S04.E03: Training Wheels and an Unleashed Chicken

[Bort]

With college in sight, Sheldon is determined to ride his bike without training wheels. Also, Mary and George Sr. argue overparenting styles.

Airdate: 19 November 2020

Please, no discussing spoilers from The Big Bang Theory that have not “happened” yet. 

[Spartan Girl]

Billy Sparks' mom turning his pet into fried chicken as a peace offering to the Coopers should not have been hilarious but it was.

Yeah, Mary coddles Sheldon way too much. But I did love Sheldon striding toward independence to "Don't Stop Me Now" (one of my favorites).

Great ending with everyone signing his cast. And him finally riding a bike without training wheels --being chased by a dog.

Edited November 20, 2020 by Spartan Girl

[Browncoat]

As soon as I saw Billy's mother with the foil-covered plate, I knew it was chicken, and I knew which chicken it was!  And I laughed about it.

 

[ams1001]

Poor chicken... 🐔 

[stealinghome]

George and then Missy’s reactions to the fried chicken were PRICELESS!

[AD35]

7 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

George and then Missy’s reactions to the fried chicken were PRICELESS!

R.I.P. Belinda Sparks, lol.  Does anyone know what was that piece of music that was playing at the start of the episode when Sheldon was working on his math problem?  I've heard it before but I just can't remember the name of it.

[tennisgurl]

I don’t know what got the most inappropriate laughs from me, the fried chicken peace offering (RIP) or the montage of Mary coddling Sheldon to I Got You Babe. 

[Dahlia]

that song Is Hot Butter : Popcorn  

1 hour ago, AD35 said:

R.I.P. Belinda Sparks, lol.  Does anyone know what was that piece of music that was playing at the start of the episode when Sheldon was working on his math problem?  I've heard it before but I just can't remember the name of it.

 

[Sarah 103]

I enjoyed this episode. Missy and Sheldon seem to have a much better relationship. I wonder if it is because Missy now has baseball, which is something that she is good at, gets praise/recognition for, and is not something Sheldon can do.

I was really impressed that Sheldon asked Missy to teach him how to ride a bike and she didn't ask anything in return. She said yes and that was the end of it.

[jewel21]

I liked the Georgie and Sheldon scenes. From trying to get Sheldon to do squats, to telling him about the obstacles he has being left-handed, to putting the mitten on Sheldon and later signing his cast, it was all rather sweet. We don't get nearly enough Georgie/Sheldon scenes. 

R.I.P. Belinda Sparks. 

[anna0852]

Believe it or not one of the things I liked most was seeing Missy using the computer.

I thought for sure that thing had become Sheldon's within moments of coming home but I guess George and Mary still are making it a family item. Good for them!

[Bort]

What I want to know is how Billy had Belinda on a leash in the first place.

[hoodooznoodooz]

I actually didn’t like Billy’s mom turning his pet into a meal.

I also thought it was weird for both Sheldon and Missy to see and hear their mom talking in the training wheels. [Oops, sorry! I must have stepped away and didn’t realize it was a dream. Thank you!]

But I really like the acting from the George, Georgie and Missy actors. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by hoodooznoodooz

[chocolatine]

Three great episodes in a row, very impressive. 

45 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

I was really impressed that Sheldon asked Missy to teach him how to ride a bike and she didn't ask anything in return. She said yes and that was the end of it.

Well, technically she tried to get Sheldon to ask all of the other family members first and only agreed to help him after Sheldon ruled everyone out.

37 minutes ago, jewel21 said:

I liked the Georgie and Sheldon scenes. From trying to get Sheldon to do squats, to telling him about the obstacles he has being left-handed, to putting the mitten on Sheldon and later signing his cast, it was all rather sweet. We don't get nearly enough Georgie/Sheldon scenes.

I loved how Sheldon only did one squat before deciding that working out wasn't a feasible option.

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I don’t know what got the most inappropriate laughs from me, the fried chicken peace offering (RIP) or the montage of Mary coddling Sheldon to I Got You Babe. 

The "is it baby shampoo?" - "does E=mc^2?" exchange was the winner for me.

Did Brenda Sparks bring over the fried chicken the day of the accident? The processing of a chicken - letting it bleed out, plucking, singeing, gutting, etc. - takes a lot of time. I know this is a sitcom, but my family had chickens when I was growing up, so I can't help but wonder.

ETA:

10 minutes ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

I also thought it was weird for both Sheldon and Missy to see and hear their mom talking in the training wheels.

That was a dream sequence.

Edited November 20, 2020 by chocolatine

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, chocolatine said:

3 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

I also thought it was weird for both Sheldon and Missy to see and hear their mom talking in the training wheels.

