TEXT: Following a "Previously on The Big Bang Theory" section Scene: The Comic Book Store. Stuart: So, Howard's really in space, huh? Leonard: Mm-hmm, International Space Station. 250 miles that way. Raj: Right now, Howard's staring down at our planet like a tiny Jewish Greek god. Zeusowitz. Sheldon: I must admit, I can't help but feel a twinge of envy. He can look out the window and see the majesty of the universe unfolding before his eyes. His dim, uncomprehending eyes. It's like a cat in an airport carrying case. Leonard: You know, it's not exactly glamorous up there. The water that the astronauts drink is made from each other's recycled urine. Stuart: Must be nice. Nobody wants anything that comes out of me. Raj: I wonder what he's doing right this very second. Leonard: Mm, conducting experiments in zero gravity. Raj: Peering through his telescope at the birth of the cosmos. Sheldon: Whatever it is, we know his life will never be the same. Scene: The International Space Station. Mrs Wolowitz (off): Howard. Can you hear me? Howard: I can hear you without the phone, Mrs Wolowitz (off): Don't be snippy. I'm just excited to talk to my baby. Howard: I'm excited to talk to you, too. Mrs Wolowitz (off): So, what's this mishegas about you moving out to go live with the little Polish girl? Howard: How about calling her my wife? Mrs Wolowitz (off): Wives don't take boys from their mothers. Howard: They do. That's why we marry them. Mrs Wolowitz (off): I just hope I'm not dead from a broken heart before you get back. Howard: Ma, please. Everyone from NASA is listening to this phone call. Mrs Wolowitz (off): Good. They should know what a horrible son you are. Howard: Okay, Ma, great talking to you. Gotta go. Well, space is ruined. Credits sequence. Scene: Penny's apartment. Penny is bleaching Amy's upper
SUMMARY:
Howard's mother, furious to learn he plans to leave her for Bernadette, calls him at the ISS. To pacify his mother, who wants him to stay, and Bernadette, who doesn't, he lies to both. Meanwhile, Sheldon invites Howard-less Raj to his second anniversary with Amy to outsource to the Indian any romantic activities the Relationship Agreement demands of him. Amy forces Raj to leave, so he crashes on Leonard and Penny's date. Leonard, unlike Penny, wants to discuss their relationship and resents Raj's intrusion, but has to accommodate him for Penny. When a drunk Raj demands Penny declare her love for Leonard, Raj is ejected from the apartment and goes to the comic book store, where he and Stuart bond over a nightcap and plan to meet up the next evening. Elsewhere, Amy's flirtatious gestures are lost on Sheldon; a hurt Amy tries to abandon their date. When he demands she return to drive him home, she says she will break up with him unless he says something romantic. He responds with a stunningly romantic soliloquy which she finds incredibly touching until he admits quoting it from the first Spider-Man movie.