Young Sheldon – A Nuclear Reactor and a Boy Called Lovely

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

The episode begins with adult Sheldon (Jim Parsons) recalling that one phrase every dad in the world uses is, “Close the refrigerator! You’re wasting money.” When George (Lance Barber) commands him the same young Sheldon (Iain Armitage), who’s kept the refrigerator door ajar, says that he’s in between choosing a pudding and jello and needs visual imagery for the same. Moreover, in regards to high electric bills, he states that Missy is (Raegan Revord) more to blame as she keeps the nightlight on while sleeping. George commands him to shut the door anyway.

At school Georgie (Montana Jordan) apologizes to Veronica (Isabel May) for his behavior. Without making it a big deal, she forgives him. Georgie asks if they can go out for dinner Saturday night as platonic friends. Veronica politely declines as she’s already got a date with her boyfriend. This hits him hard as he stands frozen by the lockers. Just then, Sheldon and Tam (Ryan Phuong) pass him by him. While Tam thinks he’s sad, Sheldon feels he’s simply hungry.

Sheldon goes to his Science teacher Mr. Givens (Brian Stepanek) to learn about cheaper methods of electricity generation. Crossing out fossil fuel, hydro and solar for being too hot, too wet and tan-inducing respectively, he chooses “nuclear” – a clean, efficient indoor method that’s essentially safe until something goes horribly wrong. Sheldon next needs to figure out how to build a nuclear reactor for which he leaves a message at the studio creating Professor Proton. Just then, Georgie walks in and Sheldon asks if he was upset or hungry earlier in the day. Georgie asks him to shut up and quietly retires to his room. Sheldon still reiterates it as hunger.

At home, Connie (Annie Potts) receives a call from John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) who wants her to be his plus one at a university event. Initially elated, she asks him to get more information on the event yet somehow she feels uncertain about attending an all-scientist event. She never went to college and fears of not fitting into the crowd. John assures that she’s be loved and he’s excited to show her off. They’re soon interrupted by Sheldon who comes to ask John about sourcing radioactive material. They brainstorm a bit and ultimately arrive at using smoke detectors, which apparently contain trace amounts of Americium 241. Sheldon’s worried about bulk sourcing them at low cost and John suggests calling a few companies mentioning that he needs them for a school project – this would help him source it at zero cost.

At dinner, George and Mary (Zoe Perry) wonder where Georgie is as he didn’t show up. Missy guesses he might be pining about Veronica. Mary goes to check up on him. Initially reluctant to open up, Georgie says he’s upset about Veronica having a boyfriend. To his surprise, Mary asks if it’s Dustin, the lovely guy she met at church. She further reminds him that the lord teaches people to like everybody and this phase shall pass. He’s still finding it unsettling and asks if Dustin’s taller. Mary unsuccessfully attempts to dodge it by saying what counts is how the person is from inside. Georgie sees right through her and asks if he’s a lot taller. Sighing, Mary says yes.

Back at the dinner table, Mary tells George about how crushed their son is and he connects to that familiar hell immediately. Surprised, she asks when did she ever break his heart. George says it wasn’t her and it was a long time ago. Mary dives into probing mode getting George officially into a pickle.

The next day Sheldon’s thrilled to receive his bulk-order smoke detectors and carries his successful sourcing of radioactive material to Professor Proton’s studio who asks for his address immediately. Georgie is home writing a heart-to-heart love letter to Veronica with generous repetitions of the word “love” in it. Mary is still not over George’s mystery heartbreaker and promises to drop it forever once she learns her name. George reluctantly reveals it was Katherine Dempsey. Mary is alarmed that George actually saw her bake cookies for Katherine’s daughter’s birthday, but still never spoke of being in love with her. In his defense, George says that it was young unrequited love and didn’t hold value. When Mary asks if he’d marry her provided she loved him back, George says it doesn’t matter. Mary gets ticked off, big time!

At school, as Georgie conjures up courage to hand over the letter to Veronica, a bully snatches it reading it out aloud in front of everybody. Hurt, Georgie paces away as Veronica watches on.

Meanwhile, Connie and John arrive at the event. Connie is nervous. Soon, they meet one of John’s colleagues Dr. Linklater (Ed Begley Jr.), who specializes in quantum gravity. John introduces Connie as his girlfriend overdoing it a little bit. Embarrassed, she asks him to change the subject and soon they talking quantum gravity. When Dr. Linklater asks Connie is she’s aware about String Theory she smoothly asks him to explain it. He defines if for her using the term “graviton” and to her magical rescue she immediately recollects what Sheldon had once told her about the same topic and blurts out the recollected jargon. In no time, she fits right into the crowd.

Missy and George hang out in the backyard where she tells him about Georgie’s love letter recitation in the hallway and how he overused the word “love.” George feels bad for his son and decides to have a talk. He goes to Georgie’s room who’s packing stuff to move away to Alaska as he can’t show up at school as now Veronica thinks he’s a jerk and rest have started calling him “Lovey Cooper.” George reminds him that he’s a good kid with a huge heart and he’ll find a girl who’s meant solely for him. Just then, Mary walks by commenting about getting himself a Katherine Dempsey. George asks if he can join in for Alaska too, getting Georgie all puzzled. George loudly repeats that he was just fifteen years old, making sure Mary’s heard it.

As the event continues, the trio bond really well. Linklater starts flirting with Connie which makes her uncomfortable. John asks Linklater to be careful. Soon, they enter a war of words which quickly escalates to physical violence. Connie controls the situation getting Sturgis out of the place. When he asks if she’s mad at him, Connie blushedly says that she’s rather turned on.

Later in the day, Connie notices the Mary-George cold war and asks what’s it about. Mary says it’s a punishment for George and she can’t talk about it as per her promise. Moreover, if she started she won’t stop. Soon, the doorbell rings and George goes to get the door. He’s left alarmed as the anti-nuclear squad show up who are here to capturing the radioactive material Sheldon’s kept stashed away. George and Mary take them to him and young Cooper, who’s busy disassembling smoke detectors, turn back only to realize that he might now be in tad bit trouble!