S11.E23: The Sibling Realignment

[TurtlePower]

I loved this episode and really liked Georgie. The actor playing older Georgie resembled the one playing young Georgie and I loved that he was only trying to protect Sheldon, not torture him. Georgie may not be the sharpest tack in the box, but overall he seems to have a good heart and knows his business well enough to be highly successful. 

Coulda done without the pink eye. 

[TV Diva Queen]

33 minutes ago, Driad said:

Really enjoyed the Sheldon & Georgie plot. Wondering if we will learn next week how many times Georgie has been married. Also if he is still left handed. (The adult Georgie actor has watched YS so I hope he noticed that.)

People on TV get airline reservations at the last minute and change them with hardly a second thought. Sheldon and Leonard must make good salaries, and and we don't need to see them hassling with airlines, but it's so much easier for TV characters that it's practically a trope, like how there is always a parking space where someone wants to go.

Unless they're flying Southwest.  No change fees.  LOL

[hoodooznoodooz]

So we’re back to Penny being an idiot?  (toy in the waiting room)

[BlossomCulp]

14 minutes ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

So we’re back to Penny being an idiot?  (toy in the waiting room)

And Leonard calling her a bully.  Aaarghh.  The writers on this show have real issues with what bullying actually is - here's a clue, writers - it's not an adult woman who stands up for herself and tries not to let people push her around.

Edited May 4, 2018 by BlossomCulp

[hoodooznoodooz]

Minor nitpick.

Note to TV writers:

Just because a character has a mullet when he’s a teenager, doesn’t mean he will have a mullet 20-30 years later. 

[BlossomCulp]

1 hour ago, kili said:

According to George, she never told him it was needed because she was protecting him. That seems consistent with her character.

This is no doubt a possible explanation for Sheldon being unaware of financial struggles at home (although Sheldon has been doing the family taxes since before be started high school so I have a hard time buying that he wouldn't know how much money was coming into the house and how much less would be coming in after George's death)  but it doesn't explain why Georgie would talk as though much of the struggle was because Sheldon was in university.  I can accept that there was some money out of pocket for the Coopers - travel costs for one.  But it;s very unlikely that the Coopers ever paid any money towards the cost of Sheldon's education from the time he officially started university.  Of course with this show, who knows.  The writers haven't exactly demonstrated that they understand how universities actually work where things like tenure, salaries etc are concerned so I shouldn't be surprised if they don't understand how things would work when they are courting a young genius.

Edited May 4, 2018 by BlossomCulp

[Jediknight]

20 minutes ago, BlossomCulp said:

And Leonard calling her a bully.  Aaarghh.

I was expecting Leonard to say that his mom was the bully.

Jerry O'Connell was fantastic as George.  All you needed to know that he had changed was his interactions with Leonard.  He didn't laugh at him, didn't pick on him, he was nice to him and basically treated Leonard as a friend that he hadn't made yet.

[DkNNy79]

Sheldon doesn't care about money.  He gladly loaned money to Penny which he at that time had only known for a few years.  He would've gladly given his mom all his money if she needed it.  Unfortunately she was babying him and keeping her dire circumstances from him.  I give Georgie a lot of credit for stepping up and take care of the family when their father passed away.  

I wonder how long they struggled for.  If Georgie was 19 and the twins were 14 when their father passed away, I can see Mary keeping that information from her 14 year old son.  No matter how smart Sheldon was at 14, he was only 14.   Missy was old enough to stay at home by herself so that Mary could work.  I mean Mary was already working at the church when the kids were younger.  I'm curious to see how this all plays out, but I'm assuming we're not going to find out on BBT but possibly Young Sheldon.

[Frost]

4 minutes ago, DkNNy79 said:

keeping her dire circumstances from him

Have we heard from Mary that her financial circumstances were dire after George died?  I'm sure there was a big income hit and I have no doubt that Georgie helped out, but we're still hearing one side of the story.  There might have been a good life insurance policy for all we know.  I'm just saying that Sheldon and Georgie both interpret things from their own POV - how could they not?  If their memories differ it doesn't mean that one is lying.  One could be either exaggerating to make a point, or didn't have all the information, or simply has a different perspective.

