# The Big Bang Theory, Season 12, Episode 18 (April 4, 2019) -- "The Laureate Accumulation" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2019, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051 "2019-04-04T18:54:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/21 "2019-04-06T21:23:40Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Hated the part where Amy went on a tirade and blasted the imposters. Pure claptrap that was done to death on the Jeffersons or any number of 1970s sitcoms. Heroic character gets all pissed off and tells the villain off. Audience cheers like a pack of trained seals. Been there, done that to death. Let’s bury that trope and shove a silver spike through its heart. Maybe next will be revival of catchphrases like “Dyn-o-mite!” and “Kiss my grits”. Perhaps situation comedies are not your cup of tea. Perhaps you’d prefer more reality-based dramatic entertainment with genuine emotional displays, like _The Bachelor._ > [@](#): > > Nitpick- in the astronaut book they depict Howard in the launch vehicle seated next to two others, all sporting the US flag. But in that episode, the other two were Russians. Double nitpick. Howard was launched with one American (real life astronaut Mike Massimino) and one Russian. > [@](#): > > Early picks for the finale: Shamy gets pregnant. As does Penny. Raj gets a gay wedding. There are six episodes left. It’s been revealed Shamy will have several children. Penny would have to change her mind really fast, because she’s on record as not wanting children. And Raj would have to change his mind even faster and more strongly, because for 11.5 seasons it’s been pretty clear that he prefers women but he’s inept with them. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/22 "2019-04-06T21:25:45Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Perhaps situation comedies are not your cup of tea. Perhaps you’d prefer more reality-based dramatic entertainment with genuine emotional displays, like _The Bachelor._ I like sitcoms, but not when they resort to cheap tricks like this. We’ve gotten more sophisticated than Good Times. What’s next, the cast taking part in a talent show? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/23 "2019-04-06T21:52:28Z")
When Sheldon was trying to show that the Fermi duo had no idea what they were talking about, it was stupid of him to present them with an either/or question. Instead he should have asked them to explain the super-asymmetry theory and how their work contributed. An open-ended question, in other words. (Although now that they’re traveling around trying to promote their candidacy, I assume they’d have some canned answers to explain this stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/24 "2019-04-06T22:00:39Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I like sitcoms, but not when they resort to cheap tricks like this. We’ve gotten more sophisticated than Good Times. What’s next, the cast taking part in a talent show? What? No, the gang has been invited to a live-action murder-mystery dinner party, but after entirely too long they’ll eventually realize the guy is actually dead. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/25 "2019-04-06T22:46:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Hated the part where Amy went on a tirade and blasted the imposters. Pure claptrap that was done to death on the Jeffersons or any number of 1970s sitcoms. Heroic character gets all pissed off and tells the villain off. Audience cheers like a pack of trained seals. Been there, done that to death. Let’s bury that trope and shove a silver spike through its heart. Maybe next will be revival of catchphrases like “Dyn-o-mite!” and “Kiss my grits”. If that is your take away you totally missed the humor. Sheldon for once bit his lip as instructed and didn’t do the rant, but then suddenly normally calm Amy unexpectedly took over and went crazy. Also, Sheldon finally recognized how bad what he normally would have done looked. Maybe not the highlight of the series… the season… or the episode but it is better than anything ever done on Good Times. Plus you quoted two catch phrases from 30 or 40 years ago that everyone recognizes so they must have some relevance. Ok, even I can’t keep a straight face saying that. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/26 "2019-04-06T23:57:44Z")
Maybe for the last episode they all go to another Escape Room. And don’t. The End. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/27 "2019-04-07T00:06:55Z")
After the series is over, The SDMB should organize a garage sale. Lots of slightly used ice picks should be for sale. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/28 "2019-04-07T00:43:38Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > If that is your take away you totally missed the humor. Sheldon for once bit his lip as instructed and didn’t do the rant, but then suddenly normally calm Amy unexpectedly took over and went crazy. Also, Sheldon finally recognized how bad what he normally would have done looked. > > Maybe not the highlight of the series… the season… or the episode but it is better than anything ever done on Good Times. > > Plus you quoted two catch phrases from 30 or 40 years ago that everyone recognizes so they must have some relevance. Ok, even I can’t keep a straight face saying that. I see your point and yes, the show is much better written than Good Times. That’s why I was so disappointing in the Amy rant. I thought it was lazy writing. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/29 "2019-04-07T00:52:47Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Oh yeah, I don’t think authors are being slammed. And I’d hazard a guess that publishing is like many other fields - having a connection like Stuart’s friend is how 90% of new writers break into the business anyway. I’m not necessarily saying anybody’s being “slammed.” Just that, like any creative endeavor, before getting a publisher interested in a book (even a simple children’s picture book), one likely goes through a _lot_ of rejection before even the slightest sniff of success. Somebody who’s actually done the work and paid the dues might be miffed at how easy they’re making the process look, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/30 "2019-04-07T02:32:52Z")
