The Love Car Displacement

Amy asks Penny to join her and the other guys on a trip to a science conference in Big Sur, California, as she believes them to be best friends. At first, Penny rejects the offer, claiming that she already has other plans for the weekend, however when she hears it includes a spa treatment, she changes her mind. Before they can get on the road, Sheldon, who was elected "travel supervisor" by the other guys because of threatening to use the filibuster procedure, sets up an extensive program, during which he explains where and when they are going to take breaks and also decides the seat layout.

Amy convinces Sheldon to let Penny ride in the lead car with them and Leonard as Penny's "Nebraska backwoods skills and brawny hands" could help them if their car breaks down. However, during the car ride after Penny criticises Sheldon's rules, she is kicked out and forced to share a ride with Howard, Raj and Bernadette in the other car, which Howard deems "the love car". During the ride, Howard and Bernadette discuss their sexual plans and sing constantly, annoying the other two.

At the hotel check-in, Bernadette spots Glenn (Rick Fox), her former college professor and ex-boyfriend. Howard feels intimidated by Glenn, who is tall and attractive, and insecurely complains to Bernadette that he is useless and sexually inadequate for her. Bernadette tries to coax him into feeling better, but Howard accidentally makes a comment implying that Glenn is too hot for Bernadette. An angered Bernadette decides to stay with Amy and Penny in their room.

Later that night, Penny asks to sleep in Sheldon and Leonard's room due to Amy's nightmare post-effects: biting and scratching. Leonard accepts and the two climb into his bed together to avoid waking Sheldon up. Leonard makes some witty Star Trek analogies about the Romulan Neutral Zone to coax her into sex, and Penny tells him that her "shields are up" from waist down. During this exchange Sheldon awakens, asking them if they are going to have coitus. They both give different answers; Leonard saying yes while Penny saying no, prompting Sheldon to leave and seek shelter at Raj's room, where Raj is about to watch Bridget Jones's Diary. Sheldon eventually kicks Raj out of his room due to him waking him up with the movie, so Raj gets the key to Leonard's room where he and Penny are, at Penny's suggestion, starting to have sex. Leonard rejects Raj's offer to watch Bridget Jones, so Raj crawls into the other bed to sleep, destroying the atmosphere for Leonard and Penny.

The next morning Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, Bernadette and Amy speak at the conference. After a fairly normal start, they all begin to discuss the events of last night, with Leonard being upset about Raj walking in on him and Penny, and Howard and Bernadette still fighting, despite Sheldon being the "normal", professional one for once and trying to stay out of the bickering. To make matters worse, Raj's drunkenness starts to get the best of him and a frustrated Penny then searches for someone in the audience who can get her back to Los Angeles and leaves with Glenn, much to Leonard's dismay.

The others drive back to Pasadena in low spirits the next day. Howard and Bernadette are still not speaking to each other and a police car pursues Leonard as he is speeding, bothered by Penny leaving with Glenn.

On the night of its first broadcast on January 20, 2011, the episode was watched by 13.63 million households.[2] The episode was the fifth most watched episode of the season.

IGN's Jenna Busch gave the episode a mixed review stating that "the episode was really a bit cheesy" and that she "didn't like the framework". She did, however, praise several character moments including Melissa Rauch's portrayal of Bernadette saying, "Bernadette was wonderful, as always. She's just so adorable, I could see her dating Rick Fox". Busch summed up by writing "There were definitely funny moments here, but that zing was missing tonight".[3] Jeffrey Kirkpatrick from TV Fanatic gave the episode a more positive review saying that "The brilliance of the show, as I've said before, is when Penny and Sheldon interact, but it's even striking a chord each time Penny and Amy are thrown together". Kirkpatrick also praised Kaley Cuoco as Penny, he wrote: "Kaley Cuoco is a very gifted comedienne, and her reactions to the nuttiness of the supposedly genius minds around her are always my favorite parts of every episode".[4]

• "The Love Car Displacement" at IMDb
• "The Love Car Displacement" at TV.com