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Total Fan
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 7,325
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Finally!
Thanks to inouken.
Quote:
bbt taping report - the romance resonance
i’m really sorry this took all day for me to post, you guys, but here it is finally. The taping report for s07e06 - the romance resonance. 
scene 1: The cheesecake factory
at the start of the scene, the entire group is present with the exception of bernadette. They’re all seated at a table. Sheldon is hunched over some papers and calculations, so immersed in his work that penny stops to ask what he’s doing when she sets his plate in front of him. Without looking up, he tells her abruptly that he’s “in the zone”. Penny asks what that’s supposed to mean and amy explains that it’s difficult to say; you can’t really tell. She runs through a list of things that it has meant in the past (i don’t remember any of them, i’m afraid), and then finishes with a sort of resigned comment about how she can’t believe she didn’t even make the cut.
Howard changes the topic. He looks really excited, leaning over the table as he tells everyone that the anniversary of his first date with bernadette is coming up, and he wants to do something romantic to celebrate the occasion. He then confesses that he’s been working on a song for her. Everyone loves the idea except for sheldon who tells howard that he is completely uninterested.
Bernadette arrives. As she takes a seat, she apologizes for being late, but then explains with more than a dash of enthusiasm that it’s because the lab received samples of a lethal raccoon virus. There’s some back and forth between her and the group about this virus. She remains excited through the discussion because this virus somehow translates into money. There was probably more talk about the virus here. In the interest of full disclosure, my brain does not retain science things well. It latches onto simpler joys, like the way sheldon’s face looks when he finally raises his eyes from his work and asks everyone, “when did we get to the cheesecake factory?”
scene 2: The stairwell
leonard, penny and sheldon are climbing the stairway to their apartments. Sheldon’s a couple steps behind leonard and penny, totally engrossed in his work from earlier. Leonard’s still thinking about the romantic surprise that howard’s planning for bernadette. By the way he’s smiling, you can tell he’s thinking about it fondly. He tells penny that it’s such a nice gesture, then follows it up with a comment about how she never does anything romantic like that for him. Penny tells leonard that’s not true; she’s done plenty of romantic things for him. He says quickly that sex doesn’t count. She deflates for a moment before she’s grinning again, pointing out the one time that she took him to a bed and breakfast. He reminds her that he was the one who had planned that getaway, whereas she had— penny cuts him off like she doesn’t want him to finish his sentence. She says she remembers what she had done. The three of them climb the stairs in awkward silence before her walls crumble and she reveals that they had needed to get the establishment a new rocking chair. Sheldon, who had been ignoring their conversation until that moment, finally catches up to say, “ew.”
next floor. Leonard tries to convince penny that it’s not a big deal, but penny won’t have any of it. She tells him he’d better get prepared because she’s going to romance his ass off. I don’t remember what leonard said in return, but when he tries to get sheldon to turn into their apartment, sheldon just tells him he’s “in the zone” and starts walking up the next flight of stairs. Penny asks if they should go after him, but leonard says not to worry; sheldon will figure it out once he steps off the roof.
Scene 3: Leonard and sheldon’s apartment
it’s later in the evening. Sheldon is writing on his whiteboard while leonard watches him from the kitchen. He tells sheldon that while he knows sheldon’s in the zone, would sheldon like a cup of tea? Sheldon doesn’t hear leonard, or if he does, he’s too focused on his formulas to acknowledge leonard’s presence. Leonard approaches him, telling sheldon he knows he’s probably going to regret this, but sheldon hasn’t spoken to him in over an hour and he’s genuinely concerned.
Sheldon still doesn’t pay attention to him. He steps back from the whiteboard, admiring his math. Only then does he turn to face him. He says something to the effect of ‘humble yourself in the presence of my towering intellect.’ leonard’s unimpressed and says as much when he mutters to himself that no, it was better when sheldon wasn’t talking. Sheldon’s so taken with the formulas on his whiteboard that he ignores this comment, however. He tells leonard that it’s almost like his brain had a baby. Only it’s beautiful and not covered in gunk like human babies.
Now it’s leonard’s turn to not pay attention to sheldon as he looks over his math on the whiteboard. His expression shifts from long-suffering to quiet admiration, and he asks sheldon is this right, did he just discover a way to synthesize a new super heavy element? Sheldon ponders for a moment, though he does it dramatically, saying he doesn’t know, that no one has ever found a way to successfully do that except oh wait, no, he just did. He’s so excited that he starts to dance around the living room while chanting about how great his brain is. Leonard stares at him for a long time. Eventually, he mutters, “no, it was definitely better before.”
