S01.E06: A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac®

[formerlyfreedom]

When a NASA representative visits Sheldon's school and dismisses his science, Sheldon is set on a mission to prove him wrong.

 

[Spartan Girl]

So Sheldon got into his profession to spite a condescending NASA scientist. That's in character.

Boy, imagine what Sheldon would do to Elon Musk when he found out he stole his research.

[chocolatine]

Was anyone else disappointed that Sheldon didn't do the "*knock-knock-knock* Meemaw" thing three times?

Edited December 1, 2017 by chocolatine

[jewel21]

I really liked this episode. And I liked that Sheldon's father, despite not understanding his son at all, brought him to the space center in Houston. Such a great moment. I kept this on the PVR to watch again. Also, I adore Missy. And Sheldon and his Zantac cracked me up, heh.

[chitowngirl]

12 hours ago, jewel21 said:

I really liked this episode. And I liked that Sheldon's father, despite not understanding his son at all, brought him to the space center in Houston. Such a great moment. I kept this on the PVR to watch again. Also, I adore Missy. And Sheldon and his Zantac cracked me up, heh.

Yes! Dad might not understand Sheldon, but you don't mess with family!!

[iMonrey]

There's really no way to reconcile the Young Sheldon with grown-up Sheldon, considering how they try to make him so endearing on this show. And yet, I'm starting to see why he's such an entitled, unaware twit as an adult. His parents - his mother in particular - really indulge him. I mean, yeah, they "punished" him by taking away Radio Shack, but then he got an ulcer, and then they just gave into him. Nobody ever sat down and explained to him that just because a visiting scientist did not recognize his genius doesn't mean he had to show the guy up. Let alone drive him all the way to Houston to do so.

I don't know - the problem I'm having with this show is that the tone is "Awww, isn't he sweet?" And then I think of how he is as an adult and it doesn't seem so sweet.

Edited December 1, 2017 by iMonrey

[Runningwild]

Iain is just adorable. I’m thoroughly enjoying this show. I’m glad the father is nice and not how TBBT Sheldon describes him. 

[chocolatine]

14 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

Wasn't it explained on a recent BBT that Sheldon started doing this at 13 after he walks in on his father having sex with a strange woman?

I don't remember that part; will have to rewatch some old BBT episodes.

Georgie broke my heart in this episode. The NASA guy was a complete jerk to him. Georgie's question about Alien wasn't the most pertinent, but at least he was trying to participate. Then when Missy asked Mary in the car whether she was proud of her and Georgie as well, Mary said yes, and Georgie said "for what?" He's already internalized that everyone, including his own family, sees him as inferior to Sheldon.

If Sheldon can do the math for a rocket landing (which would involve a firm grasp of calculus), why is he in a high school freshman math class? I know he starts college at eleven or twelve, but it seems like at nine his math skills are already at the level of a PhD student.

[Newberry]

16 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Was anyone else disappointed that Sheldon didn't do the "*knock-knock-knock* Meemaw" thing three times?

I was looking for that as well. But yes, reading on, I do remember the story about him catching his dad in bed with another woman.  good catch.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Newberry

[HurricaneVal]

I totally cracked up when Meemaw slammed the door in Sheldon's face when he asked her how much she was leaving him in her will.  The look on Annie Potts' face was priceless.   And again, Meemaw is the only adult who really calls Sheldon on his shit.  Sure, she's proud of him for how special he is--she's the one who told Missy and Georgie how books were going to be written about Sheldon one day, and didn't they want to come out looking good?  But Meemaw doesn't seem to make excuses for him.  He was very rude to ask that question, and she responded in kind.  Sheldon's mom wouldn't do that.  Neither would his dad.  But Meemaw treats Sheldon like any other kid, just like she treats Missy and Georgie, even though she knows he's special. 

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

Georgie broke my heart in this episode. The NASA guy was a complete jerk to him. Georgie's question about Alien wasn't the most pertinent, but at least he was trying to participate. Then when Missy asked Mary in the car whether she was proud of her and Georgie as well, Mary said yes, and Georgie said "for what?" He's already internalized that everyone, including his own family, sees him as inferior to Sheldon.

