S05.E10: An Expensive Glitch and a Goof-Off Room

[DanaK]

Quote

Sheldon gets a dorm room all to himself. Also, Meemaw gains an unwanted business partner, on the CBS Original series YOUNG SHELDON, Thursday, Jan. 6 (8:00-8:31 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+*. Reba McEntire and Wendie Malick return as June and Professor Hagemeyer, respectively. Melissa Joan Hart directed the episode.

 

 

[Katy M]

I love Dr. Sturgis.  

I'm not really sure how the room sharing was working.  Did Sheldon make extra keys?  Was everyone responsible for handing the key off to the next person?  Were people really cleaning up from their "goofing off" so well that Sheldon didn't notice?

[Spartan Girl]

I would have loved to have my own dorm room. Sheldon sure is spoiled, but kind of nice of him to loan out use of his dorm to other students, even if he was just trying to get them to like him. And of course most of them use it for sex.

LOL at George describing The Beverly Hillbillies as “Meemaw going to California.” 

[nora1992]

Could June have sued Meemaw for the money?  From the Judge Judy school of law: since gambling is illegal, June would not have had the clean hands necessary to bring suit.

Will this kind of argument get me appointed to the bench?  

[chocolatine]

I didn't like the episode. Sheldon is twelve now, and smart enough to have realized on his own that his dorm room was being used for coitus.

Anything related to the illegal gambling parlor is just terrible. Connie has no business sense whatsoever. Is this storyline going to end up with her bankrupt and/or in prison?

I agree with Sam that it was grossly unfair that Sheldon got a single dorm room with ensuite bath that he didn't even sleep in, while "regular" students like her had to share with others. And he's getting it for free, to boot.

[HouseofBeck]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

I love Dr. Sturgis.  

I'm not really sure how the room sharing was working.  Did Sheldon make extra keys?  Was everyone responsible for handing the key off to the next person?  Were people really cleaning up from their "goofing off" so well that Sheldon didn't notice?

I was wondering all this! There's going to be distinct odors and stainage unless these are responsible college kids. 

Also, first thing I thought when he was given that room was that surely it would have been snapped up within seconds by whoever was next on the waitlist for a single. Though this was a luxury single...

[ItCouldBeWorse]

14 minutes ago, HouseofBeck said:

I was wondering all this! There's going to be distinct odors and stainage unless these are responsible college kids. 

Also, first thing I thought when he was given that room was that surely it would have been snapped up within seconds by whoever was next on the waitlist for a single. Though this was a luxury single...

There's no way the bed was made/left each time to his specifications.

[MollyMelrose]

Enjoyed George and Missy discussing the similarities between The Beverly Hillbillies and 90210. Like Missy said - they're the same show. 😄

Edited January 7, 2022 by MollyMelrose

[hoodooznoodooz]

Sturgis is such a delight. 
Captain, Doctor or Mister.

When Georgie told MeeMaw that she didn’t like any idea that wasn’t hers, I thought, “And that is where Sheldon learned arrogance.”

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, nora1992 said:

Could June have sued Meemaw for the money?  From the Judge Judy school of law: since gambling is illegal, June would not have had the clean hands necessary to bring suit.

probably not, but if she spreads it all over town that MeeMaw doesn't pay out when you win, who is going to go there to gamble?  Plus, she could obviously get her shut down again.  But, what happened to the teddy bear scheme?  

8 hours ago, HouseofBeck said:

Also, first thing I thought when he was given that room was that surely it would have been snapped up within seconds by whoever was next on the waitlist for a single. Though this was a luxury single...

That might not be a room they usually use for students.  It may be a room that they've set aside for visitors.

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, nora1992 said:

Could June have sued Meemaw for the money?...

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

probably not, but if she spreads it all over town that MeeMaw doesn't pay out when you win, who is going to go there to gamble?  Plus, she could obviously get her shut down again.  But, what happened to the teddy bear scheme?  