Even when George was alive the Coopers weren't flush with money.  They seemed basically lower middle class financially.  Everybody is fed, and well dressed, and they have a good roof over their head, but a computer is a big expenditure.    Sheldon has his 'old room' in the house Mary currently lives in so she didn't have to sell the family home after George's death.  I'm probably way over-thinking this!  It's a sit com and the writers aren't pouring over past scripts to ensure 100% continuity.  Although it would be kind of nice if they did.

[Driad]

53 minutes ago, BlossomCulp said:

And Leonard calling [Penny] a bully.  Aaarghh.

Leonard said he was used to being around a bully.  Sheldon asked who he meant. Leonard hesitated and then said Penny. I assumed he meant Sheldon was a bully but he didn't want to say so. He could have said his mother, but Sheldon might have objected to that.

[BlossomCulp]

9 minutes ago, Frost said:

Have we heard from Mary that her financial circumstances were dire after George died?  I'm sure there was a big income hit and I have no doubt that Georgie helped out, but we're still hearing one side of the story. 

Also what exactly did Georgie expect from Sheldon at this point?  I had a lot of background noise going on when this part of the episode was on so maybe I missed something.  But did Georgie expect 14 yr old Sheldon to come home and get a job, quit university, what?  Even if Sheldon had not been Sheldon how much help was he supposed to be?  I totally get the resentment if Georgie was helping out at home and he perceived Sheldon as being pampered off somewhere getting kudos and attention but I just do not buy this retcon of "dire" financial struggles and Sheldon being unaware of it.

[kili]

Quote

But did Georgie expect 14 yr old Sheldon to come home and get a job, quit university, what?

George was complicit in sheltering Sheldon so he didn't expect Sheldon to have done anything when he was 14. What he didn't deserve was to be treated like a screw-up loser who just sells tires for a living. 

[Bort]

In all honesty, I didn’t interpret Georgie’s burden as being primarily financial. I think it was more him taking over George’s man-of-the house responsibilities in general: stuff George did that Mary wasn’t going to have time/be able to do, not to mention being emotional support to his grieving mother and sister. 

[3 is enough]

I am glad that they made Georgie a successful businessman.  And just because he isn't "book smart" does not mean he isn't savvy enough to run a successful business. Sheldon is a learning snob and looks down on anyone who does not have the same level of education, in the sciences, as he does.  He does not recognize that there are many kinds of "smart".

I can totally see Mary falling to pieces after George died and not being able to work for a while.  And just because Sheldon got scholarships does not mean that his education was 100% free. There were most likely many other expenses involved with his education that had to be paid for.

[msani19]

Georgie was there to see how much their mother was hurting and affected, Sheldon was not there. Not only was her youngest son away but her husband had passed away suddenly. I’m guessing that she put on a happy face anytime she talked to Sheldon, who is quite literal, took that to mean there were no problems. Not that he could have done anything about it anyway, he was still a kid. I can relate to Mary not wanting to worry her young son. Georgie was saying that things were difficult for the ones who were there, not just financially. Even if Sheldon’s education was paid for, scholarships generally don’t cover travel, housing, books, fees, food. That money would have to come from the family and given that they weren’t rich, it probably was challenging, in addition to dealing with the loss of their father. Georgie stepped into the "man of the house" role that way too many people put onto young men in similar situations. It wasn't fair to him either, cause he was also still young.

I think Georgie is resentful not because Sheldon was super smart and went to college early, he’s probably proud of his smart brother, but that Sheldon is a jerk who looks down on everyone else. He doesn’t recognize that the sun doesn’t shine out of his backside and he never acknowledges that his siblings are worthy of respect and not scorn. I’m not discounting that a young Sheldon would interpret his older brother’s behavior differently and because he left home so young, they never really had a chance for their relationship to evolve the way it can with many siblings. I was totally on Georgie's side. Damn it, just say thank you Sheldon! 