That was a dream sequence

Yes. So, technically, only Sheldon saw his mom’s face talking in the training wheels 
—which really creeped me out and seemed over-the-top creepy for a Sheldon nightmare for this show. 
But I guess the creepiness of the nightmare justifies Sheldon then making a break from being “codependent” with his mom, thereby explaining how he manages to go to college at such a young age. 
In real life, a boy of the same age attended college where I worked, but he still lived at home with his family. However, he wasn’t there more than a few semesters. 
If I recall correctly, on the show Numb3rs, young Charlie Epps was said to have attended college with his mom having rented an apartment for the two of them at MIT while his Dad stayed back in California. 

[aqusdealer]

4 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Did Brenda Sparks bring over the fried chicken the day of the accident? The processing of a chicken - letting it bleed out, plucking, singeing, gutting, etc. - takes a lot of time. I know this is a sitcom, but my family had chickens when I was growing up, so I can't help but wonder.

I also have something to add, although it’s probably “nit picky”... but remember that episode where George and Mr. Sparks bonded in the chicken coop drinking beers? He confessed that he built the coop as a man cave as soon as he discovered that Mrs. Sparks was major afraid of chickens. There’s no way she would have killed and butchered a chicken!

[shapeshifter]

46 minutes ago, aqusdealer said:

I also have something to add, although it’s probably “nit picky”... but remember that episode where George and Mr. Sparks bonded in the chicken coop drinking beers? He confessed that he built the coop as a man cave as soon as he discovered that Mrs. Sparks was major afraid of chickens. There’s no way she would have killed and butchered a chicken!

Nor wood Mr. Sparks have given up his man cave. 
Whew! I was hoping that was just a store-bought chicken Mrs. Sparks cooked, and not the pet whose neck feathers Billy was stroking earlier in the episode. 🐔

[Browncoat]

The way Mrs. Sparks said, “It’ll never happen again,”?  That chicken she fried was Belinda.  As my parents told us whenever one of our pet chickens disappeared, Belinda went to live on a farm with her grandmother.

[Kiddvideo]

Really liked this episode. I’m trying to not think about Billy missing his pet, though Mrs. Sparks’ must’ve been glad to hand her off to the Coopers. Pastor Jeff and Sheldon’s face-offs are always fun. While I love Billy, I’m glad they use him sparingly. That level of dumb is funny in small doses.

The kids seem to be doing better together. Glad Missy and Georgie have their own successes and that they hopefully make the adult attention on Sheldon a little less hurtful.

[AD35]

2 hours ago, aqusdealer said:

I also have something to add, although it’s probably “nit picky”... but remember that episode where George and Mr. Sparks bonded in the chicken coop drinking beers? He confessed that he built the coop as a man cave as soon as he discovered that Mrs. Sparks was major afraid of chickens. There’s no way she would have killed and butchered a chicken!

She might have hated that chicken enough to kill it, cook it and literally serve it as a peace offering.

[Bort]

4 hours ago, aqusdealer said:

I also have something to add, although it’s probably “nit picky”... but remember that episode where George and Mr. Sparks bonded in the chicken coop drinking beers? He confessed that he built the coop as a man cave as soon as he discovered that Mrs. Sparks was major afraid of chickens. There’s no way she would have killed and butchered a chicken!

She probably just made Mr. Sparks do the dirty work and fried it up once he brought her the cleaned chicken.

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Believe it or not one of the things I liked most was seeing Missy using the computer.

I thought for sure that thing had become Sheldon's within moments of coming home but I guess George and Mary still are making it a family item. Good for them!

We've seen her use it at least twice before. Once she was playing Wheel of Fortune out in the living room (before they moved it to the bedroom, I guess), and she was using it when Mary showed her the creepy trophy she made her.

[Quark]

Another great episode.

My favourite thing about this season so far is how Missy is giving Sheldon advice. And he's taking that advice on board! 

[Mellowyellow]

I adore the new angle they've taken this season with Sheldon and Missy's relationship. Absolutely loved her taking off his training wheels and holding onto his bike. 

They've really let her develop her own strengths and she is someone Sheldon leans on. She grounds him and helps him navigate life. I especially loved the pep talk she gave him about Stephen Hawking. It really highlighted her ability to assess situations and her general wisdom about life and how the world works. Instead of being Sheldon's "not genius" twin she's got her own indisputable niche and I love it!

I thought the contrast between Mary and Missy was really interesting in this episode, made even more noticeable in that scene where Mary is the creepy training wheels. Mary coddles Sheldon and enjoys the codependency. Missy takes care of him too but she takes the approach of "teach him to fish". 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Mellowyellow

[Chit Chat]

6 hours ago, aqusdealer said:

There’s no way she would have killed and butchered a chicken!

She was afraid of a lawsuit from George, so I think she was willing to do anything in order to avoid that!  She was jumpy as a cat when she brought the chicken over to their house!  

