S02.E08: An 8-Bit Princess and a Flat Tire Genius

[green]

10 hours ago, grinchyheart said:

So funny, I was a young IT professional in the late 70's/early 80's & bumped into that attitude when I was game shopping at 50+, several decades later. The young clerk asked if I was buying them for my grandkids, I said no they were for me. He was amazed that an old person would like videogames, & I asked him which generation did he think invented them?

LOL, good one.  I've been playing computer games -- never had a console -- since the original Elite came out on the Commodore 64 in the mid 80's wireframe spaceships and all on a 5 inch floppy.  I played the original Guild Wars online for years and still go back for Wintersday and other game holidays events til this day and the person who originally taught me the ropes in that game was a lady in her early 60's who ran a big dept at a big ad agency.  Most online gamers aren't anywhere near teenage males and haven't been for years and years.  More and more women play RPGs etc online than game manufacturers realize too. 

And bottom line is no one knows your age in these games.  Or your gender, race or religion.  Or if you are a real life star athlete or confined to a wheelchair or are rich or poor or live in the US or Malaysia or Chile.  They only know what you care to share with them.  It is like the most democratic platform in the world.  And in Guild Wars there are multiple character slots so most people in the game have both male and female characters they play.  Different races too.

Also STEAM is great for buying and storing games and I have a nice stand alone game of Elders Scrolls Oblivion going on my lap top right now from them.  Nice to be able to choose to play with others or just play alone.  My ancient workstation couldn't handle Oblivion back in the day so glad to catch up on it now.  Man why am I posting here come to think about it?  I need to go off and help out on a Thieves Guild quest right now.

Long way of saying this was my favorite episode of Young Sheldon ever. 

 

10 hours ago, SpiritSong said:

They showed them spending hours playing the game. I don't have a problem with that, and yes, it's great that Sheldon and MeeMaw are so close. But taking him out of school? Blowing off family dinners and his bedtime? That's taking spoiling the grandkid waaay too far. Parents can't always be the fun ones, nor should they be. George and Mary are a couple of doormats when it comes to standing up to Connie and their own 10 year old..

 

No one would remember just a normal school day 20 years later say.  Or a regular meal with the family like any other.  What people remember are out of the ordinary grind events.  And playing your very first video game day and night and thinking about it in bed and tearing around at odd hours doing adventurous things in your real life to make it through the game?  And with your grammy besides?  Wow!  Now that will always stick with you as a special memory forever.  That is what makes life worth living.

Edited November 11, 2018 by green

[jumper sage]

8 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Even riding in the front seat in a booster seat was OK back in the day.

I remember my little sister riding in front, as a toddler, in her "car seat" which was a wood and metal crate with a steering wheel aimed at her chest.  She was always in the front seat.  My brother and I were in the back seat as 6/7 year olds and bouncing all over it since mom was a terrible driver.  I'll do you one better as having known when the nurse at the hospital would hand a newborn into the mother's arms while in the front seat with no seat belts.  On long trips mom would put the baby in the back window above the trunk - good times.

3 hours ago, green said:

Long way of saying this was my favorite episode of Young Sheldon ever. 

Mine too.  My mother bought a Nintendo when her grandchildren were little.  She had 2 girls and a boy.  The girls played with each other so she and the boy would play all day and all night long.  I remember saying that poor boy had no one to play with at family gatherings and he said, "What do you mean?  I have Nana".

3 hours ago, green said:

No one would remember just a normal school day 20 years later say.  Or a regular meal with the family like any other.  What people remember are out of the ordinary grind events.  And playing your very first video game day and night and thinking about it in bed and tearing around at odd hours doing adventurous things in your real life to make it through the game?  And with your grammy besides?  Wow!  Now that will always stick with you as a special memory forever.  That is what makes life worth living.

Sheldon is at the age where fantasy and reality coincide and it is the best years for fantasy games and bringing logic into those games. 

Spoiler

Loved the beginning of Georgie as Dr. Tire.

Edited November 11, 2018 by kariyaki
Added spoiler tag

[Chit Chat]

9 hours ago, jumper sage said:

I'll do you one better as having known when the nurse at the hospital would hand a newborn into the mother's arms while in the front seat with no seat belts.  On long trips mom would put the baby in the back window above the trunk - good times.