I will add that, in general, though, I find Sheldon an abhorrently selfish person and I can’t tolerate the way he treats and dismisses people he doesn’t deem worthy of his intellect. It might be coloring my interpretation just a smidge :-)

[BlossomCulp]

4 minutes ago, msani19 said:

I think Georgie is resentful not because Sheldon was super smart and went to college early, he’s probably proud of his smart brother, but that Sheldon is a jerk who looks down on everyone else.

I totally get that Georgie has every right to feel that Sheldon is a jerk who looks down on everyone else.  He is.  Or he certainly has been - I do think we've seen some growth with Sheldon in this department.  Not a lot, but some.  I don't think though that Georgie is proud of Sheldon - maybe now as an older adult he is - but young Georgie is shown as being jealous and resentful of the attention that Sheldon gets, I don't think that changed as they got older.  And I think that attitude is very true to life.

[CherryAmes]

4 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

I think Georgie has been heavily retconned and that before"The Young Sheldon", he was supposed to be dumb. Let's not forget Mary suscribed that opinion too. Also, they needed money for Sheldon's education? I doubt that. I mean, I'm not saying Georgie's lying, just that the writers are forgetting logic and going for the drama. Someone like Sheldon would get the best scholaship ever and it's been implied several times that universities were fighting for him back then.

This.  So much this.  It's hard to watch this episode and not feel that the writers basically shrugged their shoulders and threw out every reference we ever had to Georgie on BBT and decided to start over.   It really bothers me because we never just had Sheldon's word to go on about his brother.  As recently as the episode where Mary talks to Sheldon about the engagement ring she says Georgie makes idiotic choices and chases after whores.  While that doesn't mean he can't be a successful business man (resists temptation to get political here!) it also suggests to me that until this episode the writers never had a vision of Georgie as being a successful businessman!  Also totally agreeing with you and others who point out the absolute illogic of the Coopers paying anything towards Sheldon's education.  Universities would have been fighting for the child prodigy and would have been throwing money at him -and his parents who would have been handling that money!  No way were they just going to cover the wonder kid's tuition!

Edited May 4, 2018 by CherryAmes

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

Absolutely true but it wasn't just that one instance.  I'll have to watch the episode again it moved fast, which was a good thing.  It was a great episode and both stories were engaging.  I really liked that they didn't make Georgie an oafish fool (it would have killed me if they'd done that to young Georgie!!) but I honestly did feel they were also conveying to us that while Sheldon was wrong about Georgie's success as an adult he wasn't wrong about Georgie not being the brightest penny in the drawer.

 

The thing is, that to Sheldon being the brightest penny in the drawer is the end all and be all.  It is the only thing *he* cares about, so it's the only thing that should be important to everyone.  Since we can recognize how dreadful his interactions with other people are, we can recognize that his brother has qualities that make him a success, even if those are not the exact things that Sheldon values.

[greekmom]

40 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

In all honesty, I didn’t interpret Georgie’s burden as being primarily financial. I think it was more him taking over George’s man-of-the house responsibilities in general: stuff George did that Mary wasn’t going to have time/be able to do, not to mention being emotional support to his grieving mother and sister. 

I agree. I don't think it was a financial assistance but more "man of the house".  

What I found interesting is that we knew what age Sheldon went to university but was this the first time that they revealed when exactly George Sr. died? I would love to see how that plays out in Young Sheldon as he is currently 9 in the show and things are ok between George Sr and Mary.  

[LoneHaranguer]

13 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Wasn't Georgie in the running for Sheldon's best man? How does Sheldon go from that to not inviting him at all?

Mary wanted Georgie to be best man. Once Sheldon decided to go against her wishes, I can easily see him extending his defiance to excluding him completely,

2 hours ago, Frost said:

I'm kind of surprised that Georgie would name his business "Dr Tires".  I would think it would be a daily reminder of his "inferiority" to his little brother who has two doctorates.  Act of defiance maybe?

I'd call it a show of disrespect for Sheldon's doctorates.

1 hour ago, BlossomCulp said:

The writers haven't exactly demonstrated that they understand how universities actually work where things like tenure, salaries etc are concerned so I shouldn't be surprised if they don't understand how things would work when they are courting a young genius.

