An okay episode. Nothing too special going on here, though. There were a couple of setups that could have been capitalized on a bit better. But let's just talk about the story.
Raj tells everybody that he will be unable to host Christmas dinner because his father is coming into town. Amy volunteers to host instead, saying that she wants to throw a Victorian Christmas, with traditional games. At the party, Penny and the elder Dr. Koothrappali are bored by Amy's strange games, as they wait for the others to arrive.
Bernadette is giving Sheldon a ride to the party. He laments that he is being forced to celebrate the holiday. He wants to do something to punish Amy the way he feel he's being punished. His solution? Buy Amy a present. Since the two of them have agreed not to exchange gifts, any present from Sheldon will make Amy feel guilty and ashamed. Then, maybe they'll never have to celebrate Christmas again! Sheldon gets Amy a thoughtful present - a picture of him sitting on Santa's lap at the mall.
At Amy's party, Sheldon gives Amy the gift, which she loves. Turns out, she has a present for him as well - a box of Christmas cookies made from his gradmother's recipe. Sheldon grudgingly admits that maybe Christmas isn't so bad after all.
Meanwhile, Howard, Leonard and Raj aren't at the party because of a disaster at work. As Howard and Leonard are working on an experiment in a clean lab, a pigeon flies inside. They call Raj in to help. Howard doesn't want to call anybody to help them with the problem, because he doesn't want to admit that they compromised all of this equipment. They come up with a plan to get the bird out, which involves a fire extinguisher. However, Howard accidentally blasts the bird, which appears to kill it. He gives it CPR, which saves the bird's life. Before they can set the bird free, another bird flies inside. Howard concedes that they should call someone, and Leonard agrees that they will both take the blame (although Leonard and Raj both believe it's Howard's fault). Leonard talks to Penny on the phone, and she tells him they should just erase their name from the log-in sheet and get out. So, they do.
My main complaint is that this episode could have been way funnier. They idea of a Victorian Christmas hosted by Amy sounded really funny when she first talked about it, but then it barely yielded any good results. Blowing yarn across the table? Yawn. I wanted funny stories about Victorian England, and terrible fake accents from Amy and Bernadette, or at the very least big group scenes where everybody came together for Christmas.
Raj's father was also not utilized to his full potential. It could have been really funny to see him there, but instead he basically just grumbled about his divorce, and he and Penny rolled their eyes at Amy a few times. That was it.
The only real humor in this episode was in the lab scenes with the boys. That was where the real highlights of the episode could be found. I loved all the jokes about who was smarter - Raj, Howard, or Leonard? I personally think Raj takes the cake, but what do I know? They all have me beat. The CPR on the bird was also priceless, but the best moment was when they finally have the bird, and it's not dead, and they're getting ready to let it go... and then another freakin' bird flies in. So great. Also, the fact that they all left and erased their names was really funny. None of them seemed to feel the least bit guilty!
The other good part of this episode was Sheldon's convoluted plan to make Amy miserable. The payoff could have been stronger, but it was unexpectedly sweet to hear Sheldon talk about his love for Amy, and see them both exchange their sweet and thoughtful gifts. Very lovely. Also, Bernadette's singing voice was one of the funniest things ever. I don't know how the actress keeps that voice up without cracking up all the time.
I think I'll leave it right there. This episode didn't do anything to piss me off, exactly... it just missed some great opportunities.
6/10
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