I can't beat that one, but my Dad used to take the seat belts out and fixed it where it didn't beep at you for not wearing one.  We rode our bikes everywhere with no helmet, rode in the back of pickup trucks, and rode in boats with no life jackets on.  We were living dangerously in the 60's!!  

Edited November 11, 2018 by ChitChat

[SmithW6079]

On 11/10/2018 at 7:09 PM, Sarah 103 said:

It's not like Georgie is totally giving up sports, just playing sports. George can still talk football with Georgie, and I'm sure they still watch games together and talk about the players and how each team is doing. My only surprise was that George didn't bring up the idea of a football scholarship as a way to pay for college. 

 

On 11/10/2018 at 7:10 PM, CherryAmes said:

They made it pretty clear that Georgie wasn't all that good (not to mention weighing only 125 lbs) so a football scholarship was probably not in his future.  

They've pretty much established that college is not in Georgie's future.

While I enjoyed the episode, I thought 

Spoiler

the foreshadowing of Georgie's future career to be pretty heavy-handed.

[kili]

Quote

 hated that Mary cooked and served a family dinner, and MeeMaw and Sheldon grabbed their plates and ran across the street. George and Mary have no backbone whatsoever.

It juxtaposes interestingly with a line earlier in the show. Georgie was only permitted to take the job if he was home for dinner every night ("Fine, but I want you here for dinner every night."). Georgie was there, but Sheldon was allowed to skip family dinner to play a game. 

It was established in the show that the game could be saved, so all the dinner and school skipping wasn't necessary. Meemaw and Sheldon would have been able to finish the game together without skipping anything. They just needed a little patience. Meemaw didn't take Sheldon out of school so that he could experience something special with her, she did it because she was addicted to the game and couldn't wait for him to come home.

[CherryAmes]

10 minutes ago, kili said:

Meemaw didn't take Sheldon out of school so that he could experience something special with her, she did it because she was addicted to the game and couldn't wait for him to come home.

No one really cares about Meemaw's memories though.  We're talking about the special memories Sheldon will have about the way he and his Meemaw went crazy when they got introduced to these games.   Whatever her motivation they still shared something truly special (or special to a little boy anyway) and that's pretty cool.   Who knew nintendo could bring generations together :) ?

Edited November 12, 2018 by CherryAmes

[possibilities]

If Georgie was sitting on the bench during games, he wasn't getting a football scholarship, anyway.

Most of the time, they do make Sheldon come to the table for dinner. Once in a while making an exception to do something with Meemaw isn't going to be what ruins his, or any other child's, character. I think Georgie or Missy would also be allowed to miss dinner once in a while if Meemaw wanted one of them for something.

I actually think that being too rigid about routines is bad for Sheldon (or anyone) and that learning how to be flexible and make exceptions now and then is helpful in preventing a person from turning into a stiff.

That said, I thought pulling him out of school was going too far, and I'm sure if Mary knew about that, she'd have been super-pissed and put a stop to the whole thing.

[green]

2 hours ago, kili said:

It was established in the show that the game could be saved, so all the dinner and school skipping wasn't necessary. Meemaw and Sheldon would have been able to finish the game together without skipping anything. They just needed a little patience. Meemaw didn't take Sheldon out of school so that he could experience something special with her, she did it because she was addicted to the game and couldn't wait for him to come home.

Who cares to wait around a couple of days to play a saved game?  It is like a writer on a jag inspired by their muse.  The excitement within you is amazing.  The focus.  You go for it in the moment.  Nothing worse than pausing an exciting movie in the middle to go off doing daily grind stuff other than saving a game and going off to do daily grind stuff.  Live a little before you die.  Break out of stiffing routines.  Play hooky some.  Ditch work just once and go to a ball game.  Ride in the back of pick-ups.  Backpack around the world.  Just don't get locked into endless routines all your life and then realize on your death bed you never really lived at all.

And with the totally fictional character in this show?  Best thing for Sheldon the Routine King is to break his patterns and rituals.  Hooky was the most anti-Sheldon thing imaginable.  Good to see him embrace the moment in the end.