Or, they understand exactly how things would work when courting someone with zero street smarts.

[Bobbin]

Believe it or not, it's possible to hear a foreign phrase like "danke schoen" often without ever knowing what it means. In the song, the meaning is not as obvious from the context as people believe, "obvious" to them only because they likely already knew that it means "thank you very much."

[MakingBacon]

I think there could have been a lot of out of pocket expenses for Sheldon when he was in college. Full Scholarships only go so far. They may pay tuition, books and for your food but there is not usually much leftover. The school isn’t going to buy him a computer or whatever gadget he needed/wanted. Plus, I can see Sheldon wanting to spend his summers at internships, many of which don’t pay or pay a minimal amount regardless of whether you are a wonder kid. 

Plus, you have to take into account that Mary went from having a two salary home to trying to raise kids on just a church secretary’s salary, which my guess wouldn’t be much in their town. I highly doubt they would have had life insurance for George Sr. I would be surprised if her salary covered the mortgage. 

I can completely see Georgie having a successful business. He is handsome, charming and has sales skills in a business where he deals with people who need help in trying to figure out how to spend their money on a necessity. He can Hire people to deal with the money, taxes, etc. I think Sheldon would be the one most likely to fail in a business were contact with the outside pubic is a necessity. He lacks the social skills and the ability to pick up on the social cues necessary to build that type of business. 

[LaChavalina]

I hope pinkeye girl comes to the wedding or sticks around for a while in some capacity. What was the point of the whole "Raj gets more mature and confident" story arc if they're just going to keep throwing him into situations with random women for one or two episodes at a time? With the other main characters married off, his is the only storyline that I envision having any potentially interesting tension in S12. I'd rather not have another "surprise pregnancy" arc for Amy or Penny. 

Spoiler

According to the Futon Critic's listing for next week, it doesn't look like the actress playing pinkeye girl is coming back. The Denise character will be on, though, so I expect they'll be trying to pair her off with either Raj or Stuart. 

This episode also made me wonder why we haven't ever seen any of Raj's other siblings, besides Priya.

[Sarah 103]

21 hours ago, Trey said:

Sounds like an episode of Full House.

Are you sure it wsan't an actual episode? Stephanie is the one who brought it home. DJ gets infected before a big date with the cutest guy in school. Jesse has a big audition, Joey is finally getting a chance to headline a comedy club, and Danny has a big interview. Michelle does not get pinkeye. 

17 hours ago, Babalooie said:

You could tell that he had been watching Young Sheldon and had the brother's mannerisms down pat.  Very impressive.

Agreed. I noticed the accent. It wasn't as strong, but still there. 

16 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

I think they've done some more retconning. Previously, Sheldon talked about his dad's girlfriend, which I assumed meant Mary and George had been divorced, but from what Georgie said, Mary was devastated when George died.

I thought George had affairs, so the girlfriend was someone George had an affair with. 

I loved the stuff with Georgie and Sheldon. I could totally see Georgie throwing out the costume because he did not want people picking on his little brother more than they already were. It must have been so hard for Georgie to be the man of the house after his father died whether that meant emotional responsibilites, physical responsibilites (keeping the house in good shape), or financial responsibilities. I liked Leonard and Georgie bonding over how hard it is to be the overlooked sibling. I thought for sure the episode was going to turn into Leonard getting drunk with Georgie and the two of them bashing Sheldon. I can't wait for the wedding. Also, I want a Millennium Falcon cake now. 

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, mojoween said:

I feel like Jerry was cast because Montana Jordan bears a passing resemblance to him.  

I didn't really know who Jerry O'Connell was, so when I first saw him as Sheldon't brother, I thought "Wow, they must have gotten Montana's dad or older brother to play adult Georgie".  Because I thought he looked just like him.

This episode was important IMO, in the way it relates to Young Sheldon.  We see demonstrated here that Sheldon remembers his older brother as a tormentor, and then we are reminded that there are always two sides to every story.  In fact, Georgie actually protected him many times and sacrificed for him.  Yet all Sheldon remembered was the few times he got roughhoused by him.  I think this is important because it also indicates that maybe his memories of his dad aren't necessarily totally accurate either.

