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S01.E03: Poker, Faith, and Eggs


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Can't quite reconcile this Meemaw with the one we saw on Big Bang. Still, I love Annie Potts.

I loved the Cooper siblings sneaking out to steal the car. No wonder Sheldon won't drive.

The sequence of George's heart attack was sad, especially knowing that he's going to die somewhere down the road.

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53 minutes ago, maya1959 said:

I also loved that ER nurse is the same nurse in TBBT that works in ER every time Howard has  anaphylaxis.

I think she (Vernee Watson) also was the receptionist at the sperm bank in the TBBT pilot, and she was a nurse in the episode when Sheldon sneaks in to visit his barber.  I cracked up when I saw her on this episode!

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3 hours ago, maya1959 said:

I also loved that ER nurse is the same nurse in TBBT that works in ER every time Howard has  anaphylaxis.

 

54 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I noticed that also.  She must have moved from Texas to Pasadena.

 

38 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

And she hasn't aged.

Actually, she aged backwards. ?

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I had the same pink boombox that Missy has at the very beginning of the episode.

As I recall, it also came in mint green, yellow and lavender. Here's a link:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sharp+qt-50&tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=CpPdxLjPNNVaTM%3A%2CfCI0_Pxn-UJM-M%2C_&usg=__CKGLZYpbrDF5hrU6KkkHU-ECF2E%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwimvPH7vrTXAhUB9IMKHZMYBgYQ9QEIODAD#imgrc=h7GPp8snuKF6kM:

Edited by ItCouldBeWorse
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10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Can't quite reconcile this Meemaw with the one we saw on Big Bang. Still, I love Annie Potts.

This version of Meemaw isn't quite what I pictured as Sheldon's Meemaw, but I liked the character and Annie Potts' portrayal of her.  I didn't care for the version of Meemaw we got on TBBT because she was mean to Amy.  I  understand why she was mad at Amy, but I was disappointed that she acted that way to her. 

The girl that plays Missy is a doll!  I loved the opening scene with her singing and "playing" the guitar.  My favorite scenes were with the 3 of them in the car, and when the camera pulled back all you could see was the top of their heads (and Sheldon's helmet!)   "Are you aiming for the trash cans?"   Hilarious.  

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34 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

This version of Meemaw isn't quite what I pictured as Sheldon's Meemaw, but I liked the character and Annie Potts' portrayal of her.  I didn't care for the version of Meemaw we got on TBBT because she was mean to Amy.  I  understand why she was mad at Amy, but I was disappointed that she acted that way to her. 

The girl that plays Missy is a doll!  I loved the opening scene with her singing and "playing" the guitar.  My favorite scenes were with the 3 of them in the car, and when the camera pulled back all you could see was the top of their heads (and Sheldon's helmet!)   "Are you aiming for the trash cans?"   Hilarious.  

I can see this version of Meemaw being mean to Amy, too, though.

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I didn't really expect to like this show. And I missed the premiere episode, but watched last week and again last night, and I have to say, it's a cute show.  Not sure how it will change as the kids age, but right now, I like it.

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Another great episode. Really liking this a lot despite expecting to hate it from the moment they announced they were actually going to air it until I saw the firs promo footage. They have managed to do a great job of making a BBT prequel that avoids all the usual traps of either slavishly following continuity or straying so far from what's been established that it's too hard to suspend your disbelief. Or both at the same time (but enough about Star Trek: Discovery.) I thought Meemaw was a good example - they realized that nobody seemed to like what saw on the original series so they didn't try to match her physically or otherwise, and they also seemed to realize that nobody will ever match what's in our heads as we listen to Sheldon's descriptions of her. What they gave us instead was a great character who you can see how Sheldon would idolize (she spoils her grandchildren a bit) but is also a real person. And I can totally see this version as related to Sheldon's mom much more easily than what we saw before. To be honest though even though the writers and Annie Potts did a great job it didn't matter too much - I was pretty much sold after "for insurance purposes" and they could have gotten away with anything.