OMG.  Yes.  Georgie is also the one we've heard the least about on BBT.  But he is becoming my favorite character...

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

If Sheldon can do the math for a rocket landing (which would involve a firm grasp of calculus), why is he in a high school freshman math class?

The real question is how he managed to get to high school this quickly. Public schools are reluctant to recognize that one student can be that much smarter than another. Based on the ages that were thrown out in TBBT, he won't be as lucky going forward; it'll take two years to get through high school, and three to get his undergrad degree.

[displayname]

Maybe Sheldon just wanted to take as many classes as possible!

[madpsych78]

Yeah. I really liked Sheldon's dad in this episode.

[formerlyfreedom]

A reminder that we now have a topic to compare this show and it's Sheldon to TBBT's Sheldon. Posts in here should be about the episode; if not, they may be removed

[Chit Chat]

Quote

Nobody ever sat down and explained to him that just because a visiting scientist did not recognize his genius doesn't mean he had to show the guy up.

According to future Mary, she told  younger Sheldon that "just because you're smarter than everyone else doesn't mean you can go around pointing it out."  I think that he got reminded of that frequently as a kid. We'll probably see more of that gentle reminder in future episodes.   I try to think about Sheldon in these terms:  we all live life based on our own viewpoint/experiences.  Sheldon is a genius.  He's still very young.  In his mind he probably doesn't understand why everybody else isn't as smart as he is.  He doesn't know what it's like to be anybody else.  All he has is his own way of looking at things to gauge everybody else with.  It's probably baffling to him why everybody else is not at his level, especially when a NASA scientist visits your class.  He expected more from him.   If Sheldon solved the problem of landing a booster rocket back on it's platform, how can NASA engineers & scientists not have already figured that out?  That's probably what Sheldon was thinking, IMO. 

I liked how Sheldon's Dad knew that the only way to ease Sheldon's emotional & physical pain was to let him have his day with the scientist..  I especially liked it when the moment Sheldon realized that he was ahead of his time and there was nothing they could do, then he was done stressing over the situation.  Future Sheldon is like that too.  Once he gets the answer he needs to hear, he moves on.

19 hours ago, chocolatine said:

If Sheldon can do the math for a rocket landing (which would involve a firm grasp of calculus), why is he in a high school freshman math class? I know he starts college at eleven or twelve, but it seems like at nine his math skills are already at the level of a PhD student.

I guess that he still has to take the required classes in order to graduate high school, although I thought that in some cases they'd let a person bypass the classes they already have a firm grasp on.  Maybe there's some classes he can't do that with.  

[BlossomCulp]

17 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

The real question is how he managed to get to high school this quickly. Public schools are reluctant to recognize that one student can be that much smarter than another. Based on the ages that were thrown out in TBBT, he won't be as lucky going forward; it'll take two years to get through high school, and three to get his undergrad degree.

Skipping grades used to be a lot more commonly done than it is now, for kids a lot less smart than Sheldon Cooper!  But I agree it's not the approach you would typically see.  That said what else can they do with someone as smart as Sheldon?  This isn't a kid who is reading a few years above his grade level!  Keeping him in grade 3 or 4 or whatever when he can do college level math (at least) right now doesn't make sense either.  I guess some families with the financial means would homeschool with specialized tutors  or else send a kid to private school but that's beyond the Cooper's means.

[Katy M]

I know this would never be allowed now, but when I was a junior in high school, an 8th grader would ride his bike from the junior high to the high school to be in my math class.  Why hold a kid back when he's smarter than everyone else?  He'll just get bored, end up acting out, and distract the other kids.

[BlossomCulp]

15 minutes ago, Katy M said:

He'll just get bored, end up acting out, and distract the other kids.

And this is Sheldon Cooper we're talking about.  He wouldn't just be a nuisance to the teacher and the other students he'd be letting the kids know they're not as as smart as he is.  How wrong would it be that kids who should be feeling proud of their own age appropriate accomplishments are being made to feel that they're stupid?  He does that to fellow scientists all the time, they're big boys and girls and they can cope, doing this to 9 yr olds though?  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  The Coopers wouldn't just be dealing with the neighbourhood kids getting pissed off with little Shelly!

