my shirt by mistake and were convinced you'd started growing again.
- Properly Paranoid: Turns out that Sheldon was quite correct to be wary of the chair.
- Slow-Loading Internet Image: A variation: during Leonard and Priya's video chat session, the video freezes in the middle of Priya undressing.
