Alphabetized By Kimberly Potts
Tuesdays are thai takeout night. Photo: Michael Yarish/CBS
They love comic books, costumes, video games, and sci-fi in all forms of media, but what are the other recurring themes, jokes, and life experiences that make up Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, Penny, Amy, Bernadette, Stuart, and their Big Bang Theory characters we’ve been following for nine seasons? Just as each of those characters can be largely defined by his or her eccentricities (we could write a book on Sheldon alone), some of those quirks also point to how much each of them has evolved throughout the seasons (even if some of them still have a significant way to go). Here’s our rundown of all the Theory-isms that continue to keep the CBS sitcom churning after all these years.
Amy’s Crush on Penny
As the amount of affection she was getting from now-ex-boyfriend Sheldon increased, Amy’s crush on Penny cooled, but during the early seasons of the ladies’ friendship, Amy Farrah Fowler could not be less than subtle about her physical interest in Penny: She presented Penny with a painted portrait of the two of them, which Amy said had originally been a nude portrait; she drunkenly kissed Penny in season four’s “The Agreement Dissection,” and sang lyrics from Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”; and after Penny tried to explain Schrödinger’s Cat with a real-life example, Amy told her, “Homespun stories, knowledge of physics, and a bosom that defies it. You’re the whole package, aren’t you?” ― Kimberly Potts
In her early appearances, Amy is ambivalent and often condescending towards Penny. After inviting herself to a slumber party with Penny and Bernadette, Amy grew closer to them and was less awkward. Amy is no longer condescending to Penny and things eventually got to the point where she considers Penny to be her best friend (or "bestie" as she took to naming her). Penny is the person mainly responsible for Amy's improving social skills, introducing her to drinking and other normal activities such as dancing, shopping, hanging out with friends, gossiping and trash-talking.
Amy values her relationship with Penny very highly. In "The Infestation Hypothesis", after Penny found out that Sheldon had manipulated Amy to influence her to get rid of her chair and got mad at Amy, she desperately tried to take it all back by sitting in the chair and was promptly bitten by a an unknown creature living in it. Penny is nice to Amy because she feels some mixture of pity and sympathy, and does what she can to help her socially. Amy likes the arrangement and sometimes would rather hang out with the girls than Sheldon himself. Amy admits that her whole female social life revolves around Penny and that even if she gets mad at her, it wouldn't last. On one occasion, when Penny accidentally offends Amy by hiding a gargantuan and rather unflattering painting of hers, Penny rushes over to Amy's apartment to rescue their friendship and rehangs the painting in her apartment.
In "The Speckerman Recurrence", Amy expressed her delight at being best friends with a bully, namely Penny, when the latter was revealed to have been a bully during her high school days. Penny decided to make amends by apologizing to the girl she once bullied, but was unsuccessful in gaining the apology. In the end, it was Amy who suggested a way for Penny to make amends, by showing altruism in the form of donating her clothes to the needy. In "The Weekend Vortex", after Sheldon upset Amy by choosing an intensive weekend of gaming over accompanying her to her aunt's birthday party, despite already giving his word that he would, Amy confided in Penny and Penny gave her advice on confronting Sheldon. When Amy proved to lack the necessary self-esteem with which to confront him, Penny stood up for Amy and confronted Sheldon for being a bad boyfriend.
They love comic books, costumes, video games, and sci-fi in all forms of media, but what are the other recurring themes, jokes, and life experiences that make up Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, Penny, Amy, Bernadette, Stuart, and their Big Bang Theory characters we’ve been following for nine seasons? Just as each of those characters can be largely defined by his or her eccentricities (we could write a book on Sheldon alone), some of those quirks also point to how much each of them has evolved throughout the seasons (even if some of them still have a significant way to go). Here’s our rundown of all the Theory-isms that continue to keep the CBS sitcom churning after all these years.
