The Wiggly Finger Catalyst

"The Wiggly Finger Catalyst" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Thursday, October 6, 2011.

Summary
Penny sets Raj up with one of her friends, and Raj finds he is comfortable talking to her because she is. Meanwhile, Sheldon uses a set of Dungeons and Dragons to provide answers to trivial choices he encounters on a daily basis to free his  to solve more important problems.

Extended Plot
The guys are playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons, when Raj begins eating a whole pie. He says it's because of his loneliness and everyone else has got someone. He goes on to say that he blames the USA for it because their movies and TV shows promise " paved with beautiful women with big bazongas (breasts)".

Meanwhile, at Penny's place, the girls are having a (which Amy thinks will include neating up each other's ). Bernadette mentions that Raj came along with her and Howard to cake tasting and he cried and ate half the samples. Penny points out his loneliness and decides to set him up with someone. At the Cheesecake Factory, the guys are having dinner and Sheldon says that he will now make all his trivial decisions with the Dungeons and Dragons dice, so he can free up his mind for work. Later Penny comes to ask Howard if he can come with her and they both come back with a girl named Emily, a friend Penny knows from spin class. She introduces her to Raj and reveals that she is actually deaf. Howard what Raj says to her, and they get along instantly.

The next day, Raj and Howard are at the waiting to meet Emily for a date. They end up staying there all day with Raj saying some pretty controversial or out of the box things which Howard toned down. When they finally leave, Emily kisses him and tells him to her. Raj brags that he was so smooth.

During pizza night, Sheldon shows his new  as a result of the dice. Soon the guys start talking about Raj and Emily, who have been going out for about a month. They soon find out that Raj is showering Emily with gifts and start to get concerned that Emily is a. As it turns out, Sheldon reveals it wouldn't matter much because, as it turns out, the Koothrappalis are richer than they thought. Howard expresses his disbelief, feeling cheated as Raj recently used him to buy him a churro at the zoo. Leonard decides to go talk to Priya because of this news and Howard tells Penny that Raj also paid off Emily's s. This revelation causes Penny to vent her frustration, thinking aloud that she should've dated Raj for a few months when she had the chance. But once she sees Howard staring at her awkwardly, she quickly switches to the subject of them needing to talk to Emily, since Raj is too hopeless in love to listen. Howard and Penny go to the where Emily works out and they talk to her about their concerns.



While Howard is signing for Emily, he gets distracted by some hot women and accidentally cuts to the chase (Are you a gold digger?). Emily gets angry at them and signs a furious message which Howard translates as "Something, something. Who the something do you think you are? Mind your own something business and go something yourself." He realizes shortly after that she was saying the f-word.

Raj soon finds out about what happened and gets mad at Penny. She explains she only did it to look out for him as she is concerned about Emily taking advantage of him. However, Raj feels that Penny is and dismisses it. Back at his place, Raj has a surprise for Emily. He gives her a  and at that moment, Raj's parents call, saying that they have found out about Emily and are threatening to cut him off if he doesn't break up with her. He decides to choose love over money and tells Emily his revelation. The audience sees Emily with a disappointed looking expression, but when he tells her they will have to take back the gifts, the screen then shifts to Penny's place where a crying Raj is being comforted by Penny and a glass of wine.

Back at The Cheesecake Factory, Raj is having a to compensate for his lack of a woman and Sheldon's dice tell him to not use the bathroom, even though he has had three s. Penny then comes with the bill and all the guys leave it for Raj to pay, as he is the one with lots of money. Penny also says that he better leave a very good tip.

Critics

 * The TV Critic's Review: "I really enjoyed this. I laughed several times and felt the writers hit on several successful ideas which blended well together. Of course I am fully aware that the framework the writers have set themselves is very limited. If these particular jokes seemed old and dull and obvious to you then I couldn't disagree."
 * The A.V. Club gave this episode a D+
 * IMDB user reviews

Costume Notes

 * Sheldon wears his Reddit Alien shirt from Zazzle.

Trivia

 * Unburdened by trivial decisions in this episode, over the course of a few weeks, Sheldon co-authored two papers in notable peer-reviewed and came close to figuring out why the Large Hadron Collider has yet to isolate the Higgs boson particle.
 * First woman named Emily that Raj dates in the show; he starts dating another woman called Emily in "The Indecision Amalgamation" (S7E19).
 * At some point during this episode, Raj learns to sign.
 * Bernadette and Amy only appear in one scene in this episode.
 * Howard's previous personality of being a wannabe sleazebag can arise from time to time.
 * Bernadette doesn't mind where Howard gets his motor running as long as he "parks it in the right garage."
 * Sheldon achieved one of his lesser dreams and became a . This abatement could be a callback to a line in "The Financial Permeability", in which it was suggested, after Kurt wrote an, on Leonard's forehead, that if they could find a notary public, they could make it legally binding.
 * Sheldon describes Raj's family's wealth as being "About halfway between and ." The 2011 Forbes Fictional 15 puts Bruce Wayne at $7 billion and Scrooge McDuck at $44 billion, which puts Raj's NET value at approximately $25.5 billion. However, as he was described as being "" rich, putting his NET value at $9.7 billion. Obviously this amount is a gross exaggeration used for effect and emphasis. Raj's father is a gynecologist and their family clearly isn't that rich, as in "The Griffin Equivalency" he mentions his grandfather grew up in a house that wasn't as big as a limo and had less food.
 * Howard knows how to use, among his many spoken languages.
 * Howard compares his mother with a hideous, foul-smelling, moss-covered .
 * When Raj was 6, he tried to form a boy band called "Frankie goes to " but no one wanted to join so his parents got some of the servants to be his.
 * Raj worries about eating cake or pie, because he says it goes straight to his hips.
 * In reality Katie Leclerc who plays Emily suffers from.
 * Amy's wish to be a at Bernadette's wedding is fulfilled in "The Isolation Permutation" (S5E8), in which she is asked to be maid of honor.
 * The fact of Raj dating a deaf woman is ironic because in the previous season he had commented that he had a deaf girlfriend (although he later admitted that it was a lie).
 * One of the few episodes that takes place over a long time period.

Quotes

 * Sheldon: I've decided to make all trivial decisions with a throw of the dice, thus freeing up my mind to do what it does best: enlighten and amaze.


 * Raj: Look at that. I have a date. I love America again.


 * Raj: If you were me, would you kiss her?
 * Howard: Yeah, but I'm a make out king!


 * Howard: It might have been on your lips, but it was my kiss!


 * Leonard: You think she's taking advantage of him?
 * Penny: Of course not, she wouldn't do something like that. She's deaf.


 * Penny: Handicap people are nice, Leonard. Everyone knows that!


 * Penny: What kind of relationship is it, where you buy her gifts and she gives you sex?
 * Raj: The best I've ever had!


 * Penny: He is cuter now that I know he's rich.


 * Raj: What?! You're going to make me choose between the woman I love, and the money which I have very strong feelings for?


 * Raj: Sometimes I put the TV on mute just to pretend she's still with me... But I can't watch the closed captioning without crying!


 * Penny Oh, I am so sorry. I wish I could make you feel better.
 * Raj: Seriously? I'm heartbroken, and you're hitting on me?!
 * Penny: What?! No!
 * Raj: Well, look, Penny... You're great, but I had a long talk with my parents, and they said if I date an Indian girl, I get a Maserati.


 * Raj: You know who I blame for my loneliness? The United States of America. Your movies and your TV shows promised streets paved with beautiful blonde women with big bazongas.