Aww, Billy is so sweet.  I liked how Sheldon smiled at him after he signed his cast 'Billy.'  I'm glad that Sheldon didn't have a smart aleck remark to him, but just smiled  politely.  It was a sweet moment.  My DVR cut off and I didn't hear what Sheldon's Dad wrote on his cast.  Does anybody remember?  Then my DVR kicked back into record and I got the rest of their remarks.   

[Bobbin]

As for the fate of Billy's pet chicken, that's life on the farm. As a rule of thumb, it's best not to name your future food. I think about that little exchange in the mivie "Hoosiers" when Cletus's wife is gathering things for dinner and walks by Coach Dale holding a rabbit. "Say hello to Chester." "Hello." "Say goodbye to Chester." "Oh!"

[shapeshifter]

24 minutes ago, Bobbin said:

As for the fate of Billy's pet chicken, that's life on the farm. As a rule of thumb, it's best not to name your future food.

Sure --although my niece (who is a mother of 2 kids Sheldon and Missy's age) does name and treat their future food like pets. 
But isn't this a suburban neighborhood rather than a farm? (I haven't seen all the episodes)

[MaryMitch]

12 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Sure --although my niece (who is a mother of 2 kids Sheldon and Missy's age) does name and treat their future food like pets. 
But isn't this a suburban neighborhood rather than a farm? (I haven't seen all the episodes)

Yes, it's a neighborhood and the Sparks have a backyard coop.

[Browncoat]

But it is Texas.

[Guest]

Isn’t this the second episode where Billy’s pet chicken gets eaten. His chicken used to be named Matilda. I can’t remember which episode it was but I do remember that it somehow led to Missy flushing KFC. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Guest

[MollyMelrose]

Sweat: the urine of the skin.

[Driad]

Aren't most kids able to ride a bike by about age 8?

I was afraid of my grandmother's hens when I had to take their eggs away, but I enjoyed feeding them. The cows had names but the chickens did not.

[ams1001]

12 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Aww, Billy is so sweet.  I liked how Sheldon smiled at him after he signed his cast 'Billy.'  I'm glad that Sheldon didn't have a smart aleck remark to him, but just smiled  politely.  It was a sweet moment.  My DVR cut off and I didn't hear what Sheldon's Dad wrote on his cast.  Does anybody remember?  Then my DVR kicked back into record and I got the rest of their remarks.   

I'm not sure they actually showed what George wrote...

46 minutes ago, Driad said:

Aren't most kids able to ride a bike by about age 8?

Well, Shelly ain't exactly "most kids"...

[Yeah No]

On 11/20/2020 at 12:53 AM, hoodooznoodooz said:

I actually didn’t like Billy’s mom turning his pet into a meal.

I also thought it was weird for both Sheldon and Missy to see and hear their mom talking in the training wheels. [Oops, sorry! I must have stepped away and didn’t realize it was a dream. Thank you!]

But I really like the acting from the George, Georgie and Missy actors. 

I didn't like the pet chicken turning into a meal either.  And it's not because it offends me.  Even when I was a kid and my Sicilian grandma bought live snails and I got one to keep as a "pet" for the day, I was OK with the inevitability of it getting tossed in a meal.  I just didn't think the chicken thing was done in a particularly funny way.

I figured out the wheels thing had to be a dream, but somehow the show didn't make that abundantly clear like has been done on other shows, showing the characters waking up in bed right afterward.

The actress that plays Missy is very talented - I hope she doesn't get sought after by movie studios like Julia Butters from "American Housewife" and then leaves the show to seek greener pastures.  I doubt that would happen here but still.

[Beetlepoet]

I was expecting more arguing between Mary and George, as it was written in the plot outline as a second plot but we’ve seen them arguing in one (maybe 2?) scene.

Seeing Mary as training wheels was creepy too, that dream scene was weird. 

[Gizkok]

After all the talk last week about Missy's white pants I thought for sure there would be something about Sheldon needing a certain kind of help in the bathroom,, the kind he probably had not needed for years. Not talking about the zipper help here.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Gizkok said:

After all the talk last week about Missy's white pants I thought for sure there would be something about Sheldon needing a certain kind of help in the bathroom,, the kind he probably had not needed for years. Not talking about the zipper help here.

He probably could get by just fine in that area with one hand. 

[Bort]

49 minutes ago, Dani said:

He probably could get by just fine in that area with one hand. 

Except Sheldon apparently couldn’t get his tooth brushing done with the other hand, Mary was doing that for him. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Except Sheldon apparently couldn’t get his tooth brushing done with the other hand, Mary was doing that for him. 

True, but I wouldn’t put holding a toothbrush in the same category. I think there are limits to even Sheldon’s codependence or at least that his discomfort with human contact would maintain some boundaries. If he can wash himself in the shower (after Mary but soap on the washcloth) he can handle the toilet. 