Oops. With all the shenanigans over the improbabilities of the dorm room scheme, we seem to have overlooked how the Teddy Bear scheme would have brilliantly protected  The House from ever having to pay out very much. 

 

[shura]

42 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Oops. With all the shenanigans over the improbabilities of the dorm room scheme, we seem to have overlooked how the Teddy Bear scheme would have brilliantly protected  The House from ever having to pay out very much. 

If they capped the payouts by what could be plausibly paid for a teddy bear, it would cut off a big part of her clientele.  Some people would not keep coming and spending their money for a chance to win only, what, $50?  I mean, I guess there is still a cap of some kind there, since Meemaw mentioned that the machines were set to limit the winning and only got reset when the were unplugged and rebooted.  But I am sure the limit is not advertized by Meemaw.  And in any case, it's an illegal business, it's hard to imagine the clients feeling bound by legal considerations too much.  Meemaw doesn't really have much leverage there, unless she goes full-on mafia and gets some enforcers.

Sheldon was really clueless about people using his dorm room.  I loved how Missy got clued in right away and volonteered to tell him.  And George being down with that.

[SusanM]

This has not been a standout year for YS so far and this episode, had I been new to the show, probably would have been the last one I watched.  I'll stick with it for now - I've watched other series that had a crappy year and rebounded - but I have to say it's not looking good.

[freeser]

1 hour ago, SusannahM said:

This has not been a standout year for YS so far and this episode, had I been new to the show, probably would have been the last one I watched.  I'll stick with it for now - I've watched other series that had a crappy year and rebounded - but I have to say it's not looking good.

I did not enjoy this episode either.  The story line of Meemaw and the mini casino is just dumb,  It puts her in such a bad light in so many ways.  

I thought Sheldon's conversation with the University President was so incredibly self centered and obnoxious even for Sheldon.  To ask her to change the schedule of classes just so he would not have so much extra time was ridiculous and Sheldon knew that.  To indicate that he wanted to take a nap on her couch was also way over the top.  But he is only concerned about himself - and at age 12 even Sheldon has to know how he comes off to others.  But as shown in his conversation with Dr. Sturgis, he does not care how he is viewed and sees no benefit to others liking him.  

Where did the conversation with Dr. Sturgis take place? At first I thought it was at the University, but I don't remember Dr. Sturgis returning to being a professor there.  Did he return to the college to resume his teaching career and I missed it?

[Tom Holmberg]

22 minutes ago, freeser said:

I did not enjoy this episode either.  The story line of Meemaw and the mini casino is just dumb, 

I'm still waiting to see if there's going to be a payoff to the casino plot.

[snarkylady]

Where do I start?  Frankly I think that knowing they have been renewed they aren't making much of an effort.  They've made Meemaw downright unlikeable.  They've added way too much Reba (and as an aside, which character has fewer lines now that Reba is getting so many?  I'm ok with it being Mary, but not Missy). 

It wasn't cute that Sheldon failed to understand what was going on in "his" room.  This is a show about a child genius growing up and sex is part of that but let Missy, Georgie and Meemaw handle that aspect of life and he can catch up much later. 

I'm beginning to love George Sr and I didn't expect that.  Kudos to Lance Barber.

[HurricaneVal]

I have a theory that there's more going on with the supposedly friendly relationship between MeeMaw and June.  I think this is one of those stereotypical fake friendships where they secretly hate each other.  Kind of like how in the south "Bless your heart" or "God love 'em" really mean exactly the opposite.  MeeMaw and June were presented as having so much in common, both rollicking Texas gals with big hearts and big hair around the same age that even though they had a natural source of conflict in once being married to and currently dating the same guy, they just had to become bosom buddies.  I think each one of them has ulterior motives, and really doesn't like the other.  June becoming a partner in the illegal gambling business has already started the passive/aggressive war that is now going to play out where they're sugary nice to each other and about each other in public, but are seething with repressed anger quite privately.  Poor Georgie....he's going to be squarely in the middle and will likely become a prize of war.