Amy’s Crush on Penny
As the amount of affection she was getting from now-ex-boyfriend Sheldon increased, Amy’s crush on Penny cooled, but during the early seasons of the ladies’ friendship, Amy Farrah Fowler could not be less than subtle about her physical interest in Penny: She presented Penny with a painted portrait of the two of them, which Amy said had originally been a nude portrait; she drunkenly kissed Penny in season four’s “The Agreement Dissection,” and sang lyrics from Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”; and after Penny tried to explain Schrödinger’s Cat with a real-life example, Amy told her, “Homespun stories, knowledge of physics, and a bosom that defies it. You’re the whole package, aren’t you?” ― Kimberly Potts
In her early appearances, Amy is ambivalent and often condescending towards Penny. After inviting herself to a slumber party with Penny and Bernadette, Amy grew closer to them and was less awkward. Amy is no longer condescending to Penny and things eventually got to the point where she considers Penny to be her best friend (or "bestie" as she took to naming her). Penny is the person mainly responsible for Amy's improving social skills, introducing her to drinking and other normal activities such as dancing, shopping, hanging out with friends, gossiping and trash-talking.
Amy values her relationship with Penny very highly. In "The Infestation Hypothesis", after Penny found out that Sheldon had manipulated Amy to influence her to get rid of her chair and got mad at Amy, she desperately tried to take it all back by sitting in the chair and was promptly bitten by a an unknown creature living in it. Penny is nice to Amy because she feels some mixture of pity and sympathy, and does what she can to help her socially. Amy likes the arrangement and sometimes would rather hang out with the girls than Sheldon himself. Amy admits that her whole female social life revolves around Penny and that even if she gets mad at her, it wouldn't last. On one occasion, when Penny accidentally offends Amy by hiding a gargantuan and rather unflattering painting of hers, Penny rushes over to Amy's apartment to rescue their friendship and rehangs the painting in her apartment.
In "The Speckerman Recurrence", Amy expressed her delight at being best friends with a bully, namely Penny, when the latter was revealed to have been a bully during her high school days. Penny decided to make amends by apologizing to the girl she once bullied, but was unsuccessful in gaining the apology. In the end, it was Amy who suggested a way for Penny to make amends, by showing altruism in the form of donating her clothes to the needy. In "The Weekend Vortex", after Sheldon upset Amy by choosing an intensive weekend of gaming over accompanying her to her aunt's birthday party, despite already giving his word that he would, Amy confided in Penny and Penny gave her advice on confronting Sheldon. When Amy proved to lack the necessary self-esteem with which to confront him, Penny stood up for Amy and confronted Sheldon for being a bad boyfriend.
Amy occasionally displays signs of a bisexual infatuation or curiosity with Penny, often making inappropriate comments. For instance, when Penny, in an effort to persuade Sheldon to let her cut his hair in "The Werewolf Transformation", asked Amy for her opinion, Amy's response was "There is not a hair on my body that I wouldn't let this woman trim," resulting in discomfort on Penny's part. On another occasion, after kissing Penny on the lips (Amy was drunk), she sings from Katy Perry's song, "I kissed a girl, and I liked it." In "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation", when Amy and Penny were discussing Amy's theory that Leonard had fallen in love with her, Amy told Penny that Leonard did not get her "motors running" and that Penny had a better shot than Leonard. She does recognize Penny's shortcomings and tries to avoid discussing them so they can remain on good terms. In "The Anything Can Happen Thursday Recurrence", Amy did admit to Leonard that she is jealous of the close personal friendship between Sheldon and Penny and how comfortable he is around her.
In "The Hook-up Reverberation ", Penny wonders how she could get Raj's new girlfriend Emily to like her. Amy says that she could hang around her pretending to be her friend and then before you know it you're in her apartment drinking her wine and eating her food. Penny says that that won't work even though Amy's suggestion mirrors her own relationship with Penny.
In "The Viewing Party Combustion", during a fight Leonard points out to Penny the weird brother/sister relationship she and Sheldon has which Amy is also jealous of. She wants to have the same kind of friendship with Sheldon. Penny often takes Sheldon's side due to her sibling feelings for him. ― Famdom
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