S02.E18: A Perfect Score and a Bunsen Burner Marshmallow

[Bort]

Quote

Sheldon moves in with Dr. Sturgis for the weekend to see what his life will be like in college. Also, a lonely Mary tries to bond with the other Coopers during Sheldon’s absence.

Airdate: Thursday, April 4, 2019

[Spartan Girl]

Sheldon and Dr. Sturdiest as roommates was so damn adorable.

[jewel21]

Dr. Sturgis was a great guardian until he got concussed and Sheldon set his apartment on fire, heh. I really enjoyed their dynamic. 

[aemom]

Poor Mary had no idea what to do with herself and nobody wanted to spend any time with her. Except for George who wanted to do the horizontal hustle.

[Mystery]

56 minutes ago, aemom said:

Poor Mary had no idea what to do with herself and nobody wanted to spend any time with her. Except for George who wanted to do the horizontal hustle.

It made me sad that the others have all grown so self-reliant while she spends most of her time on Sheldon. 

[SmithW6079]

1 hour ago, Mystery said:

It made me sad that the others have all grown so self-reliant while she spends most of her time on Sheldon. 

Sad for Mary or sad for the family?

If her family is self-reliant and doesn't want to do anything with her, it's because she devotes 95 percent of her time to Sheldon, with the other 5 percent to her church. People know when you put them second or third or fourth. You reap what you sow and all that. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I actually liked this episode.  But didn't they have Sheldon go stay with some people out of town last season when they thought he'd go to a special school?  And didn't it fail miserably?  I thought they would at least reference that attempt.

[Bort]

Gosh, you know what would be really convenient right now? If George had that college football job where they lived right next to a college and Sheldon could easily go to college, probably for free! Way to sink everybody's hopes and dreams, Mary.  I didn't feel sorry for her that nobody wanted to spend time with her.

[joanne3482]

7 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

If her family is self-reliant and doesn't want to do anything with her, it's because she devotes 95 percent of her time to Sheldon, with the other 5 percent to her church. People know when you put them second or third or fourth. You reap what you sow and all that. 

That was my thought exactly.  How sad it is for her other two kids that she just now wants to spend time with them because she's bored since Sheldon is not around.  I get that he's got special needs, but that doesn't give a person a free pass to just completely ignore the other two kids, especially when one is the same age as Sheldon.  I can see Georgie being more self reliant because he's a teenager and she's his mom, that's how it should work. But it was sad Missy was doing her own thing with her nails because she's learned she has to do it herself because her mom won't be there for her.    

[Frost]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

Gosh, you know what would be really convenient right now? If George had that college football job where they lived right next to a college and Sheldon could easily go to college, probably for free!

I'd forgotten about that!  Plus, wasn't it a good college?  I think Professor Sturgis teaches at an invented university though.  I did a quick search and didn't see a Texas Tech in Houston.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Frost
spelling

[Homily]

24 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

I get that he's got special needs, but that doesn't give a person a free pass to just completely ignore the other two kids, especially when one is the same age as Sheldon. 

I never thought Mary ignored her other kids - paying more attention to Sheldon doesn't have to equal ignoring the others.  I'm pretty disappointed they went there because I had found they'd been trying to show Mary more involved with the other children and a less focused on Sheldon.

[Bort]

I don't think Mary ignores the other kids, but she doesn't seem to do one-on-one stuff with them. Georgie, meh, because he's a teenager and his reluctant attitude would be the same either way, but I thought the scene where Missy was painting her own nails and didn't register Mary's interest was pretty telling. 

I did find it funny that Mary was so desperate to bond with someone, she went over to the Sparks house with a pie.

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, Frost said:

I think Professor Sturgis teaches at an invented university though.  I did a quick search and didn't see a Texas Tech in Houston.

Texas Tech University is a real place with branches across the state, including a small one in Houston. The real question is whether they had anything there back then, but the writers are usually pretty good about getting details like that right.

[Quark]

I missed this show.

[Bort]

11 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Texas Tech University is a real place with branches across the state, including a small one in Houston. The real question is whether they had anything there back then, but the writers are usually pretty good about getting details like that right.

There isn't a Texas Tech in Houston.

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

There isn't a Texas Tech in Houston

Anymore. Google Maps lists it as "permanently closed". Apparently the TT web page I looked at was out-of-date.

[Bort]

27 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Anymore. Google Maps lists it as "permanently closed". Apparently the TT web page I looked at was out-of-date.