[kwnyc]

I'm hoping that June's partnership turns into her running the backroom casino with Georgie as her manager. Meemaw hates it and is way out of her depth. That would be an excellent end to a lousy narrative arc. And Georgie is right: Meemaw doesn't like any idea that doesn't originate with her.

I thought that the two actors in the Sheldon/Dr. Sturgis scene were filmed separately with body doubles. They've had a problem because Wally Shawn lives in NYC, not LA, like the rest of the cast, so they found a way around it. (If you notice, you never see the two of them in the shot at the same time.)

Also: When was Annette Bening replaced by Wendy Malick as the university president? Or am I insane?

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by kwnyc
Spelling!

[AD35]

52 minutes ago, kwnyc said:

Also: When was Annette Bening replaced by Wendy Malick as the university president? Or am I insane?

It's still Wendie Malick as the university president, subordinate to "The Grand Chancellor".   When President Hagermeyer mentioned that the room once belonged to an Indian student who developed a taste for BBQ, did anyone else think 

Spoiler

of it like a secret shout out to Raj on TBBT who liked hamburgers even though he was raised Hindu?  When called out on it he replied an animal could be both sacred and delicious.

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by AD35

[shapeshifter]

20 minutes ago, kwnyc said:

I'm hoping that June's partnership turns into her running the backroom casino with Georgie as her manager. Meemaw hates it and is way out of her depth. That would be an excellent end to a lousy narrative arc

I agree they should wrap up the laundromat-casino arc; it hasn’t been written very well. They probably should have wrapped it up when she got busted. Maybe the pandemic is to blame in some way. IDK. But your idea is solid, @kwnyc.

23 minutes ago, kwnyc said:

When was Annette Bening replaced by Wendy Malick as the university president? Or am I insane?

College President Hagemeyer has always been played by Wendy Malick, but I don’t think that makes you insane, because Wendy Malick seems like a different person somehow in this role.   
Heh. Or maybe we’re both insane.😜

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 hours ago, freeser said:

Where did the conversation with Dr. Sturgis take place? At first I thought it was at the University, but I don't remember Dr. Sturgis returning to being a professor there.  Did he return to the college to resume his teaching career and I missed it?

Yes, I remember him returning to help Dr. Linkletter and Sheldon work something out, and we saw him lose his grocery store job, but I don't remember him being rehired.

[tennisgurl]

I loved George describing The Beverley Hillbillies as "imagine Meemaw going to California" and then Missy pointing out the similarities between The Beverley Hillbillies and 90210. They're basically the same show. 

Kid Sheldon reminds me a lot of this hilarious quote from the hilarious show Derry Girls, in regards to Jenny, the high schools resident butt kisser. "You will go far in life Jenny. But you will not be well liked." It really is unfair how much the school bends over backwards for Sheldon, even giving him a big room to hang out in for free while the rest of the students have to pay for a crappy shared dorm room. This show explains so much about Sheldon's massively entitled attitude. 

[Chit Chat]

57 minutes ago, AD35 said:

When President Hagermeyer mentioned that the room once belonged to an Indian student who developed a taste for BBQ, did anyone else think 

Good catch, AD35!! That might be the inspiration for that scene!  

17 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I didn't like the episode. Sheldon is twelve now, and smart enough to have realized on his own that his dorm room was being used for coitus.

I think that Sheldon's brain is so academically wired that he would have to actually see them having coitus in order to understand what was happening!  He was pretty dense when it came to those things!  

[Tom Holmberg]

20 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

Good catch, AD35!! That might be the inspiration for that scene! 

Or it might have been pure laziness by the writers and we are trying to give it deep meaning.

[SusanM]

23 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

I think that Sheldon's brain is so academically wired that he would have to actually see them having coitus in order to understand what was happening!  He was pretty dense when it came to those things!  

Even as an adult in BBT Sheldon was almost always shown as pretty clueless where things like this were concerned.  Also shown as someone who would believe what he was told even if it was obviously a lie to anyone else.

