The Egg Salad Equivalency Season 6, Episode 12 -  Aired January 3, 2013

The Egg Salad Equivalency

After Sheldon's assistant makes a move on Leonard, his plan to focus her mind back on work lands him with a sexual harassment complaint. When Sheldon has a meeting with the human resources department, he gets his friends in trouble, too. Meanwhile, Penny feels insecure about her relationship when she learns Alex was hitting on Leonard.

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Guest Stars: Regina King as Mrs. Davis, Margo Harshman as Alex

Writers: Chuck Lorre (Story), Eric Kaplan (Story), Jim Reynolds (Story), Steven Molaro (Teleplay), Bill Prady (Teleplay), Steve Holland (Teleplay)

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Viewers: 19.25 million Households Rating: 11.2/17 Adults 18-49 Rating: 6.1/18

Available on iTunes

Episode Notes

  • The title refers to Sheldon's sexist comparison of women to egg salad sandwiches left out in the sun, a simile he borrowed from his late father.

> Sheldon's Knock

Sheldon performs his knock once on the door of Janine, the head of human resources at the university, calling for "Human Resources Department" as he knocks.

Episode Quotes

Amy: I have a lab full of coked up monkeys with nothing to lose.

Alex: Is there a problem?
Sheldon: Let's not call it a problem. Let's call it an opportunity. To solve a serious problem.

Sheldon: My father used to say that a woman is like an egg salad sandwich on a warm Texas day.
Alex: What?
Sheldon: Full of eggs and only appealing for a short time.

Raj: I did the research. Tony the Tiger, Dig'em the Frog, Cap'n Crunch, Toucan Sam, Count Chocula, Trix the Rabbit, Snap, Crackle and Pop. Not one cereal mascot is a girl. It's a total breakfast sausage fest.
Leonard: Are we done with this?
Raj: Almost. Franken Berry, Boo Berry, Sugar Bear and the Honey Nut Cheerio bee, I believe his name is Buzz.

Sheldon: I don't see why I'm the one being persecuted here. Dr. Hofstadter, he was bragging about his sexual desirability to anyone who would listen. You know, and Howard Wolowitz, he spent two years using university resources building a six-breasted sex robot. Oh, and at the office Christmas party, I heard Rajesh Koothrappali refer to you several times as Brown Sugar.
Ms. Davis: Hofstadter. Wolowitz. And the last one was Rajesh Koothrappali?
Sheldon: Yes. No, yeah, but in his defense, that wasn't racist. He's also brown.

News Stories

Title Date Posted
Episode 6.12 Final Ratings January 4, 2013

Yesterday's episode of The Big Bang Theory has been adjusted upwards in the final ratings to mark even greater series highs. The night's episode all-time highs for the show in total viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.  Full story

Episode 6.12 Ratings: Biggest audience yet January 4, 2013

Last night's episode of The Big Bang Theory set a new series high in total viewers and matched its high in the adults 18-49 demographic. With only CBS airing originals last night, the network performed better than the other four networks combined.  Full story

CBS Announces Episode 6.12 December 11, 2012

CBS has issued the press release for the first episode of the new year, which will air Thursday, January 3, 2013. Regina King (Southland) guest stars as Mrs. Davis, the University's Director of Employee Relations, while Margo Harshman reprises her role as Alex in the episode.  Full story

Recap

As Sheldon and Leonard play Giant Jenga in the apartment, Sheldon's assistant arrives to collect tapes Sheldon has recorded of himself sleeping. Sheldon thinks his sleep talk might contain a brilliant idea. Alex invites Leonard to come with her to see a lecture, but Leonard says he's spending time with Penny. Alex says she can tell him all about the lecture at work or over dinner, causing a surprised Leonard to knock over the Jenga tower. The next day at the university cafeteria, Leonard boasts about Alex's advances on him. Sheldon is displeased to her how his assistant has been using her time, which should be focused on him, to hit on Leonard.

Sheldon gathers the girls at Amy's apartment for an important session of what he dubs "Sheldon Cooper's Council of Ladies". Sheldon wants to discuss a workplace situation between his short, bespectacled colleague, Ricardo Shilly-Shally, though the girls somehow deduce he's talking about Leonard. When Sheldon reveals that Ricardo was the recipient of an inappropriate advance, Amy figures it's from Alex. Sheldon admits it's not a problem for Leonard, who is loving the attention, angering Penny.

When Sheldon talks to Alex about the problem in his office, he suggests her ovaries are squirting goofy juice into her brain. Sheldon then regales Alex with wisdom from his father, who compared women to an egg salad sandwich on a warm Texas day, "full of eggs and only appealing for a short time." Alex tells her boss this conversation is making her uncomfortable, but Sheldon carries on, calling her a slave to her desire to reproduce. Sheldon finishes by giving Alex an illustrated book about sexually transmitted diseases. Elsewhere, an extra happy Leonard runs into Penny in the apartment building stairwell. Penny reveals she knows Alex hit on Leonard and that he liked it. Leonard returns to his apartment to ask Sheldon if he said something to Penny. As Sheldon realizes he shouldn't have talked to Penny, he receives a call from the Human Resources department at the university informing him Alex filed a complaint of sexual harassment against him.

The next day, Sheldon arrives the HR department to talk to Ms. Davis, who tells him he said things he just can not say in the workplace. When Sheldon wonders whether Alex thought he was singling her out, he clarifies that he thinks all women are slaves to their biological urges. After Sheldon grows tired of the complaint against him, he rats out his friends for their own inappropriate conduct at the university. Elsewhere, Leonard knocks on Penny's apartment and plays a song on the cello, apologizing for Alex hitting on him. As they talk through their problem, Leonard is surprised to find Penny also has feelings of insecurity about their relationship. Meanwhile, Leonard, Howard and Raj all receive calls from the Human Resources department.

At the HR department, Raj, Howard and Leonard wonder why they're there. Raj is drinking as it's the only way he'll be able to talk to the HR lady. As Ms. Davis welcomes the guys in, Sheldon arrives to file his own sexual harassment complaint against Ms. Davis. Ms. Davis has had enough and calls all the guys into her office now. Later, Sheldon apologizes to Alex for his behavior, and then makes her take the online sexual harassment seminar he's been ordered to take.