S07.E02: A Roulette Wheel and a Piano Playing Dog

[chitowngirl]

Sheldon realizes he is the weakest student in his class; Meemaw looks to expand her gambling business.

[Spartan Girl]

Not being the smartest person in class and having to shut up and listen was a long overdue lesson for Sheldon.

I’m glad that Missy decided to stop doing all the work and make the guys pitch in. She really was turning into Mary and it wasn’t healthy.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

10 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I’m glad that Missy decided to stop doing all the work and make the guys pitch in. She really was turning into Mary and it wasn’t healthy.

When George told Missy that he was paying for everything, she should have said that she was his kid, not his wife (with regard to running the house).  And if she was still living at home after graduating high school, then they could renegotiate.

I'm hoping that Georgie will finally get out of the gambling business and go to work for Mandy's dad at the tire shop.

[Jodithgrace]

I kind of thought that's what they were working up to with Georgie’s doubts. Hopefully next week something will push him in that direction. The big money is tempting but I think it will be a big mistake, and Connie should know better. So should Mandy. 
 

I'm glad Missy got wise and started spreading the chores around. 

[shura]

I am having a little problem with Missy’s bringing up that people don’t thank her for what she is doing for them.  It sounds like she does things for others not just because she feels these things have to be done for her family’s wellbeing and wants to do them, but also because wanting to be thanked or to be thought of well is a major motivation for her.  It kind of devalues the great job she is doing taking care of everybody.  That said, she is absolutely right making everybody else work too.  It’s not her job to do everything.

Where exactly did that girl get her degree in education?  Not with another prominent, award-winning scientist, I’m guessing?  I liked how Mary in the background was enjoying her tutoring technique.  Dummkopf!  I wonder if Linkletter even knew about the 26 dimensions.  There is no East MIT!

[Chit Chat]

11 minutes ago, shura said:

I am having a little problem with Missy’s bringing up that people don’t thank her for what she is doing for them.

Welcome to motherhood, Missy!!  

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

When George told Missy that he was paying for everything, she should have said that she was his kid, not his wife (with regard to running the house). 

Missy took on the responsibility all on her own.  Sure, everybody can pitch in when they're not at work, but she seemed to get overwhelmed after 2 or 3 days.  She's got a lot to learn about the real world.  ;)  

[Sarah 103]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I’m glad that Missy decided to stop doing all the work and make the guys pitch in. She really was turning into Mary and it wasn’t healthy.

2 hours ago, Jodithgrace said:

I'm glad Missy got wise and started spreading the chores around. 

I like that Georgie pointed out without realizing it that she didn't actually have to be the one doing everything at home. Georgie is well aware that he has adult responsibilities due to a kid and a fiancé. From Georgie's perspective, Missy is basically still a kid (he's not totally wrong) and she should not have to deal with all of the responsibilities that go along with running a household. 

2 hours ago, shura said:

Where exactly did that girl get her degree in education?  Not with another prominent, award-winning scientist, I’m guessing?  

I'm guessing she's a double major. Many schools offer majors in science and education. 

 

[Katy M]

I feel like maybe Mary took a little too much delight in Sheldon's downfall because she was still mad at him for refusing to go home last week.  But, the lesson is definitely a good one for him.

[EtheltoTillie]

Of all the things to nitpick, but why were they teaching Sheldon’s class in English?  Of course he doesn’t know German, so we’ll just have a German university teaching in English. Sitcom logic.  

Missy’s having absorbed all the minutia of housekeeping was everything. 

Edited February 23 by EtheltoTillie

[shura]

2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Of all the things to nitpick, but why were they teaching Sheldon’s class in English?  Of course he doesn’t know German, so we’ll just have a German university teaching in English. Sitcom logic.  

Sure, it's for our benefit.  But it could be that, this being a special, short-term international program, they would teach its courses in English.  They do that sometimes, both for the international students and also so that the native students could polish their English. 

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Of all the things to nitpick, but why were they teaching Sheldon’s class in English?  Of course he doesn’t know German, so we’ll just have a German university teaching in English. Sitcom logic

Possibly because it's (I believe) a special international program and English is a universal language. I assume the class is made up of students from many countries.

I liked that finally someone turned the tables on Sheldon and put him down for East Texas Tech, like he has done for Princeton and MIT. It's about time.

[vibeology]

11 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

Welcome to motherhood, Missy!!  

