Young Sheldon – A Stunted Childhood and a Can of Fancy Mixed Nuts

By starrymag | December 13, 2018

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

 

 

The Coopers are out for shopping. Connie (Annie Potts) wants to buy heels but Mary (Zoe Perry) reminds her that she’s already taller to John (Wallace Shawn). Connie says John likes her to be all dominant while they’re messing around, causing Mary to cringe.

 

Mary goes over to help Sheldon (Iain Armitage) who’s not happy with the available pair of loafers as he needs a specific color. Coincidentally, Linda (Andrea Anders) and her daughter Paige (Mckenna Grace) cross the isle. Paige and Missy (Raegan Revord) are delighted to see each other and they leave for the ‘Hello Kitty’ store. Sensing the struggled shoe purchase, Linda bluffs about Einstein wearing similar shoes winning Sheldon’s confidence in no time. While going home Missy suggests inviting Paige for a sleepover, but with Sheldon not giving up his bed and Meemaw not accommodating him on date night, she decides to share her’s with Paige.

 

The next day Linda comes over to drop off her daughter. Seeing Sheldon busy finishing his Chemistry homework to gain extra credit, Paige says it’s cute. She shares that she’d done the same last year. Missy is thrilled to see Paige and wants to introduce her to the dolls. As they retire to the bedroom, Sheldon mimics Paige’s comment looking all offended.

 

Connie here is driving John to an early bird dinner as apparently John’s had issues with eating late since forever, so much so that he was nicknamed “Ole Burpy” back in grade school. John also reveals that he wants to learn driving because as much as he enjoys Connie as the dominant one behind closed doors, he needs a macho public image now. He asks Connie to teach him driving and in return he’d teach her Science to make her look smart in front of her grandkids.

 

Paige and Missy are on a tea break and Paige shares information about the discovery of tea. She tells Missy about how a leaf that accidentally fell into boiling water led to it’s serendipitous discovery. This leaves Missy baffled as she always thought that tea came from supermarkets. Both break into laughter.

 

At dinner, when George (Lance Barber) asks Sheldon why didn’t he join the girls for picnic he states that he’s no hippie to be dining outdoors. He also clears Georgie’s (Montana Jordan) doubt by stating that Paige is a colleague more than a friend who’s now behaving like a ten year old. Mary explains it’s because she is a ten year old. Poor Georgie is perplexed as he tries figuring out what “colleague” means. Mary and George roll eyes.

 

The girls are playing paper fortune teller and Paige invites Sheldon to play. He declines and is too awed to witness a smart person like her playing this game. Paige finds it fun and Missy tells her that Sheldon’s an old man incapable of having fun. When Sheldon disagrees, Missy asks him what is his favorite color. When he says it’s “Khaki,” Missy officially declares him old.

 

Paige and Missy’s shenanigans aren’t letting Sheldon fall asleep. He suddenly wakes up in the middle of the night finding both the girls missing. Wandering around the house, he finally locates them in Georgie’s room where they’re tying his ankles together so that he trips when he tries to wake up. Sheldon’s worried he might get hurt, but Missy feels it’d only happen if they got lucky! Not eager to be a party to this, he stomps back to his room as Missy calls him old, yet again.

 

The girls are back in the room and Paige is colorfully narrating a ghost story. Just as she reaches the climax, Sheldon interrupts pointing out all the unscientific details. She reminds it’s all for fun adding that adults with stunted childhoods like his grow up to be social misfits and weirdos. He doesn’t believe her, but when she details on the magazine name and issue he plunges into thought. Remembering this night, adult Sheldon (Jim Parsons) assures that he’s grown into a charming well-adjusted individual now. The next morning Missy calls Georgie for breakfast saying there’s Eggos. Tempted, he gets up and… thud! The girls chuckle.

 

At school, Sheldon verifies Paige’s claim and that gets Tam (Ryan Phuong) worried as well. He too believes that he’s living a stunted childhood as he either does homework or practices cello or works at his parents’ store. Sheldon plans to take a corrective action by goofing off, engaging in horseplay and acting immature. He asks if Tam would like to join, but he says he’d rather marry an American woman and hope she’d fix him, leaving Sheldon puzzled.

 

It’s afternoon and Missy is on the swings. She’s surprised when Sheldon joins her in an attempt to be carefree. He tries with great difficulty and within minutes Missy storms into the house screaming that Sheldon threw up on her! In order to behave childishly, Sheldon next goes to a comic book store and stops at a Bazinga rack where it’s written that if it’s funny it’s Bazinga. This puts him in thought.

 

John is busy with the driving written test and shares that though he generally gives tests, this time he’s taking one. Connie asks him to be quiet. He continues with the test as Connie watches on. Later, he successfully drives out but gets nervous at the traffic signal upon witnessing yellow light. He manages to drive past, but ultimately tells Connie that he won’t be able to drive as there’s too much variable involved. Connie tells him that whether he can drive or not, she’d still love him. John reciprocates back and both the lovebirds smiles from eye to eye. When Connie asks if he wants to switch seats, he says a little later as his feet are wobbly. She asks if it’s because of the yellow light or the “love you’s” making John blush even more.

 

At home, Sheldon is busy trying out the bazingas on George with a gum prank and later on Georgie with a can of fancy mixed nuts. He also prank calls Billy Sparks (Wyatt McClure) and later Meemaw. Witnessing the latter to be a disaster and Sheldon feeling defeated, Missy concludes that her twin brother will indeed grow up to be a weirdo. Seeing her brother upset and worried, Missy goes to sit besides him to assure that it’ll all be alright. She sits and a fart noise comes from under the sofa mattress. She looks at Sheldon surprised as she had no idea he was faking. Sheldon Bazinga-s her and walks out triumphantly as adult Sheldon remembers that to be the moment his prankster self had been born.

 

At dinner, George asks John how his first driving lesson went. John starts explaining the yellow light fiasco and how he managed to pull through. His narration holds Sheldon’s rapt attention and Sheldon points to Missy telling her that this is how a story should be told. Missy rolls her eyes. On a lighter note, John also adds that Connie loves him. Connie’s all smiles and so are the rest as they continue with their dinner, smiling ear to ear.