Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Sheldon and Amy become more physically affectionate, though his gestures still arrive on his terms. On a Valentine’s weekend in Napa, Sheldon spends much of the train ride talking with another rail enthusiast, so Amy confronts him about ignoring their date. He answers with a deliberately overdone romantic display, and the two kiss. Later, Sheldon begins kissing Amy on their regular dates. His work troubles deepen when the university refuses to let him leave string theory, and he struggles to accept changes he did not choose.
Penny’s acting career stalls after her small part on NCIS is cut, and she quits her Cheesecake Factory job to pursue better roles. After she asks to reshoot a scene and Leonard defends her, the director fires Penny from Serial Ape-ist 2. She reconsiders what she wants and tells Leonard she is ready to marry him. Leonard takes out the ring he has carried for years and formally proposes; Penny accepts, so they finish the season engaged rather than married. Their plans unsettle Sheldon, who resists Leonard’s wish to live with Penny without him. After the comic-book store burns, Sheldon leaves Pasadena by train to think, with Leonard and Penny letting him go.
Raj’s new ability to speak to women gives him a chance to date, but his early approaches remain awkward. He meets Emily through an online dating site, with Amy helping him write back. He considers seeing Lucy again but chooses to pursue Emily; by the finale, he tells his friends he has slept with her. Howard and Bernadette take care of his mother after an accident leaves her bedridden. After the fire destroys Stuart’s comic-book store, Howard hires him to care for Mrs. Wolowitz; Stuart calls the work a dream job.