Missy took on the responsibility all on her own.  Sure, everybody can pitch in when they're not at work, but she seemed to get overwhelmed after 2 or 3 days.  She's got a lot to learn about the real world.  ;)  

She's a child. She's literally one of two children in that home. When she started to run the household her parent should have stepped in and stopped that right away. She is the one who can "pitch in" with some stuff when she has the time. Because it's age appropriate to help but it's not right for her to be the one in charge.  George should be the parent and take care of more. But George is a lazy man who is so used to Mary carrying the largest burden of running the household that he did not step up when it was his turn. 

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, shura said:

Sure, it's for our benefit.  But it could be that, this being a special, short-term international program, they would teach its courses in English.  They do that sometimes, both for the international students and also so that the native students could polish their English. 

I was thinking along those lines myself.  Although adult Sheldon is supposed to know several languages (including Klingon), German is not listed as one of them.

15 minutes ago, vibeology said:

She's a child. She's literally one of two children in that home. When she started to run the household her parent should have stepped in and stopped that right away. She is the one who can "pitch in" with some stuff when she has the time. Because it's age appropriate to help but it's not right for her to be the one in charge.  George should be the parent and take care of more. But George is a lazy man who is so used to Mary carrying the largest burden of running the household that he did not step up when it was his turn. 

I was also thinking along these lines.  Not to mention the implied sexism in George senior's attitude toward expecting Missy to just take on the role of "house mom" to everyone.  Granted, Missy has the most time available, but she's also still a kid and George needs to take on the adult level of responsibility there, not her.  I'm glad that she gave him most of the chores on her chores list and that Mandy's name was also on it.

[meep.meep]

In the previous episode George did ask Missy "Who put you in charge?" and everyone else raised their hands.  If things were running OK, I give him a pass on not insisting on taking over.

Was the tutor Joyce Kim, the North Korean spy, who Leonard was dating in the early episodes of BBT?

 

[lh25]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

Granted, Missy has the most time available,

I'm not sure she does.  It seems like this is set in the summer, and George Sr seems to be home a lot.  Makes sense, as a HS coach he'd have summers off.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

13 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

Welcome to motherhood, Missy!!  

Missy took on the responsibility all on her own.  Sure, everybody can pitch in when they're not at work, but she seemed to get overwhelmed after 2 or 3 days.  She's got a lot to learn about the real world.  ;)  

1 hour ago, vibeology said:

She's a child. She's literally one of two children in that home. When she started to run the household her parent should have stepped in and stopped that right away. She is the one who can "pitch in" with some stuff when she has the time. Because it's age appropriate to help but it's not right for her to be the one in charge.  George should be the parent and take care of more. But George is a lazy man who is so used to Mary carrying the largest burden of running the household that he did not step up when it was his turn. 

Exactly. She was meant to be channeling her mother with her complaints, I think.  And although she did take on the responsibility all on her own, her father had no trouble taking advantage of that, and complained when she decided to spread the work around.  He's not working full time in the summer, is he?

 

 

[MollyMelrose]

What a delight it would be to watch Leonard, Penny, Raj, Howard, Bernadette, Stuart, Kripke, and Leslie Winkle watch this episode together. Right up there with The Slap for pure viewing enjoyment.

George and Mandy's dad are not the most enlightened duo, but I'd love to go grocery shopping with them again.

[Spartan Girl]

7 hours ago, Katy M said:

I feel like maybe Mary took a little too much delight in Sheldon's downfall because she was still mad at him for refusing to go home last week.  But, the lesson is definitely a good one for him.

That thought did occur to me, and if that’s the case, man, the writers sure are working overtime to make me dislike Mary even more.

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Was the tutor Joyce Kim, the North Korean spy, who Leonard was dating in the early episodes of BBT?

That wasn't the girl's character's name (it was Mei-Tung), but it would have been a great joke if she was Joyce Kim.

[Sarah 103]

6 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Of all the things to nitpick, but why were they teaching Sheldon’s class in English?  Of course he doesn’t know German, so we’ll just have a German university teaching in English. Sitcom logic.  

 

4 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Possibly because it's (I believe) a special international program and English is a universal language. I assume the class is made up of students from many countries.

I agree. It was an international class, so they had to pick a single language. Since English is taught in many European and Asian schools, as well schools in other places as well, it made sense to go with English as the universal language. 

