Steven Helmer Publications

Since Young Sheldon is a prequel to The Big Bang Theory , one of the worst-kept secrets on the show was the future of patriarch George Cooper ( Lance Barber ). Being a beloved comedy about to say its final farewells (the series finale is May 16th), I think it is fair to say the show's fans would have been OK had the writers chosen to spare us from the sadness of his death and let it happen sometime between the end of this one and the beginning of the spin-off, Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage . In fact, I thought that was what the show writers were going to do until George went to work at the end of last night's episode,  A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture, and didn't come back. Honestly, it was something that I probably should have seen coming but, even if I did, I think the shock would have been the same. I've watched enough television to have seen plenty of beloved characters killed off. Sometimes those deaths were telegraphed. Other times they were ...

After months of waiting, Mandy ( Emily Osment ) finally gave birth to Georgie's ( Montana Jordan ) baby last night. Unfortunately, the newest Cooper family member, Constance, wasn't enough to prevent what looks to be the possible end for George ( Lance Barber ) and Mary ( Zoe Perry ) as a married couple. I'm not going to lie; it makes me kind of angry because of how easily it could have been avoided. From the pilot episode, George and Mary seemed like the type of couple that has always had its ups and downs. They got married young because Mary was with child, and later had the stress of raising a young and complicated genius. Them having marital problems shouldn't be a surprise. Yet, despite that, it's clear they both still love each other. This is why the fact either of them would think the other is cheating seems almost ridiculous. And unfortunately, this is the type of thing that probably could have been avoided with some simple communication. Were Mary and Georg...

Synopsis: The university is interested in Sheldon's ( Iain Armitage ) database idea, but his parents are upset to find out President Hagemeyer ( Wendie Malick ) wants 90% of the profits. The church threatens to make trouble for Connie ( Annie Potts ) if her new video store continues to rent movies they find offensive. My Thoughts: The percentage might have been a little high, but I don't think President Hagemeyer was out of line. The university is giving Sheldon a free education and essentially making an investment in him. It would also be covering the costs of building the database. It's no different than when the university wanted the lion's share of the guidance system he and his friends developed in The Big Bang Theory .  Dr. Linkletter ( Ed Begley Jr. ), on the other hand, is just trying to get money he doesn't deserve. I'm not even sure how he proves he is entitled to money. I'm not surprised by the church's reaction to the movies in Connie's ...

Synopsis: Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) meets Mandy's ( Emily Osment ) parents ( Will Sasso and Rachel Bay Jones ). While searching for a comic book, Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) comes up with a way to use the internet to make it easier. My Thoughts: Do Missy's ( Raegan Revord ) parents know she has a job?   I am going to assume they do, but the show never really confirmed that. Allowing her to have the job also seems a little out of character for at least Mary ( Zoe Perry ) considering Missy had to lie about her age to get it and is sometimes working until after dark. OK, I'll admit the whole comic book database thing proved to be funnier than expected. I still have a hard time believing Sheldon was the first person to come up with that idea, but it didn't matter because it was kind of fun seeing him get distracted and, instead, trying to re-organize the store with Missy getting annoyed about having to help him, as usual. I would have asked about child labor laws when Mis...

Synopsis: George ( Lance Barber ) is asked to help Wayne Wilkins ( Doc Farrow ) with the football team after Wilkins' wife cheats on him. Mandy ( Emily Osment ) starts to see Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) in a different light after he buys an "ugly" but baby-friendly car, and she learns about the secret business he runs with Connie ( Annie Potts ). My Thoughts: Who was this "best friend" Wayne was referring to? I honestly always thought his best friend was George, considering it always seemed to be George and Tom Peterson ( Rex Linn ) with him whenever he went out to the bar. Is it another teacher at the school? I kind of want to know. I'm undecided about Mandy's change in attitude toward Georgie. It's not as though he hasn't been going out of his way to prove he's a good guy yet, suddenly, she seems to be falling in love with him because he bought a car and because he's running an illegal gambling operation. I'm now wondering if mayb...

Synopsis: When Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) stays overnight in his dorm hall and sees all the rule breaking, he convinces President Hagemeyer ( Wendie Malick ) to make him resident advisor while Connie ( Annie Potts ) convinces Dale ( Craig T. Nelson ) to help her expand her business by going on a road trip to buy poker machines from a sketchy dealer. My Thoughts: I'm a little confused about the whole Sheldon storyline. How does Mary ( Zoe Perry ) giving him permission to spend one night in his dorm room evolve into him being a permanent resident (or at least enough of one to be RA)? I kind of feel like there was a much longer conversation, complete with a brand-new list of reasons why it was a good idea, that was left out of this episode. I know she was trying to have more alone time with George ( Lance Barber ), but her approval of an extended stay would be out of character for her.  Plus, for something that was a spur-of-the-moment decision, he sure seemed to have plenty of cloth...

