Episode 22 – The Wildebeest Implementation (422)
While shoe-shopping with Penny and Amy, Bernadette reveals that Howard and her have been invited to a double date by Priya. Amy suspects that Priya is trying to win over the weakest member of their social group, just as a cheetah attacks the weakest specimen in a herd of wildebeests. Therefore, she proposes to use Bernadette to spy on Priya and spread disinformation about Penny and Leonard. Bernadette is uncomfortable with lying, as she went to a catholic school, but nontheless goes along with the plan. When the four meet for dinner, Bernadette checks in via text message and Amy orders her to commence Operation “Priya Wouldn’t Wanna Be-ya”. When Priya makes a snide remark about Penny’s acting career, Penny and Amy order Bernadette to tell her and the others that Penny is on her way to Prague for a movie part and that she is dating an astronaut (although this turns out to be a mistake of the AutoCorrect function of Amy’s phone, as she was intending to type architect). Priya, Leonard and Howard begin to ask questions about this news (being very interested in details about where Penny met the astronaut), to which Bernadette has to improvise answers, increasingly unnerving and frustrating her. Leonard expresses surprise that Penny never shared any of this with him, which causes Priya to question whether he’d been spending time with her, making Leonard feel awkward. Bernadette excuses herself to the bathroom and calls Amy to tell her that the lie (as well as her calm) is unravelling. She also reveals that Priya and Leonard are planning a trip to India to meet the Koothrapallis. Consequently, Penny wants her to find out if the two are getting engaged. After Priya tells her that they “are not there yet”, Bernadette tells her that she has to go to the bathroom again, prompting Priya to ask if everything is okay (as she had excused herself to the bathroom many times to talk to the other girls). Bernadette finally snaps and storms out, leaving Priya and Leonard befuddled.
Meanwhile, Raj, who is still very lonely and doesn’t want to be the fifth wheel during the double date, visits Sheldon in his apartment. He tries to get a good advice about whether or not he should try to cure his social anxiety using an experimental drug, however Sheldon is preoccupied with his “three-person chess” project, as he doesn’t only adapt the popular game for 3 players with a new board design, but also adds new chess pieces. Sheldon finally advises Raj to do so and accompanies him to a coffee shop to observe the drug’s effectiveness. It ends up working very well, as Raj starts to talk to a woman named Angela, who also seems to like him. However, an adverse effect begins to manifest itself, causing Raj to lose all his inhibitions and strip completely naked, thus scaring off Angela. In the end, Sheldon, Leonard and Howard play a test game of Sheldon’s chess version, to which he added a multitude of new chess pieces and rules while a still-nude Raj is watching them.
Recurring character: Aarti Mann as Priya Koothrappali.
Title reference: Amy’s metaphor about Bernadette being a “weak wildebeest”.
Directed by Mark Cendrowski.
Written by Story: Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro & Eric Kaplan / Teleplay: Bill Prady, Eddie Gorodetsky & Maria Ferrari.
Originally aired on May 5, 2011.