3 hours ago, vibeology said:

She's a child. She's literally one of two children in that home. When she started to run the household her parent should have stepped in and stopped that right away. She is the one who can "pitch in" with some stuff when she has the time. Because it's age appropriate to help but it's not right for her to be the one in charge.  George should be the parent and take care of more. But George is a lazy man who is so used to Mary carrying the largest burden of running the household that he did not step up when it was his turn. 

I agree with all of this. Missy is at an age when it is perfectly appropriate/acceptable for her parent to expect her do chores/help around the house. For example, Missy cooking dinner was not a giant red flag, but Missy doing the meal planning and making the grocery list was. 

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I was also thinking along these lines.  Not to mention the implied sexism in George senior's attitude toward expecting Missy to just take on the role of "house mom" to everyone.  Granted, Missy has the most time available, but she's also still a kid and George needs to take on the adult level of responsibility there, not her.  I'm glad that she gave him most of the chores on her chores list and that Mandy's name was also on it.

Again, I agree with almost all of this. The one thing I disagree with is that Missy has the most time available. George doesn't work summers. It seems he had plenty of free time. Missy being Missy, I'm sure she took into account the fact that Mandy has a baby to take care of. I could see Missy assigning Mandy something like cleaning the dishes.

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

In the previous episode George did ask Missy "Who put you in charge?" and everyone else raised their hands.  If things were running OK, I give him a pass on not insisting on taking over.

No, no, no. I get that was played for laughs, but it was not okay. He is an adult. He should act like one and not expect his teenage daughter to become one overnight and take on grown-up responsibilities. This is where he should have stepped in/stepped up and said no. Because this is a sitcom and it's supposed to be funny, show him taking over the household responsibilities.  It's a trope that goes back as far as I Love Lucy, but it still works with a character like George.

For those who forgot what was happening at home while Lucy and Ethel were at the chocolate factory: 

[Yeah No]

21 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

Again, I agree with almost all of this. The one thing I disagree with is that Missy has the most time available. George doesn't work summers. It seems he had plenty of free time. Missy being Missy, I'm sure she took into account the fact that Mandy has a baby to take care of. I could see Missy assigning Mandy something like cleaning the dishes.

Oh, I didn't realize this was the Summer.  It's hard to tell with Texas!

Although if George has off so does Missy, but I get your point.

Thanks for the "I Love Lucy" memory, though, I remember that episode! 😂

[EtheltoTillie]

I will buy the international class explanation for the English language instruction, but it seemed that the only international students were Sheldon and the little girl tutor.  The others seemed to be German students laughing every time the professor said dumbkopf.  Oh, well, I'm handwaving now. 

[Sarah 103]

5 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Oh, I didn't realize this was the Summer.  It's hard to tell with Texas!

Although if George has off so does Missy, but I get your point.

Thanks for the "I Love Lucy" memory, though, I remember that episode! 😂

To clarify my point. It's summer, which means Missy doesn't have school and George isn't working. Missy and George both have the most free time. However, because George is the parent/adult, he is the one who should be in charge and running the household, not his young teenage daughter.

It would make sense for Missy to have more chores around the house because she isn't working like Georgie is or taking care of a baby like Mandy is, but Missy should not be doing everything nor should she be responsible for making sure everything get done. 

I realize this is off topic, but I feel like Fred and Ricky with the rice gets overshadowed/forgotten because it's in the same episode as the chocolate factory. If it was in a different episode, it would be just as famous/iconic. 

[possibilities]

The I Love Lucy clip is funny, and I'm perfectly willing to enjoy some slapstick or exaggerated scenarios for effect. But, in all seriousness, I learned to cook by reading cookbooks. It's not hard to find and follow a simple recipe for rice or instructions for a how to use a pressure cooker, and anyone could see the cake didn't rise and that frosting goes on the outside. 

Back to Young Sheldon, Missy or George or anybody else in the house could do the same (learn to do tasks) and I'm sure Mary would have left them instructions even if they weren't smart enough to figure it out themselves. I'm not trying to minimize the skill level, or importance of the work, of people who run a household, but even before the tornado, with Mary expected to be gone for weeks, they had to have had another plan for how things were going to work in her absence. As I recall, George told her he could handle it.

It's more crowded with the extra people sharing the house, and Meemaw distracted by trying to pick up the pieces of her life, but in substance, the story of the tornado causing no one to be doing household tasks doesn't really make sense. 

