Penny starts dating Leonard's handsome colleague; Leonard and his friends are tortured by Sheldon's obsession with gift-giving etiquette.

Penny's criticism of Wolowitz's romantic life pushes him into depression and AWOL for a fighting robot battle the rest of guys are depending on him for.

Sheldon creates a scientific procedure for making friends.

Howard and Raj visit a Goth nightclub to pick up women while Sheldon attempts to build a better Penny using chocolate-based behavior modification.

Penny gets help from Sheldon in order to understand what Leonard's work is, while Wolowitz develops a jealousy when Leonard starts hanging out with his new girlfriend.

A Christmas visit from his mother has Leonard discovering she's kept a lot of news from him that she shares with Sheldon and worrying if she'll approve of his romance with Penny.