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Is it me or is Missy a lot smarter than she lets on?

I feel like she's extremely emotionally intelligent, sensible, and above average in book intelligence. In any other family, she'd be the smart one, but she's stuck with her twin who is smarter than most adults would ever be. When she said "I was kidnapped," I was struck by how savvy she is. 

I thought that this Meemaw could grow up into the other Meemaw, in a weird way. People become different in their old age. 

And I loved Sheldon at church. It was adorable and sad at the same time, although the fury on Mary's face when he spoke up made me think Sheldon was lucky to be sitting down for dinner that night. I think she does favor him a lot, I doubt Missy or Georgie would have gotten away with that. 

I'm kinda sad that Mary and George Sr will soon have terrible marital problems and she'll be driven into faith and he'll be driven further into alcoholism. From an adult, it's sad. To see the adorable twins suffer will make me really sad. 

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Nothing wrong with Annie Potts, but a minute or so in, I developed a severe longing to see Mary Kay Place in the role instead.

That might have actually worked better as a physical match, assuming this Meemaw is supposed to be the same Meemaw that met Amy last season on TBBT. (I supposed it's entirely possible that Meemaw was Sheldon's paternal Meemaw but who knows.) I have a hard time reconciling Annie Potts with June Squibb some 30+ years later because we actually know what Annie Potts looked like in the 1980s since that's when Designing Women aired. And we know what she looks like today and she doesn't look anywhere near June Squibb's age (88).

So once again I just have a problem reconciling things they do on this show with what's already been established on the parent show and it's been an ongoing problem for me. I'm sure a lot of people don't care one way or another but I'm having a tough time getting past stuff like this.

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2 hours ago, wknt3 said:

They have managed to do a great job of making a BBT prequel that avoids all the usual traps of either slavishly following continuity or straying so far from what's been established that it's too hard to suspend your disbelief.

The whole point of "continuity" is that things are, well, consistent: "The maintenance of continuous action and self-consistent detail in the various scenes of a movie or broadcast."

I watched the pilot and didn't care for it. This was the the only other episode I've seen (because I was too lazy to change the channel). I find the concept of the whole series incredibly sad. I don't want to watch an alienated little boy who's bullied. Also, they're retconning the shit out of Sheldon's past. 

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51 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

So once again I just have a problem reconciling things they do on this show with what's already been established on the parent show and it's been an ongoing problem for me. I'm sure a lot of people don't care one way or another but I'm having a tough time getting past stuff like this.

I understand what you're saying, iMonrey.  So far I'm okay with everything, but as I stated earlier, although this version of Meemaw wasn't exactly what I was expecting (I'm not really sure what I was expecting!),  I'm just going to roll with it and enjoy the funny of it.   There's been a lot of connect-the-dot moments for me, so I'm curious to see how it all plays out.  Also, for the little inconsistencies, I'm telling myself that maybe Sheldon's retelling of events on TBBT aren't always as accurate as he remembers them.  There are a few things from my childhood that I thought happened one way, but then when talking to my parents, I find out I wasn't remembering them 100% accurately, so if events on this show aren't exactly as older Sheldon recounts them, I'm just going to chalk it up to him remembering things the way he wanted to!  Humor me, okay!  ;)

I do love all of the cast members on this show.  I love that Laurie Metcalf's daughter is playing the Mom.  Just having her sound-alike voice makes this show authentic to me.  YMMV. 

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3 hours ago, dungeonwriter said:

Is it me or is Missy a lot smarter than she lets on?

I feel like she's extremely emotionally intelligent, sensible, and above average in book intelligence. In any other family, she'd be the smart one, but she's stuck with her twin who is smarter than most adults would ever be. When she said "I was kidnapped," I was struck by how savvy she is. 

