The Big Bang Theory Recap with Spoilers – The Bachelor Party Corrosion

The episode opens with Leonard and Sheldon making sandwiches in the apartment. Leonard tries impressing Sheldon with a fact about mustard (it was invented as a chemical defense against caterpillars), but Sheldon beats him to the punch, putting down Leonard in the process. Howard and Raj arrive and reveal that they have a van downstairs and are ready to "kidnap" Leonard for a belated bachelor party at a secret location. When Sheldon tries to protest about leaving in a shady van for places unknown, Howard, Raj and Leonard end up actually kidnapping him, tying and blindfolding Sheldon and carrying him downstairs into a beat up van.

After the title sequence, Sheldon mopes in the back of the van as it travels down the highway, still upset that he's actually been kidnapped for the weekend. He cheers up when Raj and Howard reveals their plan for the weekend: they're driving to Nobel Prize winning physicist's Richard Feynman's Mexican vacation house in a van once owned by the renowned scientists. Even though he doesn't like Mexico, Sheldon's thrilled about the prospect of spending a weekend following the footsteps of Richard Feynman. And who doesn't want to spend a weekend thinking about Richard Feynman for a bachelor party?

Meanwhile, Bernadette tries to convince Penny to go to a strip club for her belated bachelorette party instead of the quiet night they have planned. Penny declines, but Amy comes in with her own contribution to the party: some very anatomically correct cookies (featuring gummy worms in the place of veins). She even made some uncircumcised cookies, in case the girls wanted to mix it up.

As the boys approach the Mexican border, Sheldon bones up on Mexican custom laws. He wonders if Feynman stashed some VHS tapes in a hidden compartment in the van (there's a limit to how many tapes you can bring into Mexico), but Leonard assures Sheldon that if there was a secret compartment, Sheldon would already have been stepped inside of it.

At the bachelorette party, Amy asks how Penny is enjoying married life. Penny explains that Leonard still hasn't moved in (Leonard's worried how Sheldon will take it), even though Leonard's spending every night at her place. When asked how she's enjoying single life, Amy says she's thinking about changing her wardrobe, which delights both Penny and Bernadette. Amy's hesitant to make any radical changes, but she is thinking about getting her ears pierced, something that both her mother and Sheldon wouldn't let her do. Bernadette offers to take Amy to the mall to get it done, but Penny says they can just do it at her apartment, since she's pierced "dozens" of ears using just a needle and some ice.

After briefly discussing Howard's casual racism and how sitting in Feynman's "butt dent" is causing Sheldon's creative juices to flow, the guys get stuck on the side of the road after the van blows a tire. Even though Howard knows how to change a tire, the guys don't have the muscle power to get that last lug nut unscrewed.

Back in America, Bernadette points out that neither Amy nor Penny has changed their respective Facebook relationship statuses. Penny explains that she hasn't changed her Facebook status because she hasn't told her parents that she and Leonard eloped. Penny says that her parents wanted a big wedding and finding out that she eloped would break their heart. Bernadette and Amy eventually convince Penny to call her parents and break the news, but not before Penny pierces Amy's ears and Amy tells the girls about the "sin closet" she spent most of her time in.

Penny calls her father and breaks the news about her and Leonard getting married. Her father takes the news in stride, in part because he's been sitting on a secret of his own: he ran over Penny's pet pig with a rototiller last year. After her father gets off the phone in a hurry, the girls turn to Amy, who also hasn't told her mother that she broke up with Sheldon. When Amy makes the call but tries to stall, Penny snatches the phone and explains the whole story, including that Amy got her ears pierced and made them eat penis shaped cookies.

Meanwhile in Mexico, the boys still can't get the lug nut loose. However, Feynman's van inspires them to use physics to get the tire loose, although they're hindered over how to pronounce the word "lever". The guys try using a long stop sign to pry the wheel loose, but not even Howard hanging on the sign like a monkey can get the wheel to budge. After several attempts to get the lug nut to budge using various scientific principles, Sheldon makes some makeshift thermite to melt the lug nut off. Unfortunately, the thermite is a bit too potent and soon the entire van's engulfed in flames.

The episode ends with Sheldon and Leonard returning to the apartment building in defeat. Penny and Leonard compare evenings and Penny declares Leonard the victor for having to spend the night in Mexico with Sheldon. It seems that hanging out with Sheldon is even worse than learning your beloved pet was killed by a runaway rototiller.

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