The Tangerine Factor
Directed by: Mark Cendrowski
Story by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady
Teleplay: Lee Aronsohn and Steven Molaro
Air date: May 19,2008
The episode starts with Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment and in walks a furious Penny who breaks up her boyfriend. She tells everyone that he posted details about their "personal" life on his blog. While this conversation is taking place Sheldon has been taking lessons on how to speak Mandarin from Howard because he suspects that the chinese resturant's Tangerine chicken is actually oranges and he wants to find out the truth.
The scene continues as Penny explains her choice of men and how it usually ends miserably. Leonard takes this as an apportunity to ask her out using the reason that she should try something different. She agrees which causes both of them to worry about how this will effect their friendship. Penny goes to ironically enough Sheldon for help because he knows Leonard the best. Then Leonard goes to him for advice because Leonard talks to Sheldon the most. He gives the same advice to both of them using the Schrodinger's cat experiment to explain his point. Penny needed the explanation where as Leonard understood his point immediatly calling it genious to where Sheldon remarks. "you sound suprirzed" To clarify Schrodinger's cat is an experiment that has a cat in a box with a series of items that when triggered in a few steps will unleash a poison which will kill the cat. Whether or not the cat is alive when someone goes back to check on it is a mystery which concludes that the exsistance of anything is only determined by consciously knowing the truth.
Leonard then goes to Penny's apartment and akwardly brings up Schrodinger's cat to where Penny stops him not wanting to hear it again. He takes a leap of faith and kisses her to where she replies. "the cat is alive lets go" so they leave for their date. They at first try the chinese resturant but find Sheldon arguing in Mandarin with the owner so they quickly leave and go somewhere else.