The Engagement Reaction

"The Engagement Reaction" is the twenty-third and penultimate episode of the fourth season of the  sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Thursday, May 12, 2011.

Summary
Howard tells his mother about his engagement to Bernadette, then she ends up in the hospital. Penny starts bonding with Priya over Leonard's idiosyncrasies.

Extended Plot
The gang (except Amy) is at The Cheesecake Factory. Penny asks Bernadette to take their table for her, because she doesn't want to speak to Priya. At the table Sheldon is drinking water, only to be informed that it was already drunk by Leonard, causing him to worry about s.

Bernadette comes back with everyone's order; Priya asks if she and Howard have started planning their, and if they have told Howard's mother. Bernadette says he is waiting for the right time, which Howard clarifies to be some time after his mother's. Sheldon returns to the table after accidentally swallowing in an attempt to  it to kill the germs from Leonard drinking from his water glass.

Back at the apartment, the boys are playing Mystic Warlords of Ka'a and Raj is annoyingly commenting on every card played, during which Howard gets a informing him that his mother has arrived at the  for a "get to know" lunch with Bernadette. After Sheldon drinks some water Raj tells him is his, Sheldon panics and dashes to the bathroom to search for the (to kill the germs) which Raj has hidden. Leonard points out that the drink Raj claimed was his is actually Sheldon's, but Raj knew that.

Howard arrives home and searches for his mother, who is in the bathroom. He asks, through the door, how the lunch went, and is told that Bernadette is "a lovely girl, cute as a ". He then announces to her that he is getting married to Bernadette. His mother doesn't respond and suddenly he hears a as if she has fallen off the seat.

Penny and Sheldon are chatting in the laundry room; she is amused by his "" because she's been keeping her distance from the gang because of Priya. Leonard bursts in with news that Howard's mother has been taken to the, and asks them both to go there with him. Sheldon is reluctant, but then agrees to after Penny points out that he has no characteristics of a despite him liking them. At the hospital, Howard explains that he carried his mother out of the bathroom after breaking down the door (injuring his shoulder), put her in his car, and drove like a to the. He suspects it is heart-related and explains that his family has a deep history. Bernadette figures out that Mrs. Wolowitz may have had a after hearing that Howard is getting married to her.

Priya praises Penny for being there for Howard, and Penny acknowledges Howard as a friend, which Priya finds weird when Penny tells her about breaking Howard's nose in the The Killer Robot Instability. Priya also tells her that Raj has a bunch of friends in who dress up in s and call themselves the New Delhi. They strike up a friendly conversation, which worries Leonard a little.

Sheldon is on his way back from the toilet when he sees a coughing man being wheeled through the hallway. In order to escape the coughing, Sheldon ducks into a room (bearing a biohazard warning sign), before turning and seeing an astonished medical staff who declare he cannot leave as he has been exposed. Sheldon covers his face with his shirt and insists he is fine. Meanwhile, Priya and Penny walk past the biohazard room, chatting about Leonard's odd habits as a lover. Oblivious to Sheldon's cries for help as he is restrained by the medical team.

A doctor comes in and announces it wasn't a heart attack, and says that Mrs. Wolowitz would like to see "the little girl" first. Bernadette returns to the waiting room and the first thing she does is scold Howard. She explains that his mother got from the restaurant where they had lunch, and the reason she wanted to see Bernadette first was because she was worried she might have got it too. As for the (See Title), Mrs. Wolowitz thinks Bernadette is a wonderful girl and Howard is lucky to have her. This revelation comes as a shock and undermines everything Howard believes about his mother (whom he's always seen as an angry, unpleasant ). Bernadette screams at him with a voice similar to his mother and storms off. Howard thinks her new voice is.

In the final scene, Leonard, Howard, and Raj are wearing s and are playing Mystic Warlords of Ka'a with Sheldon, who is under because he was exposed to a deadly virus, and Raj giving annoying comments about every card.

Critics

 * The TV Critic: "The irony of Sheldon walking into a bio-hazard room after spending the whole episode avoiding germs was good. I particularly liked the way Penny shamed him into coming to the hospital (using his superhero t-shirt). It suits her character to cut through his motives and push his buttons in a way that Leonard's whining can't do...This [episode] felt lightweight. It felt like an older episode when the show had less momentum. It felt a bit like "the gang go to the hospital this week. Laugh at Sheldon's fear of germs and Raj's lack of a life." There's nothing especially wrong with having a quiet episode but the plot felt like it came to a halt and then practically went backwards."
 * The A.V. Club gives this episode a B.
 * IMDb user reviews