Edited December 2, 2017 by BlossomCulp

[possibilities]

I t wasn't just that the guy was not as smart as Sheldon. It was that he was demeaning and rude. I think that was why it was harmful to Sheldon's well-being and why his dad decided to make the trip. Sheldon deals with people less intelligent than he is all the time. But to see his spirit crushed over someone insulting his own intelligence, was like watching the one thing that gives Sheldon joy ground out by the very people he aspires to be like. And he wasn't acting out, really. He did the math, sent it off the NASA, and then was just lying on the couch being depressed. He was trying to show the scientist that he was capable, and once the guy looked at his work he did appreciate it. Sheldon was not insulting the guy, he was just showing his work. He said in the voice over that he was doing it to prove the guy wrong, but it seemed more like he was proving himself rather than tearing anyone else down.

[Katy M]

Sheldon's so smart, though, you would think he would know that stress doesn't cause ulcers.  It only exacerbates them if you already have one.  Most of the time they're caused by bacteria.  So, I would think he would have been worried about the bacteria and it would have taken his mind right off the NASA thing.

[Browncoat]

What year is this show set in?  It's only been fairly recently (20 years or so) that the bacterium H. pylori was accepted as the primary cause of ulcers.  It was discovered as the cause in the early 80s, but not accepted as such until sometime in the 90s.

[OtterMommy]

7 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

Skipping grades used to be a lot more commonly done than it is now, for kids a lot less smart than Sheldon Cooper!  But I agree it's not the approach you would typically see.  That said what else can they do with someone as smart as Sheldon?  This isn't a kid who is reading a few years above his grade level!  Keeping him in grade 3 or 4 or whatever when he can do college level math (at least) right now doesn't make sense either.  I guess some families with the financial means would homeschool with specialized tutors  or else send a kid to private school but that's beyond the Cooper's means.

I think it also depends where you are.  When my brothers were little (before my time, so this is based on what they and my mother told me.  Also, this was all in the 60s, so admittedly things have changed), they moved around quite a bit as their father was in the army.  My oldest brother has a very high IQ and, in some places. the schools were able to accommodate him easily.  In others, they just didn't know what to do with him.  Finally, when he was 14 and they were living in Tennessee, the school principal called my mother and told him that my brother shouldn't come back to school as "there was nothing left to teach him."  Fortunately, my brother was able to get a need-based scholarship to a private school, but his public school days were over.

From what we've seen of Sheldon's school, it doesn't appear that they are especially equipped to handle advanced kids--and I'm not even talking Sheldon-level advanced.  His friend (um, what is his name?) seems to be the only other "above average" kid in the school and he doesn't seem to have access to more challenging opportunities either.

But, let's face it, the show works because it operates on the belief that Sheldon is a super genius and that the best his small town can do for him is to put him in high school at age 9 where he is intellectually decades ahead of his fellow students, while still being years behind them in maturity.  I think they are banking pretty hard on the (incorrect) stereotype that High Schools in small town Texas only care about football players and that academics take a clear backseat.

[LoneHaranguer]

9 hours ago, Katy M said:

Why hold a kid back when he's smarter than everyone else?  He'll just get bored, end up acting out, and distract the other kids

That's why they started giving students Ritalin. This being 1989, that wasn't an option. They should have just given Sheldon a GED study guide and a deadline to pass it if he didn't want to be back in classes.

 

4 hours ago, Browncoat said:

What year is this show set in?  It's only been fairly recently (20 years or so) that the bacterium H. pylori was accepted as the primary cause of ulcers.  It was discovered as the cause in the early 80s, but not accepted as such until sometime in the 90s.

It was accepted as the cause in the 80's, decades after it was theorized; I remember news stories about it mentioning that they were working on a cure, but that it was difficult since bacteria that can live in stomach acid were pretty tough bugs. Treatment didn't change until the 90's, after they had developed something that would work. Sheldon's doctor wasn't up-to-date, but that's not unusual.

