S01.E05: Thanksgiving

[EtheltoTillie]

This episode was much better than the first few. I hope it’s hitting its stride. 

[proserpina65]

On 11/15/2024 at 8:11 PM, nora1992 said:

And wouldn’t Missy and Sheldon get Social Security benefits for a deceased parent?

Mary would get SS benefits.  Might be some for minor children as well, not sure about that.

On 11/16/2024 at 11:22 AM, Dimity said:

Thinking about this, or overthinking! I think I've put my finger on what is bothering me about the Missy/Mary storyline.  Lorre's misogynism is showing through here.  Mary and Missy are "a mess" they can't handle things and good old Georgie has to step up and be the man of the family.  This 19 yr old has the responsibility of a wife (with thousands in credit card debt - because, hey, she's a girl, so of course she does) and a baby and at the same time now is holding things together for Mary and Missy.  Nope, not buying it. 

I don't find that the least bit unrealistic or misogynist at all.  Missy's 14, she's still a kid and expecting her to hold things together would be wrong.  We've already seen Mary retreat into herself after the church fiasco, so her doing that now isn't out of character either.  And trust me, there's nothing out of line with having an adult woman who should know better get into massive credit card debt.  (I know that from personal experience.)

[BitterApple]

I liked this episode, although I wonder if this show will be able to find it's footing without the interjection of the other YS characters. Montana's easy rapport with the old cast makes the lack of chemistry with the new cast even more obvious. 

I did think the duet with the brother and Dale was funny, and I wasn't surprised by Mary. The first holidays after a loved one dies are brutal. 

[Dimity]

On 11/18/2024 at 11:03 AM, proserpina65 said:

I don't find that the least bit unrealistic or misogynist at all.  Missy's 14, she's still a kid and expecting her to hold things together would be wrong.  We've already seen Mary retreat into herself after the church fiasco, so her doing that now isn't out of character either.  And trust me, there's nothing out of line with having an adult woman who should know better get into massive credit card debt.  (I know that from personal experience.)

It's a Lorre pattern.  We saw it in Big Bang and we saw it in Young Sheldon and now we're seeing it in this show.  Throwing a woman under the bus in order to redeem the man.  On Young Sheldon they threw out everything we had ever been told about George Sr and made Mary the bad guy - on this show they're doing something similar in order to build up Georgie.  

I'm giving it some time because I do like most of the characters and want to see what happens but if they continue in making Georgie a saint and Mary, Missy, Mandy and Audrey into "difficult" women then I admit I am checking out.

[shapeshifter]

Re Missy's tattoo: 

On 11/14/2024 at 10:11 PM, shura said:

of course the dolphin, what sunflower?

Sunflowers were a popular motif in the 90s among rural, church-going women that I knew. The dolphin would be more progressive. I glossed over the tattoo choice until it was brought up here, but it's actually on point.

[proserpina65]

5 hours ago, Dimity said:

It's a Lorre pattern.  We saw it in Big Bang and we saw it in Young Sheldon and now we're seeing it in this show.  Throwing a woman under the bus in order to redeem the man.  On Young Sheldon they threw out everything we had ever been told about George Sr and made Mary the bad guy - on this show they're doing something similar in order to build up Georgie.  

I don't give a shit.  I like how they handled Mary's character on Young Sheldon and I wouldn't have wanted to watch a show with Sheldon's flawed memories being accurate representations of his parents.  That would not have interested me in the least and is partly why I didn't start watching YS until I saw some of the second season's reruns in syndication.

I think Mary's behavior in this episode was realistic and not part of some scheme to build Georgie up at all.  Ymmv, of course.

[possibilities]

My view is that there is a pattern of making the woimen a mess and the men as either victimized by the women or heroes and saviors to the women. It's not about one character being flawed. It's about an overall gender divide between dysfunctional women and heroic or long-suffering men. This is a Lorre pattern across many shows.

 

Edited November 22 by possibilities
many typos

[tennisgurl]

I am not that interested in this show, as much as I love Georgie, but I had to come and check this one one when I saw that they were going to bring back so much of the gang from Young Sheldon. Those parts really did get me, especially the ending at the cemetery. 

[Yeah No]

29 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I am not that interested in this show, as much as I love Georgie, but I had to come and check this one one when I saw that they were going to bring back so much of the gang from Young Sheldon. Those parts really did get me, especially the ending at the cemetery. 

You made me remember this - The other day I saw an article in Screen Rant or something similar that they think this grave visiting will become a semi-regular feature and will soon feature George's ghost so that we will still be able to see Lance Barber in his role as Georgie's dad. I can believe this as there was something similar on BBT involving Sheldon's childhood TV science hero, "Professor Proton" who was played by Bob Newhart. They had him die on the show after a few seasons and then he continued to appear as a "ghost" (or figment of Sheldon's imagination) in Sheldon's dreams.