(here’s a cute bts thing for this scene: Before the second take, johnny started punching the air like he was training for a boxing match. He got really into it, ducking and jiving to a beat that only he could hear. It was so adorable.)
scene 4: The cafeteria
howard, raj and leonard are sitting at the cafeteria table. Howard asks leonard if leonard would be cool playing the cello for his song to bernadette. Leonard replies that if by ‘cool’ he means if leonard would be willing to play the cello, then yes. If he means that if leonard is actually cool playing the cello, then clearly he’s never seen him play before. Howard then asks raj if he can play his ukulele. Raj says of course, he would love to shred his axe. On the first and second takes, howard begs him not to call his ukelele an axe. On the third take, he shoots him a look and tells him to just play his sad wimpy guitar. Raj holds up placating hands and says, okay, he gets it; he’ll just woo her heart— then he does the ‘rock out’ hand gestures with some heavy metal tongue action. There’s a punchline here that i don’t remember because i was too distracted by his heavy metal tongue action.
Sheldon joins the group. He looks proud of himself and starts talking about his new discovery. Apparently a team in china had tested his theory and discovered the existence of this new super heavy element. I don’t remember the rest of this conversation well. I guess my body was still rocking hot flashes because of kunal’s heavy metal tongue. Sheldon makes some kind of comment about how someone in the press had likened the discovery to communism and that the communist party had probably been the ones to say it. He then gets a wistful sort of look in his eyes and says something about how he wishes he could control people the way communism does. He reaches across the table for a cookie that i believe was on leonard’s tray, explaining that he deserves it because of his discovery. The scene ends with him taking a huge bite from it and making the cutest self-congratulatory faces i have ever seen oh god.
Scene 4: Penny’s apartment
penny lets raj into the apartment. She thanks him for coming over, telling him that she’s been having a really difficult time trying to come up with a romantic surprise for leonard. Raj makes himself comfortable on her couch, and tells her not to worry. He knows just the thing to romance his pants off. Penny tells him no, leonard had said that sex doesn’t count. Raj regards her with sympathy for a moment. “you poor thing, only one arrow in your quiver and you can’t use it.” he then pulls out a cookbook and clarifies that what he had meant is that the key to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
Penny isn’t enthused by this idea at all. She says she doesn’t know if cooking for leonard is a good idea. He’s such a finicky eater. She runs through a list of his complaints and ends with “this food is too frozen-burnt at the same time.” raj sets the cookbook aside and considers her options, confessing that one of his ideal romantic scenarios is dance related. He goes into great, reverent detail as he fleshes the scenario out for her. By the end of it, penny looks at him and says flatly, “that’s just the plot of dirty dancing.” he then suggests that she could stand outside his window and lift a boom box over her head. Her look grows even more critical. “that’s from say anything,” she says. Raj gets defensive and says he’s a lonely and single guy with a lot of time on his hands.
Penny, at this point, is desperate for good suggestions. She asks if he has any other ideas that aren’t fantasizing about lifting patrick swayze over his head. Raj mutters, telling her that sure he has a lot of ideas; he tells his fantasies to his dog all the time. On the first take, the audience cracked up in way that made it super obvious how aware of the innuendo we were. Kunal broke character here, laughing and making stop it gestures at the audience as he said, “oh, you guys!” on the second take, he was able to keep it together, and penny replied that she just simply didn’t know what to do. Raj tells her that if she wants her gesture to be truly romantic, it has to come from her own heart. She says she knows, and asks him why it’s so difficult to think of an idea. He suggests that maybe it’s because she’s a young and attractive woman who never had to think about it because all the guys flocked to her. She ponders this for a moment before saying something like, “right? It totally isn’t fair!”
scene 5: Sheldon and leonard’s apartment
sheldon and amy are sitting together on the couch. Sheldon’s sorting through some items on the coffee table. He picks up a dry erase marker and explains that this is the marker he had used to make his discovery. He places it in a ziplock bag and holds it out for amy to take. Amy doesn’t. Instead she looks between him and the bag and says she doubts that the smithsonian is going to care about the marker he used. Sheldon, of course, doesn’t agree at all. He thinks they’re going to want every item that has some kind of tangential significance. He reaches for a reference book and opens it fondly in his lap to a specific table, telling her that he used its data as a foundation for his epiphany.
As he scans the numbers, his face starts to fall, however, shifting from ecstatic to full-on dread. When amy asks him what’s wrong, sheldon is horrified and tells her that “everything is what’s wrong!” with the book in hand, he goes to the whiteboard and looks frantically between the numbers on the page and the numbers on the board before he’s turning to amy, so upset because instead of using centimeters in his calculations like the book does, he tells her that he had used meters. He asks amy if she knows what this means. She says, “that americans don’t know how to use the metric system?” sheldon’s unamused and exasperated, saying that no, it means that his calculations were a great big blunder. She reminds him that he still led the team in china to find the element, so does it really matter that he got lucky this once?
