'The Big Bang Theory' Recap: Fight Night, Mom-o a Mom-o

Warning: This recap contains storyline and character spoilers for “The Maternal Combustion” episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Here’s the good, the bad, and the clichéd of Season 8’s 23rd episode:

The Good

Sheldon and Leonard’s mamas are coming to town to see their sons accept an award for the paper they authored. This is something to be excited about, as it means not only the meeting of two very different women, but the chance to see two stellar actresses — Laurie Metcalf and Christine Baranski — together in the Hofstadter/Cooper living room.

The centerpiece of the episode is the payoff; Sheldon’s Texas Christian fundamentalist mama Mary butts heads with and sassily holds her own when Leonard’s condescending, equally judgy neuroscientist/psychiatrist mom Beverly mocks Mary’s religious beliefs.

Mary, to Penny, on not yet marrying Leonard: “It doesn’t matter, sweetie. The moment a man lays with a woman, they are married in the eyes of the Lord.”

Beverly: “Uggggh!” (accompanied by Liz Lemon-worthy eyeroll).

Mary takes offense; Beverly mocks the Bible; Mary mocks Beverly’s Freudian writings.

Penny, trying to forge a détente: “Hey, look at that. You both believe in Jewish bearded guys!” Good one, Penny.

“At least the bearded man that I believe in preaches love and compassion. All yours talks about is why you hold in your poop and want to crawl back inside your mama,” Mary says.

Kudos to the writers, first of all, for not making the non-academic, Texas mama a moron, as so often TV does depict them. Wherever you come down in the mama wars of TBBT, that is most definitely refreshing.

Mary’s words hit home with Beverly a bit, too, as Leonard’s mom later talks with Sheldon about how he turned out, the result of his mother’s parenting, versus Leonard and her own style of affection-for-achievements parenting style. She even delivers to Leonard a very awkward hug.

In the end, the moms make up, as Mary decides she needs to apologize to Beverly, even though, as Penny points out, Beverly started it.

“Doesn’t matter,” says Mary. “A good Christian would have turned the other cheek. On the other hand, a good Texan would have shot her … split the difference.”

The Bad

Too little Penny, too little Amy, too little Bernadette. Sure, there was a lot of the moms, but we’d have traded even a couple of moments with the mommies for one decent B or C storyline for the show’s regular lineup of women.

The Cliché

At the new Rostenkowski-Wolowitz household, Bernadette is still trying to turn her deceased mother-in-law’s home into her own, but she’s running into some disturbing issues via the two men — Howard and Stuart — who keep making messes, leaving those messes for her to clean up, and showing up in her kitchen, in their underwear, indiscreetly scratching their butts. Even Raj leaves his dirty laundry on Bernie’s to-do list, and she’s had enough of it. She demands the three of them clean up the kitchen with the supplies she just purchased, which results in… can you guess? Howard lifting up a packed garage bag just to have it burst open all over the floor? Check. Howard telling Bernie he cleaned the kitchen, only to have his sneakers stick to the floor when he tries to walk away? Check. Howard, Stuart, and Raj breaking into “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” while performing the Bernie-ordered de-greasing and de-grossing of the kitchen? Check. Big, fat, clichéd check.

Big Bang Bits:

* Leonard accuses Sheldon of attention hogging, like the elephant seals who take milk from two mothers. “You mean, what marine biologists refer to as ‘super weaning’?” Sheldon says. Leonard: “Yes, you are a super weaner!”

Sheldon: “Well, now I have to correct you. As a bit of an elephant seal buff, I think the more accurate comparison would be when two mother seals actively seek to nourish the same pup. So I believe the term you’re looking for is a ‘double mother suckler.’” Double mother suckler… say it fast three times. There you go.

* Leonard, to Penny, on why he doesn’t need to know his mother’s trip itinerary: “As soon as she flies into California airspace, I’ll feel a disturbance in the force.”

* Sheldon spills the beans about Penny’s engagement ring. It came in a Tiffany’s box, but was apparently purchased from a website that repurposes diamond drill bits. How many engagement ring wearers do you think rushed to the Interwebs to see if that’s a real thing?

* “When he arranged to get some yellow cake from Chad, I thought he was talking about Twinkies from one of his friends,” Mary recalls of a 13-year-old Sheldon’s attempts to gather supplies to build a nuclear reactor in the tool shed. “It turns out this little scallywag was trying to use my Visa card to buy uranium from an African war lord in the country of Chad.”

* Amy, feeling she’s not getting the kind of affection Sheldon is capable of displaying for his mother: “Sure, his mom gets roses. When I want them, they’re ‘a bouquet of severed plant genitals.’” Look for this general theme to play a big role in the Season 8 finale. Just sayin’.

* Sheldon purchased a mushroom log for Amy on Valentine’s Day. “Roses die, but a moist, rotting log will pump out mushrooms for two or three magical years,” she says, proving that the person who would insist it’s the thought that counts, in this case, deserves to be hit about the head with said mushroom log.

* Harsh, Penny: When Leonard suggests the only way she could get his mom to like her is to “run out and get a PhD,” Penny replies, “Really? It didn’t work for you.” She may be right, but still; harsh.

Related: The 99 Greatest TV Characters Since Tony Soprano: #19-10

* Is Sheldon ashamed of his mom, she wants to know. “Of course not, I love you,” he says. “I’m just embarrassed by the things you believe, do, and say.”

* Leonard’s mom wants to know if he and Penny are having “satisfactory intercourse”… he answers in the affirmative. “Only satisfactory? I see,” she says, assuming that’s the reason they’re not yet married, and reaffirming her belief that Leonard has an Oedipus complex.

* There is just one episode remaining in Season 8; the season finale, “The Commitment Determination,” which airs May 7.

The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.