[Browncoat]

The first papers published on H. pylori definitively being the cause of ulcers were in 1984 and 1985.  According to the CDC website, the NIH didn't believe it until about 1994, and even in 1995, most people were still being treated for stress instead of for bacterial infection.  So, if this is set in 1989, a bacterial cause wasn't widely accepted at that time.  The big push for H. pylori's connection to ulcers wasn't until 1997.

https://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/history.htm

[calipiano81]

One thing bothered me:

Why did Sheldon have to be punished with no Radio Shack for a month? All he said was "cheese and crackers!" and it was after repeatedly getting turned down by Mary. Before then, he was just pleading...which was maybe annoying, but he wasn't being disrespectful or anything.

And frankly, while I know Mary was originally making dinner and didn't have the time, why COULDN'T they just have taken him to Radio Shack (or have Meemaw take him) AFTER dinner that evening?

Edited December 3, 2017 by calipiano81

[possibilities]

Sheldon did tell the doctor he had been reading studies linking ulcers to bacteria. The doctor didn't listen, and apparently Sheldon accepted that-- which is out of character for him, to be honest; this episode was based on him not taking no for an answer and not letting an adult so-called expert dismiss him! It does seem odd that he would let it go.

On the other hand, it's true that you can develop GI problems and other ailments from stress. They could have given him a garden variety stomach ache, or diarrhea, or insomnia, or some other type of ailment that tracks with common stress-related problems. But they probably thought some of those things were too vague to diagnose definitively, and were either not enough to generate sympathy, not funny, or not serious enough to really motivate his parents to take him to NASA.

I think the writers just wanted to see Sheldon develop a stress-related disease, and they decided it didn't matter if it made any sense or opened the episode up to inconsistencies.

And despite all that, I actually liked the episode. I kind of feel like I shouldn't, but I guess my standards have gotten low enough to let it go, which is why tv writers pull these kinds of lazy writing stunts and get away with it.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, calipiano81 said:

One thing bothered me:

Why did Sheldon have to be punished with no Radio Shack for a month? All he said was "cheese and crackers!" and it was after repeatedly getting turned down by Mary. Before then, he was just pleading...which was maybe annoying, but he wasn't being disrespectful or anything.

And frankly, while I know Mary was originally making dinner and didn't have the time, why COULDN'T they just have taken him to Radio Shack (or have Meemaw take him) AFTER dinner that evening?

Sheldon was punished because Mom said no. She should not have to repeatedly tell him so 1000 times. No means no.

Radio Shack was probably closed after dinner. It didn’t keep Wal Mart hours.

[calipiano81]

3 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Sheldon was punished because Mom said no. She should not have to repeatedly tell him so 1000 times. No means no.

Radio Shack was probably closed after dinner. It didn’t keep Wal Mart hours.

Mom said no, but did Sheldon really do or say anything so bad as to warrant a month's punishment? If it were me, not being able to go that night would have already been punishment.

If Radio Shack was closed after dinner, Mary never mentioned that. Their family seems like the type that eats pretty early anyway.

I certainly do not encourage spoiling children, but I didn't think Sheldon suggesting to go to Radio Shack after dinner was so unreasonable. I bet Meemaw would've been glad to take him.

Edited December 3, 2017 by calipiano81

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

I certainly do not encourage spoiling children, but I didn't think Sheldon suggesting to go to Radio Shack after dinner was so unreasonable. I bet Meemaw would've been glad to take him.

he wasn't punished for suggesting they go after dinner. He was punished for going outside and having a full-on meltdown when being told no.  He's 9 not 4.

[Gothish520]

11 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

I certainly do not encourage spoiling children, but I didn't think Sheldon suggesting to go to Radio Shack after dinner was so unreasonable. I bet Meemaw would've been glad to take him.

Well if the adult says NO, that should be the end of it. One of the problems today is that parents don't seem to know how to say no to their children and stick with it. Adults are in charge, not kids. 