I don't think it's a case of smarter than she lets on. We don't know what kind of grades she gets. If I remember, she was struggling in math. She could be a mostly average student but as you pointed out, no one would notice because Sheldon is her brother. On the other hand, she has a far greater degree of emotional intelligence and savvy. Missy may be my favorite character on the show. I think it's great they decided to have her share a room with Sheldon, because that opens up so many possible storylines/possibilities. 

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That is not at all how I pictured Meemaw....

Best moment of the show for me: Missy running through the house screaming "I ATE SO MUCH CANDY."  My daughter did this just yesterday when I forgot to put her Halloween candy up where she couldn't reach it....

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3 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Also, for the little inconsistencies, I'm telling myself that maybe Sheldon's retelling of events on TBBT aren't always as accurate as he remembers them.

Sheldon has an eidetic memory and is a terrible liar. If there are any inconsistencies, it should involve things that he didn't see himself, that he could have been selective about telling us on TBBT, or that came from Missy or Mary on TBBT rather than him.

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47 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Sheldon has an eidetic memory and is a terrible liar.

Ah, yes!  I forgot about that! 

 

15 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

The show works better if you imagine it as some parallel world version of Sheldon's life rather than the actual past of the Sheldon we know on TBBT.

This works for me!

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2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The show works better if you imagine it as some parallel world version of Sheldon's life rather than the actual past of the Sheldon we know on TBBT.

Definitely.  There's no way this show is going to perfectly match up with TBBT... and even if there was some way that it could, it would be a lesser show because of strict adherence to cannon.  (Especially considering a lot of the negative stuff Sheldon has mentioned about his childhood.)  I expect them to take liberties.

I've been watching Young Sheldon as if it's a parallel sitcom world that is informed by what we see on TBBT.   It's fun when it matches up, but I'm also okay if it deviates in ways that make sense for the narrative, and in service of keeping things light and funny.

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10 hours ago, AnnaRose said:

Definitely.  There's no way this show is going to perfectly match up with TBBT... and even if there was some way that it could, it would be a lesser show because of strict adherence to cannon.  (Especially considering a lot of the negative stuff Sheldon has mentioned about his childhood.)  I expect them to take liberties.

I've been watching Young Sheldon as if it's a parallel sitcom world that is informed by what we see on TBBT.   It's fun when it matches up, but I'm also okay if it deviates in ways that make sense for the narrative, and in service of keeping things light and funny.

My feeling about continuity is that it's foolish to expect perfection when it comes to serialized collaborative storytelling. Not only because of mistakes, but because somebody comes up with a better idea or something catches on with the audience or the outside world intrudes with mundane practicalities and a character or story element becomes unavailable. Especially in comedy where offhand remarks are crafted to be funny without necessarily thinking about how it might affect future stories. As far as this show is concerned I think they need to stay consistent with the most important parts of the story without feeling bound by every punchline ever uttered about Sheldon's childhood. If they were to make Sheldon popular or give his parents a perfect marriage or not have him and sister ever fight that's a problem. Otherwise I'm perfectly willing to deal with minor inconsistencies and chalk it up to Sheldon having a perfect memory, but a tendency to exaggerate when it comes to describing experiences he disliked. Be funny and stay consistent to the spirit of the source material and most of the audience will forgive you.

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2 hours ago, msrachelj said:

i found the speech sheldon gave at church about odds fascinating and so true. i can't remember exactly what he said. something about you are confusing odds with ??? does anyone remember what it was?

I think he said "you are confusing probability with possibility."

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On 11/10/2017 at 2:42 PM, dungeonwriter said:

When she said "I was kidnapped," I was struck by how savvy she is. 

[...]

And I loved Sheldon at church. It was adorable and sad at the same time, although the fury on Mary's face when he spoke up made me think Sheldon was lucky to be sitting down for dinner that night. I think she does favor him a lot, I doubt Missy or Georgie would have gotten away with that. 