I could see 30 years from now, Sheldon will be complaining about what a bossy wife Amy was because she wouldn't let him have his Millennium Falcon shaped wedding cake.

It was nice to see how Leonard and Georgie related to each other, because Leonard has helped Sheldon out a lot also, without being appreciated for it.  And Leonard has also gotten fed up with it at times and has been mean to Sheldon.  Sheldon is obviously a difficult person to be close to.

[mojoween]

My sister texted me during the show, which I was not watching live (thank you, Twitter, for having a picture of Jerry scroll through my feed ahead of time!) to ask who was playing Georgie and I replied by saying “Vern from Stand By Me”.

Seriously, has there ever been an actor who had that much of a sea change from age 13 to 20?  I mean, back in the 90’s, it was like he was a totally different person.  I know people often say that about Neville from Harry Potter, but it’s so not the same to me.  Maybe because Jerry and I are the same age, ha.

I wish I could remember what Amy did at the beginning when she first came in the apartment and Sheldon was on the phone that made me laugh so hard.  Mayim really is brilliant at this show.

[Driad]

When Sheldon said this was Georgie's business, and Leonard said they had passed several "Dr. Tire" shops, I expected Sheldon to say that Georgie owned or managed this franchise, not the whole chain.  Good for Georgie that he is a successful businessman. Still possible that he did not choose the name though.

[iMonrey]

I eventually gave up on Young Sheldon - it's just a little too precious for my tastes and tries to white wash the Sheldon we know on TBBT. But I agree Jerry O'Connell was a good casting choice for grown up Georgie, although I think he was written and played a bit smarter than the kid version. 

[anna0852]

I don't think Young Sheldon whitewashes Sheldon. I think it's doing a pretty good job of showing just how much Mary coddled him and allowed him to get away with absolute murder when he was young as did Memaw. They've done a good job of showing how he turns from a fairly sweet if socially clueless kid Into the jerky adult we know he's going to become.

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, rmontro said:

I could see 30 years from now, Sheldon will be complaining about what a bossy wife Amy was because she wouldn't let him have his Millennium Falcon shaped wedding cake.

Maybe Amy should point out that they'll be cutting up the cake, and ask if he really wants to be symbolically destroying the Millennium Falcon.

[MissLucas]

The Sheldon-Georg(i)e plot was great. The pink eye plot was a poor filler. I did enjoy Penny's attempt to get rid of Howard's wardrobe and Bernadette's amused reaction. However I thought it weird that a microbiologist and a neuroscientist (both with access to a lab) were not able to clear the viral/bacterial question on their own. I also expected the company Penny and Bernadette were working for having some experimental treatment at hand. (Of course my degrees are all in dratted humanities so what do I know?)

[anna0852]

 I'm going to hand wave that as the kids needed to go to the doctor regardless Of who has access to which lab. Not to mention, if medications are needed neither Bernadette nor Amy can prescribe them.

[Crs97]

I didn’t buy the whole whitewash of George and don’t watch Young Sheldon so don’t know how he is portrayed there.  George may say he threw away the costume to protect Sheldon, but I am willing to bet he tossed it because he was embarrassed by Sheldon socially and didn’t want to be the guy whose baby brother dressed like a girl. He admits they all protected teenaged Sheldon from the realities of their dad’s death.  When you are the adult, you do that.  You certainly don’t get to complain that they weren’t grateful when they never knew what you did for them in the first place.  Color me unimpressed.

I have a friend with a ridiculously talented daughter (who still doesn’t come close to how smart they say Sheldon is); between scholarships and school grants and monetary awards they have paid almost nothing for her college and graduate school.  And I mean almost nothing.  

Just like I think Sheldon’s perception of his childhood is skewed, I certainly am not buying what George is selling about being the sainted big brother.  I hope Missy sets them both straight.