And  George not washing his hands after using the bathroom? That's just gross, and I don't think Mary would have been needing to remind him of it when she was there, either. Lord, I hope not, anyway.

[Tom Holmberg]

52 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I will buy the international class explanation for the English language instruction, but it seemed that the only international students were Sheldon and the little girl tutor.  The others seemed to be German students laughing every time the professor said dumbkopf.  Oh, well, I'm handwaving now. 

Of course almost everyone has heard the word "dummkopf." Apparently the first recorded use of the word was in 1809 by Washington Irving, so its actually an Americanism.

[possibilities]

I'd never heard it before, but I guessed the meaning immediately when they said it in the episode.

Edited February 23 by possibilities

[Sarah 103]

2 minutes ago, possibilities said:

The I Love Lucy clip is funny, and I'm perfectly willing to enjoy some slapstick or exaggerated scenarios for effect. But, in all seriousness, I learned to cook by reading cookbooks. It's not hard to find and follow a simple recipe for rice or instructions for a how to use a pressure cooker, and anyone could see the cake didn't rise and that frosting goes on the outside. 

Pretty much same here. I learned to cook by helping my mother and then when I was older by reading cookbooks or recipes from magazines. Going by real-world logic of the 1950s/setting aside what you need to make a sitcom work, it was pre-internet so it's possible they no longer had the instructions for the pressure cooker. I was born after the 1950s. Did boxes of rice have cooking instructions/amount per person or serving on the boxes yet? 

Getting back to Young Sheldon

2 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Back to Young Sheldon, Missy or George or anybody else in the house could do the same (learn to do tasks) and I'm sure Mary would have left them instructions even if they weren't smart enough to figure it out themselves. I'm not trying to minimize the skill level, or importance of the work, of people who run a household, but even before the tornado, with Mary expected to be gone for weeks, they had to have had another plan for how things were going to work in her absence. As I recall, George told her he could handle it.

It's more crowded with the extra people sharing the house, and Meemaw distracted by trying to pick up the pieces of her life, but in substance, the story of the tornado causing no one to be doing household tasks doesn't really make sense. 

This is a totally valid point that I can't believe so many of us missed. Mary leaving was not a sudden unplanned thing. The family knew she was going to be spending the summer in Germany with Sheldon. They seemed to be functioning pretty well before the tornado (in terms of the household running smoothly and things that needed to get done being done). The additional number of people in the house due to the tornado should not have caused the chaos it did in terms of meal prep and chores.   

2 minutes ago, possibilities said:

And  George not washing his hands after using the bathroom? That's just gross, and I don't think Mary would have been needing to remind him of it when she was there, either. Lord, I hope not, anyway.

 

I think the joke was supposed to be that George is just a big kid and now Missy is the responsible adult, which is super wrong and icky in so many ways on so many levels.

[Tom Holmberg]

10 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I'd never heard it before, but I guessed the meaning immediately when they said it in the episode.

We're not German but we used it in our family as a satiric insult.

[tkc]

With Sheldon getting his comeuppance in Germany, the writers missed out on the opportunity to include "Schadenfreude" in the episode title!

9 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Of all the things to nitpick, but why were they teaching Sheldon’s class in English?

Maybe it was in German, but they were using the Universal Translator? After all, the class was being taught by a hologram! (Star Trek reference!)

[Tom Holmberg]

14 minutes ago, tkc said:

the writers missed out on the opportunity to include "Schadenfreude" in the episode title!

Or Weltschmerz.

[anna0852]

47 minutes ago, Sarah 103 said:

Getting back to Young Sheldon

This is a totally valid point that I can't believe so many of us missed. Mary leaving was not a sudden unplanned thing. The family knew she was going to be spending the summer in Germany with Sheldon. They seemed to be functioning pretty well before the tornado (in terms of the household running smoothly and things that needed to get done being done). The additional number of people in the house due to the tornado should not have caused the chaos it did in terms of meal prep and chores.   

 

I think the joke was supposed to be that George is just a big kid and now Missy is the responsible adult, which is super wrong and icky in so many ways on so many levels.

It literally had just jumped into my head that they were supposed to be looking after themselves no matter what, tornado or no tornado.

We can’t really say things were going smoothly before the storm, though given that it hit while George and Missy were on their way back from the airport. A Mary-less routine never got started.

