The Jerusalem Duality Season 1, Episode 12 -  Aired April 14, 2008

The Jerusalem Duality

Sheldon is rattled when a 15-year-old physics prodigy, Dennis Kim, visits the university. Sheldon loses faith in his own work in the presence of the boy genius, so he decides to leave theoretical physics behind and focus on obtaining the Nobel Peace Prize. Concerned by Sheldon's career turn, the guys seek to derail Dennis Kim's progress.

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Guest Stars: Mark Harelik as Dr. Eric Gablehauser, Austin Lee as Dennis Kim, Joel Brooks as Professor Goldfarb, Emma Degerstedt as Emma

Writers: Jennifer Glickman (Story), Stephen Engel (Story), Dave Goetsch (Teleplay), Steven Molaro (Teleplay)

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Viewers: 7.63 million Households Rating: 4.7/8 Adults 18-49 Rating: 2.8/9

Available on iTunes

Episode Notes

  • The title refers to Sheldon's plan for peace in the Middle East by creating a new Jersualem (Neuvo Jerusalem) in the Mexican desert.

Episode Quotes

Raj: Can you believe it! He watched me work for 10 minutes and than he tried to build a little piece of software that could replace me.
Leonard: Is that really possible?
Raj: As it turned out, yes.

Sheldon: Engineering. Where the noble semiskilled laborers execute the vision of those who think and dream. Hello, Oompa-Loompas of science.

Leonard: Okay, Sheldon, I understand that youre going through a bit of a career crisis, you're searching for some other area where you can feel valuable and productive but I need to tell you something and I want you to listen carefully.
Sheldon: All right.
Leonard: Go away!

Sheldon: Today, I went from being Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, to... You know, that other guy.
Howard: Antonio Salieri?
Sheldon: Oh God, now even you're smarter than me.

Sheldon: Yeah, I think you'll appreciate this, very exciting.
Dr. Gablehauser: Oh, what are you working on?
Sheldon: Something remarkable. Since my prospects for the Nobel Prize in physics have disappeared, thank you very much, I've decided to refocus my efforts and use my people skills to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Look, I'm going to solve the Middle-East Crisis by building an exact replica of Jerusalem in the middle of the Mexican desert.
Dr. Gablehauser: To what end?
Sheldon: You know, it's like the baseball movie, build it and they will come.
Dr. Gablehauser: Who will come?
Sheldon: The Jewish people.
Dr. Gablehauser: What if they don't come?
Sheldon: We'll make it nice, put out a spread.

Recap

Sheldon and Leonard are having lunch at the cafeteria when Dr. Gablehauser introduces them to a young North Korean physics prodigy, Dennis Kim. The university is trying to woo Dennis into completing his doctorate at Caltech. Their boss tells them to show Dennis Kim around the university, to Sheldon and Leonard give him a guided tour. Dennis points out an error in Sheldon's work and highlights that he won the prestigious Stephenson Award at a younger age than Sheldon, sending Sheldon into a funk.

Unable to cope with somebody being younger and smarter than him, Sheldon wants to stop working. He later decides to focus on a different research topic and tries to collaborate with Leonard, Raj and Howard, who each tell him to "go away". Feeling bad for their friend's loss of purpose, the rest of the guys devise a plan to eliminate Dennis Kim.

Dr. Gablehauser tells Sheldon that Dennis Kim will be joining the department and there will be a welcoming reception. Sheldon explains he has decided to change his field of focus and now aims to a build a "Neuvo Jerusalem" in the middle of the Mexican desert in a bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the welcoming party, the gang has succeeded in brining a lot of young women to the party by sending around an email declaring it "bring your daughter to work" day. Their plan looks set to fail, however, when Dennis Kim is too shy to talk to the girls. The guys try think of a way to overcome Dennis's shyness, but by the time Dr. Gablehauser calls Dennis up to give a speech, he's already decided to leave the party and go to the mall with one of the girls. Some time later, the guys see Dennis Kim with a group of teenagers, drinking and kissing in the park.