Bad dad or unreliable narrator? Mistreatin’ Missy or sheer child neglect? Young Sheldon
isn’t the childlike fairytale you’d think it is; and for a lot of fans,
the controversy just stirs the pot for a Big Bang in the making!
Most fans can forgive Young Sheldon's producers
for casting actor Lance Barber as the character George Cooper Sr.,
after he played Leonard's bully Jimmy Speckerman in Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory. But usually
they still can't get over the "bad dad" narrative perpetuated in the original show.
"My father used to say that a woman is like an egg-salad sandwich on a warm Texas day."
During its early seasons, Young Sheldon established George Cooper as a caring
and thoughtful father and husband. Sure, he doesn't always get it right and is tough on
the kids sometimes, but it's a far cry from the skeet-obsessed redneck described on The
Big Bang Theory. Barber's performance has prompted many fans online to debate if and
when we’ll see the real George Cooper emerge, with one Reddit user claiming,
"That has been one thing that has irked me to no end. George Cooper Sr's character is
such a well written one. Most of the scenes with him are my favorites from the show."
Another fan suggested that Young Sheldon viewers are seeing the true version of George, speculating
that Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory is just an unreliable narrator. He often recalls events from
his childhood without having all the facts, and even over-exaggerates aspects of other characters.
Some Young Sheldon fans take issue with how Raegan Revord's character
Missy is treated — or rather mistreated — by her family. One Reddit fan commented,
"I don't like that their parents and Meemaw heard Missy say she doesn't
have anyone on her team and yet they still didn't make more of an effort with her."
This moment takes place in Episode 5 of Season 2, while Sheldon and Missy are being evaluated
in a twin study. Missy, who’s observed by Dr. Thorpe as being very perceptive,
says her perception comes from being on her own a lot. She explains that her mom,
dad, and Meemaw are often busy tending to Georgie or Sheldon,
so she has no one supporting her. Shocked by this realization, they do initially start to make
more of an effort to be there for her, first by letting her pick the restaurant on the way home.
However, the Coopers' neglect of Missy largely continues, giving Revord some big scenes in
Season 6. As another Reddit user pointed out, her family just continues to prove that they aren't
really on her team, leaving Missy to feel like the forgotten member of the family. This is especially
true when she misses the birth of her niece, and in the following episode, she runs away from home.
When the series kicks off, Sheldon's maternal grandmother Connie Tucker nicknamed Meemaw,
hasn't moved on from the death of her husband four years earlier. As Season 1 continues, she starts
to form a connection with Sheldon's professor and friend, John Sturgis. By the season finale,
they've made their relationship official with Sheldon's first-ever relationship contract.
"Please sign and date."
"You know, Seldon. I'm a notary, if that helps." "Just when I thought you couldn't get cooler."
Young Sheldon fans were thrilled to see this relationship blossom,
with a user on Reddit commenting,
"John and Connie are so full of love and understanding [...] Kudos to the
makers for hitting the sweetest spot on the show!"
Another user agreed, commenting,
"Can we please have John and Connie forever? They are so adorable together."
However, John and Connie's relationship only lasted one season, with them splitting after
John's mental breakdown at the end of Season 2. Even though Connie has since dated Dale
Ballard — played by Craig T. Nelson — Young Sheldon fans are still seemingly unable to
get over her split with John, with many still hoping they'll get back together.
Emily Osment's character, Mandy McAllister, has been part of Young Sheldon since she met Georgie
midway through Season 5. Their relationship quickly developed and by the time the season
was out, Mandy was pregnant. However, before they discovered they're going to be parents,
their romance abruptly ended when Georgie admitted he wasn't 21 years old,
but actually 17. Early in Season 6, Georgie tries to get back into Mandy's good graces,
doing everything he can to make her pregnancy more comfortable.
They continue to learn about one other, often acting like any dating couple.