I'm kinda sad that Mary and George Sr will soon have terrible marital problems and she'll be driven into faith and he'll be driven further into alcoholism. From an adult, it's sad. To see the adorable twins suffer will make me really sad. 

I cracked up at that kidnapped comment. Missy is such a delight! 

Sheldon at church was utter perfection, although I read Mary’s expression as more embarrassed/exasperated/“oh god, here we go again...” than fury, but I’ll have to go back and watch it again. Meemaw seemed amused. I’ve never been anything but an atheist, but I give the pastor some credit for even inviting Sheldon up to begin with. I mean, he obviously manipulated the situation to make it seem as though he was obviously right and Sheldon was obviously ridiculous, but he could have just shot him down right away, which is what always happened to me when I was dumb enough (my words, only because I was never going to get any satisfying answers) to open my mouth instead of just sucking it up and being all “when in Rome” about it. 

I completely agree that Mary favors him and that Missy and Georgie never would have gotten away with that. I think she favors Sheldon more so because she knows that with how different he is, that he’s going to have a tougher road to hoe as he gets older than the other kids. I think she worries and that leads to him getting more attention. 

And I’m sad about their marriage inevitably hitting the rocks too.....I wasn’t really thinking about it until the shot in the hospital where Mary’s holding George’s hand while he’s in the hospital bed and it made me think about how sad it was that their marriage is going to get so ugly because they obviously still care a lot about each other at this point. Also, when she told the nurse that he was a fat middle aged guy with chest pains and then immediately apologized for calling him fat and he looked at her fondly and teased “you said you liked me like this” or something. Super cute! 

On 11/10/2017 at 4:05 PM, ChitChat said:

I love that Laurie Metcalf's daughter is playing the Mom.  Just having her sound-alike voice makes this show authentic to me.  YMMV. 

Me too and it really does. Every time she opens her mouth I’m blown away with just how much she sounds like her mom. That being said, she’s talented all on her own and I’m really loving her portrayal of younger Mary. 

On 11/10/2017 at 6:43 PM, Sarah 103 said:

I think it's great they decided to have her share a room with Sheldon, because that opens up so many possible storylines/possibilities. 

Yes!! I love that even though he’s super smart, he’s obviously emotionally still 9 years old. When Missy said she was scared every time the phone rang, I loved that his response was “me too”. 

This episode officially won me over as far as both George Sr. and Jr. are concerned. Loved all the kids in the car. No wonder Sheldon didn’t want to learn to drive! Also, I thought Meemaw was perfect, maybe because I never saw TBBT’s version. Her teaching Sheldon how to bluff was cute and reminded me of my grandfather teaching all of us grandkids how to play poker for pennies. 

Two cute touches I loved: the note that Billy Sparks left with the eggs for Missy being signed with his name and also “your secret admirer” and little Sheldon sleeping on his back super rigid with his arms at his sides exactly like current TBBT Sheldon.  

This show kind of makes me feel old (and not as much of an adult as I should be) though....I’m the same age as Zoe Perry and can’t imagine having three kids. My cats are enough responsibility for me! 

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11 minutes ago, SparklesBitch said:

Missy is such a delight! 

My favorite bits with Missy were both church scenes where she was out cold. It's not just the genius kids who find church boring.

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I've been on the fence about this show - the school scenes aren't doing it for me - but the family scenes are brilliant, and since episode was completely family focused, I loved it.

I can understand the gripes about the Meemaw inconsistency, but I like the Annie Potts version so much better than the June Squibb version. I loved "for insurance purposes," "what kind of Texan drinks pink wine," teaching Sheldon how to bluff, and covering for the kids stealing the car. This episode was also the first time I liked George Jr. He usually feels peripheral to Sheldon and Missy, so it was great to have scenes of the three siblings together.

I hope we get to see more of Sheldon schooling the pastor in future episodes.