[BitterApple]

I agree with all the above comments. There's been a few good episodes this season, but most of them are falling flat.

The gambling room storyline has fizzled out. There's nowhere left to go with it, aside from MeeMaw being formally arrested. Even bringing Reba on as a sort of Cousin Oliver is coming off as desperate.

It seems like Missy isn't getting that much screen time anymore and that bums me out. Her wanting to tell Sheldon what was really going on in his room was cute though. 

Dr. Sturgis was a bright spot as usual. The female student calling Sheldon a brat was long overdue, however it feels like the writers don't know what to do with him in a college setting. Sheldon is too young to become part of a social circle, so he's reduced to hanging out in Dr. Linkletter's office. There isn't enough integration into college life to use as episode fodder. Theoretically it should be a hilarious addition to the show, but it just isn't (if that makes sense).

Edited January 7, 2022 by BitterApple

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Or it might have been pure laziness by the writers and we are trying to give it deep meaning.

I'm going with the shout-out!!

[HyeChaps]

June has her own beauty parlor business.  How much time can she spend at the laundromat?

[possibilities]

Raj is approxmately Sheldon's age, and I don't think he went to college in Texas, or at an extraordinarily young age, so I don't think that was a reference to his character.

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, AD35 said:

When President Hagermeyer mentioned that the room once belonged to an Indian student who developed a taste for BBQ, did anyone else think 

Interesting thought.  I didn't catch that.

[Chit Chat]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

Raj is approxmately Sheldon's age, and I don't think he went to college in Texas, or at an extraordinarily young age, so I don't think that was a reference to his character.

Spoiler

The thinking is that it could be the writer's way of a subtle shout out to The Big Bang Theory and Raj, not that he actually attended the university.  It's just a fun thought, not something literal. 

 

[Yeah No]

I don't know, this show has been kind of an oasis for me in the middle of what I think has become TV garbage since the pandemic so I suppose it was only a matter of time until it started to fray at the seams.  While other shows have been falling flat this one seemed immune until this season.  While I agree with a lot of what has been said above I still think it's better than most of what is airing these days.  I just hope it doesn't continue to slide downhill.

[Yeah No]

9 hours ago, SusannahM said:

9 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I think that Sheldon's brain is so academically wired that he would have to actually see them having coitus in order to understand what was happening!  He was pretty dense when it came to those things!  

Even as an adult in BBT Sheldon was almost always shown as pretty clueless where things like this were concerned.  Also shown as someone who would believe what he was told even if it was obviously a lie to anyone else.

Yes, Sheldon could be especially dense where things between men and women are concerned even into adulthood.  He may know about sexual reproduction from a scientific standpoint but as far as the dynamics of human romantic relationships are concerned, he's especially clueless.

[Kiddvideo]

I think the actors playing Missy and Sheldon have aged out of their roles as written. The writers were able to move Georgie into a young adult role, but they can’t reverse time and make the twins appear younger than their physical development. These are not children. In the last scene Sheldon is the same size as Dr. Sturgis. Also? Sheldon’s deep, monotone voice disturbs me.

This episode stunk like ass.

[Sarah 103]

On 1/6/2022 at 10:59 PM, MollyMelrose said:

Enjoyed George and Missy discussing the similarities between The Beverly Hillbillies and 90210. Like Missy said - they're the same show. 😄

 

On 1/7/2022 at 3:30 PM, tennisgurl said:

I loved George describing The Beverley Hillbillies as "imagine Meemaw going to California" and then Missy pointing out the similarities between The Beverley Hillbillies and 90210. They're basically the same show. 

I loved that moment and feel it should be required for every adult over 60. I'm close to in age to Missy and older people are always shocked that I am familiar with older sitcoms and I'm always thinking variations of "did they forget syndicated reruns exist? are they totally unaware of what Nick at Nite was in the 1990s? do they have no idea that TV Land used to show nothing but series from before the 1980s?"

