Top 20 Times Bernadette Was a Savage on the Big Bang Theory

“The Military Miniaturization”
In this Season 10 episode, Bernadette is pregnant and working overtime at the office. Amy, trying to be a good friend, brings her dinner. Now, while McDonald’s might not be the healthiest choice, sometimes those yummy french fries just hit the spot. At least that’s what Bernadette thinks – until Amy admits she got her a Happy Meal with apple slices instead of fries. The happy meal for an adult is weird enough, but when it comes to those apple slices Bernie is having none of it. Her reaction sends a scared Amy apologetically right back to McDonald’s to correct her mistake.

“The Russian Rocket Reaction”
When Howard gets the opportunity to go into space Bernadette is, shall we say, less than thrilled with that possibility. Normally we would expect her savagery to come out in the form of a big fat “No” – telling Howard he can’t do it. And while she does tell him “no,”, Howard is so determined to be an astronaut that he, for once, doesn’t take no for an answer. So, she goes to the only other person who can control Howard more than she can… his mother. As she is telling her boyfriend that she won’t bug him about it anymore, she is also going behind his back and telling Mrs. Wolowitz what her son is up to.

“The Comic-Con Conundrum”
Everyone knows that the guys love Comic-Con. But as they get older and their lives change, going to the event each year gets harder. Like in Season 10 when Raj, trying to make it on his own without his father’s money, can’t afford it. But when Howard pokes fun at the situation, Raj points out that he just had a newborn and the odds Bernadette lets him go to Comic-Con aren’t good. So, Howard heads home to butter up his wife. But Bernie immediately sees right through his sweet affections and calls him out – knowing something is up. Nice try Howard.

“The Locomotion Interruption”
Season 8 saw big changes for Penny (and we don’t mean her new short haircut). The long time waitress/struggling actress made a major career change and got a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep at Bernadette’s company. However, her initial interview for the job didn’t go very well. But just when it looked like all was lost, Bernadette’s savagery saved the day. As Penny was leaving she told the interviewer that she only came because she was scared of Bernie. It turns out, Penny and the interviewer had that in common. Even without being there, Bernadette’s power of savage intimidation was able to influence the situation.

“The Meemaw Materialization”
Remember when Raj met Claire at the comic book store, flirted with her, and agreed to help her with her sci-fi script even though he was going out with Emily at the time? Well, when Howard recounted the story to Bernadette she didn’t see anything wrong with it. After all, it was just a little bit of flirting – something everyone does. Upon hearing that, Howard started to ask if that meant it was okay for him to flirt. But before he could even get the question out, Bernadette shot it down. She shut the door on any flirting he ever planned to do or even think about doing.

“The Skank Reflex Analysis”
Sometimes, even Bernadette’s outbursts come with a twinge of love and respect. After some he-said/she-said talk about Raj and his feelings for Bernadette, Howard ends up irrationally jealous. In response, Bernadette unleashes her fury on Raj. She wastes no time clarifying that her “niceness” has no romantic motivation, with little concern as to how this might damage Raj’s self-esteem. Despite her anger, though, she can’t help but deliver an honest response when the love-struck fool asks about his chances with another woman. We love Bernadette’s savagery, but what makes her character even more admirable is the honesty behind her insults. And in cases like this one, she can’t really be that mean…even when she’s trying to be.

“The Holographic Excitation”
It’s Halloween and Howard and Bernadette are dressed up as Smurfs. But even as a cute little blue humanoid creature, Bernadette still has her full adult human savagery. Howard is being pouty because his friends complain that he talks too much about his trip to space. He’s actually considering skipping out on their plans for the evening. Bernadette initially tries to be compassionate and make him feel better. But when that doesn’t work, away goes the sweet voice and out comes the tough love – and the acknowledgment that she’s blue all over (and we mean all over).

“The Separation Triangulation”
In this Season 11 episode, Raj starts seeing a woman who is very recently separated. He likes her, but the hopeless romantic in him can’t help but feel pulled in two directions – especially after he meets the woman’s ex-husband. Unsure of what to do – and being the fan of rom-coms that he is – he goes to Bernadette and poses the question: Is he the good guy or the bad guy in this movie? Her response, in wonderful, pull-no-punches Bernadette style, isn’t one of the answers Raj had considered. And yet somehow, he doesn’t get the hint.

“The Collaboration Contamination”
In this Season 11 episode, Sheldon gets angry when Howard and Amy start working together, thus giving Amy less time and energy to work with him. When he confides in Bernadette about how he’s feeling, she tells him she knows something that would make Howard jealous – Sheldon should do Howard’s chores. Well, she doesn’t have to tell Sheldon twice before he happily gets to it while she sits back and enjoys her handywork. The even funnier part is that when Sheldon realizes he’s been tricked, he loves doing the chores so much he just keeps going.

“The Recombination Hypothesis”
Sometimes Bernadette’s savagery isn’t as obvious because she’s so small and cute and has that sweet voice. But don’t let her tiny frame fool you! When Leonard and Penny decide to try dating again, they want to do so on the down-low. So they announce that things hadn’t worked out but they were still friends. Bernadette said that if she and Howie were to break up she would not be so calm and mature about the situation. But that statement wasn’t as scary as her follow-up comment about the biological contaminants she can get her hands on.

