Ep 17. The Athenaeum Allocation

Penny and Bernadette appear at Howard and Raj's apartment to understand a tribute to deceased Mrs. Wolowitz. Howard shows them his mother's old belongings and an invitation to the Athenaeum, Los Angeles, a library where only people of high society are allowed to access. Howard tells them that his mom always wanted to go there, but she was not able to.

Meanwhile, Sheldon and Amy are having dinner and talking about a problem with their television, which is apparently unable to stream their favorite show, Professor Proton. They decide to call Raj, who is working on the tribute, to fix their television. When Raj comes to their apartment, they end up discussing their ideas for the new Super-Asymmetry project. While they are discussing, Raj brings up the idea of the Athenaeum and admits that he has access to it since he knows someone who is a member. Sheldon and Amy get excited and ask Raj to take them along.

On the day of the visit, Raj takes everyone to Athenaeum. They all have to wear formal attire. Bernadette forgets her shawl, which is required to enter. She creates one using napkins and looks ridiculous. When they enter the library, Bernadette accidentally ends up switching Sheldon and Amy's names on the guest list, which causes a humorous situation. They all split up to experience Athenaeum themselves. Penny goes to read salacious gossip about the high society people, Bernadette looks over her husband's mom's belongings, and Amy and Sheldon go to get knowledge that they can use for their super-asymmetry project.

While exploring the library, Sheldon finds a book on the history of superfluid helium, which ties into their project. Amy sees an old scientific paper that calls into question the validity of a theorem that she and Sheldon were using, leading her to question their project's direction. Feeling depressed, Amy sits alone and starts hallucinating and imagining herself waiting tables, serving the high society people. Sheldon finds her and encourages her to keep going; he tells her that he only got through all of his moments of doubt because she was there with him.

The group reassembles at the front desk, where they learn that they cannot take the Athenaeum's pen, which causes all of them to hilariously lose their minds and try everything in their power to take the pen. Bernadette almost gets caught by security while trying to sneak out her husband's mom's belongings. Everyone ends up getting out and goes their separate ways.

As they are leaving, Sheldon tells everyone about the research paper that Amy found and that they need to make changes in their project. Everyone tries to tell him that they will do it later, in the car back home, but Sheldon insists that they do it immediately and ends up making them all stay outside on the pavement, arguing about the project.

Finally, they all reach their conclusion, after which they head home. Bernadette gives Howard his mom's belongings, and Sheldon and Amy, who are all tired after a long day, retire.