Leonard + Penny = Endgame Part 2
This is the second installment of my recap of the “Lenny” relationship recap. So, if you haven’t read the first one, go check it out!
Yay! Priya is gone but this time, but now we have Alex going after Lenard. Let’s see what happens.
In “The Recombination Hypothesis,” Leonard (having broken up with Priya) decided to ask Penny out on a date. Unfortunately, his mind starts to wonder about the consequences of said date. In his fantasy, things did not go well the second time around. However, the two still go along on the date.
The episode ended with Penny envisioning herself very pregnant, a possible reason for her reluctance to go out with him again and her need to pick up birth control pills.
She also has issues since other members of her family were pregnant when they got married. Leonard and Penny’s fantasies regarding their possible reconciliation proved to have their merits when in the following episode, #101, (Season 5 Episode 14), “The Beta Test Initiation,” it was shown that the two were contemplating to be official again.
However, to avoid the mistakes from their first time together, they decided to take things slow by treating the relationship as a beta test. Even going as far as presenting “bug reports” to each other in order to solve certain issues. Things seemed to be going well by the end of the episode, with Penny kissing Leonard at his doorstep after their date.
In “The Launch Acceleration”, Penny suggested that they move up their relationship and get intimate;
however Leonard ruined the mood when he asked her to marry him while they were having sex, making their relationship feel weird to Penny.
Season 6 starts with them on a date in “The Date Night Variable” where a lonely Raj crashes their date and insists that Penny tell Leonard that she loves him. Leonard wants to talk about their relationship; however she has had a hard day and wants to just hang out together. Penny is expressing doubts about her feelings for Leonard, though she claims to be happy with the relationship in “The Decoupling Fluctuation”.
Penny while spying with Amy sees Sheldon’s pretty new graduate assistant Alex Jensen flirting with Leonard, who is pretty much oblivious to her advances. Later when Sheldon and Alex enter the apartment, Penny tells her about Leonard and their five year experiment together (relationship) and then she leads him off to her apartment for sex.
In the Halloween theme episode “The Holographic Excitation,” Penny gets advice from Bernadette that “you get out of a relationship what you put into it” and that maybe Penny should get more interested in Leonard’s work. She visits his lab and is wowed by his holographic images and says that she sometimes forgets how smart he is. Penny heats up their relationship by starting to engage in sex in different locations, twice in his lab and twice in the TARDIS photo booth at the Halloween party.
In the episode “The 43 Peculiarity”, Penny is working on a class oral project with an English student, Cole, who makes Leonard jealous.
Leonard follows Cole down the stairs warning him about Penny’s boyfriend, the “gang leader.” Penny witnesses his deception and gets mad at Leonard telling him that he has nothing to worry about because she chooses to be with him and that he knows that she loves him. This pronouncement shocks both of them since Penny has never told Leonard that she loves him and she runs off scared before she breaks into tears.
At the same time, Sheldon’s assistant Alex Jensen is starting to hit on
Leonard again.
In “The Egg Salad Equivalency,” Alex asks Leonard out to dinner after he expresses an interest in the Physics lecture she is going to and this attention really surprises Leonard. Though it makes him feel good to have an attractive young woman interested in him, he tells everyone he still loves Penny. He mentions Alex’s actions to Sheldon who tries to talk to her about it and lands the whole gang in the Human Resources Administrator’s office. He also didn’t tell Penny about Alex’s actions which made her feel really insecure about their relationship. Leonard apologizes by showing up at her door playing a little ditty on his cello.
In “The Tangible Affection Proof”, Leonard takes Penny out to dinner for Valentine’s Day. Penny feels that all the efforts never meet the expectations and she will end up disappointed. At dinner, Penny sees an old boyfriend proposing to the girl that broke them up. Leonard again tries to propose and Penny stops him. They begin to argue in front of Howard and Bernadette who have their own issues that night. After they barely say good night, Leonard tells Penny that she ruined the whole evening. Penny finally admits that she has commitment issues. She is so happy right now that she knows they are going to get and that scares her. Leonard then puts the responsibility of proposing on her and that she should do it when she’s ready. In the end, she does ask him to be her valentine.