[calipiano81]

10 hours ago, Katy M said:

he wasn't punished for suggesting they go after dinner. He was punished for going outside and having a full-on meltdown when being told no.  He's 9 not 4.

Saying "cheese and crackers!" is having a full-on meltdown? And he at least had the consideration to go outside to say it instead of saying it in front of his mom.

 

2 hours ago, Gothish520 said:

Well if the adult says NO, that should be the end of it. One of the problems today is that parents don't seem to know how to say no to their children and stick with it. Adults are in charge, not kids. 

But sometimes, parents say NO just to assert their position and because they feel like it, not because they have a good reason. Children should obey their parents, but I don't think parents need to unnecessarily boss their children around. Mary originally said NO because she was making dinner, not because there was something inherently wrong with Sheldon going to Radio Shack. Sheldon is normally not a troublesome child, so she could have made a compromise, but she kept saying NO because she wanted to show who's in charge. That's her choice as a parent, but I don't blame Sheldon for getting frustrated and I definitely don't think he needed a month's punishment. 

 

ETA: The situation also seemed inconsistent with what happened later in the episode. Sheldon's parents weren't willing to take him to Radio Shack, but they were willing to drive all the way to Houston to let him indulge in proving the NASA guy wrong?

Edited December 3, 2017 by calipiano81

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

Saying "cheese and crackers!" is having a full-on meltdown? And he at least had the consideration to go outside to say it instead of saying it in front of his mom.

I thought there was more to it than that, that was just the start.

 

2 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

Sheldon is normally not a troublesome child,

You're kidding right?

[BlossomCulp]

"Is this your family? They're lovely."  LOL.  Good episode.  

[calipiano81]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

You're kidding right?

No, I'm not. Sheldon is different and requires special attention because of his genius, but generally, he does not go around getting into and causing trouble since he keeps to himself most of the time.

Edited December 4, 2017 by calipiano81

[Katy M]

8 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

No, I'm not. Sheldon is different and requires special attention because of his genius, but generally, he does not go around getting into and causing trouble since he keeps to himself most of the time.

But, it's the special attention and the special requests that are at issue right now. They cause a lot more work for Mary, so if she doesn't have time to take him to Radio Shack until the weekend, he needs to just chill out about that. She has to other children who mostly get ignored due to Sheldon's needs.  

[Katy M]

14 hours ago, calipiano81 said:

but she kept saying NO because she wanted to show who's in charge.

And, you're making a huge assumption.  Maybe after she cleans up after dinner, she has a ton of laundry to do.  Or, Missy needs help with her homework.  Or George needs some clothes mended. Or George Jr needs something.  Or, she's just tired and wants to relax with her husband.  Mary does not exist solely as Sheldon's slave.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Katy M

[Gothish520]

3 hours ago, Katy M said:

And, you're making a huge assumption.  Maybe after she cleans up after dinner, she has a ton of laundry to do.  Or, Missy needs help with her homework.  Or George needs some clothes mended. Or George Jr needs something.  Or, she's just tired and wants to relax with her husband.  Mary does not exist solely as Sheldon's slave.

Exactly. Maybe she just doesn't want to go to Radio Shack that night. Parents are under no obligation to cart their kids wherever they want to go whenever. The adults are in charge, not the kids. 

[Katy M]

31 minutes ago, Gothish520 said:

Exactly. Maybe she just doesn't want to go to Radio Shack that night. Parents are under no obligation to cart their kids wherever they want to go whenever. The adults are in charge, not the kids. 

And I don't know what day of the week it was, but she did say she would take him that weekend.  We usually always had to wait for the weekend if we wanted to go somewhere because pretty much everything was in another town and mom didn't want to usually go after school. 

[HyeChaps]

Wouldn't she say the same thing if Georgie wanted to go to Blockbuster Video?

[calipiano81]

OK, the point of my original post was actually objecting to Sheldon's month-long punishment, not so much Mary saying no to Radio Shack. Regardless of Mary being justified to say no, I empathized with Sheldon's frustration and thought it was unnecessary to punish him for having, IMO, an understandable reaction, based on what was shown onscreen (going outside and saying "cheese and crackers!" - labeled as a "meltdown" for comedic exaggeration). Sheldon already lost and I don't think there's anything wrong with letting him be upset about it.

