Young Sheldon – A Broken Heart and a Crock Monster

By starrymag | May 15, 2019

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

 

 

Adult Sheldon (Jim Parsons) recollects how Medford High remained closed for a few specific days to allows teachers to catch up on their administrative duties. One such day, we see Mary (Zoe Perry) bringing Sheldon (Iain Armitage) to work.

 

Sheldon stops near the church board and asks Mary if she captioned it. She says yes. He asks if she would consider humorous palindromes. Mary is confused. He explains common ones like RADAR, KAYAK or MOM. Puzzled, Mary walks him to her cabin and tells how she’d like to have him as her little helper for the day. Sheldon designates himself as Executive Assistant and sifts through stuff around the table while Mary goes to meet pastor Jeff (Matt Hobby). She find him sulking over a framed photo in an otherwise dark and gloomy room. He reveals that his marriage is over and shows his wedding pic. He adds how he and his wife don’t even share the same bed anymore. Saddened and feeling awkward about the scenario, Mary calls it a 1950s trend when husbands and wives slept separately. She calls it a mere rough patch which will heal itself. Jeff hopes for the same. Mary is ready to offer any help she can provide.

 

Sheldon checks out the church ledger when Peg (Nancy Linehan Charles) stops by the door. They exchange pleasantries. He comments on how she smells like cigarettes and asks about the role of a ledger. Turns out, it helps document all the donations made. Sheldon wonders why it hadn’t been documented on spreadsheet. Peg has no idea. He sniffs weirdly and adds that she also smells like mothballs and Bengay. Peg sarcastically calls him fun and walks out.

 

At home, Mary informs George (Lance Barber) that she’s inviting the pastor to dinner. He asks if the wife will be accompanying him. Mary says no. Missy (Raegan Revord) senses marital trouble and asks if she’s right. Mary states he’s just coming for dinner. Missy asks if she and dad are having trouble then. Now, George wants to know too. Irritated, Mary confirms it’s just the pastor’s family. She adds that the twins will be dining at their Meemaw’s for the night.

 

At dinner Pastor Jeff says grace. He breaks down midway while exemplifying George and Mary as an ideal couple and tending his broken heart. Beyond uncomfortable, George digs in as soon as the pastor hits “Amen.”

 

Out at a fancy restaurant Connie (Annie Potts) and John (Wallace Shawn) are accompanied by Missy and Sheldon. Missy loves how classy the place is while Connie is lowkey pissed that their date became moot. Missy orders a Croque Monsieur a.k.a. “Crock Monster” in her vernacular. John corrects her and tells it’s just grilled cheese sandwich with ham. Sheldon asks Meemaw about her pending church donations over the past two years. She reveals that she and god had a pact that if she won at a casino she’d chip in, but lately god hasn’t been doing his part. She also reveals that she and John will hit the casino the next day.

 

Georgie (Montana Jordan) gets home and is surprised to find pastor at the dinner table with his parents. Mary asks why he abandoned dinner with Veronica. He reveals that her choir friends came over turning the whole thing into a Bible study. Soon he and Jeff start discussing relationship issues. After they’re done, Pastor Jeff readies to get going to his office where he’s sleep on the couch. Georgie suggests he stay over and sleep in his room. Late at night Mary finds him making himself some tea. She tiptoes back to her room and asks George to go lend some emotional support to Jeff. Half asleep, George asks if he can just pray with his eyes closed, but Mary send him out anyways.

 

George finds Jeff sitting alone. He joins him at the table and starts talking about how hard it can be to have a successful marriage. Jeff agrees, especially having heard numerous shocking and juicy marital woes as a pastor. George wants a sample, but Jeff says he can’t share as he’s bound to maintain privacy. He asks if Mary ever comes to him with similar woes. Jeff tries dodging the imminent question but admits that she does come sometimes.

 

Sheldon starts feeding in all donation data into spreadsheet and realizes miscalculations, tapering of donation amounts over the years and how some wealthy households donate strikingly meager amounts. He calls up these families one by one and explains the importance of church funds. While he succeeds at some he loses on a few. Missy helps him with the latter. She plays the “rise in social status” card for these families and how they could walk with heads held high at the next pancake breakfast!

 

Connie and John are at the casino. Connie is treated like a regular customer and John is amazed to witness this side of her. He finds stuff to entertain himself while Connie starts playing. As the clock ticks away John keeps coming back to her, but she hisses back at him. She’s in a bad mood as the game is not going well. John leaves her alone and has a lemonade by himself at the bar. Connie later joins him to apologize and shows her big win. She asks him to get ready for their date which would be on her now.

 

The next day Jeff readies to go home and asks Mary to accompany him as his wife doesn’t get rowdy when guests are around. A drive later, both are at his house. Pastor Jeff finds a letter left by his wife which says that life’s too short to date losers and that she’s leaving him. Jeff is devastated. On their way back he tells Mary that he’s decided to move on from preaching. Mary asks him to keep steady. As they converse, Jeff skips a red light and gets pulled over.

 

Officer Robin (Mary Grill) who’s new to town seems to take an interest in Pastor Jeff and wishes to check out the church. She initially wonders if Mary is his wife. Mary tells that she’s the church secretary and that she could come by this Sunday as Jeff would be speaking. Robin happily agrees and is about to leave when Jeff asks if she won’t charge him with a ticket. Robin asks if he wants one. Mary says “No” on his behalf and they drive off.

 

The following Sunday the pastor speaks about the historic church donations and the holy power of restoration of faith. Missy and Sheldon are happy. Mary is proud of Georgie who’s in attendance. She asks Robin to make a move soon as the pastor won’t be in the market for long. The officer keenly rogers on that.