On 1/7/2022 at 4:08 PM, BitterApple said:

The female student calling Sheldon a brat was long overdue, however it feels like the writers don't know what to do with him in a college setting. Sheldon is too young to become part of a social circle, so he's reduced to hanging out in Dr. Linkletter's office. There isn't enough integration into college life to use as episode fodder. Theoretically it should be a hilarious addition to the show, but it just isn't (if that makes sense).

Trying to do stories about Sheldon's social life in college do not work for the exact reason you mentioned. I think stories that focus on his academic life and stories about the classroom work better. 

[possibilities]

It's just not funny how much of an unrepentant brat he is. It's not interesting, either. We've seen this same point over and over again. I feel like they've made the whole show stagnant. The only "development" we've seen is George and Brenda being attracted to each other, and Meemaw opening the gambling room. The former was unpleasant and I hope it's been dropped. The latter is  making Meemaw look incompetent, which is character assassination and... unpleasant.

Edited January 9, 2022 by possibilities

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 1/8/2022 at 2:15 PM, Kiddvideo said:

I think the actors playing Missy and Sheldon have aged out of their roles as written. The writers were able to move Georgie into a young adult role, but they can’t reverse time and make the twins appear younger than their physical development. These are not children. In the last scene Sheldon is the same size as Dr. Sturgis. Also? Sheldon’s deep, monotone voice disturbs me.

The actors who play the twins are 13 and 14 in real life. How old do you want them to be?

Also, Wallace Shawn has played trolls and such. He's 5' 2".

Edited January 10, 2022 by ItCouldBeWorse

[aqusdealer]

The real problem, as I see it, is not that Sheldon and Missy are getting older…that’s a given… but that the writing of the show has gotten well, er, … toxic. I hate what they’ve made of meemaw, don’t like Dale, Georgie’s morals have dropped, George Sr. is on the ledge of infidelity, Missy seems dull and drugged and Mary, well, she’s on her way to a religious cult or something. The only saving grace of the episode was the interaction between Sheldon and Dr. Sturgiss. Sheldon can get older, they just have to stop painting him as a social idiot like they did with the dorm room. He may be socially clueless, but he’s no buffoon. I swear I could write a better screenplay than this episode. I for one would respect the integrity of the characters and play up their comedic potential. YS is listed as a comedy, but lately it’s just depressing.

[SusanM]

14 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Also, Wallace Shawn has played trolls and such. He's 5'2".

Even I was taller than that when I was 12!  Full disclosure - I'm 5'3".  In other words Sheldon and Missie (and the actors playing them) are not unusually tall for their age.

[ams1001]

I just realized I missed this episode! Sheldon's voice has gotten noticeably lower...

I loved Sam calling Sheldon and entitled brat. About time someone did. (Not that it made him rethink his attitude...)

Also love Missy. "I'll tell him." I love her glee at the idea of corrupting Sheldon's little world. And that she was wearing overalls and a plaid shirt while watching The Beverly Hillbillies.

On 1/6/2022 at 8:40 PM, Katy M said:

I'm not really sure how the room sharing was working.  Did Sheldon make extra keys?  Was everyone responsible for handing the key off to the next person?  Were people really cleaning up from their "goofing off" so well that Sheldon didn't notice?

My college dorm keys were stamped with DO NOT DUPLICATE so unless you go someplace shady they're not gonna do it. There were no "extra" keys and the only way to get replacements was to go through the housing office. Maybe they're just leaving it unlocked...?

On 1/6/2022 at 9:47 PM, chocolatine said:

I agree with Sam that it was grossly unfair that Sheldon got a single dorm room with ensuite bath that he didn't even sleep in, while "regular" students like her had to share with others. And he's getting it for free, to boot.