While Stuart is part of the regular cast, his contract is apparently for slightly less episodes (and money) than Sheldon, Leonard, etc. Denise is part of the recurring cast, and her contract is apparently for slightly less episodes (and money) than Stuart. There are very precise conditions in the contracts about all of this. Because Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, Raj, and Howard began in the first year of the show and Amy and Bernadette didn’t begin until the third year, Amy and Bernadette make slightly less money than Sheldon, Leonard, Penny, Raj, and Howard, even though all of them appear (I think) in every episode this year. Excuse me for referring to them by their characters’ names, not the actors’ names. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/31 "2019-04-07T15:28:53Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Double nitpick. Howard was launched with one American (real life astronaut Mike Massimino) and one Russian. Triple nitpick: The book shows Howard in the middle. He was actually on the left. (Rezinov was in the middle, Massimino on the right.) As to ending. It has to end back where it started. At the sperm donor clinic. With Vernee Watson as Althea, of course. Leonard is there to bank for when Penny changes her mind (Penny also doing egg donations). Sheldon because getting Amy pregnant the “regular way” is just “too icky”. One across is “Aegean,” eight down is “Nabokov,” twenty-six across is “MCM,” fourteen down is - lift finger - “phylum,” which makes fourteen across … “Port-au-Prince”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/32 "2019-04-07T16:02:08Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > As to ending. It has to end back where it started. At the sperm donor clinic. With Vernee Watson as Althea, of course. Leonard is there to bank for when Penny changes her mind (Penny also doing egg donations). Sheldon because getting Amy pregnant the “regular way” is just “too icky”. Not at the clinic…walking up the stairs to the apartment. They chat on the way, echoing the conversation in the first episode. Then when they get to the 4th floor, the elevator dings and someone gets off. They comment “Oh, look! They got the elevator fixed.” and head to their respective apartments. The End. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/33 "2019-04-07T16:20:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Not at the clinic…walking up the stairs to the apartment. They chat on the way, echoing the conversation in the first episode. Then when they get to the 4th floor, the elevator dings and someone gets off. They comment “Oh, look! They got the elevator fixed.” and head to their respective apartments. The End. Where would this person be going? It seems as if there are only two apartments per floor in their building. Which would make the building pretty lobsided considering how much bigger The guys apartment was in comparison to Penny’s (now P & L’s apartment compared to S & A’s). I have seen blueprints for TV apartments, I wonder if anyone has done a building blueprint for TBBT. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/34 "2019-04-07T17:26:48Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I have seen blueprints for TV apartments, I wonder if anyone has done a building blueprint for TBBT. Look here. [From Friends to Frasier: 13 Famous TV Shows Rendered in Plan | ArchDaily](https://www.archdaily.com/544885/from-friends-to-frasier-13-famous-tv-shows-rendered-in-plan) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/35 "2019-04-07T17:34:15Z")
That makes for a very odd outline for the apartment building, most of which are rectangles or other regular shape. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/36 "2019-04-07T18:24:07Z")
There have to be more than two apartments per floor. There are 16 mailboxes and 5 floors. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/37 "2019-04-07T19:48:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > There have to be more than two apartments per floor. There are 16 mailboxes and 5 floors. Why does it only have 5 floors? Are there exterior shots of the apartment building? I’d love to see those. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/38 "2019-04-07T21:20:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That makes for a very odd outline for the apartment building, most of which are rectangles or other regular shape. Almost all television apartments are impossible in the real world. Because they don’t care. They also have to have their sofas in the middle of rooms so people can walk behind them. > [@silenus](#): > > There have to be more than two apartments per floor. There are 16 mailboxes and 5 floors. There could be more than two. Note that the layouts given in Drum God’s link have no windows across the front of the apartments (where the televisions are). That’s evidence that one or two more apartments led off the entryway across from the elevator. Those are on the front of the building and have street-facing windows, while the ones we see face the rear. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/39 "2019-04-07T22:30:03Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > They also have to have their sofas in the middle of rooms so people can walk behind them. Just a minute!\*\*\* I \*\*\*have my sofa in the middle of the room. And much like Sheldon’s spot, it’s because the light is better, it has fewer fluctuations in ambient comfort and it forms a nice little “conversation pit.” ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051/40 "2019-04-08T00:13:16Z")
Penny’s apartment (now Shamy’s) would be over the street. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-season-12-episode-18-april-4-2019-the-laureate-accumulation/832051.md?page=3)