The Engagement Reaction

The Engagement Reaction is the twenty-third episode of the fourth season of the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on May 12, 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 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 the germs.

Bernadette comes back with everyone’s order; Priya asks if she and Howard have started planning their wedding, 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 funeral. Sheldon returns to the table after accidentally swallowing tequila in an attempt to gargle it.

The boys are playing Mystic Warlords of Ka'a and Raj is annoyingly commenting on every card played, during which 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 which Raj has hidden. Leonard then 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 button”. He 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 off the seat.

Penny and Sheldon are chatting in the laundry room; she is amused by his "jibber jabber" because she's been keeping her distance from the gang because of Priya. Leonard then bursts in with news that Howard's mother has been taken to hospital, 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 hero despite his liking of 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 mad man to the emergency room. He suspects it is heart-related and explains that his family has a deep heart disease history. Bernadette then figures out that Mrs Wolowitz may have had a heart attack after hearing that Howard is getting married to her.

Priya praises Penny for being there for her friend Howard, and Penny finds it weird that she acknowledges Howard as a friend. Priya also tells her that Raj has a bunch of friends in New Delhi who dress up in leotards and call themselves the New Delhi Power Rangers. They strike up a friendly conversation, which worries Leonard a little.

Sheldon is on his way back from the toilet when he sees a man coughing severely. In order to escape the coughing he ducks into a room. Suddenly he realizes it is a biohazard isolation room, and he cannot leave because he has been exposed to an unknown contagion. Penny and Priya, who are passing, are having a good time discussing how Leonard performs in the bedroom and don't even notice Sheldon yelling from the biohazard room.

A doctor comes in and announces it wasn’t a heart attack, and says that Mrs Wolowitz would like "the little Catholic girl" first. Bernadette returns to the waiting room and the first thing she does is scold Howard. She explains that his mother got food poisoning 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 engagement reaction, 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 crone). 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 and Raj giving annoying comments about every card.

Quotes
Penny: Oh my God, you're about to jibber-jabber 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 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, 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?

(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:'' 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.)

Trivia

 * Sheldon has a fear 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, because she is Jewish.
 * 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.
 * 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 with Sheldon's fear of germs, because in the third season he was in a 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.
 * Sheldon pronounces the plural of cocci incorrectly.