Penny

 The Big Bang Theory history

Penny Hofstadter is originally from Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to California in the hopes of becoming an actress. In 2007, she moved into Apartment 4B, across the hall from Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadter, and quickly became part of their social circle despite not sharing the guys’ interest in comic books or science fiction.

Although Penny lacked the formal education of the scientists around her, she often showed greater street smarts and practical skills than the rest of the group. During her early years in Pasadena, she worked as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory while pursuing acting, before leaving acting behind and becoming a pharmaceutical sales representative.

What started as Leonard’s seemingly unrequited crush on the woman across the hall, grew into Penny’s most defining relationship. After a few years of on-and-off dating, she and Leonard got engaged and later married in Las Vegas. By the end of The Big Bang Theory, Penny and Leonard were living together in Apartment 4A and expecting their first child.

Over the years, Penny formed an unlikely but close bond with Sheldon, and became best friends with Amy and Bernadette. She also briefly dated Stuart after meeting him at the comic book store, though their relationship ended when Penny accidentally said Leonard’s name while kissing him. After one of her break-ups with Leonard, Penny also dated the likeable but dim-witted Zack Johnson, whom she later discovered she had accidentally married during what she thought was a fake Las Vegas wedding.

 Stuart Fails to Save the Universe history

When we meet Penny in the AI-controlled reality of 102 “Spoiler: Zack’s in This One”, she is leading the Resistance against the AI overlord from a former Amazon shipping center. This version of Penny does not recognize Stuart, Bert or Kripke, and there is no indication she knows Sheldon or Leonard, although they are both scientists at Caltech in this universe. Zack Johnson serves as one of her soldiers and appears intimidated by her command.

This universe’s Penny shows her street smarts and practical skills as she runs the Resistance, commanding armed fighters and using shielding technology to protect the headquarters from the AI’s punishing shocks. Her operation is not perfect, however: her soldiers only manage to “rescue” Stuart, Bert and Kripke after they have already spent thirty months in a re-education camp and been released.

Penny’s first task is to undo their reconditioning by slapping some sense into the guys, literally. She keeps slapping Stuart until he admits he is angry, then turns her attention to Bert and Kripke. Bert insists he is mad before she can hit him again, while Kripke admits he is furious and “a wittle turned on”, earning himself another slap.

Denise then appears with the vari-state quantum interference device and explains that she called the Resistance when Stuart, Bert and Kripke were first detained. When the guys point out that was thirty months earlier, Penny complains, “What do you want from me? I’m running a rebellion here.” Denise hoped the device could be used against the AI overlord, but Stuart admits it can only help them escape to another reality.

Once Penny realizes the machine cannot free her world from the AI, she orders Stuart, Bert and Kripke killed. Kripke creates a distraction, grabs the device and runs, but the Resistance headquarters is attacked by the AI overlord’s drones before Zack can shoot him. Penny orders her fighters to attack the drones as the headquarters descends into chaos.

During the battle, Stuart, Bert, Kripke and this universe’s Denise manage to activate the device and escape to the next reality. Penny is left behind with the Resistance, still fighting the AI overlord as Zack is shot by one of the drones.

In the war-torn reality of 108 “Spoiler: We're as Confused as You Are”, Penny is a military prosecutor with the rank of major. Known as “Firing Squad Penny”, she prosecutes Stuart and his companions after they are caught trying to abandon their unit.

At their court-martial, Captain Siebert becomes even less confident of securing an acquittal when Penny enters. “Oh, shit,” he exclaims. When the defendants recognize her, Siebert is surprised that they know “Firing Squad Penny”. Denise explains that they just know her as “regular Penny”. Penny shows no sign of recognizing the group and asks Siebert whether these are his traitors. He replies, “Yes. I mean, they’re presumed not to be, but yes.”

Asked to read the charges, Penny responds, “With pleasure,” before listing cowardice in the face of the enemy, desertion, espionage, murder and mutiny. After the group pleads not guilty, she begins her opening statement by describing them as “four of the most foul, pathetic, loathsome creatures to ever wear the uniform”. She presents their confiscated quantum device as equipment for relaying information to the enemy, describing its discovery as more heinous than their cowardice.

Penny declares that the evidence against the four is irrefutable. “The only possible penalty is death. By firing squad.” When Siebert questions whether anyone can really know what happened in the fog of war, she replies, “We have video.” Neither his defense nor Stuart’s direct appeal persuades the judges. As the group is found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death, Penny punches the air and exclaims, “Sweet!”

Before the execution, Penny approaches the blindfolded and bound prisoners with the quantum device. She offers to commute their sentences to a life of hard labor if Stuart uses it to transmit false battle plans to the group’s “friends on the other side”. Stuart eagerly agrees, and Penny orders a soldier to untie him and remove his blindfold. Stuart then pretends to prepare the transmission. As he loudly counts down, Denise, Bert and Kripke inch closer to him. Penny asks what is happening as the device whirs to life, forming an interdimensional bubble that inadvertently carries her away with the group.

They arrive in the centaur reality’s comic book store, where Penny struggles to understand her new surroundings and her half-human, half-horse body. Bert begins explaining that everyone in this universe is a centaur, but Penny yelps as her hindquarters accidentally knock over a merchandise rack. Bert finishes, “I call it the centaur universe.”

At Denise’s urging, Stuart activates the device again, leaving a bewildered Penny behind. As she begins trotting around the store in her new form, she admits, “I do not hate this.”

This page has been updated up to episode 108 Spoiler: We're as Confused as You Are