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, Helena Dax said:

I think Georgie has been heavily retconned and that before"The Young Sheldon", he was supposed to be dumb. Let's not forget Mary suscribed that opinion too. Also, they needed money for Sheldon's education? I doubt that. I mean, I'm not saying Georgie's lying, just that the writers are forgetting logic and going for the drama. Someone like Sheldon would get the best scholaship ever and it's been implied several times that universities were fighting for him back then.

They may have covered his tuition and even his room and board. But, he may still have had to buy books.  And the airfare to Germany.  Other sundry expenses.

[Katy M]

7 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

And Leonard calling her a bully.  Aaarghh.  The writers on this show have real issues with what bullying actually is - here's a clue, writers - it's not an adult woman who stands up for herself and tries not to let people push her around.

I was sure he was going to mean Sheldong.

[Mystery]

I can believe that Sheldon was entirely clueless about what was going on at home after his father died and that Georgie felt a responsibility to be the "man of the house," whatever the financial situation was. 

If I had to choose based on last night's episode, I find Georgie a more reliable narrator than Sheldon. It won't surprise me a bit if Sheldon reconsiders a lot of the things he's said about his childhood. 

12 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I was sure he was going to mean Sheldong.

I was sure the bully was going to be Leonard's mother. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Mystery

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, Mystery said:

I was sure the bully was going to be Sheldon's mother. 

Do you mean Leonard's mother?

[Mystery]

Just now, Katy M said:

Do you mean Leonard's mother?

Yes, I had already edited but you were too quick for me! :-)

[ams1001]

19 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

(And sorry, Georgie, once you have a diminutive family nickname, you'll have it forever in your family. I speak from experience. )

Heh. My dad's siblings still call him Butch (as did my grandparents before they died). No one else does. (He's so not a Butch.)

 

5 hours ago, rmontro said:

I could see 30 years from now, Sheldon will be complaining about what a bossy wife Amy was because she wouldn't let him have his Millennium Falcon shaped wedding cake.

The wedding's a week away…a bit late to order a cake like that anyway, ain't it?

[illdoc]

27 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

My dad's siblings still call him Butch (as did my grandparents before they died). No one else does. (He's so not a Butch.)

My mother still refers to her cousin as "Bubba"---real name: Carol (yes, Bubba is female)!

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, MissLucas said:

I also expected the company Penny and Bernadette were working for having some experimental treatment at hand.

Considering what Bernadette has said about the company;s products, I'd hate to think what side effects the experimental ones might have,

2 hours ago, Crs97 said:

George may say he threw away the costume to protect Sheldon, but I am willing to bet he tossed it because he was embarrassed by Sheldon socially and didn’t want to be the guy whose baby brother dressed like a girl.

Worse yet, I expect Georgie would have been with him, and seen with him,  while trick-or-treating.

[Katy M]

30 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Worse yet, I expect Georgie would have been with him, and seen with him,  while trick-or-treating.

 

Spoiler

If you watch Young Sheldon, Georgie actually does some sweet things for Sheldon. So, yeah, I can see him throwing it out for Sheldon's sake.

[CherryAmes]

3 hours ago, Katy M said:

They may have covered his tuition and even his room and board. But, he may still have had to buy books.  And the airfare to Germany.  Other sundry expenses.

I don't think the Coopers had to pay much, if anything.  We don't need to look further than the early episode with the boy genius from North Korea to know how much money a university is prepared to give someone they desperately want to attend their school.  There is a lot of prestige attached to having someone like a Sheldon pick them.

Edited May 5, 2018 by CherryAmes

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

My mother still refers to her cousin as "Bubba"---real name: Carol (yes, Bubba is female)!

About 20 years ago I acquired the nickname "Bob" from a coworker. I am also female. Most of the people I worked with then are long gone from my life, but at least one still calls me that. (About six months later, after the other guy who had been in the conversation that started it kept it going and then started introducing me to new employees as Bob, the guy who came up with it said to me, "I was just kidding; I didn't mean for it to stick!" Well, it did. ?)

When I was in college, the other pair that my bio lab partner and I shared our table with named their frog Bubba. Then they opened it up and discovered it was a girl. So they renamed her Bubbette. 