Edited November 12, 2018 by green

[CherryAmes]

Excellent points about routine!  We're already seeing the way Sheldon is, well, Sheldon.  We can argue that Meemaw spoiled him and that contributed to his sense of specialness but it's pretty clear that Meemaw isn't the reason for his rigid adherence to schedules!  Young Sheldon is already there. It's good for him to shake that up once in awhile.  

[Katy M]

9 hours ago, CherryAmes said:

No one really cares about Meemaw's memories though.  We're talking about the special memories Sheldon will have about the way he and his Meemaw went crazy when they got introduced to these games.   Whatever her motivation they still shared something truly special (or special to a little boy anyway) and that's pretty cool.   Who knew nintendo could bring generations together :) ?

But, the point is they could have done it any time. She didn't pull him out of school to take him to a pre-scheduled baseball game, or concert, or because she was dying.  And, it's not her son, so it wasn't her call.

[CherryAmes]

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

But, the point is they could have done it any time. She didn't pull him out of school to take him to a pre-scheduled baseball game, or concert, or because she was dying. 

You may not have ever seen someone in the throes of Nintendo addiction but I have and while I personally thought "what the hell" I totally get how swept up Meemaw and Sheldon got in their game.  It was funny to me and a nice callback to when these games first got so popular.  Sure Meemaw went over the top but on a sitcom I sometimes expect over the top.  If they'd played a calm hour or two now and then where would the humour have come from?  

[LoneHaranguer]

I liked the attention to detail when Georgie said that he and Hershel dropped the engine on a Pacer. Not only was it a specific model consistent with the setting of the episode, but, because of a last-minute design change, the engine on that car was shoehorned in, so what Georgie did would have given him a good  sense of accomplishment.

On 11/11/2018 at 12:56 AM, Yeah No said:

Around 1990 airbags started becoming standard in cars in the U.S., but the reaction to this surrounding kids' safety in the front seat didn't happen immediately so I don't think it would have been so common back at the time of this show.  Even today Texas law doesn't specify that children must ride in the back seat at all.

As soon as the safety issue of airbags became known, it also became standard to be able to shut them off. Some cars would do it automatically, depending on the weight of the passenger, although I don't know how quickly that became widespread.

[TheLastKidPicked]

1 hour ago, LoneHaranguer said:

I liked the attention to detail when Georgie said that he and Hershel dropped the engine on a Pacer. Not only was it a specific model consistent with the setting of the episode, but, because of a last-minute design change, the engine on that car was shoehorned in, so what Georgie did would have given him a good  sense of accomplishment.

I love it when a show does something like that-- go out of their way like this when only a tiny fraction of viewers will know the history of the Pacer.

And another detail that a Texan will appreciate, or those of us who knew football coaches in the 1980's:  George's F250 is EXACTLY the vehicle a football coach in Texas would drive.  

And the six mile long, powder blue Cadillac is EXACTLY what a Texas MeeMaw would drive.

Very nice that they care enough to check these things out.

Edited November 12, 2018 by TheLastKidPicked

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, TheLastKidPicked said:

I love it when a show does something like that-- go out of their way like this when only a tiny fraction of viewers will know the history of the Pacer.

And another detail that a Texan will appreciate, or those of us who knew football coaches in the 1980's:  George's F250 is EXACTLY the vehicle a football coach in Texas would drive.  

And the six mile long, powder blue Cadillac is EXACTLY what a Texas MeeMaw would drive.

Very nice that they care enough to check these things out.

I'm not from Texas, but I do appreciate it when they are true to the period.  Mr. Yeah No managed an auto repair shop at around the time of this show, and the shop on this episode was so period-accurate it made me nostalgic!

[TheLastKidPicked]

52 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I'm not from Texas, but I do appreciate it when they are true to the period.  Mr. Yeah No managed an auto repair shop at around the time of this show, and the shop on this episode was so period-accurate it made me nostalgic!

And they did a good job regarding the shop.  I'll ask @Yeah No to step in if I'm out of line, but around here there are two types of mechanics.  The first type, the "grease monkey" type, can be trained to do specific repairs to cars,  but their pay will level off in a hurry.   I'm sure George was worried about that when Georgie first showed an interest in cars.