Oh, I saw what you're talking about, that's an office building. It was their recruiting center. They recently moved to a new location. There's never been a Texas Tech campus branch in Houston.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Frost said:

 I think Professor Sturgis teaches at an invented university though.  I did a quick search and didn't see a Texas Tech in Houston.

The university is supposed to be East Texas Tech which does not exist. 

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

There's never been a Texas Tech campus branch in Houston.

It wasn't a campus per se; it was one of those off-campus programs that some colleges do, where they set up shop in other areas of the state where they see enough students to make it worthwhile. A local university has done it in a downtown mall and on an Air Force base, among other places.

[Chit Chat]

9 hours ago, GussieK said:

But didn't they have Sheldon go stay with some people out of town last season when they thought he'd go to a special school?  And didn't it fail miserably?  I thought they would at least reference that attempt.

Since he was comfortable with Prof. Sturgis, it wasn't a big deal to him.  And besides, he's as close to Sheldon intellectually as can be, so for Sheldon it was an ideal situation!  Of course I think if he had stayed a few weeks Sheldon would've eventually gotten a little homesick.  He's very close to his Mom, so I think there would've come a time that he would miss her and the rest of the family. 

[Katy M]

16 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Sad for Mary or sad for the family?

If her family is self-reliant and doesn't want to do anything with her, it's because she devotes 95 percent of her time to Sheldon, with the other 5 percent to her church. People know when you put them second or third or fourth. You reap what you sow and all that. 

You're actually kind of supposed to teach your kids to be self-reliant.  So, in that regards, it's Sheldon that she's failed.  

[Mystery]

22 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Sad for Mary or sad for the family?

If her family is self-reliant and doesn't want to do anything with her, it's because she devotes 95 percent of her time to Sheldon, with the other 5 percent to her church. People know when you put them second or third or fourth. You reap what you sow and all that. 

Yeah, I was sad for the family, not for Mary. 

[SmithW6079]

14 hours ago, Katy M said:

You're actually kind of supposed to teach your kids to be self-reliant.  So, in that regards, it's Sheldon that she's failed.  

Yes, teach your kids to be self-reliant, to spread their wings & leave the nest, etc., etc. If they have to learn to be self-reliant on their own because you focused almost all of your attention on their sibling, that's something else.

Georgie and Missy have learned that Mary isn't there for them the way she is for Sheldon. I think the scene between Mary and Missy showed that the most. Missy was content to do her own nails, or if she wanted company, she would have gone to Mee-Maw's. 

[Gothish520]

I don't see where Mary has been neglectful of Missy or Georgie. I took that scene more to mean that her kids were old enough to not want to hang out with Mom. Georgie never seems to want to spend time with anyone in the family, which can be pretty typical of a teenage boy. 

I was always very close with my mother, but she never came into my room and hung out with me while I painted my nails.

I have to admit, I don't quite understand the mindset these days that parents should be spending so much "quality time" with children. My parents were always there for me, but I didn't feel the need to have all of this special one-on-one attention from them. 

Edited April 9, 2019 by Gothish520
spelling

[possibilities]

In general I agree, but Missy was super excited to go to dinner with dad not too long ago. Maybe not nail painting with mom, but if she'd been offered ice cream like Georgie, I bet Missy would have said yes.

[UncleChuck]

When Sheldon was "fighting" the fire, I commented to my girlfriend that for a genius who supposedly knows physics, he was surely being dumb for not knowing how to put out that little fire.

Best line of the night for me was when Sheldon explained that he was so shook up that he actually tried to put out a fire using paper and air! 

[Katy M]

29 minutes ago, UncleChuck said:

When Sheldon was "fighting" the fire, I commented to my girlfriend that for a genius who supposedly knows physics, he was surely being dumb for not knowing how to put out that little fire.

Best line of the night for me was when Sheldon explained that he was so shook up that he actually tried to put out a fire using paper and air! 

Sheldon's a genius, but he's also a panicker, so it's fairly realistic.  When you panic, your brain shuts off.

[Homily]

On 4/12/2019 at 10:59 AM, Katy M said:

Sheldon's a genius, but he's also a panicker, so it's fairly realistic.  When you panic, your brain shuts off.

He's also still a little boy.  I always like it when the show creates a situation that acknowledges that.

[Homily]

On 4/6/2019 at 10:14 AM, SmithW6079 said:

Georgie and Missy have learned that Mary isn't there for them the way she is for Sheldon. I think the scene between Mary and Missy showed that the most. Missy was content to do her own nails, or if she wanted company, she would have gone to Mee-Maw's. 