Synopsis: Missy ( Raegan Revord ) turns to Mandy ( Emily Osment ) when she needs advice about boys and winds up making a bad decision. Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) agrees to help Billy ( Wyatt McClure ) pass 6th grade math and ends up questioning the existence of zero. My Thoughts: Am I the only one who feels sorry for Brenda Sparks ( Melissa Peterman )? I know I probably am not supposed to like her, especially since she is likely the woman who breaks up George ( Lance Barber ) and Mary's ( Zoe Perry ) marriage. However, it is hard not to feel for her. Her husband left her and she's barely surviving financially. Plus, her son has a serious learning issue, which could only add more stress/embarrassment for her. Of course, to be fair, I'm also not completely convinced she is the woman George ends up cheating with. For all the faults she does have, she doesn't seem like a woman who would purposely break up a family. I wonder what happened to the adult Billy. The Big Bang T...

Synopsis: With Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) and Connie ( Annie Potts ) in jail for trying to smuggle cigarettes across the Mexican border, George ( Lance Barber ) enlists help from Dale (Craig T. Nelson) to bail them out. Feeling she is being challenged, Mary ( Zoe Perry ) faces a crisis of faith that only grows when she tries to return to church. My Thoughts: With all the drama affecting the Cooper family, I think the person I still feel sorriest for is Mandy ( Emily Osment ). She's stuck between a rock and a hard place because she doesn't want to marry Georgie (and probably shouldn't) but I'm sure still feels horrible about the fallout created by her pregnancy. I'm sure her conversation with Missy ( Raegan Revord ) didn't help with that. Despite the huge mistake he made, I feel like Georgie deserves a pat on the back. Yes, smuggling cigarettes was a horrible mistake but, as Connie even pointed out, he's at least trying to do the right thing by finding a w...

Synopsis: When Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) gets a pimple, signaling the start of puberty, he begins to worry about the future. George ( Lance Barber ) loses his job as football coach and, along with Mary ( Zoe Perry ), discovers finding a new job isn't as easy as it sounds. Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) comes up with a new business venture to help pay for the baby, but he and Connie ( Annie Potts ) end up imprisoned on the Mexican border. My Thoughts: I think Sheldon's fears about the future had little to do with his pimple. Sure, it factored in a bit and that part of the story was helped tremendously by Penn & Teller . I just think his fear had a lot more to do with the adults around him. Let's face it, the only nurturing presence he has at this point is Missy ( Raegan Revord ), who is also being forced to be more adult-like at a very young age. On that subject, I loved the heart-to-heart conversation between the twins. Once again, this show makes me baffled by the way S...

Synopsis : Tensions run high for the Coopers as a Sunday school altercation involving Missy ( Raegan Revord ) results in Mary ( Zoe Perry ) losing her job and the family being ostracized by their church. When Pastor Rob ( Dan Byrd ) shows up to check on Mary, George ( Lance Barber ) suspects a possible affair. My Thoughts -  Considering how opposed that church seemed to be in an earlier episode about talking to kids about sex , I am a little surprised the parents would even bother to explain the whole pregnant out of wedlock thing to them. I would think that conversation would be a bit too "sinful" for most of those parents to have it. I have to admit, I am surprised by Pastor Jeff ( Matt Hobby ). He sure turned judgmental in a hurry considering all the times the Coopers helped him with his own child. To be fair, he might be afraid to support the Coopers out of fear of losing his job too but, until I hear him make that explanation, he has lost all my respect. I still don...

Synopsis: When Missy ( Raegan Revord ) figures out the family secret, Mary ( Zoe Perry ) swears her and Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) to secrecy about Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) and Mandy ( Emily Osment ) expecting a baby. However, keeping the secret proves to be a lot harder than expected. My Thoughts -  I think I owe Mary an apology. At first, I thought she seemed awfully selfish when she was insisting on Georgie and Mandy getting married. However, this episode proved it was more than just her worried about the embarrassment. Her Bible-study group was quick to abandon her when they learned the news and Pastor Jeff ( Matt Hobby ) doesn't appear to be on her side either. As she predicted, her family is being turned into pariahs. I wonder if this will be the straw that ends George's ( Lance Barber ) coaching career. The boosters were already actively trying to replace him and given their church's reaction to the news, I have to think this would be yet another reason to justify...