[Yeah No]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I will buy the international class explanation for the English language instruction, but it seemed that the only international students were Sheldon and the little girl tutor.  The others seemed to be German students laughing every time the professor said dumbkopf.  Oh, well, I'm handwaving now. 

Yeah I get that, but at least it isn't as implausible as the situations on some shows I watch.

59 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Of course almost everyone has heard the word "dummkopf." Apparently the first recorded use of the word was in 1809 by Washington Irving, so its actually an Americanism.

I knew that it was an Americanism but didn't know about the Washington Irving connection.  I heard the term a lot when I was a kid in NYC.  I cringed hearing the holodeck doctor from DS9's bad German accent on this episode.

2 minutes ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Or Weltschmerz.

My favorite is "zeitgeist". 

[Chit Chat]

16 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

I like that Georgie pointed out without realizing it that she didn't actually have to be the one doing everything at home.

And that's why Mary wanted to come home, so she could help, but everybody said to stay in Germany.  Missy took on all of the responsibility and then quickly realized that she needed help.  George didn't ask her to do that.  He was surprised that she did it in the first place!

What wasn't realistic was that nobody seemed to be going over to help clean up Connie's house (what's left of it), and to protect it from looters.  They usually show up within a couple of days (coming from near & far) after these kinds of disasters.  With no insurance, she's either going to have to hire a cleanup crew or rent a big dumpster and start loading it up with the smaller stuff.

 

[Sarah 103]

1 hour ago, anna0852 said:

It literally had just jumped into my head that they were supposed to be looking after themselves no matter what, tornado or no tornado.

We can’t really say things were going smoothly before the storm, though given that it hit while George and Missy were on their way back from the airport. A Mary-less routine never got started.

Thank for reminding me of the very important and critical fact. We don't actually know what kind of instructions Mary left or what the real plan was for the summer while Mary and Sheldon were in Germany. 

[appositival]

4 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

For example, Missy cooking dinner was not a giant red flag, but Missy doing the meal planning and making the grocery list was. 

I took this as Missy working through the trauma of cowering in a ditch.

We all process epiphany in different ways. She decided to be 'good', which is her image of her mother, but then reality faded in as her patience and dedication ran thin (as befits most teenagers), so she decided to be better and manage the others instead of completely supporting them.

And we all know George just tends to "go with the flow" and might be a tiny bit lazy (except for football).

Sheldon has mostly been hampered by schooling far below his ability to learn. His mentors have high IQs, but they seem to lack any creative spark. Real genius requires both.

This comeuppance will be good for him, but his grandiosity is just part of his core self, so I think he is incapable of being humbled.

 

 

[Katy M]

12 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Of all the things to nitpick, but why were they teaching Sheldon’s class in English?  Of course he doesn’t know German, so we’ll just have a German university teaching in English. Sitcom logic.  

Missy’s having absorbed all the minutia of housekeeping was everything. 

Sheldon can probably easily know German.  Maybe even does.  The English is for us. I, for one, can't stand reading subtitles long-term.  A scene or two is fine.

[SnapHappy]

21 hours ago, Yeah No said:

 Not to mention the implied sexism in George senior's attitude toward expecting Missy to just take on the role of "house mom" to everyone.  

Texas in the 80's WAS all that.  And teenagers were expected to do household chores and contribute, just like adults.  They weren't coddled and catered to.  

Kids didn't start dictating to their parents until the late 90's.  There were no helicopter parents back then, threatening to take away a Playstation or iPhone if their kid didn't do the ONE single chore a week they got assigned.  

It was fun when George referred to Missy as the team owner.  It finally clicked with him when he saw the chore chart.  He wasn't being neglectful at the beginning, just a typical 80's dad with a SAH wife.  

[Chit Chat]

9 minutes ago, SnapHappy said:

Texas in the 80's WAS all that.  And teenagers were expected to do household chores and contribute, just like adults.  They weren't coddled and catered to.  

That's what my life was like growing up in the 60's & 70's.  I paid my parents back for my first car and had to pay the insurance.  Like other teens, I had the usual household chores in addition to babysitting & mowing lawns.  I wouldn't trade those times for anything! 

13 hours ago, Katy M said:

Sheldon can probably easily know German.  Maybe even does.

I watched the preview for the next episode on YouTube, and he does speak German quite well (as we would expect!!) 