Trivia

 * Amy doesn't feature in this episode (whether mention, speaking role or background cameo) and there is no regular appearance by Mayim Bialik as a main cast member in any scene of this episode.
 * Sheldon has a fear of that can be plunged into his .
 * Leonard dubs himself the "King of Foreplay" because he likes to perform lengthy foreplay.
 * Howard claims if a touches his mother, it will burn her, because she is.
 * Penny mentions to Priya the time that she once broke Howard's nose after he tried to slip his tongue down her throat. That was in season 2's "The Killer Robot Instability".
 * During this episode, Penny and Priya finally start to get along.
 * Last time Bernadette is shown working at The Cheesecake Factory. She would later receive her doctorate in "The Roommate Transmogrification".
 * Although in "The Cooper Extraction" (S7E11), in the gang's imagination, Bernadette is shown working there.
 * Sheldon's Aunt Ruth died after catching something while visiting his Uncle Roger in the hospital. She died a week later and now shares a  with his Uncle on his mother's, as they were.
 * The writers goofed with Sheldon's because, in season 3, he went to the hospital with Penny when she broke her arm and, in season 2 when Leonard was with Stephanie, Sheldon went to the hospital twice (once to accompany Leonard after his stitches and again when Sheldon was being a  and he visits Stephanie), he doesn't even complain or worry. He later again visited the hospital in "The Werewolf Transformation". To be fair, Sheldon in this episode had already had mishaps with germs when he drank from Leonard's glass. He marches into hospitals in other episodes.
 * Howard hasn't met Bernadette's parents yet, but he has already nicknamed them, "Adolf" and "Eva", which is a reference towards and, his mistress and later wife.
 * Sheldon pronounces the plural of  incorrectly.
 * In future seasons, Bernadette proved that she wasn't the weakest member of the group as postulated by Amy by asserting herself and pushing other members around.

Quotes

 * Penny: Oh, my God! You're about to about jibber-jabber.


 * Sheldon: To a hospital? Full of sick people?


 * Sheldon: I gargled some tequila and may have swallowed a teeny bit.
 * Leonard: You all right?
 * Sheldon: I'm fine, thank you for asking. I love you so much!


 * (Sheldon has just left the bathroom with his hands trying to avoid touching stuff.)
 * Sheldon: Finally.
 * (Soon, a patient on a stretcher, who is coughing terribly, moves past Sheldon and he freaks out. He seeks refuge into a room, which, unbeknown to him is a biohazard room. When he turns around, he sees a patient surrounded by doctors in Hazmat suits and he knows where he is.)
 * Sheldon: Oh, what fresh hell is this? (turns to leave immediately)
 * Nurse in hazmat suit: Wait, you can't leave here, you've been exposed!
 * (Sheldon panics and covers his mouth with his shirt.)
 * Sheldon: No, I haven't. It's all good.
 * (Meanwhile, Penny and Priya have returned from the cafeteria with their coffees. They were talking about Priya's mother.)
 * Penny: You wanna talk about crazy mothers? Leonard's mom wouldn't give him any sort of approval growing up.
 * Priya: Oh, the poor thing.
 * Penny: It makes him desperate to please women. That's where the goes on and on.
 * Priya: It does, doesn't it?
 * Penny: It's like he's trying to win a prize. Oh, word of advice, do not dose off, you'll never hear the end of it.
 * (They walk right past the bio-hazard room, where Sheldon is yelling and struggling to get out of there, but the doctors won't let him.)
 * Sheldon: Help me! Come back! Penny!


 * (The hospital scene where Bernadette comes back looking extremely unhappy from visiting Mrs. Wolowitz)
 * Howard: Hey, Bernadette. How did it go?
 * Bernadette: You're a putz!
 * (Howard looks a little shocked)
 * Howard: What?
 * Bernadette: Do you have any idea what that means?!
 * Howard: Yeah, do you?
 * Bernadette: Your mother just taught it to me. She says she thinks she got food poisoning from that deli and she just wanted to make sure that I was OK!
 * Howard: Well, are you?
 * Bernadette: No! Because I'm engaged to a putz! You let me believe I was the reason she had a heart attack!
 * Howard: Well, sweetie, with the timing...
 * Bernadette: Shut up! She says that I'm a wonderful girl and you're lucky to have me!
 * (Bernadette starts to storm off)
 * Howard: Hey, sweetheart, where're you going?
 * Bernadette: (sounding like Mrs. Wolowitz) TO THE TOILET! IS THAT OK WITH YOU?!
 * (All the others are completely surprised)
 * Howard: Is it just me, or does she sound sexy when she's angry?
 * (Everyone looks at Howard as if he is a sick man for not seeing the irony)