He tells her that sheldon cooper doesn’t “get lucky,” to which amy replies drily, “yeah, you and me both.” but she lets the moment pass because she’s concerned for him at this point, especially when he tells her that the greatest discovery of his career wasn’t the result of his genius. It was just a stupid boneheaded mistake. “i’m a fraud,” he tells her, and turns away as though he’s too ashamed and frustrated with himself to even look at her. Amy approaches him then, and god, i’m so sorry but i don’t remember what she says to him here, but it’s a sincere attempt to comfort him. Oh gosh. My memory is rubbish. Let me make up it up to you with an anecdotal story.
On one of the takes, mayim is standing behind jim. This is the moment directly after sheldon turns away from amy. Before the crew starts filming, mayim adjusts jim’s shirt, tugging it down to his butt. She seems to realize how that must have looked to the audience with her hand down there and she turns really red and embarrassed, saying “oops, i’m sorry!” it takes her a little while to rein her laughter in while the audience laughs with her. Oh my god, you guys, she was so cute.
Scene 6: Sheldon’s nightmare at an awards ceremony
sheldon’s standing at the front of a gathering of historical geniuses. Whoever the host is calls sheldon up to receive his award. He starts off complimentary, but his words soon turn critical, and the geniuses start booing and pelting sheldon with garbage. From the back of the room, einstein is shouting insults at him. Sheldon’s obviously hurt but he tries to brush it off, at which point archimedes joins einstein in insulting him and at one point even gives einstein a high-five.
Scene 7: Car scene
this scene fades in from sheldon’s nightmare. It’s a couple hours later, and has leonard asking questions about the nightmare as they drive to work, specifically about einstein’s involvement in the dream. Sheldon stares straight ahead, expression blank as he explains that einstein had hit him with one of his classic zingers. Leonard picks up on sheldon’s distress and tells him that the discovery is still amazing and that he’s sincerely proud of him.
Scene 7: The cafeteria
there is a whole segment here that i am completely blanking on. All i remember is that it takes place between howard, raj and leonard and provides the audience with further insights into how howard intends to perform the song to bernadette. Then sheldon enters the dining area with his tray. People start clapping and he tells them to stop congratulating him. Someone shouts, “woo!” and he tells the room, “no more ‘woos’ either,” then he turns to an asian professor and says, “except for you, dr. Woo. You’re in the clear.” he approaches his friends’ table, but instead of sitting down, he turns to face the entire cafeteria and confesses that his discovery had been the result of a calculation error and he didn’t deserve the praise. He says something here that causes the speech to backfire and then he gives up, muttering something like, “how do i get people to stop loving me?” after he’s seated, leonard tells him that’s easy. All he’d have to do is to invite the people to live with them in their apartment.
Scene 8: Bernadette’s surprise party
the whole gang is waiting to surprise bernadette in what appears to be a luxury hotel room or someplace that is equally high class. They’re dressed formally, tuning their musical instruments. Leonard leans over to tease penny about this being a really romantic gesture again. Penny just tells him, “you know what’s not romantic? The way you keep rubbing it in my face.” he gives her the biggest smile ever and just says that it could be, but sex doesn’t count.
Meanwhile, howard has been pacing and checking his phone. He tells everyone that he’ll be right back; he just wants to check in with bernadette to see if she’s on her way. He leaves the room, and the camera switches to sheldon, who is still moping about his blunder. Leonard tries again to comfort sheldon, reminding him that he is still proud of him and so is everyone else. Amy interjects to correct him here, turning to sheldon as she says, “i’m not.” sheldon looks at her, shocked. “you’re not?” he asks. Amy shakes her head and tells him that she’s been thinking about what sheldon had told her earlier and she thinks he’s right. His discovery did not come about because of his intelligence. It was a calculation error, and a simple one at that. “frankly,” she tells him, “i’m embarrassed for you.”
sheldon stares at her, speechless, and the room goes quiet. Finally he says, “that is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” and he thanks her for it. Amy smiles softly in return.
Then howard barges into the room again. He’s visibly upset as he tells the gang that there’s been an accident at bernadette’s lab. One of them (i think it’s leonard) asks if bernadette’s alright. The scene ends with howard explaining that she’s fine, but as a precautionary measure they’ve put her in quarantine.
