Sheldon Visits HR

Big Bang Theory, S06E12

Alex asking Leonard out led Sheldon to speak to his assistant about her "sexual advances" toward a coworker.  However, Sheldon unknowingly spoke to Alex in a way that seemed like he was sexually harassing her.  When Sheldon got called into Human Resources to be reprimanded, he pointed out all the inappropriate things Leonard, Raj, and Howard had also done at work.  Penny also got upset about Alex asking out Leonard.

Af first, I thought this was going to be an episode mianly about Penny being angry at Leonard for loving the attention from Alex.  I was really pleased when the story took an unexpected turn as Sheldon decided that he needed to handle Alex himself.  Even though Sheldon has a knack for making everything about himself, I didn't see that coming at all.  Nor did I foresee that he would say so many wrong things to her.  It was like as soon as he started talking to her, I finally saw that this story was going to be about Sheldon getting in trouble for "harassing" his assistant.  And Alex was hardly out of line--Sheldon was really insulting.

The best of the horrible things he said to Alex was, of course, him referring to her as an egg salad sandwich.  I'm sure Sheldon's father was (is?) a very old school sort of guy who had a lot of sexist things to say that Sheldon felt were normal over time, and it sort of makes me think that his father might be part of the reason Sheldon sort of thinks that women are inferior to men.  Obviously, he's using scientific facts to back it up, but he definitely would be thinking the same even if he was less educated.

I was really looking forward to when he would be called into Human Resources, but I was super excited to see that the head of the office was played by Regina King.  Holy crap!  Not only do I love her, but her interaction with Sheldon was one of my favorites in this show!  It was simply funny from beginning to end.  In the beginning, I liked the first couple of things she said to Sheldon:

Well, according to Ms. Jensen, you said that she was a slave to her biological urges and called her an “egg salad sandwich.”  I don’t even know what that means, but I’m gonna go ahead and tell you you can’t say it.

Later, Sheldon dug his grave deeper by calling her a "slave" and not picking up on the possible racial tones it might have (I couldn't ever see Sheldon being purposely racist to anyone, though).  Finally, he started talking about women's menstrual cycles and she had me rolling when she shut him down:

You can’t talk about that, either, Dr. Cooper.  Your language is entirely inappropriate, and I’m gonna advise that you shut your mouth right now.

I love hearing Regina King telling Sheldon to shut his mouth  That was awesome.  What wasn't so awesome was watching Sheldon throw his friends under the bus because he was in trouble.  He really is like a freaking little boy who rats out his friends to keep himself out of trouble.  I was pissed that Sheldon had done that, even if the others deserved a trip to HR.  They're not the ones who were showing people diseased genitalia.

Even so, I really liked when Ms. Davis called them all into her office after Sheldon tried to turn the tables and file a complaint against her:

[Sheldon] I-I thought about the things you said to me yesterday, and I realized I’m deeply offended.  Now, be a dear and get me one of those complaint forms.
[Davis] That’s it.  All of you, in my office now!
[Sheldon] And thanks to you, I know better than to ask if you’re menstruating.  And based on your behavior, I don’t have to.

 I loved her face when he dared to say that her reaction to the situation was due to her period.  She must have really given him an earful after that because Sheldon apologized to Alex.  He's obviously not seen his blame in all of this since he made Alex do his seminar for him, but I know he'll think twice about talking to a woman about her eggs ruling her actions again.

One other thing that was sort of funny was Penny's reaction to Sheldon forming the "Council of Ladies."  I loved her face when she asked what was happening.  Sometimes she is the voice of the audience at home.  It seemed really odd that he had gathered them for womenly advice, even though he is one of the most clueless men of all.

This is one of my favorites this season.  I would have never imagined that Sheldon would have to go to HR for sexual harassment of all things.  It really has opened my eyes to what kind of trouble Sheldon might get himself into with that unfiltered mouth of his.  I'd also like to see Regina King guest star on this show again--I loved seeing her give him a talk.  If they could work her into a second episode, I'm pretty sure it would be comedy gold once again.