I have a hard time believing that there was a random dorm room empty, especially a single. [There were limited singles on my college campus; they were snapped up quickly and if people managed to get one before their senior year they usually stayed in them. (They also didn't have their own bathrooms, except for each dorm's head resident's room, which was a whole suite.) There was one single on my hall (of two in the whole building; I lived on the same hall for my first three years) and my first year it was occupied by a sophomore who got lucky in the housing lottery and she kept that room for the next three years.] Unless...

On 1/7/2022 at 6:58 AM, Katy M said:

That might not be a room they usually use for students.  It may be a room that they've set aside for visitors.

This is a possibility. My dorm had a room off the lobby/lounge, across from the RA office, for visitors (they used it for people who came to speak and stuff like that, if they needed to stay on campus for some reason; it was a small rural town so there weren't a lot of hotel options super close). I don't know if the room had its own bathroom but there was a public visitors' bathroom next to it (intended mostly for male visitors since it was a women's dorm). But it was separate from the actual residents of the dorm and Sheldon's looked like it was part of a hall (though maybe at the end).

  

1 hour ago, SusannahM said:

Even I was taller than that when I was 12!  Full disclosure - I'm 5'3".  In other words Sheldon and Missie (and the actors playing them) are not unusually tall for their age.

I was about Wallace's height by 12 (which was when I really caught up to my peers; I was always one of the smallest in my class through grade school). I grew a whopping two more inches in the next four years and stopped.

Edited January 9, 2022 by ams1001

[Kiddvideo]

16 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The actors who play the twins are 13 and 14 in real life. How old do you want them to be?

Also, Wallace Shawn has played trolls and such. He's 5'2".

I specifically said “as written.” 

[Tom Holmberg]

On 1/9/2022 at 4:02 AM, aqusdealer said:

The real problem, as I see it, is not that Sheldon and Missy are getting older…that’s a given… but that the writing of the show has gotten well, er, … toxic. I hate what they’ve made of meemaw, don’t like Dale, Georgie’s morals have dropped, George Sr. is on the ledge of infidelity, Missy seems dull and drugged and Mary, well, she’s on her way to a religious cult or something. The only saving grace of the episode was the interaction between Sheldon and Dr. Sturgiss. Sheldon can get older, they just have to stop painting him as a social idiot like they did with the dorm room. He may be socially clueless, but he’s no buffoon. I swear I could write a better screenplay than this episode. I for one would respect the integrity of the characters and play up their comedic potential. YS is listed as a comedy, but lately it’s just depressing.

Shows with kids often have the problem that they age and the writers keep trying to write for them as if they were still younger.  Only "The Simpsons" solved this problem. 😄

I never really found the adult Sheldon funny.  Young Sheldon was funnier, because at 10 years of age you expect him to act like a child, but I noticed in this episode particularly that he didn't come off well.

[SusanM]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:12 PM, Sarah 103 said:

Trying to do stories about Sheldon's social life in college do not work for the exact reason you mentioned. I think stories that focus on his academic life and stories about the classroom work better. 

Agreed,  At Sheldon's age college related stories that focus on his interactions within the classroom setting work, trying to make it seem like Sheldon is part of the college community at large, no, just no.  He's a kid.  He shouldn't be socializing with 20 yr olds.  Expecting him to as they did in an earlier episode was just awkward.  Treat Sheldon like a lot of people who attend college - commuters, part-timers, students with kids, whatever - college is where they spend a few hours every day and then they go home and live their lives.

[Gummo]

The restrictions imposed on YS because it has to conform to whatever facts of Sheldon's life were revealed on BBT are really starting to show. And it's really cramping the writing and direction of this show.

For example, this episode could have been a delightful exploration of young teen Sheldon's first exposure to sex and sexuality and how it relates to his own awakening hormones. But we all know that Sheldon must remain completely asexual for another quarter century at least, so instead we get yet another tired story about Sheldon being clueless and entitled. It's like the writers are forced to write with a straightjacket on.

And so we get some contrived sitcom shenanigans with meemaw and Georgie, just to fill out the 20 minutes.

