Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
The season opens with Penny and Raj dealing with the night they spent together, but their friends’ assumptions prove premature: they did not have sex in the conventional sense, and the awkwardness settles without becoming a romance. Leonard and Priya try to keep their relationship going after she returns to India. When Leonard kisses comic-book artist Alice and confesses to Priya, she admits that she slept with an ex while abroad. The distance and their revelations strain the relationship; Leonard eventually ends it. Penny and Leonard later agree to try dating again as a kind of relationship test, starting over without an immediate promise of a future together.
Sheldon and Amy’s unusual bond becomes an explicit boyfriend-and-girlfriend relationship after Sheldon reacts jealously when Stuart takes Amy on a date. Sheldon offers the new label with the condition that nothing physical or otherwise has to change, then formalizes their rights and responsibilities in a lengthy relationship agreement. Amy accepts the arrangement, while later conflicts show that the agreement does not spare them from hurt feelings: Sheldon dismisses her achievement, and he has to make amends with a tiara. Their intimacy remains limited by Sheldon’s boundaries, even as he makes small gestures of affection.
Howard and Bernadette prepare for their wedding while NASA selects Howard for a space mission, putting the planned ceremony and departure on a tight schedule. They decide to marry before launch and hold a small rooftop ceremony with their friends serving as the officiants; a larger reception can wait until his return. Howard then launches with the other astronauts as Bernadette and the group watch from the apartment. The season closes with the newlyweds separated by the mission, while Sheldon’s unexpected hand-holding with Amy during the launch broadcast signals a small step on his own terms.