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8 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I hope we get to see more of Sheldon schooling the pastor in future episodes.

I'm hoping that we don't end up with too much religion bashing though.  In the pastor's defense, I liked how he told Sheldon that science and God can co-exist.  With Sheldon, it's only science.  IMO, there's room for both opinions.  YMMV.  FWIW, we would've never spoken out in church like that.  Any questions of that nature would've been handled with a one-on-one conversation with the Pastor.  

 

14 hours ago, SparklesBitch said:

I completely agree that Mary favors him and that Missy and Georgie never would have gotten away with that. I think she favors Sheldon more so because she knows that with how different he is, that he’s going to have a tougher road to hoe as he gets older than the other kids. I think she worries and that leads to him getting more attention. 

I agree.  I think back to those particular times and how we didn't have the advantage of having a 24/7 information superhighway at our fingertips.  Mary just had her doctor to guide her as to what was or wasn't "wrong" with Sheldon.  On TBBT she said one time "I so should've taken him to Houston" (for more tests.)  As a Mom, I'm sure she really struggled with trying to figure out if he was just super smart with no social skills, or was something else at play there.  That would be a tough position to be in when the information on these things just wasn't readily available or publicly known.  

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3 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I'm hoping that we don't end up with too much religion bashing though.  In the pastor's defense, I liked how he told Sheldon that science and God can co-exist.  With Sheldon, it's only science.  IMO, there's room for both opinions.  YMMV.  FWIW, we would've never spoken out in church like that.  Any questions of that nature would've been handled with a one-on-one conversation with the Pastor.  

  

As bright as Sheldon is I thought he was going to say to the pastor if there is a god then which one is the real one.  On TBBT everyone knows Raj doesn't believe in the Judeo-Christian god since he's talked about his Hindu faith before.  That's what I kept thinking about when they were having their discussion. 

I thought one of the funniest moments on TBBT is when Mary was frying chicken and she asked Raj, "You do eat chicken don't you, or is that one of those animals you people think are magic?"  The look on Raj's face was priceless.

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5 minutes ago, Tenarife60 said:

As bright as Sheldon is I thought he was going to say to the pastor if there is a god then which one is the real one.  On TBBT everyone knows Raj doesn't believe in the Judeo-Christian god since he's talked about his Hindu faith before.  That's what I kept thinking about when they were having their discussion. 

I can see TBBT Sheldon going that way, but not necessarily *this* Sheldon.  He's a frighteningly smart kid, but he's also very insulated.  His community, as far as we know from this show and from what the older Sheldon has said (although I agree we might not be able to think of the two Sheldons as the same person), is pretty homogeneous in terms of religion.  Even his new friend from last week was "Catholic" (and that was not to be considered "real" Christian by his family).  While young Sheldon read a lot and such, I suspect he reads what interests him...and religion clearly doesn't.  I'm not saying that he isn't aware that other religions exist, but I don't think they are exactly on his radar.  To him "God" is the one he hears about in his church

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I completely agree that Mary favors him and that Missy and Georgie never would have gotten away with that. I think she favors Sheldon more so because she knows that with how different he is, that he’s going to have a tougher road to hoe as he gets older than the other kids.

But it occurs to me that Mary did him no favors by glad-handling him because we know what an entitled narcissist he grows up to be. Ultimately it makes Mary look like a bad mother. 

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On 11/12/2017 at 9:10 AM, ChitChat said:

I agree.  I think back to those particular times and how we didn't have the advantage of having a 24/7 information superhighway at our fingertips.  Mary just had her doctor to guide her as to what was or wasn't "wrong" with Sheldon.  On TBBT she said one time "I so should've taken him to Houston" (for more tests.)  As a Mom, I'm sure she really struggled with trying to figure out if he was just super smart with no social skills, or was something else at play there.  That would be a tough position to be in when the information on these things just wasn't readily available or publicly known.  