For a long time, YS has avoided the Prequel Curse with great writing, characters and acting. But now we're seeing the effect of having the end of the story already written -- stories and characters can't grow naturally.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Gummo

[Katy M]

12 hours ago, Gummo said:

The restrictions imposed on YS because it has to conform to whatever facts of Sheldon's life were revealed on BBT are really starting to show. And it's really cramping the writing and direction of this show.

For example, this episode could have been a delightful exploration of young teen Sheldon's first exposure to sex and sexuality and how it relates to his own awakening hormones. But we all know that Sheldon must remain completely asexual for another quarter century at least, so instead we get yet another tired story about Sheldon being clueless and entitled. It's like the writers are forced to write with a straightjacket on.

And so we get some contrived sitcom shenanigans with meemaw and Georgie, just to fill out the 20 minutes.

For a long time, YS has avoided the Prequel Curse with great writing, characters and acting. But now we're seeing the effect of having the end of the story already written -- stories and characters can't grow naturally.

I think I made a comment when the show started that I thought it would be best if it only lasted for 3 years.  And this is exactly why.  They're already pushing it because in season 1, Sheldon and Missy were 9.  In season 5, they're 12.   Because they're trying to keep Sheldon in the US and George alive.  And while I think Iain can pass for 12 still, Raegan looks like the 14 that she is.

[EtheltoTillie]

Georgie Jr. looked like a full-fledged adult last night. 

[Yeah No]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:28 PM, Gummo said:

The restrictions imposed on YS because it has to conform to whatever facts of Sheldon's life were revealed on BBT are really starting to show. And it's really cramping the writing and direction of this show.

For example, this episode could have been a delightful exploration of young teen Sheldon's first exposure to sex and sexuality and how it relates to his own awakening hormones. But we all know that Sheldon must remain completely asexual for another quarter century at least, so instead we get yet another tired story about Sheldon being clueless and entitled. It's like the writers are forced to write with a straightjacket on.

And so we get some contrived sitcom shenanigans with meemaw and Georgie, just to fill out the 20 minutes.

For a long time, YS has avoided the Prequel Curse with great writing, characters and acting. But now we're seeing the effect of having the end of the story already written -- stories and characters can't grow naturally.

I don't see why the writers are feeling so cramped in writing for Sheldon.  They have boxed themselves in by insisting on writing him as an emotionless robot, but there's no reason for that.  Adult Sheldon is clueless but by no means an automaton.  In fact he continued to be clueless and basically asexual throughout his life but that didn't stop the writers of BBT from making plots for him and make his antics FUNNY.  This is supposed to be a comedy but they're writing him like a straight man with no foil.  I see no reason why they had to put themselves in a straightjacket.  IMHO, that's their fault.

[Gummo]

Yeah No, you make a good point.

But if you go back to rhe classic BBT episode where Leonard tells Penny how he met Sheldon and became his roommate, the Sheldon we meet in the flashbacks has retreated so far into his shell that he really is a twitchy, humorless, emotionless robot-man. It took friendship with Leonard, Raj and Howard to begin the process of re-humanizing him.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Gummo

[SnarkySheep]

Anyone find it rather unbelievable that Georgie would have no idea who/what the Bee Gees or Saturday Night Fever were? IMO most teens today would have at least heard of them and that's decades later, while Georgie here would have been a kid during their peak?

[shapeshifter]

54 minutes ago, SnarkySheep said:

Anyone find it rather unbelievable that Georgie would have no idea who/what the Bee Gees or Saturday Night Fever were? IMO most teens today would have at least heard of them and that's decades later, while Georgie here would have been a kid during their peak?

Georgie not knowing who the Bee Gees are and not having seen Saturday Night Fever may be a tiny bit inconsistent with viewers' memories of the episode when Georgie and Mom were watching an old video together (was it Dirty Dancing?), but, IIRC, that was a one-off for them. The Cooper household that Mary ran may have had a TV, but I doubt they were watching Saturday Night Fever.