The Fish Guts Displacement Season 6, Episode 10 -  Aired December 6, 2012

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When Amy comes down with the flu, she calls on Sheldon to take care of her. After Amy enjoys Sheldon's care a little too much, she takes advantage of him as she gets better. Meanwhile, Bernadette tells Howard to join his father-in-law, Mike, for a fishing trip to get to know him better.

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Guest Stars: Casey Sander as Mr. Rostenkowski, Meagen Fay as Mrs. Rostenkowski

Writers: Chuck Lorre (Story), Bill Prady (Story), Tara Hernandez (Story), Steven Molaro (Teleplay), Eric Kaplan (Teleplay), Jim Reynolds (Teleplay)

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Viewers: 16.94 million Households Rating: 10.6/17 Adults 18-49 Rating: 5.2/16

Available on iTunes

Episode Notes

  • The title refers to the fish gutting demonstration Penny showed the guys.

> Relationship Agreement

Sheldon has to take care of Amy when she's sick as is specified under the relationship agreement.

> Sheldon's Knock

Sheldon uses his knock twice on Amy's apartment door. The first time, Sheldon does two rounds of knocking before realizing he's calling her to go to a funeral, so he performs the last round solemnly. After leaving sick Amy in her apartment, Sheldon goes back and knocks again to tell her he made a commitment to comfort her in times like this. 

Episode Quotes

Sheldon: You know, its a tad old-school, but my father was not one to spare the rod when my brother would sneak into his truck and drink his driving whiskey.
Amy: You want to spank me?

Amy: I don't need your medicine. I'm not really sick. I got better two days ago.
Bernadette: I don't understand.
Amy: It's been so nice having Sheldon take care of me, I just wanted that to last longer.
Bernadette: You should tell him.
Amy: I know.
Sheldon: (From the other room) Amy! Are you strong enough to bathe yourself, or do you need my help?
Amy: I'll tell him tomorrow. Mama needs a bath.

Sheldon: So I can't wear my Silver Surfer necktie but you can wear a bathrobe?

Sheldon: I got the results back. Have you developed any of the following symptoms? A growing nose, or perhaps a warm sensation in the trouser region? Also known as full-blown liar, liar, pants on fire.

Sheldon: Amy's taking me to a memorial service. It's for one of her colleagues who is of Asian descent, so my planned conversational gambit is to casually remark that no matter how deep they dig his grave, he'll never make his way back to China.
Leonard: That should lighten the mood.
Sheldon: What can I say? I put the fun in the funeral.

News Stories

Title Date Posted
Episode 6.10 Ratings December 7, 2012

Last night's episode of The Big Bang Theory finished first in the ratings in its time slot and was the night's highest-rated and most-watched broadcast.  Full story

CBS Announces Episode 6.10 November 19, 2012

CBS has issued the press release for the tenth episode of the season, "The Fish Guts Displacement", which will air Thursday, December 6. Meagen Fay (Malcolm in the Middle, Roseanne) guest stars as Bernadette's mother, while Casey Sander (Home Improvement) reprises his role as her father.  Full story

Recap

The guys discuss their plans for the evening in the apartment. Howard is having dinner with Bernadette's parents, which is torturous as he has nothing in common with her dad. Sheldon is reluctantly attending a memorial service with Amy for one of her colleagues. When Sheldon arrives at Amy's apartment to accompany her to the memorial, Amy is too sick to go to the funeral. Amy would like Sheldon to take care of her, as is stipulated in the relationship agreement. Though Sheldon initially tries to back out of his commitment, he relents and stays to care for Amy.

Meanwhile, Howard is chatting to Bernadette's father, Mike, who largely responds in one word answers. As they wait for the food to cook, Howard tries to talk to Bernadette's mother, but she's even less talkative than Mike. When Mike reveals he's going fishing this weekend, Bernadette encourages him to invite Howard along. Elsewhere, Amy is unimpressed by Sheldon's bedside manner, though she perks up when he offers to apply VapoRub to her chest.

Howard tells Leonard and Raj how he's never been fishing before and wonders if they can give him any pointers. They're as clueless about fishing as he is so they decide to ask the one person they know who likes manly stuff, Penny. Penny shows the guys how to bait their hooks with worms, but the guys are incredibly squeamish. Over at Amy's apartment, Sheldon reads Amy a scientific study to help her fall asleep. When Bernadette arrives to check on Amy and give her some experimental medication, Amy admits she's no longer sick. She's just been keeping up the act so Sheldon will take care of her. Bernadette convinces Amy to tell Sheldon the truth, but when Sheldon offers to bathe her, Amy decides to wait another day.

Back at the apartment, Penny moves on to show Howard how to gut a fish. When the guys gag as Penny explains the procedure, she wonders what's wrong with them. The guys admit they didn't have anyone in their lives who did this with them. Leonard points out that there is a dad who wants to take Howard fishing now, convincing him to try and gut the fish. When Howard guts the fish and Penny points out all the eggs showing it was female, the guys almost throw up. Meanwhile, Amy is dancing to music as Sheldon arrives. She turns off the music as Sheldon opens the door and tells him she's taken a turn for the worse. Sheldon is surprised to hear that as he just got lab results back showing Amy isn't sick. Amy admits she isn't sick any more and she just enjoyed him taking care of her.  Sheldon decides a punishment is in order and chooses to spank her, much to Amy's pleasure.

Howard arrives at Mike's house ready for the fishing trip. When Mike reveals he'd like to shoot some ducks as well, Howard admits fishing and hunting is not for him, and he only came because Bernadette forced him. Mike reveals he tried to back out too, but came because his wife wouldn't let him. Realizing their women still expect them to go away for a weekend, they decide to head over to a casino for a weekend of gambling.