Penny is later concerned about the passion Leonard showed for science, comics books, and various television shows while she had no passion in her life.
Her dreams had always been to become a famous movie star and live a glamorous life. Anything less than that she felt was settling. Her epiphany came that she is passionate about her boyfriend Leonard and all her wonderful friends.
Leonard takes a job working on a Stephen Hawking expedition in the North Sea for four months over the summer in “The Bon Voyage Reaction.” Penny will miss him, but knows that it is a good opportunity and sends him off. At the airport, she is fussing over him like a wife sending her husband off on a business trip.
In “The Romance Resonance”, Howard makes a romantic gesture to Bernadette by writing her a song. Leonard mentions that Penny never does anything like that, except for sex which doesn’t count. Penny is determined to romance Leonard. Raj can only suggest that she cook for him or reenact a scene from a romantic movie.
After a candlelight dinner, Penny puts on some romantic music, spreads rose petals into her neatly cleaned bedroom and presents Leonard with a first edition of his favorite book from when he was growing up, The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy
. Unfortunately, Leonard had already purchased the book after they had seen it in a used bookstore together. Penny gets upset telling him about all the thoughtful things he had done for her and shows him her collection. An airplane ticket, a rose given to her “just because” and the eleven page letter he wrote her after the first time they slept together. Leonard was very touched that she kept all these things. He then kisses her, showing that Penny did do something romantic.
During the Thanksgiving episode, Penny reminisces about a Thanksgiving she had in Las Vegas with former boyfriend Zack Johnson, which included one of those “silly fake weddings.”
Penny appears devastated when her friends inform her that the wedding was real and she is Mrs. Zack Johnson. Penny and Leonard argue about how quickly she should get her annulment so Penny invites Zack over to their Thanksgiving dinner at Howard’s mother. Finally, Penny and Leonard make up and she tells him that the next time she gets married it will be for real, for love (jokingly) or for money.
In “The Hesitation Ramification” and “The Occupation Recalibration,” Penny gets a part in the TV series NCIS and is very disappointed when her scene is cut and not aired. Frustrated and tipsy, she sees her life crumbling when Leonard reminds her that she still has him. She agrees with him and probably to show some advancement in her life, she kneels down and proposes to him. All Leonard can utter is “Umm”, much like when he wouldn’t succumb to her drunken advances after her Halloween party in “The Middle Earth Paradigm.” Penny gets very upset since she doesn’t think he wants to marry her. After she storms out, Leonard is afraid to ask her if their relationship is now over.
By the next episode, he does visit Penny who assures him that they are still together and that he did the right thing not agreeing to her proposal because she was a mess.
Now she has rethought her career and decides to quit the Cheesecake Factory and focus all of her time on acting. Leonard does support her though he is obviously worried about her.
In “The Gorilla Dissolution,” Leonard and Penny get back in her apartment after getting fired from her movie.
Penny wants to start making smarter decisions about her life.
She says that they could get married and Leonard asks her to be serious.
Leonard wonders if he is a smart decision, like choosing a healthy boring bran muffin. Penny doesn’t care what pastry he is because she is CHOOSING HIM. Leonard is still talking about being a pastry like a Cinnabon or a Strawberry Pop Tart. Why? Leonard does want to marry her, but feels that she is just feeling sorry for herself because she was fired. Penny explains that it may seem that way, but getting fired made her think that fame and fortune is not what is going make her happy. Leonard wants to know what will make her happy. “You, you stupid Pop Tart!” she yells at him.
Leonard finally says that he guesses that he is in, which also bothers Penny. Leonard then retorts that it is an excited “I guess I’m in” and they agree that they are engaged which still seems somewhat anti-climactic.
To change the mood, Leonard pulls a diamond ring out of his wallet that he has had for a couple of years, gets down on one knee and asks Penny formally. Penny says “Oh my God, yes!” He slips the ring on her finger that still has ape hair glued to it (from the movie set) and they embrace.
I love that “pastry bit.” Keep your eyes peeled for the last part of this article, which chronicles the current “Lenny” relationship.
