Anna Daniels
The breach of contract that had us most up in arms occurred on the season 4 episode, “The Zazzy Substitution.” At this point in The Big Bang Theory‘s narrative, Sheldon and Amy (Mayim Bialik) have begun dating, although Sheldon is still referring to her as “not my girlfriend.” Their non-relationship gets even less serious midway through the episode when the two break up after Amy (a neurobiologist) refers to physics (Sheldon’s area of expertise) as a lesser science. Although he insists that the split is no big deal, it soon becomes clear that Sheldon is repressing some serious feelings about the situation.
It’s obvious that things are off when Leonard comes home to find that Sheldon has adopted a cat. One cat turns into seven cats, and before anyone can stop him, Sheldon ends up with 25 felines. At this point, Leonard calls on Sheldon’s mother, Mary (Laurie Metcalf), to snap him out of it.
However, Leonard didn’t need to bring in an outside arbitrator to solve this problem — he could have used Sheldon’s own decree against him. The season 3 episode “The Plimpton Stimulation” references a Roommate Agreement rule that bans all pets (other than service animals) from the apartment. Sheldon was already in breach of the agreement with the first post-breakup cat he brought home; when he introduced 25 furry friends to the apartment, his rule-breaking had become egregious. And it wasn’t the only time Sheldon broke this particular rule.
Written by: Looper
