The Big Bang Theory - The Clean Room Infiltration - Review

Leonard, Howard, and Raj plot:

Leonard and Howard have to go the university on Christmas Eve to ensure that there are no cosmic particles in the room. Later on, Raj is interrupted at the Christmas Party to join the guys to help get rid of the pigeon out of the room because Howard accidentally left the door open.

While they find where the pigeon is, the guys argue who is smarter and Howard admits that he is jealous of Leonard because they were best friends until Raj came into their lives. The guys now have to work together to find the pigeon until Howard accidentally kills it with the fire extinguisher. He tries very hard to save the bird's life but no progress happens. Just when things could not get any worse, a crow accidentally comes into the room due to the room not being closed. Those lines in those scenes was mostly bland and it could have been better. I wish the guys would have gotten along better. The only entertaining part of the episode was when they decide to get out of the clean room to celebrate Christmas and sing Jingle Bells on the way to the party.

Penny and Dr. Koothrappali (Raj's father) plot:

Meanwhile, they are getting ready for the Christmas Party and Penny tries to bond with Raj's father. He is happy to not see his former wife. He asks how Leonard is doing. He believes that they will not grow to hate each other. It seems that his father does not hate Leonard as much as he used to because he is no longer dating Priya. Amy plays a silly game of going back and forth with the wool without using hands with him. He only wins the game because he does not pay attention to her. It feels that he is not spirited for Christmas like the girls because those parties reminds of him of the time that his wife used to throw and he wasn't at the parties often because of his work schedule. I wanted more scenes of him because I wanted more development on why he was getting divorced from his mother. It just felt like he was bored at the party even though he was tired from a long flight. The lines from Penny were forgettable and bland.

Bernadette and Shamy plot:

This plot was easily the best of the episode. Bernadette starts singing Christmas carols happily while Sheldon is sitting there in the car not joining the spirit. He immediately turns the music off and he tells her that he plans on getting revenge on Amy by getting her a gift since they promised each other not to get gifts but he is breaking his promises to her anyways. The purpose of this is to ruin her Christmas and make her feel bad for not getting him a present.
They find the perfect gift to get her to ruin Christmas for her at the mall. He still loves her but wants to find a gift that will make her worthless. Sheldon tells Santa that he wants to punish Amy for Christmas by taking their picture together.

Back at the party, Sheldon gives him her gift to Amy of his picture with Santa. While he expects her to be sad, she actually loves that gift of them together. His plan to get revenge on Amy backfires because she actually got him a gift for Christmas, which was her making a recipe of his grandmother's cookies to him. It tastes so well that he has nothing to get revenge on her for. It is implied that he knows the true meaning of Christmas. Karma came back to haunt him when he wanted payback only to find that he actually got love in return. At least he took it well when he did not win the battle of getting back at her.

Observations:
- Just when Raj gets his happy ending of getting a girlfriend, it's such a shame that the two people that love him the most are leaving each other.

- I know Emily works a lot but where was she? Since this was a holiday-themed episode, I figure she would have at least a scene.

- It would've been better if Sheldon heard Penny talking about his favorite show, Star Trek to Raj's father but there was nothing accomplished with that part other than it was a coincidence that Brian George (plays Raj's father) was actually on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for 1 episode back in 1997 playing Dr. Bashir's father.

- Wasn't it awkward when Sheldon asked Santa what he wanted for Christmas and acted like a little kid to him by sitting on his lap?

Overall:
Luckily, the scenes with Bernadette and Shamy were excellent or else this episode would have been my least favorite of the season. I was hoping for better laughter like last year's Christmas episode and the other Christmas episodes in the series. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and thanks for reading my recaps and reviews of this show. :)