[shapeshifter]

18 hours ago, Yeah No said:

You made me remember this - The other day I saw an article in Screen Rant or something similar that they think this grave visiting will become a semi-regular feature and will soon feature George's ghost so that we will still be able to see Lance Barber in his role as Georgie's dad. I can believe this as there was something similar on BBT involving Sheldon's childhood TV science hero, "Professor Proton" who was played by Bob Newhart. They had him die on the show after a few seasons and then he continued to appear as a "ghost" (or figment of Sheldon's imagination) in Sheldon's dreams.

I might like that.
I already do it in my mind with my parents, although they passed at age 91, not like George. But for me, it's just so many more conversations I wish we'd had and could have.

[Yeah No]

17 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I might like that.
I already do it in my mind with my parents, although they passed at age 91, not like George. But for me, it's just so many more conversations I wish we'd had and could have.

Same here. Especially on holidays like right now. 

[Driad]

I feel sorry for the Coopers, not knowing any cranberry sauce besides canned.

Georgie is left handed. At the dinner table, why was he sitting at the right-hand end of a row of people?

[Yeah No]

On 11/29/2024 at 8:20 PM, Driad said:

I feel sorry for the Coopers, not knowing any cranberry sauce besides canned.

When I was growing up back in the '60s and '70s most people I knew only used canned cranberry sauce. When I eventually had fresh made sauce, I didn't like it. My mother was a gourmet cook but back in the day canned was pretty much the norm, at least where I lived. It wasn't until the early '90s when I moved from NY to CT that I even noticed fresh cranberries at my local supermarket. My family and I  still liked canned better.

[ams1001]

10 hours ago, Yeah No said:

When I was growing up back in the '60s and '70s most people I knew only used canned cranberry sauce. When I eventually had fresh made sauce, I didn't like it. My mother was a gourmet cook but back in the day canned was pretty much the norm, at least where I lived. It wasn't until the early '90s when I moved from NY to CT that I even noticed fresh cranberries at my local supermarket. My family and I  still liked canned better.

I grew up on the canned stuff, too (in the 80s). My aunt makes real sauce for Thanksgiving, and I do like it (though I didn't have any this year; she had both and the canned variety was closest to my seat), but the canned is kind of nostalgic at this point.

[Yeah No]

On 12/2/2024 at 8:23 PM, ams1001 said:

I grew up on the canned stuff, too (in the 80s). My aunt makes real sauce for Thanksgiving, and I do like it (though I didn't have any this year; she had both and the canned variety was closest to my seat), but the canned is kind of nostalgic at this point.

Honey Baked Ham used to make (and may still make) a cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries that I actually liked. It was a cranberry-orange combination that seemed to have both jellied and whole/fresh cranberries in it. I used to make a copycat of it. It was a lot of work so then I started combining canned/jellied and canned/whole together and I actually like that a lot. Although over the pandemic it was just me and my husband, and since then we've been guests over Thanksgiving so it's just back to canned/jellied for now, lol.

[BitterApple]

On 12/2/2024 at 6:53 AM, Yeah No said:

When I eventually had fresh made sauce, I didn't like it. 

Same. I need the gelled blob that has ridges from the can. I don't like chutney-style cranberry sauce. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I grew up on canned cranberry sauce also, but once I had fresh, I never went back.  It couldn't be easier to make, and I just love the jewel-like look of the berries. 

Edited December 5 by EtheltoTillie

[Tom Holmberg]

On 12/2/2024 at 8:53 AM, Yeah No said:

When I was growing up back in the '60s and '70s most people I knew only used canned cranberry sauce. When I eventually had fresh made sauce, I didn't like it

Yeah, always preferred the canned.  We never had the other.

[Yeah No]

Here's an article explaining the decision not to include Sheldon in the Thanksgiving episode. The author agrees with it, but I'm not sure I do. The author also said there was still time to include him before the holiday break and hoped they would, but as we know now that didn't happen. And I think that's regrettable. 

https://www.cinemablend.com/television/georgie-and-mandys-first-marriage-ep-explained-decision-against-bringing-sheldon-back-thanksgiving-episode

[chediavolo]

On 11/15/2024 at 12:20 PM, Dimity said:

I took the opposite from this show - Missy isn't a child, she's 14 she's old enough to see that her mother is grieving and does she try to help her in any way at all?  No.  She also has a grandmother and a brother and sister in law who are there for her and have reached out and had that thrown  back in their faces.  Sure she's a mess - Missy was struggling before George died - but instead of trying to be comfort to her mother she's using her mother's grief to act out and get her way.  Sympathy for Missy is limited from me right now.

Take it from someone who knows. When one of your parents has recently & suddenly died, 14 IS a child. Our emotions are no where near developed at this age. Besides the hormone craziness add in a trauma.