The Bat Jar Conjecture Season 1, Episode 13 -  Aired April 21, 2008

The Bat Jar Conjecture

The guys enter the college's Physics Bowl tournament, but Sheldon's inability to be a team player gets him thrown off the team. Sheldon decides to enter his own team, while the guys recruit Sheldon's nemesis, Leslie Winkle. 

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Guest Stars: Sara Gilbert as Leslie Winkle, Mark Harelik as Dr. Eric Gablehauser, Adam Gregor as Dimitri, Sandra Marquez as Woman, Sergio Enrique as Son

Writers: Stephen Engel (Story), Jennifer Glickman (Story), Bill Prady (Teleplay), Robert Cohen (Teleplay)

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Viewers: 7.51 million Households Rating: 4.7/8 Adults 18-49 Rating: 2.9/8

Available on iTunes

Episode Notes

  • The title references the Bat Man cookie jar Leonard bought Sheldon as they kicked him off the team.
  • When the guys were trying to find a fourth member for their team, Raj suggested Winnie from The Wonder Years (Danica McKellar) or TV's Blossom (Mayim Bialik). Both of these women later appeared on the show, with McKellar appearing in the third season episode The Psychic Vortex, while Bialik of course joined the cast as Amy Farrah Fowler.

Episode Quotes

Sheldon: Teams are traditionally named after fierce creatures thus intimidating one's opponent.
Raj: Then we could be the Bengal tigers.
Sheldon: Poor choice. You know, gram for gram no animal exceeds the relative fighting strength of the army ant.
Raj: Maybe so, but you can't incinerate a Bengal tiger with a magnifying glass.

Wolowitz: That's more like we're a tall thin woman who wants to make a coat out of your Dalmatians.

Raj: I say we wait until he looks at us then laugh, like "Yes, you're a smart and strong competitor but we're also smart and strong and we have a reasonable chance of defeating you".

Howard: Don't you think I should answer the engineering questions? I am an engineer.
Sheldon: By that logic I should answer all the anthropology questions because I'm a mammal.

Leslie: There's no reason to feel uncomfortable just because we've seen each other's faces and naked bodies contorted in the sweet agony of coitus. Rest assured that any aspects of our sexual relationship regarding your preferences, your idiosyncrasies, your performance, are still protected by the inherent confidentiality of the bedroom.

Recap

The guys consider entering the university's Physics Bowl Quiz after one of its leading teams pulls out, but Sheldon is initially unwilling to use his genius to win a contest. After the guys talk Sheldon into joining their team, he threatens to quit if they don't go with his idea of naming the team the Army Ants.

When the guys are practising for the contest, Sheldon doesn't give the others a look in when he answers every question himself and promotes himself to team captain. Later, Leonard brings Sheldon a Batman cookie jar as a consolation gift for being thrown off the team. Hurt by the guys' decision, Sheldon decides he will form his own team to take them on. In the university cafeteria, Leonard, Howard and Raj are searching for the fourth player their team needs. Leonard approaches Leslie Winkle, who initially rejects their offer until she learns they are going up against Sheldon.

On the day of the Physics Bowl, Sheldon arrives with his team, which he padded out with a janitor, a lunch-lady and either her butcher or her son.  The teams are neck and neck until the difficult final question. Leonard panics and gives the wrong answer, throwing the question to Sheldon who clearly does not know the answer either. Sheldon's Janitor team-mate, who explains he was a physicist in his native Russia, gives the correct answer but Sheldon refuses to let anybody but him provide the answer. Since Sheldon refuses to answer the question, Leonard's team (PMS) is crowned the winner.