The Bozeman Reaction

The Bozeman Reaction is the thirteenth episode of the third season of the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on January 18, 2010.

Summary
When their apartment is robbed and their TV, video games, and computers are stolen, Leonard and Sheldon turn to Howard to create a state-of-the-art security system which catches Sheldon. Sheldon decides to leave Pasadena. He decides on Bozeman, Montana, but gets robbed as soon as he arrives there, so he returns.

Extended Plot
Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard arrive at the Chinese restaurant, where they remark that it's been a long time since only the four of them have eaten together (with Leonard dating Penny and Howard dating Bernadette.) Raj becomes agitated and admits jealousy of the others as he doesn't have a girlfriend.

Sheldon becomes horrified when he realizes that the restaurant has redone the menu and that General Tso's Chicken is no longer in the category of specialities, but in the category of chicken, and he becomes overly distressed when he sees a typo in the meal "Shrimp in Mobster Sauce", which makes him immediately come to the conclusion that the restaurant's a front for organized crime; however, the rest of the guys dismiss this, and decide to leave the restaurant and get pizza at Corleone's (to which Howard remarks "Sure; no mobsters there.")

When Leonard and Sheldon return home they find the lock broken and the apartment ransacked, with their computers, TV and gaming platforms gone, and everything tossed across; however, Sheldon becomes eased when he finds out that the robbers did not touch his comic books.

The police soon arrive and Sheldon verbally tells the officers everything that is missing, and then gives the officers a can of energy drink that was consumed by one of the robbers, so they have the thief's fingerprints. When the police leave, Sheldon and Leonard sit on the couch, where Sheldon decides to watch TV on his iPhone until the criminals return to bludgeon them to death in their sleep.

Sheldon eventually goes to bed and barricades the door, only to have to use the bathroom seconds later. Afterwards he goes to Penny's apartment, where Penny and Leonard are preparing to go to bed. Sheldon has them go back to the apartment, where he tries to play charades with them, until Leonard and Penny go to bed. Seconds after they leave Sheldon begins to watch a slasher movie on his iPhone, and runs to Leonard and Penny after one of the characters dies a gory death.

The next day, Sheldon has Raj and Howard install a complex security system in the apartment (with motion detectors, infrared sensors and facial recognition software). When Penny enters the apartment second later, a net falls on her. As Sheldon begins to remark about the flaws with the net, Howard tells him that he will get it electrified.

That night Sheldon is updating his Daily Log when he hears something bump. Instead of going out his door to investigate, he chooses to crawl around the ledge outside of his window to Leonard's room, where he and Penny are starting to have sex. When Sheldon comes in through the window, they tell him that the bump was them knocking over a lamp by accident. Now calm, Sheldon goes to make some warm milk and check the perimeter, but accidentally sets off the security system, with the now-electrified net falling on him, making him wet his pajamas.

A few days later, Sheldon and Leonard have bought a new TV, laptops and gaming consoles (Sheldon's laptop being an Alienware M17x Nebula Red Laptop and Leonard 's being a DellAdamo XPS). Sheldon then reveals that he is moving away from Pasadena forever because of the recent events. He eventually decides to move to Bozeman, Montana. Despite protests from Howard and Penny to get over his problems, Sheldon decides to leave. He plays one last video, revealing that Leonard, Penny, Raj and Howard were "three of [his] closest friends and one treasured acquaintance". Raj and Howard begin arguing over who's the friend and acquaintance.

When Sheldon arrives in Bozeman he is horrified over the cold temperature, and is quickly robbed of his bags by a local thief. Sheldon eventually gets his bags back, and decides to return to Pasadena. As he walks in, Howard remarks that Sheldon is back, to which he responds "Interesting; the acquaintance is the first to greet me."

Critics
"A strong idea for a plot. Robbery is entirely plausible, it has important consequences for the lives of Sheldon and Leonard and it leaves many comedic avenues open...Of course the show could have gone in a less jokey direction and really drawn out the vulnerability that Sheldon  felt. Instead of moving to Montana one of his friends could have helped convince him of the need to adapt to his vulnerability...A good story with good jokes. It tapped into an interesting emotion in Sheldon which was fun to explore. It could of course have gone even further with that." - The TV Critic's Review

Quotes

 * Sheldon: Oh Lord, they re-did the menu.
 * Leonard: So what, it's the same food.
 * Sheldon: Really? Look at this: General Tso's chicken is no longer under specialties. It's now under chicken.
 * Raj: So?
 * Sheldon: Yes General Tso.
 * Raj: Not Tso the chicken, so the question. So?
 * Sheldon: So? Did the chef loose confidence in himself or the dish. And just look at this, Shrimp with mobster sauce. What is mobster sauce?
 * Leonard: It's obviously a typo.
 * Sheldon: Perhaps. Or perhaps this restaurant is now a front for organized crime. For all we know the mobster sauce actually contains chunks of deceased mobsters.
 * Raj: No, I just think it means it's the kind of sauce mobsters like.
 * Howard: It doesn't mean anything, it's just a typo!
 * Leonard: Here's an idea: why don't we go out for pizza?
 * Sheldon: Good idea. We’ll go to Corleone’s.
 * Howard: Sure, no mobsters there.

Trivia

 * During this episode Sheldon begins to keep a journal, in which he continues to make reference to the "crime-ridden streets" of Pasadena . This journal is very similar in style and content to the journal of Rorschach from the Watchmen comic book miniseries and film.
 * Sheldon' s old laptop was a red Dell XPS m1710 and his new one is a red Alienware M17x, while Leonard 's old laptop was a black Dell xps M1710 and his new one is a Dell Adamo XPS.
 * Sheldon states, "They didn’t take my comic books... They took our TV, two laptops, four external hard-drives, our PS2, our PS3, our X-Box , our X-Box 360, our classic Nintendo, our Super Nintendo, our Nintendo 64 and our Wii . They took Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3, Call of Duty 1, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Final Fantasy 1 thru 9, The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics and Ms. Pacman."
 * In The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition, Sheldon says he wants a PS3, and by the episode of this article he has one stolen from the apartment.
 * In The Friendship Algorithm, Sheldon said Raj was out of his group of friends, while Howard was safe, but he considers Howard  a "treasured acquaintance" and Raj Leonard, and Penny his "closest friends."
 * Sheldon is not "the master" of his bladder.
 * Bozeman, Montana is the place where the first contact between Humans and Vulcans was established in the Star Trek Universe. However, for unknown reasons Sheldon does not seem to comment on this.
 * The USS Bozeman was the Federation ship caught in the time loop for over eighty years in the Star Trek:The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect" and the hometown of the writer of the episode Brannon Braga.
 * One of the first locations Sheldon contemplates moving to is Enid, Oklahoma . Enid is the name of a song byBarenaked Ladies who sing The Big Bang Theory 's theme song.
 * There are two instances where "The Godfather" movies are referenced; one such reference is when Sheldon insists to the guys at the Chinese Restaurant that they go buy pizza from a place called "Corleone 's" and another is when Leonard and Sheldon are discussing the origins of "Mobster Sauce"; Leonard makes a comical remark that the reason why "Mobster Sauce" was listed on the menu under "Seafood" was because "what if they were mobsters who slept with the fishes" (it is mentioned and described as an old Italian saying by Santino "Sonny" Corleone in "The Godfather Part 1").