Synopsis : After finding out Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) is going to be a father, George ( Lance Barber ) and Mary ( Zoe Perry ) insist on meeting Mandy ( Emily Osment ). However, Mary's insistence on the couple getting married creates a tense situation that brings her own marriage troubles out in the open. My Thoughts: I am going to start out by once again praising how this show portrays George. A lot of sitcoms give the dad characters a bad break by making them seem a bit stupid. George, in comparison, does have quite a bit of common sense and, for all the credit Mary gets, he might be the one holding that family together. His reaction to Georgie's news versus her reaction is a good example of this. She, mostly out of embarrassment, wants a wedding while George could easily tell that was a bad idea. I'm wondering if maybe they should have just told Missy ( Raegan Revord ) and Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) the truth. On one hand, I kind of understand why they didn't tell ...

Synopsis: While Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) struggles with the baby news, Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) copes with the death of his hero, Isaac Asimov. Missy ( Raegan Revord ) tries babysitting for the first time. My Thoughts: At first, I wasn't a big fan of the Isaac Asimov storyline . However, by the end of the episode, it was probably my favorite part. The thing I liked most about it was how the writers used it to give us a glimpse of what Sheldon's grandfather was like. He apparently didn't just encourage Sheldon, he might have been an older version of him, making it easy to understand why he was so important to Sheldon when he was younger. I feel like Georgie was a bit unfair when it came to his dad . I'm not saying George ( Lance Barber ) doesn't have a temper. But, at no point in this series has he been portrayed as a violent person. The scene with Georgie imagining George destroying the cash register was funny but just seemed quite a bit out of character. Speaki...

Synopsis: When Paige ( Mckenna Grace ) visits East Texas Tech as part of a team giving a guest lecture, Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) learns her college experience has been vastly different from his and she is lonely and miserable. Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) finally tells his girlfriend, Mandy (Emily Osment) his real age and eventually learns some life-altering news. My Thoughts: I continue to be impressed  by the way this series tackles the very real issue of discrimination against women in science. Paige could very well be smarter than Sheldon and is (at least normally) less socially awkward. Yet, while he is treated with a reasonable amount of respect by the people at his college, she's treated more as a sideshow attraction.  I think the most telling thing about it has to be the decision to give Paige a 30-year-old chaperone. Sheldon might think it is because she is a troublemaker, but it's fairly obvious that decision is gender specific. After all, Sheldon was allowed to go on...

Synopsis: Meemaw's ( Annie Potts ) financial success puts a strain on her relationship with Dale ( Craig T. Nelson ). Believing he will soon lose his coaching job, George ( Lance Barber ) takes a job at Dale's store while Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) dabbles in the stock market and Missy ( Raegan Revord ) starts her own business. My Thoughts: I absolutely loved the introduction with Sheldon ( Jim Parsons ) and Amy ( Mayim Bialik ) discussing relationships and ultimately getting into a fight over comic books and whether they are considered a sound financial investment. It made me a bit sad The Big Bang Theory is no longer on the air (other than in reruns). This episode seems to be closing a TBBT plot hole regarding George. During TBBT's run, Sheldon mentioned his dad was caught stealing money from the till. This was something that didn't make a whole lot of sense when George was a football coach but, thanks to his potential career change, is starting to become a whole lot...

Synopsis: After their research project shows promise, Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ), Dr. Linkletter ( Ed Begley Jr) and Dr. Sturgis ( Wallace Shawn ) go on a 3-day road trip to a telescope. Meanwhile, as Georgie's ( Montana Jordan ) relationship with Mandy ( Emily Osment ) heats up, Meemaw ( Annie Potts ) wants him to come clean about his real age. My Thoughts: I have to say I was admittedly surprised when Mary ( Zoe Perry ) let Sheldon go on that road trip with almost no resistance. At minimum, I thought she would insist on tagging along as a chaperone because it's not like Dr. Linkletter has ever proven himself capable of taking care of a child and Dr. Sturgis already proved he definitely isn't. Dr. Sturgis' reaction to the armadillo was an interesting one. His admission he wanted to save the injured animal because it reminded him of what could happen to him some day was a lot deeper explanation than I was expecting. Knowing he has mental health issues; it does make me ...