I'm betting if Mary had offered to taken Missy shopping the reaction would have been different.  Missy is content to be on her own.  I think that's actually a good thing and means Mary is doing something right.  God preserve me from needy kids who can't manage to amuse themselves for five minutes without whining for attention!

[SmithW6079]

1 hour ago, Homily said:

I'm betting if Mary had offered to taken Missy shopping the reaction would have been different.  Missy is content to be on her own.  I think that's actually a good thing and means Mary is doing something right.  God preserve me from needy kids who can't manage to amuse themselves for five minutes without whining for attention!

But the point is, Missy wasn't whining for attention, and she was content to be on her own -- it was Mary who wanted the company, and she was only going to her other children because her favorite wasn't around.

[possibilities]

Yes, I thought the show was showing that Mary has a problem. But I liked that she got over it and refocused on hooking up with her husband, instead of smothering her children.

[Homily]

17 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

But the point is, Missy wasn't whining for attention, and she was content to be on her own -- it was Mary who wanted the company, and she was only going to her other children because her favorite wasn't around.

I don't see it as her favourite not being around, I see it as the one who is most demanding of her time and attention not being around.  I could be wrong but I don't recall any moments during the series where we see Mary choosing to be with Sheldon because she can't bear not to be by his side!

[DarkRaichu]

On 4/14/2019 at 12:23 AM, possibilities said:

Yes, I thought the show was showing that Mary has a problem. But I liked that she got over it and refocused on hooking up with her husband, instead of smothering her children.

Well as the last resort after her kids and her mom did not want to do anything with her.  And after all that, she broke up crying in the middle of making out.

But it was all good from male / George POV since he still got some at the end. 😄

[ashleylm]

On 4/14/2019 at 6:42 AM, Homily said:

I don't see it as her favourite not being around, I see it as the one who is most demanding of her time and attention not being around.

That's my take too.  Suddenly you've got all this time on your hands, and what do you do with it?  If she were just trying to get affection from a new source, she'd hardly have gone to her neighbour's home ... she's kind of bored, and trying to figure out how to fill the time (while, clearly, missing Sheldon).

[Guest]

On 4/14/2019 at 6:42 AM, Homily said:

I don't see it as her favourite not being around, I see it as the one who is most demanding of her time and attention not being around.  I could be wrong but I don't recall any moments during the series where we see Mary choosing to be with Sheldon because she can't bear not to be by his side!

I saw it partly as the most demanding being gone and partly trying to distract herself from her fear that her 11 year old is about to leave home for good. Mary has to know that she has no chance of keeping Sheldon at home until he’s 18.

[Homily]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

Mary has to know that she has no chance of keeping Sheldon at home until he’s 18.

That's a good point that I hadn't really considered.  Mary can't know the future (the way we do of course) but she must know that Sheldon is destined to move for his education and a lot sooner for him than most kids.

[Driad]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

Mary has to know that she has no chance of keeping Sheldon at home until he’s 18.

Whereas Georgie seems like the sort who might live with his parents until he's 30, unless there is a shotgun marriage in his future.

[John Potts]

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 3:40 PM, kariyaki said:

I thought the scene where Missy was painting her own nails and didn't register Mary's interest was pretty telling.

I'm surprised Missy didn't offer to paint her mom's nails, even if it was some "scandalous" (to Mary) shade like black.

On ‎4‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 3:30 PM, UncleChuck said:

When Sheldon was "fighting" the fire, I commented to my girlfriend that for a genius who supposedly knows physics, he was surely being dumb for not knowing how to put out that little fire.

I was saying, "Turn off the gas first!" But I did like that Sheldon admitted that he did the stupid thing because he was panicking. Which makes sense - Sheldon may be a genius, but he's not good at dealing with the unexpected (to put it mildly).

[Friendly kitty]

Episode - lovely! Sheldon is still early to fly out of the nest, yet still need to sit under the wing of the mother.
Moreover, he decided to go to the professor to live. No, two Sheldon together is a disaster. And we saw that!
But Sheldon's dream is, of course, lovely. Although I was sure that in his nightmares a wounded cowboy would appear. Too creepy song was ... Poor Sheldon ...😅

Edited April 28, 2019 by Friendly kitty

[msrachelj]

On 4/5/2019 at 2:20 AM, SmithW6079 said:

Sad for Mary or sad for the family?

If her family is self-reliant and doesn't want to do anything with her, it's because she devotes 95 percent of her time to Sheldon, with the other 5 percent to her church. People know when you put them second or third or fourth. You reap what you sow and all that. 

just like the mom on speechless...