Scene 9: Hospital room and hallway
the gang is standing in the hallway outside bernadette’s hospital room. They are a few feet away from the room’s big glass window. Howard steps directly in front of it to ask how she’s doing, if she’s okay. She tells him she’s fine and that if there is one thing she has learned from this experience, it’s that you shouldn’t try to balance tubes of raccoon virus on top of each other as you try to open the freezer door. Howard doesn’t look terribly convinced or any less worried, so she assures him that if she had been infected she’d be puking from her eyeballs by now. She then apologizes for missing their date together.
Howard tells her it’s fine and that she shouldn’t worry about it because he brought the date to her. He motions to the entire group behind him, and explains that since today was the anniversary of the day they’d met, that he had wanted to do something very special for her. He tells everyone to bring their instruments out.
While they’re setting up, leonard has to encourage sheldon to join them because sheldon’s hiding behind a wall, convinced that bernadette will infect him even through a plate of glass. He eventually joins them as howard sits down at his keyboard, which he has set up right in front of bernadette’s window. He tells her that he wrote a song for her, and then proceeds to sing a truly touching piece that is equal parts witty, charming and adorable. Everyone provides the backup vocals as well as the instrumental accompaniment. When the song is over, bernadette is overwhelmed with joy and tells him that the song is beautiful. I don’t remember what howard says in return, but i’m pretty sure there is an exchange of i love you's. They are just so precious i don't remember anything past the look on both of their faces when they gaze into each other's eyes ok. Oh god, so cute.
Scene 10: Penny’s apartment
leonard and penny are eating instant ramen together for dinner. Leonard tells penny that it’s possibly the best instant ramen she’s ever made. Penny admits that it’s probably because today is the first day she’s discovered the packet of ramen seasoning. She then says that she has even more surprises in store for him. Leonard’s intrigued and somewhat amused as she gets up from the table and starts sprinkling a trail of rose petals to her bedroom. He stands and follows after her, teasing in a good-natured manner. “oh, rose petals, huh?” penny says, yes, rose petals, which just so happen to come from the most expensive flower, who knew.
She leads him all the way into her room. When leonard sees that even her bed has been made, he says that she must really mean business. She tells him that yes, she does, and hands him a small, wrapped present. She looks very excited as she explains that she spent a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect romantic gesture for him. As he starts to open the present, she asks if he remembers going to a bookstore together awhile back. Leonard does, and when the wrapping falls away, there’s a first edition copy of the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy in his hands. He looks a little disappointed, but he tries to cover it with a smile, telling her that it’s wonderful, really; it’s really great.
Her own excitement falls away instantly. She asks what’s wrong. She had thought that he had had his eyes on it, so she wanted to surprise him with a copy. He tells her that yeah, he did, but that when she had walked away he had purchased one for himself. Still, he tells her that he appreciates the gesture. “it’s fine,” he says. Penny tells him, “no, it’s not.” he’s always doing romantic things for her and apparently she can’t think of anything nice to do for him in return. She pulls down a box from her closet and sets it on her bed. Inside is a collection of mementos that leonard has given her over the years. She’s very emotional as she pulls them out one by one, showing him the rose that he had left on her car just because, and the thank you letter he had written after they had sex for the first time.
Leonard is shocked that she has kept all of these things that he has given her. When he asks why, she says how could she throw them away when it’s all him. I have literally no recollection of what they say to each other from this point on. I am sorry for the black hole that is my memory, but i can tell you that the scene ends on a decidedly positive note for the couple at least!
Scene 11: Sheldon and leonard’s apartment
sheldon and amy are sitting together on the couch. Sheldon still looks upset, as though the moment in the hotel between the two of them hadn’t happened. When amy asks what’s wrong, sheldon tells her that he doesn’t know, but that he blames her for all of it. Amy’s taken aback and asks him why. Sheldon won’t meet her eyes, but he tells her that from the moment they met, he’s been distracted by her. Amy pushes further, asking what he means. He raises his head to face her and admits that he wants to kiss her. Amy doesn’t quite believe what she is hearing and asks, “kiss me?” “yes,” sheldon says. “it makes me want to kiss you. On the mouth. Like mommies and daddies do.” he leans in and amy follows his movements, both of them leaning towards each other before the scene fades from amy’s daydream to her true reality. She’s still seated on the couch next to sheldon and looks like she’s lost in a trance-like state of euphoria. When sheldon asks her what she’s doing, amy tells him to be quiet because she’s “in the zone.”
——
and that’s it! That’s the episode! If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask and i’ll try to answer them as best i can.
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#SerialApeist2Premiere #ATSKAA2014* 
* ... and then Sheldon kissed Amy AGAIN. 
Icon by bigbangsheldon
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