The second type of automotive tech really "gets it".  Like Georgie, a sharp tech truly understands what is happening with the car and can understand how it all comes together.  In the final scene, Georgie wasn't caressing the tire wasn't because he loved tires-- it was because Georgie loved solving problems, and was finally able to do it (and get paid for it!)

Spoiler

For those of you who point out that Georgie does love tires, and in fact becomes Dr. Tire, I would still suggest that what he loves is solving problems.  The fact that he "gets it" is a huge advantage in working with suppliers and managing his business.  And he gets paid handsomely to do it.

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by TheLastKidPicked

[possibilities]

There used to be a lot higher percentage of grunt vs tech mechanics in cars. Nowadays there are computers and such that didn't exist when I was a kid. To be fair, I was a kid in the 70s as much as the 80s, and by the 90s it was a new ballgame entirely. But I'm not 100% sure exactly when the balance shifted away from what it was like when I was growing up and into the new technology.

[HazelEyes4325]

I always feel a little cheated when we don't get much Missy, but I still really enjoyed this episode.  I loved seeing Georgie come into his own, but I thought there would be more with George wanting him to play football instead of him wanting to play.  But then, you can only fit so much into one episode.

I mostly enjoyed the Sheldon/Meemaw/video game story, even if I found it just a tad bit unbelievable...not so much that Meemaw would be playing video games, but that Sheldon would be less than inclined to play them.  From what we've seen with Sheldon, I would think that it would be right up his alley.

Oh, and the last scene with Georgie and the tire was just perfect!

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, TheLastKidPicked said:

And they did a good job regarding the shop.  I'll ask @Yeah No to step in if I'm out of line, but around here there are two types of mechanics.  The first type, the "grease monkey" type, can be trained to do specific repairs to cars,  but their pay will level off in a hurry.   I'm sure George was worried about that when Georgie first showed an interest in cars.

The second type of automotive tech really "gets it".  Like Georgie, a sharp tech truly understands what is happening with the car and can understand how it all comes together.  In the final scene, Georgie wasn't caressing the tire wasn't because he loved tires-- it was because Georgie loved solving problems, and was finally able to do it (and get paid for it!)

  Reveal hidden contents

For those of you who point out that Georgie does love tires, and in fact becomes Dr. Tire, I would still suggest that what he loves is solving problems.  The fact that he "gets it" is a huge advantage in working with suppliers and managing his business.  And he gets paid handsomely to do it.

 

Yes, absolutely!  The terminology in the field is A-tech, B-tech and C-tech.  C-techs are the "grease monkeys" while Georgie has it in him to be an A-tech.  A-techs are the ones that have an intuitive 6th sense about what's wrong with a car and how to fix it.

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

There used to be a lot higher percentage of grunt vs tech mechanics in cars. Nowadays there are computers and such that didn't exist when I was a kid. To be fair, I was a kid in the 70s as much as the 80s, and by the 90s it was a new ballgame entirely. But I'm not 100% sure exactly when the balance shifted away from what it was like when I was growing up and into the new technology.

Actually, Mr. Yeah No sees this a little differently.  It actually used to require more skill and knowledge to diagnose a mechanical problem in a car because mechanics didn't have computers to do it for them.  So with all the technology in cars today, most mechanics would require an advanced degree in engineering and computer science to understand it.  But they don't because today they don't have to.  And for the most part, when there is a computer generated diagnosis, fixing the problem comes down to replacing things, not actually repairing them.  So in many ways it actually involves less skill now than at the time of this show.

[TheLastKidPicked]

Thank you, Yeah No, for sharing your insight into the mechanic's shop.

13 hours ago, HazelEyes4325 said:

I always feel a little cheated when we don't get much Missy, but I still really enjoyed this episode.  I loved seeing Georgie come into his own, but I thought there would be more with George wanting him to play football instead of him wanting to play.  But then, you can only fit so much into one episode

I agree, and noticed that the small amount of time spent on George and Gerogie really showed the acting chops of Lance Barber.  He really did look pained when he realized that Georgie wasn't going to play football.

And when he wanted to talk about it with the assistant coach, but didn't want to be the one to bring it up:

"Well, you could have persisted a little!"  Perfect 1980's man not sure how to express his feelings.

