The Desperation Emanation

"The Desperation Emanation" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Thursday, October 21, 2010.

Summary
While Leonard realizes that he's the only one of the gang without a, Sheldon wants him to take his "girl/friend" after Amy decides to introduce him to her mother.

Extended Plot


Sheldon and Leonard are enjoying a on the couch. Leonard wants to know why Sheldon isn't hanging out with Amy Farrah Fowler. Sheldon doesn't feel the need to have that sort of closeness. He does point out that he's in a relationship (with a girl, who's a friend, who's not his girlfriend) while Leonard is not.

At the comic book store, Leonard feels even more lonely when Howard’s new ringtone (Bernadette by ) goes off for a call from his girlfriend. Raj found the solution by getting a girl who is deaf. Even Stuart has a girl who wears a plus-size Wonder Woman costume.

Back in Apartment 4A, perhaps Leonard's psychological state is producing a "stink of desperation" per Amy's theory, who is in  with Sheldon while Leonard was sleeping on the couch. Amy suggests a bar for Leonard, but Sheldon correctly points out picking up women in a bar requires feats of manliness, strength, and the ability to hold down liquor and/or throw darts, but also remarks that, , and might be more Leonard's speed. Leonard has had enough and leaves. Amy then asks Sheldon if he'll meet her mother. Sheldon races down the stairs after Leonard to ask him what it means. Leonard responses with, “Well, you know how you're always saying Amy's a girl who's your friend, but not your girlfriend?” He can’t say that anymore. Sheldon doesn't want to take his relationship with Amy to the next level so Sheldon says that Leonard can have her since he wants a girlfriend. Leonard turns him down which is just as well, since Amy finds Leonard very tedious.

Leonard fails at picking up women at the Genius Bar by wearing an shirt. After not working, he ends up at Howard’s house and invokes the "girlfriend pact" with Howard to get Bernadette to fix him up with someone. Sheldon is working on removing his digital footprint from the to hide from Amy. He also changed the building number on the front of the building. Of course, Amy's been there before. In fact, she knocks at their front door. Sheldon tells Leonard to makes sure he has a good lie ready. Leonard just tells Amy he’s not there and Amy immediately leaves.

Bernadette's friend, Joy, arrives from her spin class all sweaty in her gym clothes. She’s thinks that she is hilarious and keeps describing the 100 ways she has learned from her defense class to pulls a guy’s nuts off, and she needs to use her napkin to dry her. Leonard tells Howard that this night was just about the worse date he ever had. Joy asks him to her cousin's wedding the following weekend, and says that since there would be an open bar she would likely 'be giving it away'. Convinced, he tells her that he’s in.

Sheldon wants to head out for the night, only Amy is in the lobby. He tries going down in, but Amy sees right through it. She tells him that he may have misconstrued her intention. She was only introducing Sheldon to get her mother off her back and they were going to perpetrate a ruse. They videoconference with her mother, and Sheldon assures her he's having lots of sex with her, which scares her mother. They quickly say good-bye because their loins burn for each other. Sheldon suggests that maybe they should try and have sex. After a brief pause, he says "Bazinga!", making it clear that he was joking. It was bedtime so he told Amy that she knew the way out.

Critics

 * TV Critic: "Seeing a story focused on Leonard and his loneliness was nice. The pact with Howard was a nice bit of continuity and his decision to stick it out with a woman he didn't actually like to avoid being alone was sadly realistic... Sheldon acted with no logic in his story which was a shame. He freaked out about Amy asking him to meet her mother which seemed out of character. Normally you would imagine Sheldon calmly asking her what the purpose of the meeting was and avoiding any confusion... Leonard remains the show's forgotten man and this plot was so thin that it hardly helped his cause."
 * The A.V. Club gave this episode a B.
 * IMDb user reviews

Costume Notes

 * Sheldon wears a Green Arrow bullseye shield logo t-shirt and his orange "The Flash: Lightning" t-shirt.Greenarrowbullseye.jpg.

Trivia

 * Penny doesn't appear in this episode. She isn't mentioned in this episode, as the writers wrote her out of this and the next episode after Kaley Cuoco her  in a  incident.
 * First episode where a regular cast member is absent.
 * Howard uses the song "" by  as his for Bernadette's call. In "The Vengeance Formulation" he sings a variation of the song to apologize to her.
 * It is implied for the first time in this episode that Sheldon has a fear of, hence his reluctance to consider his and Amy's dating status as boyfriend and girlfriend for this season and the beginning of season 5. Penny also admits that she has a commitment problem.
 * Leonard builds s like Howard. His interest in model rockets was also shown in "The Jerusalem Duality" and "The Staircase Implementation".
 * Raj mentions dating a deaf woman in this episode. He later dated Emily, another deaf girl, in "The Wiggly Finger Catalyst".
 * Sheldon suggests Leonard could frequent the Apple, among other , and Leonard pretends to work at the Genius Bar to pick up women. In reference to the employees, Howard says, "I mean, they may not really be es, but they see right through that." References to the Apple Genius Store are also made in "The Terminator Decoupling" and "The Einstein Approximation", when it was a similar point of ridicule. Sheldon considers an Apple Store "genius" to be the most mind-numbing, pedestrian job conceivable (alongside a attendant and what Penny does (ing), and refused to contribute to the devaluation of the word "genius" by pretending to work there. Moreover, Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard enjoy going over to the Apple Store to make fun of the guys at the Genius Bar.
 * The scene of Sheldon listing stars could be a reference to or inspired by the opening sequence of the 1988  film.
 * Sheldon and Amy have their own "".
 * Bernadette and her colleagues have a pact to never admit that they actually crossed with the  when a  of a   went missing.
 * This episode airs co-creator Chuck Lorre's 300th vanity card.

Quotes

 * Leonard: How can you even have a girlfriend, you can't speak to women?
 * Raj: Two words - "deaf chick!"


 * Amy: I have a request. I'd like you to meet my mother.
 * Sheldon: I see. Can I get back to you on that?


 * Sheldon: You want a girlfriend. Amy wants to be someone's girlfriend. Take her off my hands, I give you my blessing!
 * Leonard: That is insane.
 * Sheldon: You're right, it would never work, Amy finds you tedious.


 * Leonard: Let me see if I can explain your situation using physics. What would you be if you were attached to another object, by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis?
 * Sheldon: Screwed.