Edited December 4, 2017 by calipiano81

[possibilities]

To me, he needs to learn self-control and how to calmly accept not getting what he wants all the time when he wants it. He's 9 years old. If he doesn't start to learn it now, when does he start to learn it?

I thought a month was a long punishment, maybe too long. But I strongly agree with the general principle of it not being okay how he was behaving, and that he needs to be taught to do better one way or another.

[Driad]

Poor Sheldon ... if he was born about 1973 (Jim Parsons was) it is the early 1980s, and Radio Shack no longer has tube testers.  Why bother to go?

[calipiano81]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

To me, he needs to learn self-control and how to calmly accept not getting what he wants all the time when he wants it. He's 9 years old. If he doesn't start to learn it now, when does he start to learn it?

I thought a month was a long punishment, maybe too long. But I strongly agree with the general principle of it not being okay how he was behaving, and that he needs to be taught to do better one way or another.

Again, I didn't see anything in his behavior that was out-of-control or unacceptable. All he did was go OUTSIDE and say "cheese and crackers"!!

I get that we are supposed to assume things escalated with Sheldon offscreen. But I've never really seen Sheldon throw a temper tantrum before, so when you jump to the next scene without at least describing what he did, punishment for being upset comes across to me as harsh and unfair.

Edited December 5, 2017 by calipiano81

[formerlyfreedom]

Let's move on - we're getting circular, and it's not productive. Thank you.

[displayname]

5 hours ago, Driad said:

Poor Sheldon ... if he was born about 1973 (Jim Parsons was) it is the early 1980s, and Radio Shack no longer has tube testers.  Why bother to go?

Sheldon was born in 1980.

[SparklesBitch]

I really liked this one! Meemaw and Missy continue to be both hilarious and awesome, and the family dinner scenes are quickly becoming my favorite. 

Loved that George Sr was willing to cart the whole family off to Houston so that Sheldon could show his math to the scientist and that Sheldon thanked him for it. Very sweet. 

[Driad]

19 hours ago, fan94 said:

Sheldon was born in 1980.

So Sheldon Cooper is 7 years younger than Jim Parsons.  Also, they live somewhere in east Texas, but not very close to Houston?  I thought someone mentioned Galveston, but maybe that was one of several places where they had lived.

[Katy M]

11 hours ago, SparklesBitch said:

I really liked this one! Meemaw and Missy continue to be both hilarious and awesome, and the family dinner scenes are quickly becoming my favorite. 

Loved that George Sr was willing to cart the whole family off to Houston so that Sheldon could show his math to the scientist and that Sheldon thanked him for it. Very sweet. 

I thought it was unfair to the other kids.  Why did they all have to go?  They got in the car drove to Houston, sat in a waiting room for hours and then drove back home.  They didn't even get to stop at the ostrich farm that both George Jr. and Missy wanted to.  Missy even got thrown up on.

[BlossomCulp]

It was unfair but it was also real life.  I long lost count of the times the rest of us kids got dragged along because of some event of another for another sibling.  In my family, and I guess Sheldon's too, if one went, we all went!

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

It was unfair but it was also real life.  I long lost count of the times the rest of us kids got dragged along because of some event of another for another sibling.  In my family, and I guess Sheldon's too, if one went, we all went!

Yeah, I'm sure that Missy and Sheldon had been dragged to their fair share of football games to see their brother play (and father coach).  If it was unfair to anyone, I would say it was unfair to Missy as I really can't see her father and older brother to drop things to watch her do something or go somewhere.  I can see her mother tending to Missy's interest--and Sheldon being forced to come along--but I'm pretty sure that she's the child who gets the least regard in the family.

As I write this, I can kind of see this play out in her character.  I think she learned at a young age that she needs to be her own advocate to stand out from her football-playing older brother and genius twin brother, which is why (to me) she seems more assertive than one would expect from a 9 year old girl.