Young Sheldon – Pasadena

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

Sheldon (Iain Armitage) learns from the internet that the following weekend Stephen Hawking will be giving a lecture in Pasadena. He interrupts George’s (Lance Barber) shower requesting a trip to California, but George says no as the flight tickets would be too expensive. At school, when George motivates a dejected soccer team to dig deeper when something doesn’t work out, Sheldon pops up wondering if it implies that they can go to California if he finds cheaper tickets? Sheldon shows up at Medford Travel. There the travel agent (Kerry O’Malley) lets him know the such close flying dates would be pricey but weekday flights, multiple-layover trips and cases of “death in a family” would help reduce costs. Sheldon rings up Meemaw (Annie Potts) to check if she’s alive. Connie answers shattering all his hopes.

Georgie (Montana Jordan) is leaving to meet Jana (Availed Allan). Noticing how frequently they meet, Mary (Zoe Perry) wonders if she’s his girlfriend. Georgie gets irritated and asks dad to explain while he leaves. Mary doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t open up to her. George asks her to look back at her teen years. Mary considers herself cool and fun enough. This makes George chuckle. Sheldon shows up. He tells his mom about the lecture in CalTech and then reveals about how a Wednesday flight with four layovers would just cost $95 each. George still says no worrying about such a long leave from work. Mary isn’t ready to accompany either. Heartbroken, Sheldon retires to his room. Missy (Raegan Revord) finds it funny that he actually thought that their parents would allow him a flight to California when they don’t even buy her books from the book fair, forcing her to issue dirty library copies. She asks him to suck it up this time as he always gets what he wants. Sheldon doesn’t argue with that notion. Mary approaches Connie as she’s disturbed about Georgie. Seeing that Connie too knows about Jana it seems Mary wishes that she knew more. Connie thinks she raised a turd as Mary not only worries about Sheldon not being normal but also remains disturbed with Georgie’s normalcy.

Considering Missy’s advice, Sheldon tries sucking it up but everything reminds him of Stephen Hawking. Meanwhile, Mary is mad upon overhearing Georgie and Jana’s phone call where both teens decide to meet at Jana’s place with her parents being out of town. Plus, Georgie is planning on not informing his parents. Sheldon is distracted at Dr. Sturgis’s (Wallace Shawn) lecture and even the professor’s jaunty new reversible vest doesn’t seem to improve his mood. John feels sorry for Sheldon upon learning about the issue but suddenly gets an idea. As Georgie prepares to leave to meet Jana, Mary stops him and inquires. He lies about her parents being at home. Mary decides to call and confirm but Georgie stops her. Mary reveals that she knows everything. Georgie is appalled that he was spied on and challenges her to try and stop him. She warns him that she’ll get George involved if he doesn’t stop. Georgie feels hurt and returns to his room. Missy is shocked upon overhearing the showdown. When George gets back Missy fills him in on everything and Sheldon excitedly reveals that the university will sponsor their flights as well as their stay in California. Missy’s thrilled to know that they’ll go to California but it crumbles down as she learns that it’s only for Sheldon and dad. Missy expresses her joy sarcastically and storms off. Mary is now willing to accompany Sheldon as she feels that a brief separation from Georgie is in order. However, George isn’t willing to let go of his opportunity to visit California. Mary sarcastically wishes him luck managing Sheldon’s bathroom schedules in a different timezone.

As the duo get ready to leave Mary takes their photo. At home she prepares dinner while Georgie is watching TV. It turns out that he’s not interested in eating. Mary doesn’t allow him to watch TV either. Georgie mutters that he cannot wait to move out. When Mary asks him to be louder, he promises to say it on the phone next time so that she could spy on him. Missy is bummed on her way to baseball practice. She complains to Connie about how Sheldon always gets everything he wants. Connie decides to turn Missy’s day better by doing something fun after practice. They decide to get Missy’s ears pierced.

After stuffing hand luggage in the overhead compartments, George asks Sheldon to pick the aisle or window seat. He’s torn between sitting closer to the bathroom and getting to watch the take off and landing. Seeing the passengers lined up on the aisle, the flight attendant (Amanda Payton) comes to help the Coopers. George shoves Sheldon on the aisle seat and himself sits by the window thus settling the commotion.

Mary tries engaging conversation with Georgie, but it’s all in vain. He is done talking with her. Mary goes to his room and calmly lets him know that life is hard enough but bad choices make it harder. When Georgie apologizes for not growing into the perfect kid that she was, Mary discloses how she used to skip school to chug beer in her boyfriend’s truck and how she once stole Meemaw’s car only to end it up in a ditch. Georgie is further shocked to learn that the boyfriend wasn’t even his dad. He tries assuring his mom that he wouldn’t have gotten Jana pregnant but Mary goes on to share how this same thinking and tequila got her married in a rush. Georgie is stunned to know that he was a mistake. Mary calls him a blessing.

As the safety instructions begin, Sheldon starts feeling nervous about pressure drops and emergency water landings. He locks himself in the bathroom and George follows despite the flight attendant asking them to return to their seats. He explains to Sheldon that he needs to get through this to see Stephen Hawking. George asks him to be as brave as Spock. Sheldon tears up as he’s not him. George asks him to play pretend like he sometimes does and promises to be Kirk. Sheldon settles back to his seat and, unlike his fictional character, he holds Kirk’s hand as their flight takes off. They soon reach CalTech. Sheldon walks through the corridors and is surprised to find very few tanned people unlike what he was once told. Upon reaching the cafeteria, Sheldon wonders how many intellectually stimulating conversations might’ve taken place in that room. He tells dad that he could see himself there in the future.

Indeed, he was right!