The Big Bang Theory Recap: S:09 E:21 The Viewing Party Combustion

The episode begins in the comic book store with an actual geek, silly, debate about Batman and Man-bat. It turns out the entire discussion is just a detour from Sheldon’s original question, which he never actually reveals. The discussion is further sidelined by Raj getting a text from Claire and informing the guys that he is dating two women at once, both Emily and Claire, which completely boggled Leonard’s mind, especially since Raj, who once couldn’t eve talk to women, seems to be so much more successful than Leonard was when he tried to date two women.(Priya and Alice in season 5, episode 7, “The Good Guy Fluctuation”). Of course, Raj has thought about dating multiple women previously, which is what caused his breakup with Lucy in season 7, episode 20 “The Relationship Diremption.”

For their viewing of Game of Thrones, Leonard has arranged to have a party sub, which seems like a lot of food for their group. Sheldon takes exception not to the amount of food, but rather to the fact that a party sub implies a party, which viewing the show is not. Leonard explains that Sheldon’s presence implies that it isn’t a party, and Sheldon admits to not enjoying parties. More importantly, Sheldon reminds Leonard that their quarterly roommate agreement is scheduled for the next day. Leonard decides he has had enough and tells Sheldon that he won’t be attending the meeting, even if that means he won’t be able to weigh in on what type of Raisin Bran Sheldon will eat. Surprisingly, Penny takes Sheldon’s side despite constantly telling Leonard that he needs to stand up to Sheldon. Penny explains she’s doing it because the quarterly meeting is important to Sheldon, although, of course, everything Sheldon wants is important to Sheldon.

Raj and Howard are playing a videogame at the Wolowitzes when Raj begins talking about how exhausting it is dating two women. When Bernadette enters, Raj turns his attention to her and informs her of his current dating system, Raj’s humble bragging quickly gets out of hand.

Setting up for the viewing not-party, Sheldon checks to see if Penny is caught up on Game of Thrones. Her reductionist take is “Dragons, snow zombies, and all the hot guys are dead,” although Sheldon disputes the last contention, pointing out Theon Greyjoy. Leonard is still upset that Penny is taking Sheldon’s side in the argument over the roommate agreement. The argument continues to escalate until Amy enters with spinach dip.

In the car over, Howard is talking to Raj about his concerns about the baby being a boy or a girl. If it is a boy, he’ll need to learn to play catch with him (and, as evidenced in season 8, episode 3 “The First Pitch Insufficiency,” he proved he couldn’t throw a ball). If it is a girl, he’s concerned about protecting her from guys, which allows Raj to once more brag about the fact that he’s dating two women at once. When Howard comments about how Raj is humble bragging about his situation, Raj tries to defend himself.

In the apartment, Amy asks about the argument and Amy sides with Leonard. Sheldon begins to explain that Amy clearly doesn’t understand the situation, but Amy tells him that she never liked their Relationship Agreement meetings. Sheldon can’t believe that she was pretending to like the meetings, so Amy begins to fake enjoyment of the meetings, much like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. Sheldon, unconvinced that she’s faking, asks Penny her opinion. Raj and Howard continue their argument on the stairs up and Raj complains that Howard is jealous of him. They arrive on the landing just as Penny and Sheldon take half the sandwich over to Penny’s apartment to watch the show. Leonard points out that he’ll enjoy watching the episode without having Sheldon compare it to the novels. Given the choice of watching in separate apartments, Howard announces that he doesn’t want to watch with Raj, who chooses to watch with Penny and Sheldon before realizing that means that he won’t have access to Amy’s spinach dip.

Howard asks Leonard what happened before they arrived and Amy suggests that men’s hormonal cycles can cause irritability. Howard suggests that his male cyclwe may have synched up with Raj’s “actual cycle,” another in a long line of Raj-is-a-woman jokes that haven’t made their appearance in the show for quite some time. A knock on the door reveals Stuart dressed in a Jon Snow costume. Apparently, Howard told him that it was a dress up party, so rather than stay with them, Stuart goes across the hall.

When he is admitted to Penny’s apartment, he explains that he was told it was the place to go for people who were mad at Howard. Penny offers to take his cloak, which kept getting caught in his bike. Sheldon performs the introductions, not to the people in the room, who Stuart knows, but to the situation about who is angry with whom, ending with his own anger at George R. R. Martin for not publishing any new books to spoil for Leonard. Stuart asks Raj why Howard is upset with him and when Raj tells him about his situation with Claire and Emily, Stuart points out that the closest he’s come to dating two girls was when he dated one girl.

Leonard thanks Amy for sticking up for him, but she tells him that she only did it because she’s annoyed at how close Sheldon and Penny are. She points out that Penny comforts him and can get him to take his medicine. The kicker is when Amy tells him that Penny has Sheldon add things to the roommate agreement so she can get her way while avoiding a fight with Leonard. Howard laughs at Leonard’s predicament, explaining that he like’s Schadenfreude. Leonard tells him that Bernadette does the same thing with Raj. When Howard realizes they’re right, Leonard understands the feeling of Schadenfreude.

As the show begins in Penny’s apartment, Leonard knocks on the door to confront Penny about the roommate agreement. Penny storms past him to complain that Amy told him about it. As the three of them argue, Howard comes out of the apartment into the hall with an allergic reaction to nuts.

In the waiting room, Leonard admits to not knowing the mortadella cheese had pistachios and Sheldon informs Amy that the morta in mortadella means death, which Amy finds insensitive (in fact, the “morta” comes from the myrtle berries which are used in making it.). Bernadette comes out to tell them that Howard will be okay, but also asks why Stuart is in a costume. Stuart explains Howard was pranking him, but since Howard almost died, they’re even. With the argument mostly in the past and dropped, Raj tried to draw comparisons between their situation and the episode of Game of Thrones.

As Stuart unlocks his bike, Raj, Sheldon, and Leonard taunt him from their apartment window. Stuart informs them that they lost bathroom privileges at the store and takes off on his bike, only to get his cloak caught in the chain and take a header over the handlebars.

Asleep in Leonard’s room (why don’t they ever use Penny’s apartment?), Sheldon knocks on the door to finish asking the Man-bat, Batman question the show started with. A half-sleeping Penny asks for clarification, which sends Sheldon off and gives them more time for sleep.

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