On this week’s episode of Big Bang Theory Sheldon asked Leonard and Howard if they wanted to hear songs he had changed the lyrics to in an attempt to get young children more interested in science. He then asked them if either one of them knew Beyonce because he wanted to get her behind the children’s songs he rewrote. Raj then joined them and told them that he had been chosen to be part of a group of scientists tasked with recording a message about planet Earth to send to space for aliens to hear. Raj then asked them if they wanted to help him create the recording. Howard and Sheldon then discussed their ideas for the message and Raj said he didn’t want to work with them because they were already telling him what to do and that he only wanted to work with Leonard because Leonard was the only one that cared what Raj wanted to include in the message.
Leonard went to Raj’s apartment to help him record his message. He and Raj discussed the fact that Howard and Sheldon were alpha males and that’s why Sheldon always wanted to tell Leonard what to do and what not to do. They then asked each other what their ideas were to start the project with and neither of them could come up with an idea. Leonard then suggested calling Howard and Sheldon for help after all. Raj insisted they could do it by themselves
Penny knocked on Sheldon’s apartment door the same way that Sheldon knocks on her apartment door. She then told him it was fun and she wanted to do it again and Sheldon told her if she did it again she would be doing it for the rest of her life. Penny then told Sheldon she wanted to talk to him about her acting career. She then told him that she liked her job as a pharmaceutical rep and that she had an audition coming up that might cause her problems at that job. Sheldon said he wouldn’t tell Penny what to do because he had just been told that he pushes his ideas onto other people too much,
Howard made molecular cocktails in his kitchen at home. He then asked Bernadette to pose for a selfie with him holding one of the molecular cocktails he made so that he could post the photo to Instagram for Raj to see. Bernadette told him that he is a leader and she loves him the way he is but that he and Raj don’t have to do everything together all the time.
Back at Sheldon’s apartment Penny used Sheldon’s love of trains to ask for his opinion about whether or not she should go on the audition. She had to trick him into giving her advice because he told her he only likes to talk about topics that are of the interest to him and that her dilemma was not one of them. Sheldon then told Penny she should go on the audition but wait to decide if she wanted to go back into acting full time. Sheldon asked Penny why she was asking him for advice instead of Leonard and Penny said that she already knew Leonard would tell her not to audition.
While Raj and Leonard were brainstorming ideas for their recorded message they started talking about ET and how sad it was when he was getting revived during the movie. They then talked about how animals express themselves in different ways than humans do because animals can’t speak and that maybe aliens can’t either. Leonard and Raj eventually concluded that the ideas they were coming up with were the same ideas Sheldon and Howard had already suggested.
Sheldon sang more of his songs with the lyrics changed in front of Howard and Howard said suggested words be added to the songs that Sheldon had not thought to add. Raj and Leonard then approached Howard and Sheldon to ask them to participate in his project after all. Once they agreed to Leonard said they should meet that night to begin working on the project together.
Later at Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, Howard and Raj came over to help work on the project. As they began to brainstorm ideas Sheldon and Howard said that they wanted to stop and order food. They then buckled down and came up with ideas for a device they would create to communicate with aliens in space. They then argued about the type of message they would create using the device. It then came out that Raj had hurt Howard and Sheldon’s feelings when he originally chose to leave them out of the project. Leonard complained that Howard and Sheldon always took charge and insisted on having their way, even when the guys went to comic con. He said that he and Raj felt they got pushed aside often by Sheldon and Howard. Raj said that Howard had taken Sheldon for a tour of NASA Headquarters but had left Leonard and Raj out of it. Howard then called Sheldon and Leonard out on going to Skywalker Ranch without them. The Leonard complained that Sheldon spent the day with James Earl Jones without even telling them. Sheldon then said that good things happen when he is in charge and that Leonard, Howard and Raj needed to step aside while he completed the project himself.
At Penny’s apartment she discussed with Amy and Bernadette how going to her audition made her realize she didn’t want to get back into acting. Penny then said she didn’t think she ever properly thanked Bernadette for helping her get her pharmaceutical rep job and Bernadette joked that she never thanked her at all, much less properly. Amy and Bernadette then made Penny take them out for dinner on her.
The episode ended with space aliens viewing a video of Sheldon sending them a message. The aliens wanted to eat Sheldon.