S04.E15: A Virus, Heartbreak and a World of Possibilities

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, ChitChat said:

…I found most of this episode to be depressing.  I hope it doesn't continue on that way.

I assume the depressing nature of this episode is an anomaly that won’t be repeated. 
I wonder if it was written at a particularly bleak time IRL. There have been quite a few. 

Edited April 25, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I assume the depressing nature of this episode is an anomaly that won’t be repeated. 
I wonder if it was written at a particularly bleak time IRL. There have been quite a few. 

I wouldn't assume that at all.  I think they're setting up for the marriage fail.

[aqusdealer]

7 hours ago, LisaM said:

Poor Billy. His father leaves...and apparently his sister has disappeared. 

Exactly...does anyone else think that this could have been handled in a more realistic or creative way? Billy’s father disappears, sister vanished into thin air  and Brenda gets a drinking night out with the girls and no real reason Hershel is gone? I feel cheated and a bit insulted.

[SteveR405]

On 4/23/2021 at 6:32 AM, nora1992 said:

Poor Billy.  
i guess his little sister has been written out, or did Herschel take her?

I hate to be the one to spread rumors, but I heard that Billy's little sister had run of with Richie Cunningham's big brother. This is a big scandal that the networks are covering up. 

[anna0852]

5 minutes ago, SteveR405 said:

I hate to be the one to spread rumors, but I heard that Billy's little sister had run of with Richie Cunningham's big brother. This is a big scandal that the networks are covering up. 

They're living on a commune with Judy Winslow.

[MollyMelrose]

And Eugene Barkley. (He adds a little Western flair.)

[ctlady]

On 4/23/2021 at 4:53 PM, tennisgurl said:

Poor Billy. He doesent even have his chickens now

I'm just praying they don't turn his home situation into a 'very special episode' that results in him harming himself or ......someone at school because no one saw the signs of depression in this kid

[LisaM]

Didn't the principal ask Billy if he plays football? I wonder if they are going to turn him into a football star?

[Driad]

If Billy joins the high school football team, he would get attention from George, which we can hope would be good for him.  However, my mother had a big strong student who wanted to join the football team, but did not make it because he could not remember the plays.  I can imagine Billy forgetting what he is supposed to do during a play, which would draw negative attention from George.

Speaking of George, what if he gets another offer to coach at a college that is too far away to commute, and Mary again refuses to move?  Depending on their relationship, it might turn out differently from the previous time.

[Katy M]

41 minutes ago, Driad said:

If Billy joins the high school football team, he would get attention from George, which we can hope would be good for him. 

Can he join the high school football team when he's not in high school?  I would think that would be against the rules.

[AD35]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

Can he join the high school football team when he's not in high school?  I would think that would be against the rules

I think it was the principal who said that he could forge a birth certificate if it meant Billy being able to play on the team.  So there's at least one person willing to look the other way when it came to the rules.

Edited April 26, 2021 by AD35

[Driad]

2 minutes ago, AD35 said:

Can he join the high school football team when he's not in high school? 

I meant when he is old enough or when it is allowed.

[catlover79]

On 4/23/2021 at 9:23 PM, Sarah 103 said:

I'm not sure what the exact layout of the house, but maybe Sheldon can't hear it unless Georgie has it incredibly loud. 

Plus, we see Georgie in headphones a lot - so maybe he really only plays it loud when no one else is around.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, AD35 said:

I think it was the principal who said that he could forge a birth certificate if it meant Billy being able to play on the team.  So there's at least one person willing to look the other way when it came to the rules.

Even if he had a forged birth certificate he still wouldn't be a student at that school.

[Sarah 103]

5 hours ago, LisaM said:

Didn't the principal ask Billy if he plays football? I wonder if they are going to turn him into a football star?

Billy joining the Middle School Football team would be a great subplot. Georgie could help him practice a little. He may not have wanted the time commitment of regular practice after school, but he might be willing to help Billy practice for an hour on the weekend. 

[Callietwo]

On 4/24/2021 at 7:43 PM, SnarkySheep said:

I'm not the only one, am I, who - when Connie asked Brenda if Herschel had left for another woman - yelled, "ABISHOLA!!" at the tv, right?

You weren't alone there.  I yelled the same thing and my husband was all WTF at me LOL

[WinnieWinkle]

Good episode.  I especially liked that we saw Tam again and that everyone in the cast seemed to participate - most of the episodes so far always seem to have at least one of them with a token line or two at best.

Spoiler

I particularly like that they seem to be foreshadowing what those of us who watched Big Bang Theory know is coming.

George is a jerk once again to Mary and for absolutely no reason that we're given.  If he's still holding a grudge about that college football opportunity that's just pathetic.  