[shapeshifter]

13 hours ago, Katy M said:

Sheldon can probably easily know German.  Maybe even does.  The English is for us. I, for one, can't stand reading subtitles long-term.  A scene or two is fine.

As someone with moderate hearing loss, since the show is in English, I am glad German subtitling was not used, since that would require turning the captioning off for the subtitles and back on for the English because the 2 texts overlap, which is a real continuity killer.

More to the point of why subtitles were likely not used in this episode:
I've watched entire series with subtitles, but I am 99.99% sure I am an outlier, at least in the U.S., and probably among all native English-speakers.
Most of the viewing audience would likely find German subtitling annoying and distracting.

 

[Yeah No]

15 hours ago, appositival said:

I took this as Missy working through the trauma of cowering in a ditch.

We all process epiphany in different ways. She decided to be 'good', which is her image of her mother, but then reality faded in as her patience and dedication ran thin (as befits most teenagers), so she decided to be better and manage the others instead of completely supporting them.

Spot on!  I think processing the trauma of the previous days' events made her go into "survival mode", which in her case involved seeing to it that things that needed to get done got done.  It's a way of regaining control over an increasingly out of control situation.

1 hour ago, SnapHappy said:

Texas in the 80's WAS all that.  And teenagers were expected to do household chores and contribute, just like adults.  They weren't coddled and catered to.  

Kids didn't start dictating to their parents until the late 90's.  There were no helicopter parents back then, threatening to take away a Playstation or iPhone if their kid didn't do the ONE single chore a week they got assigned.  

Oh, I grew up in the '60s and '70s to Depression-era parents so I know the name of that tune!  I was not coddled nor catered to, plus on top of all of that I was a latch-key kid with a mom that went back to work full time when I was 9.  So "contributing like an adult" was always my middle name.

1 hour ago, Chit Chat said:

That's what my life was like growing up in the 60's & 70's.  I paid my parents back for my first car and had to pay the insurance.  Like other teens, I had the usual household chores in addition to babysitting & mowing lawns.  I wouldn't trade those times for anything! 

I couldn't even afford a car until I was 24 (and it was a piece of crap, don't get me started on THAT) and my parents didn't give me a loan or a handout toward anything let alone pay my car insurance.  I wasn't living with them by then anyway.  My parents didn't even pay toward my college education.  I had to take out extensive student loans and pay them all back MYSELF.  No "loan forgiveness" then either, despite double digit inflation, interest rates and unemployment when I came of age!  And my husband and I had to live in a shitty neighborhood in the Bronx when we got married.  When that got too dicey and dangerous we shared an apartment with two friends in my parents' building but they broke up after a year so we ended up finding our own apartment in a not-as-nice neighborhood in the '80s with homeless people living in our basement and alleyways.  Yeah, there's more but this is not a contest, LOL.  And I personally WOULD trade those times for just about anything!

Edited February 24 by Yeah No

[Yeah No]

27 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

As someone with moderate hearing loss, since the show is in English, I am glad German subtitling was not used, since that would require turning the captioning off for the subtitles and back on for the English because the 2 texts overlap, which is a real continuity killer.

More to the point of why subtitles were likely not used in this episode:
I've watched entire series with subtitles, but I am 99.99% sure I am an outlier, at least in the U.S., and probably among all native English-speakers.
Most of the viewing audience would likely find German subtitling annoying and distracting.

That's interesting - my cable company cancels the closed captioning when the show provides it.  I even see that on some streaming services but I don't remember which ones right now.

I don't think you're that much of an outlier.  I read recently that more people without hearing issues are using closed captioning (including myself) because of loud background music interfering with hearing the dialogue, loud commercials (and they don't want to keep raising and lowering the volume) and more people on TV that either have thick accents or don't enunciate properly (like on reality TV).  So I think more people are getting used to using the captioning.

[Chit Chat]

18 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I couldn't even afford a car until I was 24 (and it was a piece of crap, don't get me started on THAT) and my parents didn't give me a loan or a handout toward anything let alone pay my car insurance. 

Mine was no luxury vehicle!  It was a Chevette that was a bank repo for $600.  The previous owner put a hand-crank window in as the sunroof!  😄 

20 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I think processing the trauma of the previous days' events made her go into "survival mode", which in her case involved seeing to it that things that needed to get done got done.  It's a way of regaining control over an increasingly out of control situation

Kudos to her for stepping up, but it didn't take very long for her to realize how much work goes into running a household!  She ran out of steam about day 3.  