“The VCR Illumination”
Bernadette makes fun of Howard’s love of magic on multiple occasions throughout the series. But in Season 12, when she sees a video of a young Howard practicing for his Magic Castle audition she encourages him to try again. She even helps him practice for his audition. But when we say “help,” we mean she completely takes over, culling from her years of childhood pageants and becoming, what we will call, a pageant wife. Speaking of Howard’s magic, there’s also the time he puts on a magic show at a birthday party and Bernadette’s lack of patience with the kids is anything but subtle.

“The Discovery Dissipation”
In the Season 7 episode “The Discovery Dissipation,” Raj’s apartment building is being fumigated, so he goes to stay with Howard and Bernadette for a week. While there, he’s a wonderful houseguest and attentive to both Howard and Bernadette’s needs. The problem is that this makes the two of them realize how unattentive they’ve been to each other and leads to an argument in which Howard points out that Raj left a note in his lunch that said “Go get ‘em.” Rather than sympathize with her husband, Bernadette points out that he isn’t a child and shouldn’t need a note. She got him!

“The Athenaeum Allocation”
When it’s time for Howard and Bernadette to go back to work after the birth of their second child, Howard decides that he isn’t ready and wants to be a stay-at-home dad. However, when he brings this up with Bernadette, she too admits that she’s having those same feelings about returning to the office. Howard argues that because Bernadette makes more money, that she should be the one to go back to work. It might seem like a solid argument on the surface, but Bernadette’s counter argument is savagely on point.

“The Property Division Collision”
Howard Wolowitz has many talents. He can do card tricks, he writes catchy and romantic songs, and he can fit into pants that look like they’d be too tight on Jack Skellington. But one thing he can’t do is cook – or at least he doesn’t. When Bernadette walks into the dining room and sees dinner on the table, it seems very reasonable for her first guess – as to who cooked the meal – to be Stuart, who’s been staying with them. When Howard questions her instincts, her response – while not mathematically sound – is priceless.

“The Confirmation Polarization”
When Bernadette Rostenkowski first showed up on the show, she was a quiet, somewhat reserved girl that was nice to just about everyone. As the seasons progressed and we got to know her better, we all watched as the tough, competitive, take-no-crap side of her character emerged. It’s not to say that Bernadette wasn’t nice anymore, it’s just that she doesn’t – as the saying goes – suffer fools gladly. A point she makes abundantly clear to Penny one day at work. Although, she savagely uses the term “idiots” instead of “fools.”

“The Contractual Obligation Implementation”
Disneyland is billed as “the happiest place on earth,” and it is – as long as Bernadette gets to be Cinderella. When the girls decide to play hooky from work and go to Disneyland, Bernadette mentions that the first thing she wants to do is get a princess makeover. The other girls are on board, but when it comes to deciding who will be which princess, Bernie makes it very clear that there will only be one Cinderella… and it will be her. Later, after the makeovers, Penny is still a little bitter, but Bernie sure isn’t backing down.

“The Hesitation Ramification”
We’ll admit that, being huge fans of “When Harry Met Sally…,” any reference to said film is going to get our attention. It definitely did in the Season 7 episode, “The Hesitation Ramification,” when Bernadette admits to sometimes fake-laughing at people’s jokes. Howard is sure she’s never faked it with him, certain he would’ve been able to tell the difference. It’s at this point that Bernadette puts him in his place with her on-point ode to Meg Ryan in the diner scene of the aforementioned movie. We’ll definitely have what she’s having.

“The Scavenger Vortex”
When Raj organizes a scavenger hunt for the gang, Leonard and Bernadette are a team while Howard gets paired up with Amy. Amy assumes Howard would’ve preferred to have been on a team with his wife, but she’s wrong. Howard loves Bernadette, but she’s uber competitive. A fact Leonard learns right away, and over and over again throughout the hunt. Penny also gets a taste of Bernie’s scavenger savagery at the end of the hunt when the latter shoves her friend out of the way looking for the victory coin.

“The Intimacy Acceleration”
We know Bernadette doesn’t suffer fools gladly, so how do you think she’d react to an airline losing a suitcase that contains the ashes of Howard’s dead mother? When Howard can’t get any answers and is too distraught to do anything else about it, Bernie steps in and gets it done. It isn’t the fault of the lady behind the customer service desk, but she’s the one that gets the brunt of Bernadette’s wrath. A wrath so savage it guarantees they leave the airport with a dead woman. Bernie also savagely steps in when Sheldon and Leonard arguing is ruining a celebratory dinner for Howard’s mother a couple episodes later.

“The Parking Spot Escalation”
In Season 6’s “The Parking Spot Escalation,” Howard and Sheldon are in a back-and-forth war over a parking spot at the university, and eventually their significant others are pulled into the action. Amy and Bernadette are initially on the same side - complaining about the stupidity of the entire situation. However, the conversation soon turns nasty as the women get aggressive in defending their men to each other. Eventually, Bernadette delivers one of the great lines of the entire series. A burn so savage it elicits an audible “DAMN!” from Penny - and most likely from everyone watching at home as well. While Bernie seems pretty proud of that burn, she’s less happy about another jab at Amy’s sexuality she makes a couple season’s later.


Which savage Bernadette moment had you cheering? Let us know in the comments.