Let's Talk: Beverly Hofstadter

I’m not here to sit down and have a chat with you all about Halloween, for once. You know what that means—the holiday season is upon us and I’ll annoy you that way instead. Still, it could be worse: you could lack any sort of holiday festivities, decorations, gifts, blog posts. Who could endure such a cold, cruel world, you ask?

Leonard could. He has, and does, until he sets up his first Christmas tree on the set of Big Bang Theory. All thanks to the shining grace of two-odd episodes: Beverly Hofstadter, Leonard’s psychologist.
And his mother.

If Leonard thought he could escape her insight by moving out and working at the University, he thought right…up until he met Sheldon. It took a brain scan to determine, but like mother like roommate, from smarts and wiles to how they behave when they’re drunk (scenario notwithstanding). Leonard may not get it “any way he wants it,” but he gets…something. A good dose of amusement, I’m sure.

Not to mention the scene when he brings her to work in an effort to justify his worth. Beverly turns Doctor on the entire gang, especially diagnosing then-single Howard and Raj’s relationship. In her words, the duo created an “Ersatz homosexual marriage” out of their friendship to “satisfy their need for intimacy.” Sure, they bickered like an old married couple, but what would the new Mrs. Wolowitz have to say about that?

Quotables include:

    ‘So, Dr. Hofstadter, Leonard rarely talks about his incredibly successful brother and sister. I understand that unlike Leonard, they’re at the top of their respective fields.’

    —

    ‘Howard lives with his mother and Raj can’t speak to women unless he’s drunk.’

     -- Howard and Leonard, in retaliation.

Perhaps Beverly administers the advice the cast never knew they needed; though for Leonard, she saved an especially warm, “Buck up, sissypants.”