[Yeah No]

4 minutes ago, Chit Chat said:

Mine was no luxury vehicle!  It was a Chevette that was a bank repo for $600.  The previous owner put a hand-crank window in as the sunroof!  😄 

LOL, a Chevette - mine was about as bad, it was a Mercury Zephyr, the sister car to one of the worst cars of all time - the Ford Fairmont.  It was auctioned off from a rental car company for about the same as your car.  It's a wonder we all survived riding around in those horrible cars.  It used to break down regularly in bad neighborhoods.  Getting back to the show, I wonder if we'll be treated to some car nostalgia when Georgie eventually works for his father-in-law as it looks like that's where he's headed.

[shapeshifter]

7 minutes ago, Chit Chat said:

Kudos to her for stepping up, but it didn't take very long for her to realize how much work goes into running a household!  She ran out of steam about day 3.  

— which would be a really valuable real-life experience at that age. 
But on this show, I don’t think they’re going to have any further speechifying about it.

But we may see a bit where Mary returns and needs to be told how much Missy stepped up

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

LOL, a Chevette - mine was about as bad, it was a Mercury Zephyr, the sister car to one of the worst cars of all time - the Ford Fairmont. 

Chevette, aka the "shove it!"  Aww, good times!

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Getting back to the show, I wonder if we'll be treated to some car nostalgia when Georgie eventually works for his father-in-law as it looks like that's where he's headed.

I enjoyed seeing Georgie as the "tire whisperer!"  I hope they'll head in that direction soon.  

[Sarah 103]

11 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

Texas in the 80's WAS all that.  And teenagers were expected to do household chores and contribute, just like adults.  They weren't coddled and catered to.  

I grew up doing chores. I had probably had fewer chores than others in my generation and more than others. Among the first chores I remember doing were helping my mom with the laundry and setting the table for dinner.  

There's a big difference between an adult/parental figure giving age appropriate chores to a child/teenager, and a young teenager being completely responsible for running the household.

I'm okay with Missy doing chores. I am not okay with Missy being the one to run the household for as long as she did. Even if George didn't see a problem with it and thought it was okay, Connie is living there. She should have seen what was happening and said/did something. 

7 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

I enjoyed seeing Georgie as the "tire whisperer!"  I hope they'll head in that direction soon.  

Based on how worried he is about the police and going to jail, I'm sure that is where this is headed. Georgie has always been responsible when it comes to family. In an early season, the minute he found Missy and Sheldon at a high school party his immediate response was to take them home.    

[ams1001]

10 hours ago, Yeah No said:

and more people on TV that either have thick accents

I watched all of Killing Eve with closed captions on. So many different accents! (Plus volume issues.)

8 hours ago, Chit Chat said:

I enjoyed seeing Georgie as the "tire whisperer!"  I hope they'll head in that direction soon.  

Yeah, I want to see Georgie set off on the path to becoming Dr. Tire.

[possibilities]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:43 PM, Sarah 103 said:

Thank for reminding me of the very important and critical fact. We don't actually know what kind of instructions Mary left or what the real plan was for the summer while Mary and Sheldon were in Germany. 

We don't know what the plan was, but I am quite certain they had one. No way was Mary leaving without knoing there was a plan in place.

[Sarah 103]

17 minutes ago, possibilities said:

We don't know what the plan was, but I am quite certain they had one. No way was Mary leaving without knoing there was a plan in place.

Which now makes me wonder what happened to the plan and why they didn't adjust it or somehow show that the plan no longer worked with the extra people in the house. 

[shapeshifter]

On 2/23/2024 at 5:43 PM, Sarah 103 said:

We don't actually know what kind of instructions Mary left or what the real plan was for the summer while Mary and Sheldon were in Germany.

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

We don't know what the plan was, but I am quite certain they had one. No way was Mary leaving without knoing there was a plan in place.

3 hours ago, Sarah 103 said:

Which now makes me wonder what happened to the plan and why they didn't adjust it or somehow show that the plan no longer worked with the extra people in the house. 

Probably Mary had made up the white board chore chart, and Missy altered it after her come-to-Jesus-moment after surviving the tornado.

Although, based upon one experience of a tornado passing over the place I was living, if Mary left written instructions on a counter or table in front of an open window, they could’ve been sucked out the window.

Edited February 25 by shapeshifter