But when Mandy and Georgie bring the newborn Constance Cooper — nicknamed CeeCee — home
from the hospital, they're still not a functioning couple no matter how
devoted they are to their child. Although Osment is a welcome addition to the cast,
many fans want the show to move on from this "situationship," with one Reddit user commenting,
"This whole thing with Mandy and Georgie is quite ridiculous. Can
they just have them officially together already?"
Not all fans are rooting for the pair, with some suggesting that Georgie would be better
off without Mandy. But either way, it seems as if things are finally moving in some direction,
initiated by Georgie's surprise proposal late in Season 6.
When viewers first meet Mckenna Grace's Paige in Season 2, she's a sweet,
gifted child who eventually takes a dark turn after her parents' divorce. By Season 3,
it's clear this child prodigy is struggling.
"Everything that used to seem important to me just doesn't anymore."
By Season 6, Paige has taken on a new title of the underage party girl. As a Reddit user pointed out,
"Each guest appearance has shown her progressively getting worse."
Paige once admitted to Sheldon that she wasn't being taken seriously as
a young woman in science, and ultimately dropped out of college. Paige loses her
way and winds up back at East Texas Tech, with one Redditor observing,
"Now she's just going off with a nasty attitude and then getting drunk at parties,"
Some Young Sheldon fans were completely shocked by this;
suggesting that her actions are an obvious cry for help, with one user commenting,
"The show won't go that deep, but I wonder if she lived to see her
20s. It looks like her teenage years are going to be dark."
The world isn't always fair and Young Sheldon proves it in Season 5 when Mary is fired from
her job at the church. Matt Hobby's Pastor Jeff brings Mary, George and Pastor Rob — played by
Dan Byrd — into his office after the congregation learns that Georgie is
having a baby out of wedlock. He beats around the bush before telling Mary that she needs to leave.
Although she quickly finds a job working at the bowling alley,
audiences criticized Pastor Jeff for firing her. One Reddit user commented,
"I feel like Jeff is a hypocrite. Being divorced is enough to disqualify him even
being a Baptist pastor. One would think he'd be more sympathetic."
Other fans agreed that, while wrong, Pastor Jeff was pressured into it to save face with the
other members of the church. But this storyline is probably not over yet. When we see Mary in The Big
Bang Theory she's still involved with the church, so maybe Pastor Jeff will make things right.
Of course, many of the biggest storylines in Young Sheldon are dictated by The Big Bang Theory. One
that looms over the whole series is the death of George, which is supposed to occur when Sheldon
and Missy are 14 years old. With George having two heart attacks in the first five seasons,
Young Sheldon has been setting the tone for this storyline for a long time.
"Enough questions. He's a fat, middle-aged man with chest pains. Do something!"
By Season 6, the twins are nearing that age and some fans are bracing for impact,
with a Twitter user commenting,
"It occurs to me that the show has to have George die before the end
and I don't think I'm emotionally ready for that."
Other fans are hoping to avoid the heartbreak, convinced by the differences in George's
character between Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory that his death won't happen. However,
writer and executive producer Steve Holland told TVLine that the show would be largely
sticking to the canonical events laid out in The Big Bang Theory.
Some Young Sheldon fans have always been critical of our protagonist, favoring other characters and
storylines, but now — in Season 6 — some think he's become completely irrelevant. While the
young genius furthers his education at East Texas Tech, and works on his database project,
some viewers suspect that there's no more room for Sheldon's development. A Twitter user commented,
"The worst, least likable, and uninteresting character on Young
Sheldon is Sheldon. And it's not the actor's fault. Iain's Sheldon cannot
grow beyond the point at which we first saw the character in BBT."
In a Reddit thread discussing Sheldon's lack of a solid storyline, one user said.
"Now it feels forced and weird. The other characters have storylines
that grow and move along. Sheldon's academics have just become boring."
Another user agreed, adding,
"They're seriously going to have to figure out where they want to take
his character by the end of the seventh season."