That's a good point. On TBBT I had wondered whether Sheldon had Asperger Syndrome. But Asperger Syndrome wasn't even an official diagnosis in the DSM in 1989 (it made its first and only appearance in the fourth edition in 1994), although Hans Asperger had described the syndrome as early as the 1940s, around the same time that classical autism was described. Autism in general was much more rare back in the 1980s than it is now and doctors likely did not know very much about it. Compound that with no information superhighway, and it totally makes sense that Sheldon was never diagnosed with Asperger's, whether he had it or not.

On 11/11/2017 at 9:18 AM, MaryMitch said:

I think he said "you are confusing probability with possibility."

TBBT Sheldon did lecture Penny on the "impossible" versus the "improbable" (I think it was sometime in Season 3).

"I'm not impossible, I exist! I think you meant to say I'm improbable."

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On 11/14/2017 at 2:11 PM, iMonrey said:

But it occurs to me that Mary did him no favors by glad-handling him because we know what an entitled narcissist he grows up to be. Ultimately it makes Mary look like a bad mother. 

One of the worst things about parenting, you can't really know until much later if the choices you made were good or bad.  All you can do is what seems best at the time.  Looking back now boy do I see a few times where I should have definitely taken a different path!

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I just caught up with this episode last night.  The opening scene with Missy in her room dancing and singing and pretending to be a rock star with her guitar, Georgie lighting off firecrackers in the back yard and Sheldon playing cards with his grandma to be enchantingly normal for a family of that age and time.  Sheldon's "specialness" definitely sucks up a lot of the family attention, but Missy and Georgie aren't cypher characters only serving as foils for the Sheldon character--they are fully fleshed and actualized.  Up to now, Georgie was a bit of a mystery, but this was his episode.  One the outside, he seems to be this selfish, big dumb jock who excels at everything but book smarts.  Yet...he was the one who knew there were things people weren't telling him about his dad, he was the most worried, and he's the one who took action.  I loved how he had such confidence in his abilities that he just took off in Meemaw's car with no idea how to drive or find the hospital.  I loved how Missy just automatically followed him, because Georgie can do anything.  I loved how Sheldon had his doubts, but ultimately followed with his own twist, even looking to his big brother's football helmet to protect him.  I loved how Georgie was so bad at driving.  The usual sitcom trope would have him nailing it, with misadventures along the way like stopping to talk to girls, or going through a drive-in just 'cuz he could.  I loved how Georgie didn't automatically resent or ignore Sheldon's advice to follow the ambulance to the hospital.  

This episode went a long way toward explaining the family dynamics in the Cooper family.  I'm just so sad that I know it all goes to shit later on.

Everyone loves their Meemaw,  but I think Sheldon loves his Meemaw most especially because she challenges him and bests him and therefore teaches him things he'd never pick up otherwise.  Sheldon values learning, and he values being challenged.  Even before Meemaw taught him about bluffing, she had most of the nickels on her side of the table.

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On November 28, 2017 at 0:00 PM, HurricaneVal said:

The usual sitcom trope would have him nailing it, with misadventures along the way like stopping to talk to girls, or going through a drive-in just 'cuz he could. 

I think the usual sitcom trope for someone under the age of 16 would be a car crash or some type of car accident. Not bad enough that someone is seriously injured, but bad enough so they can no longer drive the car. The rest of the episode would consist of misadventures as they try to get help, and then argue about whether the goal is to get back home or get to the hospital.

On November 28, 2017 at 0:00 PM, HurricaneVal said:

I loved how Missy just automatically followed him, because Georgie can do anything.

Missy is one of my favorites on this show. 

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On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 3:04 PM, iMonrey said:

So once again I just have a problem reconciling things they do on this show with what's already been established on the parent show and it's been an ongoing problem for me. I'm sure a lot of people don't care one way or another but I'm having a tough time getting past stuff like this.

It's not bothering me at all because I'm just treating it as a completely different show.  

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