The Engagement Reaction

The Engagement Reaction is the twenty third episode of the fourth season of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. It aired on May 12th, 2011.

Plot Summary
Howard tells his mother about his engagement to Bernadette. Meanwhile, Leonard’s ex-girlfriend is getting along with his current girlfriend.

Extended Plot
The gang (except Amy) is at the Cheesecake Factory. Penny asks Bernadette to take a table for her at the Cheesecake Factory, because she doesn’t want to bump into Priya. At the table Sheldon is drinking water only to be informed that it was already drank by Leonard. Sheldon then announces he will be dead because of the pathogens that reside inside Leonard and the person Leonard has kissed (Priya's) mouth. Bernadette comes by to take their order and Sheldon rhetorically asks for medicines as he thinks he will die. Next, Sheldon heads to the bar as he claims the alcohol can sterilize his mouth.

Bernadette comes back with everyone’s order; Priya asks if they have started planning their wedding. After Howard and Bernadette tell her their plans, Priya asks if they have told Howard’s Mother. Bernadette says he is waiting for the right time, which Howard clarify to be sometime after his mother’s funeral. Sheldon returns to the table after accidentally swallowing tequila in attempt to gargle it.

The boys are playing Mystic Warlords of Ka'a and Raj is annoyingly commenting on every card played, Howard gets a text informing him that his mother has arrived at the Deli for a “get to know” lunch with Bernadette. After Sheldon drinks some water, Raj tells him it is his (Raj’s) water and Sheldon starts to panic and dashes to the bathroom to search for the Mouthwash that Raj has hidden. Leonard then points out that the drink Raj claimed was his is actually Sheldon’s, Raj tells Leonard he knows that.

Howard comes back home and search for his mother who is in the restroom. Howard then asks her through the door of the restroom how It went with Bernadette, his mother says it went well and that Bernadette is “a lovely girl, cute as a button”. Howard then announces to her that he is getting married to Bernadette. His mother doesn’t respond and suddenly he hears a thud as if she has fallen of the seat.

Penny bumps into Sheldon at the Laundry room, as Sheldon talks to her she giggles and when inquired she explains she is amused at his Jibber Jabber, as she has been keeping her distance from the gang because of Leonard and Priya. Leonard then barges in and urged they go to the hospital in compliance with the text he received. Sheldon initially disagree because he is a mysaphobe but then agrees after Penny points out that he has no characteristic of a hero despite his liking in them.

At the hospital, Howard explains that he carried his mother out of the bathroom, put her in his car and drove like a mad man to the emergency room. Howard suspects it is heart-related and explains that his family has a deep heart disease history. Sheldon is very heightened because of all the germs that he suspects is around the hospital. Bernadette then figures out that Mrs. Wolowitz may have got a heart attack after hearing that Howard is getting married to her.

Priya praises Penny for being there for Howard, Penny finds it weird that she acknowledges Howard as a friend, Priya also tells that Raj has a bunch of friends in New Delhi who dress up in Leotards and call themselves the New Delhi Power Ranger, immediately Penny and Priya felt a connection and continue talking. Leonard is nervous about this potential relationship, Raj points out that Penny might tell her the reason she broke up with Leonard which could results in Priya breaking up with Leonard. The doctor comes in and announces it wasn’t a heart attack, and tells that Mrs. Wolowitz would like "to see the little Catholic girl first".

Sheldon who went to the bathroom is on his way back to the waiting room, when he sees a man coughing severely. In order to escape the coughs, Sheldon ducks into a room. Suddenly he realizes it is a Biohazard Isolation Room and he cannot leave the room because he has been exposed to an unknown contagion. Penny and Priya are having a good time comparing how Leonard perform at sexual intercourse and don't even notice Sheldon yelling from the biohazard room.

Bernadette comes out and scolds Howard, she explains that his mother got food poisoning and thought Bernadette was a wonderful girl (and wanted to find out if she got poisoned also) and Howard was lucky to have her. Bernadette is angry because Howard led her to believe she was the reason of his mother’s heart attack (which didn’t happened). Bernadette screams at him with a voice similar to his mother and storms off, Howard thinks her new voice is sexy.

In the final scene, Leonard, Howard and Raj are wearing Hazmat Suits and are playing Mystic Warlords of Ka'a with Sheldon who is under quarantine because he was exposed to a deadly virus.

Quotes
Sheldon: I gargled some tequila and may have swallowed a teeny bit.

Leonard: You alright?

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, unbeknownst 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?

(He 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 foreplay 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 biohazard room, where Sheldon is yelling and struggling to get out of there, but the doctors won't let him.)

Sheldon: Help me! Come back! Save me!

(Bernadette comes back from visiting Mrs. Wolowitz and she doesn't look happy.)

Howard: Hey Bernadette, how did it go?

Bernadette: Howard!

Howard: What?

Bernadette: You're a putz!

(Howard looks a little shocked.)

Bernadette: Do you have any idea what that means?!

Howard: Yeah, do you?

Bernadette: You're 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 screams like that?

(Everyone looks at Howard as if he is a sick man for not seeing the irony.)

Trivia

 * Sheldon is afraid of Steak Knives that can be plunged into his thorax.
 * Leonard dubs himself the King Of Foreplay because he likes to perform lengthy foreplay.
 * Howard claims if a cross touches his mother it will burn her.
 * Penny mentions to Pryia 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".
 * 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 coffee can with his Uncle on his mother's mantle piece, as they were cremated.
 * The nurse in biohazard suit is played by Sharon Omi.
 * The doctor who announces what happened to Mrs. Wolowitz is credited as Dr. Bernstein and was portrayed by Phil Abrams
 * The writers goofed Sheldon's fear of germs, because in third season he was in hospital with Penny when she broke her arm and in season 2 when Leonard was with Stephanie and Sheldon went to the hospital twice (one to accompany Leonard after his stitches and when Sheldon is being a hypochondriac and he visits Stephanie) he doesn't even complain or worry, to be fair, Sheldon in this episode had already had mishaps with germs when he drank from Leonard's glass.
 * Howard hasn't met Bernadette's parents yet, but he has already nicknamed them, "Adolf" and "Eva", which is a reference towards Adolf Hitler and his wife.