 

1 hour ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Considering what Bernadette has said about the company;s products, I'd hate to think what side effects the experimental ones might have,

Something tells me Bernadette would never actually give her company's products to her own kids. ? 

Edited May 5, 2018 by ams1001

[BlossomCulp]

9 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Or, they understand exactly how things would work when courting someone with zero street smarts.

He started university at 11, the people making the decisions would have been George and Mary.  And street smarts or no I think even at 11 Sheldon would have a very good idea of what he was worth!

[Chit Chat]

12 hours ago, kili said:

Georgie isn't book smart (although, thank you in German is fairly well known thanks to Wayne Newton- don't tell me Georgie hasn't watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"). Georgie demonstrated some strong Social Intelligence here (of which his brother has none) which is a pretty useful skill for a salesman to have. 

Georgie's ability to relate to people on their level is what makes him good at his job.  I would guess that most people coming in to buy tires wouldn't give a rat's ass if he was book smart or not.  Well, Sheldon would care, but he doesn't count!  As long as Georgie is confident in his product and knows everything about it, then people will have confidence in him and the tires.  

Not to disparage the work that Sheldon does, but honestly, what has he really accomplished in his role as a physicist?  He helped with the missile guidance system, but I'm trying to remember if he's done anything else of note.  He constantly reminds Howard that he doesn't think he's very smart, but yet he's an astronaut.   Sheldon looks down on Georgie, but here's a guy who has worked hard and owns his own business, and is successful.  It would be nice to hear Sheldon tell him that he's proud of him.  Owning a business is hard work! I'm anxious to catch up with Missy in next week's episode.  I hope we get to hear more than one or two lines from her. 

[friendperidot]

Quote

It broke my heart that Georgie still feels like Sheldon is his Mom's favorite. 

My brother was my mom's favorite and my sister was my dad's. I always knew that. I am the oldest too, I also know there were reasons, my brother was very sick as a baby and that made my mom very protective, I wish for his sake she had not been. But she did the best she could with what she knew at the time. My sister was the baby. I was loved by my parents, I have the pictures to prove it, but when siblings came along, things changed. Maybe Mary should not have been so protective, but she was doing the best she could with what she knew, Georgie and Missy didn't need the extra layers of protection, they had other skills. 

Quote

As recently as the episode where Mary talks to Sheldon about the engagement ring she says Georgie makes idiotic choices and chases after whores. 

Mary is extremely religious and her idea of a whore may not be totally unbiased. Especially if George cheated.

As I said above, I'm the oldest, my brother is 3 yrs younger and my sister 6 yrs younger. My brother was a "special" child with poor social skills. I always protected him and still do, even though now I frequently think he's just plain ole batshit crazy. But I don't allow other people to say that. And we remember things differently. Especially my sister and I, she doesn't know all the family stories that I know, she was too little to pay attention. So, I understand Georgie remembering things differently than Sheldon and I even think he did protect his younger "special" brother often, but he still has resentments, I get that too, God knows I have my share.

I was amused by Leonard giving Georgie the beer back also, but was it because he couldn't open it or he was afraid it was going to blow up in his face? Leonard had a brother who tormented him also.

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I eventually gave up on Young Sheldon - it's just a little too precious for my tastes and tries to white wash the Sheldon we know on TBBT. But I agree Jerry O'Connell was a good casting choice for grown up Georgie, although I think he was written and played a bit smarter than the kid version. 

I agree with you.  I am actually happy that on BBT Georgie is being redeemed somewhat into a more intelligent, successful person that it looks like he'll become on "Young Sheldon".  I am breathing a sigh of relief, actually.  I think Jerry O'Connell is very convincing and wisely cast.  His character development is very convincing too.  This is exactly what I would have wanted him to be like as an adult.

I'm sticking with YS, although I am somewhat disappointed because I don't think it correlates enough with BBT.  I think it's good on its own, though.

[SmithW6079]

Why would Georgie know a song that came out in 1968 by a Las Vegas singer? 

[Gulftastic]

From watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off, same as me!