George and Mary don't have the perfect marriage, but their hearts usually are in the right places.
However, there are some things that Mary can't always get from George — like deep conversation.
As a result, she's grown closer to Pastor Rob; her close friend, confidant, and smoking buddy.
"What's going on here?" "Uh, praying. We're praying."
"Just praying."
While it's pretty clear that the youth pastor wants more than a platonic friendship,
and Mary's been fantasizing about being together with him,
nothing has actually happened between the pair. And some fans are angry over
how seemingly ridiculous this storyline is, with one Twitter user commenting,
"The Young Sheldon plot [with] Mary being accused of cheating with Pastor Rob [...] deal with being
thrown out of her church and maybe have one (1) friend makes me want to put my tv through a wall."
Other fans on Reddit claimed that they couldn't see Mary cheating on George, believing that the
show is unnecessarily building up her possible fling with Rob only for dramatic effect.
Sheldon explains in The Big Bang Theory that he once walked in on his father with another woman,
but some Young Sheldon fans can't seem to get over the storyline in which George cheats.
This is since it doesn't fit with the character they've gotten to know. One viewer commented,
"The Mary and George parts are disappointing. I hate it that their marriage is bad that they
are looking at others. Sad. I liked it much better when they loved only each other."
Some audiences think Geroge's budding affair with Brenda Sparks — played by
Melissa Peterman — is just an attempt to stay faithful to The Big Bang Theory. One viewer said,
"No reason to ruin a good show trying to be faithful to another show that's off the air."
How far George has taken this budding affair with
Brenda is unclear, but while they're at the hospital in Episode 14 of Season 6,
they exchange banter which seems to suggest some form of intimacy.
"I did not give you a heart attack." "You gave me something."
"Well."
In the episode "A Launch Party and a Whole Human Being" — moments after that hospital
scene between George and Brenda — Mary enters with Pastor Rob in tow.
"I hear we're having a baby. What? Did I miss it?"
However, nobody is particularly focused on the laboring mother at that moment. Instead,
with Mary catching on that George is Brenda's mystery man,
and George thinking that Mary and Pastor Rob were doing more than just grabbing lunch for hours,
their relationship reaches a breaking point. Speaking to TVLine, executive
producer Steve Holland explained why this was the perfect time for this to come to a head,
"We didn't want to do the traditional 'you're in the delivery room and she's
panting' episode [...] it just seemed like a great way to have these stories all crash together."
Some viewers think the cheating storylines are a bit ridiculous, and agree that the birth of their
granddaughter is neither the time nor the place to get into them. One Twitter user commented,
"Mandy's mom is the worst but she has a point. Mandy is in labor but the only
real family she has at the moment would rather fight over their crushes than check on her."
If Georgie's situation with Mandy is anything to go by, it's clear he's willing to lie to
get a girl. In Season 2, Georgie meets and starts dating Veronica — played by Isabel
May. But after an intense make-out session, Veronica decides to change gears and devote her
life to Christianity. So in order to keep dating Veronica, Georgie pretends that he's also devout.
"Georgie, if you want to be a good Christian, maybe you
should stop lying through your teeth." "Just be happy I brushed them, okay?"
But their relationship ends shortly after, with Veronica last seen across
a restaurant when Gerogie's on a date with his new girlfriend. Although she
only appeared for a handful of episodes in the first three seasons of Young Sheldon,
fans enjoyed Veronica's transformation into a responsible young woman and were disappointed
in her abrupt departure. On Reddit, a user posted,
"Is anyone else annoyed at the removal of Veronica? She was one
of my favorite characters and I loved her relationship with everyone on the show."
Several other fans agreed, noting that Veronica's storyline never came to a satisfying conclusion.
Others are hoping that she'll return and reunite with Georgie, with a viewer commenting,
"Veronica seemed like a sweetheart and I think
she'd [have] been a better fit for Georgie instead of Mandy."