[Chit Chat]

23 hours ago, HazelEyes4325 said:

I mostly enjoyed the Sheldon/Meemaw/video game story, even if I found it just a tad bit unbelievable...not so much that Meemaw would be playing video games, but that Sheldon would be less than inclined to play them.  From what we've seen with Sheldon, I would think that it would be right up his alley.

I think that Sheldon had a misguided perception that video games were child's play, but then once he got into it he could see that there was role playing, reading, and decision-making that goes into a video game.  There was more of a challenge than he anticipated.  

[CherryAmes]

1 minute ago, ChitChat said:

I think that Sheldon had a misguided perception that video games were child's play, but then once he got into it he could see that there was role playing, reading, and decision-making that goes into a video game.  There was more of a challenge than he anticipated.  

They did the same thing with comics.  Sheldon starts off being superior and above it all and then succumbs.  Hard!

[possibilities]

21 hours ago, Yeah No said:

It actually used to require more skill and knowledge to diagnose a mechanical problem in a car because mechanics didn't have computers to do it for them.  So with all the technology in cars today, most mechanics would require an advanced degree in engineering and computer science to understand it.  But they don't because today they don't have to.  And for the most part, when there is a computer generated diagnosis, fixing the problem comes down to replacing things, not actually repairing them.  So in many ways it actually involves less skill now than at the time of this show.

I actually didn't mean to imply that "grunt" was less skilled than "tech"; I just think it's a different kind of job now than then. You had to really know cars in a totally different way. You also can't do your own repairs as much now as you used to be able to (my family did our own repairs most of the time), because of the bloody technology no longer being quite so easy to do stuff about without high tech. I'm probably using the wrong terminology for all of this. I'm not a professional mechanic, I was raised with people who were more DIY, and I did work at a dealership (in the office) for a little while in the 1980s, but that's the extent of my personal expertise.

[John Potts]

I do love the Cooper family dynamics, even when they're annoyed with each other. It feels like the right blend of love and exasperation:

"Georgie is like some sort of tyre genius!"
"We are talking about my Georgie here?"

"I am VERY disappointed in you... love you Meemaw!"

Have to agree that I wouldn't think Mary would allow Sheldon to take his dinner elsewhere (even if it was just across the street) without a very good reason. And she'd be apoplectic if she knew her mother had encouraged him to play hooky!

I also grew up in the 80s (I've got a handful of years on Sheldon) and I remember cramming kids into the boot (trunk?) on short drives (this was a hatchback, we could still see out). That would be very much illegal today (in the UK) where you have to belt up, even in the back seat, and it's mandatory for all new cars to have seat belts fitted, front and back. Fun fact*: the reason for the introduction of air bags was because it was impossible to make it a similar legal requirement in the US to wear seat belts, so since dead drivers make very few repeat purchases, manufacturers had to come up with a means to stop them flying through the windscreen without requiring the drivers to do anything themselves.

On ‎09‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 7:24 PM, HurricaneVal said:

If George wasn't so dismissive of Missy, he might find that she really is the most like him.

Even after their Princess dinner at the Lobster Hut!

* OK, that's debatable

[possibilities]

We have a seatbelt law in my state. People still act like it's an invasion of their god-given right to be killed in a fiery crash, though, so I don't know how well it's enforced.

[Katy M]

On ‎1‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 4:47 PM, John Potts said:

the reason for the introduction of air bags was because it was impossible to make it a similar legal requirement in the US to wear seat belts, so since dead drivers make very few repeat purchases, manufacturers had to come up with a means to stop them flying through the windscreen without requiring the drivers to do anything themselves.

As far as I know, there's only one state (New Hampshire) that doesn't have laws requiring that you buckle up, at least in the front seat.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

We have a seatbelt law in my state. People still act like it's an invasion of their god-given right to be killed in a fiery crash, though, so I don't know how well it's enforced.

Unfortunately, some states only allow the seat belt law to be enforced if another law if broken which severely limits the effectiveness. 

[Homily]

They replayed this episode last night and it was a joy to watch.  It was also the first time my husband had seen it and he is now a Young Sheldon convert 😊.  So many funny moments but we both laughed out loud at Sheldon spying on Meemaw with the binoculars.