[Callietwo]

12 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

 

  Reveal spoiler

I particularly like that they seem to be foreshadowing what those of us who watched Big Bang Theory know is coming.

 

Spoiler

I was really hoping they'd veer away from TBBT's cannon as to what happens to George & Mary.   Just let YS stand on it's own.  But I agree with you that they've started laying the ground work with the issues between the two of them this season particularly.

 

[John Potts]

Railroad Tycoon (Not the name they gave it, but I can accept that)! I remember playing that around this time. And I can definitely see it appealing to Sheldon

“You’d better not be hugging him like that or this date will be over real quick”. I couldn’t work out if that was because Georgie would yank her out of there immediately or because it was too tame! Pretty sure it was meant to be the former (particularly as he later acted as a chaperone), but it definitely wasn’t clear at the time. Did like that even though Georgie didn’t care about Missy’s romantic adventures (or Beauty & the Beast), he paid enough attention to repeat back what she’d said about how far their relationship had progressed.

On 4/23/2021 at 5:07 AM, chocolatine said:

In the early 90s even people who had computers still kept paper copies of important documents. Sheldon said his parents' tax documents were on his hard drive, but were electronic tax records even available then?

Give Sheldon’s OCD nature, it would have been more reasonable to ask his dad where he kept the back up print outs and be horrified to learn his dad hadn’t kept them.

On 4/23/2021 at 9:53 PM, tennisgurl said:

I am glad that adult narrator Sheldon at least realized what he said to Billy and how much it hurt him, even if his kid self didn't. 

Nice to see Sheldon really can appreciate what a jerk he can be, even if only in retrospect. And considering how little he actually reacted, Billy showed a remarkable degree of pain in that moment. Really well acted there.

[proserpina65]

On 4/23/2021 at 12:53 AM, Driad said:

George doesn't think Mary can be fun? He should remember her when she was younger.

She's a quite different person from then, and no, that person is no longer fun.

On 4/23/2021 at 10:56 PM, Runningwild said:

Christians have fun. It’s not usually having drinks at a bar, but we do have fun. 

Some do.  Others, like Mary's sort, do not.  I've got both sort in my family.  (The Baptists mostly are the "not fun" sort.)

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

On 4/23/2021 at 10:56 PM, Runningwild said:

Christians have fun. It’s not usually having drinks at a bar, but we do have fun. 

Some do.  Others, like Mary's sort, do not. 

Mary had fun watching that Patrick Swayze movie with Georgie.
Too bad she and George couldn't watch it before bed.😉

[Runningwild]

Baptists have fun. Just like everyone everywhere- some people are fun, some are not. 

[Tom Holmberg]

12 hours ago, Runningwild said:

Baptists have fun. Just like everyone everywhere- some people are fun, some are not. 

There's an old joke: Why don't Baptists have sex standing up?  Because someone might think they're dancing.

[proserpina65]

On 12/27/2021 at 11:05 PM, Runningwild said:

Baptists have fun. Just like everyone everywhere- some people are fun, some are not. 

The Baptists I know are not generally what I consider fun.  Maybe it depends on what kind of Baptists, but the ones in my family tend to be the "don't drink, don't swear, don't listen to rock music, don't dance, don't do anything fun" sort who are pretty much buzz kills.  Except the one cousin to whom I'm fairly close who is, gasp!, divorced!, and another cousin's daughter who actually had dancing at her wedding reception, to the shock/horror/apoplexy of most of the church's congregation.

And Mary belongs to a church which clearly frowns on dancing, since there's an episode in Season 1 where Pastor Jeff stops Missy from dancing to a song by a Christian music group, so I definitely think she falls on the "not fun" side of the divide.

[Runningwild]

7 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

The Baptists I know are not generally what I consider fun.  Maybe it depends on what kind of Baptists, but the ones in my family tend to be the "don't drink, don't swear, don't listen to rock music, don't dance, don't do anything fun" sort who are pretty much buzz kills.  Except the one cousin to whom I'm fairly close who is, gasp!, divorced!, and another cousin's daughter who actually had dancing at her wedding reception, to the shock/horror/apoplexy of most of the church's congregation.

And Mary belongs to a church which clearly frowns on dancing, since there's an episode in Season 1 where Pastor Jeff stops Missy from dancing to a song by a Christian music group, so I definitely think she falls on the "not fun" side of the divide.

Just because they don’t do those few things doesn’t mean they’re not fun. I was in the Southern Baptist church for years and we had fun playing games, going to movies, playing sports, doing outdoor activities. 

[proserpina65]

22 minutes ago, Runningwild said:

Just because they don’t do those few things doesn’t mean they’re not fun. I was in the Southern Baptist church for years and we had fun playing games, going to movies, playing sports, doing outdoor activities. 

The ones I know don't do much of the other things either.  For the most part, they are NOT fun.