- Leonard and Penny develop a system to ensure their dates go smoothly. Raj finally finds a woman he can talk to - the virtual assistant on his mobile phone.
- Leonard and Penny have decided to start dating each other again, but Penny is worried that any little glitch in their second time around will stall or halt them getting back together. As such, Leonard proposes that they follow a computer software development process model, where each party directly involved in the development process provides constructive comments on the "product" i.e their relationship, so that they collectively can fix the problems before the product goes into the next phase of external testing. Penny agrees. However, the comments that each provides in and of themselves end up being viewed hypercritically by the person being criticized, and thus may halt the process in its tracks unless the critic can delve deeper into the psyche of the criticized, which in turn may have its own unintentional consequence. Meanwhile, Raj has started "dating" Siri, the voice of his new smart phone's voice recognition system. And Sheldon, with Amy's assistance, decides to host a once a week/fifty-two week video podcast on the fun of vexillology.—Huggo
- Sheldon launches Sheldon Cooper Presents: Fun with Flags. 52 weeks series exploring Vexillology. Amy is the co-host of the show. first flag factoid, the Oregon flag, which happens to be the only two-sided state flag. He continues by adding that the show will cover questions such as what is the only non-rectangular flag, what is the animal that appears most on flags, what animal appears second-most-often on flags, and many more. Leonard leaves for dinner with Penny. Sheldon & Amy do 47 takes by the time Leonard returns
After dinner, Leonard wants to get back together with Penny, while she wanted to take it slow. Leonard Penny about his first girlfriend in high school, Karen Berberick. To this day, Karen still does not know that they dated. Leonard suggests that they treat their relationship as a beta test. Leonard suggests they use the method used when developing computer software, where instead of getting mad, they treat any forthcoming issues as software bugs and report it so they can be fixed.
Sheldon is researching new facts about flags for the next episode of his show. He shares about how the same flags shared by Flag of Liechtenstein and Flag of Haiti were coincidental since both parties were oblivious to the fact until the 1936 Summer Olympics. Raj has bought a new iPhone and peels the plastic cover with Howard. Raj begins interacting with Siri (the phone's voice recognition and AI software), quickly growing fond of it. He asks it out for a cup of coffee and Siri responds with several nearby coffee shops. Raj leaves with his phone, presumably on a date with his phone.
The gang is watching Dr Who, and Penny wants to know from Leonard if this is a date. Penny gives him a bug report by saying that when a guy asks her out, she imagines he would plan something other than watching television at home. Leonard gives her a piece of paper regarding his bug reports on her. Penny comments that Leonard has a lot of items on his list. Leonard tells her that the list is even color-coded, with red being things needing fixing right away, yellow being things she can work on if she has the time, and green being things he can probably live with. Amy is baffled by what Leonard could have put on the list, such as "hair too golden, laugh too musical and world too much a better place with her mere presence in it". Sheldon adds "constantly talking with food in her mouth".
At his apartment Raj interacts further with Siri. Asks her why women don't like him. Asks her last name. Asks that she calls him sexy, and Siri agrees. Next day, Barry Kripke informs Raj & Sheldon that since Professor Rothman urinated in the particle physics laboratory again, his retirement party will be moved up to this Friday and that it will be a potluck event. Raj tells Siri to remind him to bring his famous popovers on Friday morning. Barry comments that Siri's voice recognition is terrible, takes out his iPhone, and asks Siri to recommend a restaurant {Wecommend a Westauwant}, but because of his Rhotacism, Siri can not comprehend his request.
Penny hands her own bug list to Leonard. Leonard reads the list and says he will be quieter if they kiss from now on since she thinks they were "juicy and weird" while he thought it was passionate. He also asks her to specify what she means by his eyebrows are stupid, but later realizes she already put it in the list. Clearly, the bug reports are making things between them worse because they're essentially insulting each other. Penny was reading a book, saying that reading books is a big part of her life now since reading after his bug report, and they would have more fun things to talk about if she read more
Howard and Bernadette come to Raj's for dinner. Bernadette realizes that Raj is dating his phone and cant decide if its cute or creepy. Raj offers them wine, and proceeds to say that his choice of wine is not the traditional wine served with Peking duck since it is Siri's suggestion and, despite his hesitance, he does not want to get into an argument with her. He then asks Siri what he should put on her (the phone) for dinner and chooses a black case (i.e. a little black dress). He tells Siri to play some smooth jazz and Siri plays Kenny G's signature tune "Songbird". Raj is happy with the choice and comments that Siri can read him like a book and that he cannot believe he bought his soulmate at Glendale Galleria. Bernadette tells Howard she is not sure if she wants to stay.
Penny and Leonard are at a shooting range. Leonard says that he asked her father about things she liked as a kid and that taking her here seemed easier than bringing out a cow for her to tip. Penny tells him to get ready to shoot stuff and asks whether he needs help with using a gun. He says he played Grand Theft Auto many times so he can handle it. Penny says she likes it when Leonard gets all gangster and kisses him. He accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots his foot.
Later, Penny helps Leonard walk up the stairs to his apartment. He tells her he has a gunshot wound. She says he has a Reebok with a gunshot wound and an "ouchie" on his Pinky toe. Leonard says the hospital gave him a band-aid and it is against the law for the hospital to do so unless it is medically necessary. He asks her whether that would be the time for them to evaluate their beta test. Penny tells him things are going well. He asks her whether they are still taking things slow since today he got a gunshot wound, and last week he slammed his thumb on a drawer-who knows how much time he has left. Leonard opens the door and enters his apartment, only to find Sheldon in the middle of rolling another episode of his show. This time Sheldon is dressed in a Bavarian outfit and Amy is dressed in a black outfit while holding a giant pretzel and swaying to the beat of the German song being played out. The two start speaking in German. Leonard leaves the apartment again.
Raj is all dressed up and carrying a bouquet of roses. He enters a room labeled "The Office of Siri" and finds the actual woman who voices Siri, an extremely attractive red-haired woman. Siri sees him and calls him "sexy", asking what she can do for him. He starts getting tongue-tied as his Selective-Mutism won't let him talk in front of a woman. Siri tells him that if he wants to make love to her he needs to tell her. He can't utter a word and only mere sounds that Siri can not comprehend. Raj suddenly wakes up from his dream and quickly sits up on his couch, letting out a loud "No-o-o-o-o!"
Title reference: Leonard proposes to re-establish the relationship with Penny as an alpha test experiment to iron out all the bugs in their relationship, but Penny mistakenly calls it a beta test.
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