Young Sheldon – A Political Campaign and a Candy Land Cheater

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

Adult Sheldon (Jim Parsons) recollects the incident that drove him to run for Class President before he became the PhD we know him as today. We see Sheldon (Iain Armitage) in the middle of a digestive physiology experiment where Mr. Givens (Brian Stepanek) has asked the students to deposit their saliva in test tubes containing blue Benedict’s solution, which is to be centrifuged and then analysed for glucose content using a spectrometer. It’s Sheldon’s turn. He places his test tubes along with others’ and starts the centrifuge. It begins to whir loudly and soon breaks down causing a splash. Sheldon hurries to the restroom covered in a rather heterogeneous warm blue mucky solution.

At dinner Sheldon complains about the school investing more on football and starving the Science department which has lab equipment falling apart. George (Lance Barber) thinks it’s valid because it’s Texas. Sheldon finds it unfair as stress must be given on education. Connie (Annie Potts) supports and encourages him to write a letter regarding this.

He does so and hands it over to Principal Tom (Rex Linn). He asks Sheldon to run it by his dad/football coach first. Sheldon sighs because his dad didn’t take his idea seriously, but as it turns out Tom doesn’t take it seriously either. On his way out Sheldon spots a notice for Class President elections. He decides to utilize this serendipitous opportunity to voice his opinion.

He goes to Ms. Macelroy (Valerie Mahaffey) who is in-charge of the elections. She makes it clear that it’d be hard for him to win against Nell Cavanaugh (Isabella Coben) who’s adored by the student body. And given these elections bias the more popular candidate, he doesn’t have much odds winning especially because he isn’t liked much. Sheldon feels that elections must be about better ideas rather than who’s more popular. He reveals his idea of spending less money on football, more on science. Ms. Macelroy is bemused.

Sheldon goes home and shares that he’s running for Class President. Missy (Raegan Revord) is sure he’ll get destroyed, but Mary (Zoe Perry) is proud of him. Sheldon asks her if she thinks he’ll win. Missy reminds their mom that God is listening. Mary suggests it’s a possibility but asks him to keep a campaign strategy and catchy slogan ready. Sheldon calls up the mayor’s office for some advice. The mayor (Robert Clotworthy) asks him to go engage with students. Hand-shaking would be an effective tool. Sheldon cringes at the idea of touching people now.

The next day Sheldon starts shaking hands with mittens on and distributes flags with their poles made of pencils. He soon reaches Nell Cavanaugh. He gives her a flag too and mentions the pencil to be a 2.0 which she can use for homework given he loves homework. She accepts it graciously and extends her hand to greet him. He apologizes that he can’t as his mittens have gone for washing. She gives an understanding smile and Sheldon is visibly pleased. His next idea is distributing cupcakes in order to garner public affinity. Mary bakes quite many batches for him.

The next day at lunch Veronica (Isabel May) finds the cupcakes really cute, but Georgie (Montana Jordan) couldn’t be  more embarrassed and hopes his brother doesn’t win. Veronica asks him to pray to God that may he replace his anger towards Sheldon with love. Georgie would; however, prefer if Sheldon got stranded away in an island somewhere. His prayer is almost heard as Sheldon, who’s walking down the hallway, soon finds a poster mentioning “Voting for Sheldon = Voting for Homework. Sheldon loves homework.” He is shocked and well aware who’s behind it.

He goes to Meemaw for advice who asks him to fight fire with fire. He approaches Missy who finds her ruthless enough for matters like these as he’s seen her cheat at Candy Land. She decides to dig up secrets about Nell from her sister who’s her classmate. He could use it against her. Nervous about public speaking, Sheldon seeks advice from pastor Jeff (Matt Hobby) who reveals how he simply asks God to channel words through him when he feels nervous in front of his congregation. Dissatisfied, Sheldon calls Dr. Sturgis (Wallace Shawn). He did have trouble speaking but a fortunate event of getting struck by lightning on a miniature golf field got him the necessary gift of gab. Sheldon approaches his dad. He shares how he was afraid of speaking during his initial days as school football coach but soon he realizes that he was basically addressing teenagers who knew far less than him and it upped his confidence. He appreciates Sheldon for being such a brave kid who’s contesting for elections at ten years of age and he must give much more credit to himself than he’s been giving currently. Sheldon feels emboldened and goes back to his bedroom to prepare his speech. Mary, who’d been eavesdropping, thanks George for encouraging Shelly.

Missy enters the bedroom and hands over the “list” to Sheldon. He thanks her but tells he doesn’t want to stoop as low as Nell and would rather speak on his ideas and what he believes is correct. Missy hands it over anyways and asks to keep it as a failsafe.

It’s D-Day and Ms. Macelroy announces the contestants. Nell is first and she directs her speech on how skewed Sheldon’s ideologies are as while she appreciates spending more on science equipment, does it infer that football’s a wastage? This Medford High cheerleader doesn’t think so. She speaks about her love for God and how Sheldon is an atheist. Pleading to keep these things in mind, Nell ends her speech with the signature “Go Wolves” catchphrase.

It’s Sheldon’s turn now. He’s greeted with a single odd clap. Already feeling doomed, he looks down at Missy’s list kept next to his speech. He shoots off about how Nell’s a New York born Yankee fan who moved to Texas when she was seven years old and now has a pennant in her bedroom for the Yankees. He promises that he’d try getting new lab equipment if he were president. The audience, which was hooting, goes silent instantaneously. Sheldon immediately signs off shouting “Don’t mess with Texas.” The hoot is back. Georgie is pleased with his badass brother!

Sheldon is now the Class President. As part of his duty he starts the day with saying the Pledge of Allegiance on the speaker. He stops at “Under God” and decides to remove it in order to honor the separation of church and state in their public high school. Principal Tom comes out of his office immediately and completes the pledge. Sheldon looks slightly miffed, but lets it go as he’s much more pleased with his new presidential status.