Young Sheldon – A Race of Superhumans and a Letter to Alf

By starrymag | January 9, 2019

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

 

The episode starts with young Sheldon (Iain Armitage) watching Conquest of Planet of the Apes on TV. Adult Sheldon (Jim Parsons) remembers how it showed apes being trained on behaving civilly. Missy (Raegan Revord) barges in asking Sheldon to help her with fractions. Though he’s reluctant, it occurs to him that if he can teach Math to his dumb-witted sister he could create a race of superhumans who could do his bidding. Thrilled, he agrees to help.

 

The twins are studying, and Sheldon explains fractions by relating it to pies and pieces. Missy gets fixated on the type of pie. While Sheldon picks banana pie hastily, Missy suggests McDonald’s apple pie also adding the fact that though she’d once burnt her mouth whilst having the pie didn’t deter her away. Sheldon looks on bemused.

 

The doorbell rings and Georgie (Montana Jordan) is surprised to see Veronica (Isabel May). Noticing her shorter hairdo, he asks if she’s there to see him.  Awkwardly, Veronica says that she’s come there for Mary’s (Zoe Perry) Bible study. He welcomes her in with a grin. Veronica thinks he’s interested in Jesus and is surprised. Georgie maintains the ruse.

 

Meanwhile, Missy shows marked improvements. While she’s elated that she finally understood fractions, Sheldon’s thrilled to have successfully taught fractions to a monkey in ten minutes.

 

At the Bible study Mary is surprised to find Georgie all showered, cheery and in attendance. She easily connects the dots upon spotting Veronica and asks him to quit lying if he wants to be a good Christian. She asks him to begin with the reading and though he manages it successfully whilst trying to impress Veronica we see Mary is visibly irked.

 

Missy thanks Sheldon for the help and he asks if she’d want to learn some Algebra as well. He even tries luring her with a banana, but his confused sister is long gone. He later goes over to the library to research on education theory apt for teaching “stupid” people. When the librarian asks him to be more specific, he refers to that time when Missy wrote a fan letter to Alf! Ultimately, he arrives at a Socrates theory that he could experiment on; it states that one always knows the answer and only a correct method of extracting the information is necessary to realize the answer.

 

At school Georgie tells Veronica that he had a dream wherein God said he wanted him and her to spend more time together – helping the poor and all Christian activities. Veronica agrees to their meeting. Georgie struts off muttering that he’s maybe going to hell.

 

He gets home and starts recording to keep proofs of all of his findings in his quest to create “Homo novus” or “new man” for his future generations. George (Lance Barber) walks in and is surprised as usual. When he asks what he wants for dinner given that Mary’s out for Church, Sheldon tries the Socratic theory asking his father in return by giving him hints and it proves to be a success!

 

At the church Mary prays for her family and asks god to help keep Veronica steady on the path of righteousness. Veronica prays for her sister who’s in and needs to shift her focus from drugs to salvation. Georgie prays for Veronica to fall in love with him and that if God makes this happen, he’ll visit the church every Sunday. He also assures God that if their relationship ever graduated to a higher level, he’d become a devout Christian and preach the same. Mary further thanks God for bringing Georgie to church and since both she and God know why he’s come, may he ignore his unnecessary pleas. Veronica asks God to keep her from impure thoughts and help her maintain the sanctity of her body. The three say amen to their prayers.

 

On their way back home, Mary warns Georgie of taking advantage of Veronica as she’s really trying to get better in spite of her troubled family life. Georgie reassures her that they’re just Bible buddies and that God should do something about his mother’s anger. Mary looks on, shell-shocked and in disbelief.

 

Sheldon goes over to Missy who’s listing potential boyfriends for her favorite cabbage patch doll, Celeste. He reveals his research of her already knowing everything and tells that assist in unlocking her vast sea of knowledge. Soon she finds herself staring down a camera as part of his video diary. Upon learning that it’ll be documenting her transformation to future people, she rushes to get into a dressy costume, puzzling Sheldon even more!

 

At school Georgie asks Veronica if she’s free on Saturday. It turns out she’ll be getting baptized and Georgie says he’ll join in. She expresses her joy on being cleaned of her sins. Georgie concurs, adding they can churn out fresh sins later. Veronica feels awkward.

 

Sheldon complains to Tam (Ryan Phuong) about his failed attempt on Missy and that he’s hit a wall. The librarian then hands him another book that mentions the usage of punishment or reward to get necessary results. Sheldon reads and soon decides on the right punishment for Missy ultimately. He decides on hurting the object she loves the most – her dear doll Celeste.

 

At night Connie (Annie Potts) and George are having beer while Mary’s in the kitchen. Georgie gives Mary a heads up on him getting baptized the next day. Shocked, Mary feels his randiness knows no limit, but George finds it okay stating that at his age he wasn’t any better.

 

Baptizing in now underway and pastor Jeff (Matt Hobby) starts with Veronica. Georgie stands there wide eyed as he watches Veronica take the holy dip. Things aggravate at home as Sheldon threatens to cut off one of Celeste’s pigtails if Missy doesn’t dust off her reluctance to study Advanced Calculus. She warns him, but he ends up chopping one of Celeste’s pigtails. Hurt and angry Missy gives him a black eye in return. Georgie takes his holy dip next and is still under Veronica’s spell so he plants a kiss on her lips in front of the whole church and receives a blow in his eye in return. By the end of the day, both of the black-eyed brothers get grounded by Mary.

 

The next day Missy writes a letter to her favorite alien, Alf, wherein she mentions him being funny unlike Sheldon who’s also an alien but a jerky one. She suggests to him food other than cats, such as chicken nuggets and asks him about his favorite color, mentioning that hers is pink.

 

The episode ends with Alf reading Missy’s letter and asks his secretary, who’s apparently not at her place, to get him chicken nuggets and to send one of those pink t-shirt they’ve got with his face on them to his cute little fan named Missy Cooper.