After a total of 19 years of Sheldon Cooper, I don’t know how that world is going to continue. Big Bang Theory’s first episode aired on September 24th, 2007, and with the overlap of Young Sheldon which first aired September 25th, 2017, with its final episode airing just 10 days ago, May 16th, 2024, that is 19 years total of Sheldon Cooper.
I just realized that the Young Sheldon pilot aired 10 years and 1 day after TBBT pilot aired and its season finale was on the same day 5 years later, May 16th, 2019, and 2024 respectively. I wonder if that was coincidence or planned?
Possible *Spoiler Alert* You have been warned.
Audience Reviews say it all.
Review by Jagadeesh Koyya: “Here’s to one of the greatest sitcoms that ever aired. Young Sheldon”
Reviewed by Vincent-u16: “Young Sheldon will make your heart melt. It will make you smile, laugh, cry, … but most of all it will make you feel so warm and full of love. This show is so much more than a television series about the young version of Sheldon Cooper. This show is actually completely independent from The Big Bang Theory. If you haven’t watched it yet, even if you have never seen The Big Bang, go watch this show right now and let yourself be overwhelmed with love.”
Reviewed by Fungo: “The acting is uniformly superb. Sheldon’s mom perfectly evokes Laurie Metcalf’s older version from Big Bang. Annie Potts playing Sheldon’s ‘Meemaw’ is as brilliant as she’s ever been (and that’s saying quite a lot.) And then there’s Iaian Armitage in the title role. He doesn’t mimic the older Sheldon, but he does ring absolutely true as a precocious yet naive kid, totally out of step with his surroundings.”
While yes, we are talking about the Series Finale of Young Sheldon, I don’t feel that you can end Young Sheldon without ending Big Bang Theory completely as well.
Young Sheldon Prequel or Stand-Alone Sitcom?
There are mixed opinions on this topic but with those mixed opinions, I do think it comes down to this. It’s both. The show stands alone. You can watch Young Sheldon with no knowledge of what happens in Big Bang Theory and, while you would probably want to go watch it after the references back to the original show, things are explained well.
However, with that being said, I do feel that they closed out all of Sheldon and his mother’s stories from his childhood very well. Everything from his being terrified of birds to why he knocks and calls out three times every time he knocks on a door. I don’t want to put any spoilers out there but there are definitely things, after watching TBBT that you know to watch for.
For example. You might wonder about the purpose of Sheldon walking in on his mom and dad with his mom dressed in a German Costume like “Helga” after they return from Sheldon’s German College experience. Well, it was because of this, his walking in and his thinking his dad was cheating on his mom, that Sheldon knocks, calls out, knocks, calls out, and then knocks and calls out again before he enters any room.
Other examples include his first experience with the song “Soft Kitty”. The fact that he attended Cal Tech instead of MIT in Boston because of the snowstorm happening when he and George went to visit in season 7. And the teasing her received from his neighbor with his (the neighbor’s) backyard chickens as the reason he is afraid of birds. There were many but I don’t want to ruin all of the surprises.
Through Young Sheldon, you see the start of Young Georgie becoming the Tire King. You see Missy slowly turning into the wild young lady that Sheldon truly doesn’t understand. You also see where Mary, Sheldon’s mom, starts to turn towards the controlling but understanding somewhat fanatical religious woman she portrays in Big Bang Theory.
The Series Finale: Last Three Episodes
I feel that the finale actually spanned the last three episodes of season 7, episodes 12 and 13 were necessary, unfortunately, to wrap up the sad reality that we had all, TBBT fans, had been waiting for during the last couple of seasons, George’s death.
Upon George Sr. receiving the exciting news of finally being offered a college coaching position at Rice University and plans for Mary, George, and Missy to move to Houston, he dies of a heart attack while at work. Episode 13 deals with all of the feelings, changes in the family, after this event including why Mary becomes the person she is in Big Bang Theory (played by actress Zoe Perry’s mother, Laurie Metcalf – brilliant casting).
Now to the last episode.
Season 7, Episode 14: Memoir
The episode opens with Sheldon sitting at his desk in his office looking at his laptop screen. Amy (Mayim Bialik) is trying to convince Sheldon (Jim Parsons) to get ready to go to his son’s Hockey Game. of course, he is presenting his typical argument that completely centers around his own interests, not the interests of the others involved, as he also tries to convince Amy that he has spent his whole life doing things to make others happy.
His reason for not wanting to go is because he is working on the end of his memoir and hockey does not interest him in the least. He goes on to state that he is writing about the end of his time at home, the time after his father dies and he is getting ready to leave for Cal Tech. A very emotional and rivecting time for everyone he insists.
While the overview of Sheldon and Amy hovers in the background, you watch as a very normal family try to pull together, each in their own way mourning the passing of their father who in the end we discover is the personality that held the family together through all of the normal strife that families went through in the 7 seasons set in the late 80s/early 90s.
In the end, Amy, along with Sheldon’s flashbacks, leads Sheldon to come to a very solid conclusion. All of these memoirs, the episodes of the series Young Sheldon, lead to the fact that despite his eccentric intricacies, his parents and family always did their best to support him, even trying to show interest in his own unique goals and activities. He agrees to attend the hockey game and even illudes to wearing the jersey because “it’s cold there.”
Ending Thoughts
While Sheldon, as an adult but truly as a child trying to navigate his way through a world that he doesn’t understand and that truly does not understand him, in the end turns into a lovable, unique character that will live in our hearts forever.
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