Recap / The Big Bang Theory S 6 E 18 The Contractual Obligation Implementation

"The Contractual Obligation Implementation" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on March 7, 2013. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Jim Reynolds and Maria Ferrari, based on a story by Chuck Lorre, Eric Kaplan and Steve Holland.

Leonard, Sheldon and Howard are contractually obligated to serve on a university committee that is supposed to encourage women to pursue careers in science. Leonard suggests that, in fulfillment of that obligation, the three of them go to a local middle school to speak to young girls about science.

Meanwhile, Raj talks to Amy, Bernadette and Penny to pick their brains for ideas on where to take Lucy (Kate Micucci) for his next date with her. This leads Bernadette to decide that she should take Amy and Penny to Disneyland for princess makeovers.

Leonard, Sheldon and Howard go to Howard's old middle school. The three men quickly get off track, and the young girls are utterly bored. Sheldon then gets a very good idea: he gets Amy and Bernadette to speak to the girls on the phone.

Of course it would have been better if the Amy and Bernadette had been the ones to speak in person, though maybe not right now, as the two of them plus Penny are dressed as Disney princesses (Amy is Snow White, Bernadette is Cinderella and Penny is Sleeping Beauty).

At the library, Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn) inconveniences Raj by plopping down at the table he has set aside for his indoor picnic with Lucy. Raj tells Bert to get lost. Bert sees Lucy coming in and tells her she can do better than Raj.

Since Raj is still afflicted with an inability to speak to women sober, he and Lucy will carry on their conversation through cell phone text messages. It actually goes very well, and Raj learns that Lucy is a Web designer specializing in prom websites. Lucy almost kisses Raj at the end.

Tropes

• All There in the Script: Although Bert's name is not said in dialogue, it does appear on the script and Brian Posehn is credited as Bert in the closing credits. Though it's not clear if there was any plan to have him reprise the character in later episodes, nor how much else about him had been decided at this point.
• Artistic License: The girls each get makeovers as specific Disney Princesses at Disneyland, with the conflict being over who gets to be made over to look like Cinderella before everyone selects someone specific. The costumes are extremely accurate to the characters, and it's stated that they were in those outfits at the park. However, they wouldn't be given such accurate makeovers as adult women. Disney Parks dress policy forbids anyone over the age of fourteen to wear costumes that resemble the official look of any character, lest younger children mistake unrelated adults for the characters wandering the park. People are often denied entry for looking too close to a character, such as wearing a purple dress with a laced bodice and long blonde braided wig with flowers, because that's too close to the actual look of Tangled's Rapunzel.
• Batman Gambit: Bernadette's plan for her and the girls to ditch work and go to Disneyland for princess makeovers. Turns out she knew Howard would like seeing her dressed as Cinderella.
• Early-Bird Cameo: This episode marks Bert's first appearance on the show, and though memorable, is not essential to the plot. Bert does not appear again until next season's "The Occupation Recalibration", in which he drives Amy's plot line.
• Geeky Turn-On: Howard and Leonard get turned on by the Disney Princess makeovers their mates got. Amy dressing as Snow White, however, doesn't get the results she wanted from Sheldon.
• Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: The group's efforts to promote careers in the sciences are... less than convincing to say the least. Sheldon is overly fixated on how Marie Curie died an agonizing death due to her research, Howard's attempts to describe his time as an astronaut only gets him compared to an airline attendant, and Leonard just winds up unloading all of his issues about how his mother ruined his childhood.
  Sheldon: I don't know if women in general have been actively discouraged from pursuing the sciences, but it's clear you young women here today have been.
  (Schoolgirls all applaud enthusiastically)
• Hurricane of Puns: When Raj and Lucy text each other.
  Raj: My father's a gynecologist, so if you're ever in India and you need a check-up, my father is, as he likes to say, at your cervix.
  Lucy: That's terrible. Your father should be in a pun-itentiary.
  Raj: That is a fitting pun-ishment.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Sheldon thinks people should be able to take care of themselves, to which Leonard points out he has to drive him everywhere.
  • Amy and Bernadette speak to the junior high girls through their mobile device about how girls are often conditioned from an early age to place greater emphasis on their appearances more than their intelligence, after they've gotten their makeovers as Disney Princesses, with Amy putting on her lipstick and checking her look while giving the remote talk alongside Bernadette.
  • Finally, Bernadette concludes the remote speech to the junior high girls with "every one of you has the capacity to be anything you want to be", at which point Penny quips with "unless you want to be Cinderella".
    Bernadette: *to Penny* Come at me. See what happens.
• I Was Just Joking: Whenever she tells an inappropriate story, Penny adds "It's a joke! Based on real events." On the third time...
  Amy: I've never played hooky in my life. My mom said that's how girls end up addicted to reefer and jazz music.
  Penny: More like how girls end up at a Best Western hotel with a thirty-four-year-old guy named Luther.
  Bernadette: Joke?
  Penny: I can laugh about it now.
• Ignore the Fanservice:
  Amy: Sheldon... all Snow White needs is one little kiss to wake up.
  Sheldon: Heard you the first time.
• The Internet Is for Porn: The others have to stop Sheldon from Googling "How do I get twelve-year-old girls excited."
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • When Leonard is trying to come up with ways to get more women into the hard sciences, he gets fed up with Sheldon's negativity and challenges his intellect, giving him five seconds to come up with a better idea. Sheldon obliges.
    Leonard: Sheldon, you're always saying how much smarter you are than me. Spend five seconds and come up with one idea on how to get more women into science.
    (Beat) Sheldon: All your ideas address the issue at a university level. By then it's too late. You need to design an outreach program that targets girls at the middle school level and sets them on an academic track towards the hard sciences.
    Leonard: That's actually good. Why didn't I think of that?
  • Sheldon is also the one who somewhat salvages their otherwise disastrous attempts to encourage Junior High schoolgirls to pursue the sciences by putting through a call to have Bernadette and Amy do the talking, realizing that such a talk would sound much more convincing coming from actual female scientists.
• Moustache de Plume: Discussed.
  Sheldon: I supposed there is a history of professional women using their initials so as not to be prejudged. Harry Potter 's J. K. Rowling… uh, Star Trek 's D.C. Fontana…
  Howard: Van Nuys pole dancer D.D. Melons.
• Playing Sick: Zigzagged. Amy does this to get out of work, by calling her boss on the previous night several times, each time setting up the staged pretense of getting sick from poorly-cooked seafood. Averted with Penny, however, as she doesn't even bother to give an excuse for skipping work.
  Amy: I did it in stages. At 7 last night, I called him about a problem at the lab and casually mentioned I was going out for seafood. At 9:30, I called him and told him that one of my scallops tasted weird. At 11:30, I called him and told him I was throwing up like a fire-hose! At 12:45, I called him and made nothing but dry-heaving sounds. And now I'm going to Disneyland!
  Bernadette: What about you, Penny?
  Penny: I work at the Cheesecake Factory. I said, "bye".
• Serious Business: Being Cinderella in the Disney Princess makeover is this for Bernadette, as she makes it perfectly clear to Penny and Amy:
  Bernadette: This was my idea; I'm driving; I'm Cinderella. You bitches got a problem with that, we can stop the car right now.
• Short-Distance Phone Call: To work around Lucy's anxiety, she and Raj communicate through texting while sitting across each other.
• Shout-Out: The girls get Disney Princess makeovers at Disneyland. Bernadette is Cinderella, Penny is Aurora, and Amy is Snow White.