[CrazyMoon]

Georgie wrote "Have a great summer" on the cast...He commented that he usually wrote "Have a bitchin' summer", but wouldn't do that for Sheldon. 
 

In the pre-refrigeration days a chicken was killed & cooked the same day. Experienced poultry people can do it all before lunch. So can hysterical mothers...

 

[Chit Chat]

On 11/20/2020 at 5:16 AM, Kiddvideo said:

Really liked this episode. I’m trying to not think about Billy missing his pet, though Mrs. Sparks’ must’ve been glad to hand her off to the Coopers.

Hopefully she told Billy that the chicken went to live on a farm, or some other little story that he could handle, and knowing how naïve Billy is, he probably just said "okay" and went on about his day and didn't think a thing about it!   

2 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Except Sheldon apparently couldn’t get his tooth brushing done with the other hand, Mary was doing that for him. 

I think Sheldon was milking his injury for all it was worth!  Mary babied him way too much.  

[Guest]

On 11/20/2020 at 8:10 AM, ChitChat said:

My DVR cut off and I didn't hear what Sheldon's Dad wrote on his cast.  Does anybody remember?  Then my DVR kicked back into record and I got the rest of their remarks.   

It wasn’t said out loud but George’s was visible while Georgie was writing. He wrote, “You’re a tough little man - Dad”. 

[Driad]

3 minutes ago, Dani said:

“You’re a tough little man - Dad”. 

That reminds me of the lyrics of the opening theme song. The song brags about being strong and mighty, which are not the qualities that Sheldon brags about, so I don't understand the point of the song.

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, Driad said:

That reminds me of the lyrics of the opening theme song. The song brags about being strong and mighty, which are not the qualities that Sheldon brags about, so I don't understand the point of the song.

Maybe it's ironic.

[Bort]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

True, but I wouldn’t put holding a toothbrush in the same category. I think there are limits to even Sheldon’s codependence or at least that his discomfort with human contact would maintain some boundaries. If he can wash himself in the shower (after Mary but soap on the washcloth) he can handle the toilet. 

I’ve injured my dominant hand, brushing teeth is way easier than dealing with post-#2 issues.

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, kariyaki said:

I’ve injured my dominant hand, brushing teeth is way easier than dealing with post-#2 issues.

Maybe they have a bidet:)  No, I don't actually think they do.

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Driad said:

That reminds me of the lyrics of the opening theme song. The song brags about being strong and mighty, which are not the qualities that Sheldon brags about, so I don't understand the point of the song.

The full lyrics for the song actually fit really well but it’s not obvious from the chorus that is used. It was inspired by Thomas Edison and describes a scientist’s moment of discovery. Here’s the part that come’s before the section used in the theme song.

A tired man in his chair
He doesn't move he only stares
At the machine across the room
There's nothing there it's not getting through
He shakes his head
Finally stands up
Throws his hands up
In the air

A blinding flash across the room
A sudden crash
A sonic boom changes everything he knew
It's everything he's never seen
The biggest deal there's ever been
Described in light upon the screen
It said

Nobody else is stronger than I am
Yesterday I moved a mountain
I bet I could be your hero
I am a Mighty Little Man
I am a Mighty Little Man
I am a Mighty Little Man

22 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

I’ve injured my dominant hand, brushing teeth is way easier than dealing with post-#2 issues.

I wasn’t referring to the difficulty. Sheldon was letting Mary do the things he easily could have done but didn’t really want to do and handled the actual difficult but personal things on his own. 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Guest

[Driad]

Dani -- what is this Thomas Edison song? I have heard only the part they used for the show theme.

[ams1001]

13 minutes ago, Driad said:

Dani -- what is this Thomas Edison song? I have heard only the part they used for the show theme.

It's called "Mighty Little Man," by Steve Burns - Steve from Blues Clues! 😄 

https://www.tvguide.com/news/young-sheldon-theme-song-steve-blues-clues/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_for_Dustmites

Quote

The lyrics of the opening track "Mighty Little Man" have been interpreted in different ways: a television watcher who suddenly turns into "an everyday superhero",[9][8] or "a lonely inventor's eureka moment".[11] It was inspired by inventor Thomas Edison and his "DIY projects that changed human history". When Burns made the song, he wanted to "write a positive, empowering, exclamation point of a song".[7] The song itself contains a "fury of noise".[10]

 

[Chit Chat]

3 hours ago, Driad said:

The song brags about being strong and mighty, which are not the qualities that Sheldon brags about, so I don't understand the point of the song.

I think of Sheldon's mighty intellect and the courage it takes to keep plowing ahead when he's surrounded at school by much older kids.  Sheldon isn't strong and mighty physically, but I think in many ways he is in spirit and determination.