Young Sheldon season 5 finale has effectively turned the tables on the Cooper parents by redeeming Mary and vilifying George in just one episode.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Young Sheldon season 5 finale.
In just one episode, Mary (Zoe Perry) is redeemed and George (Lance Barber) is vilified in the Young Sheldon season 5 finale. The tables have turned for Sheldon’s (Iain Armitage) parents after a tumultuous season. For a while now, Young Sheldon has been painting Mary as the villain as the show often focuses on her bad tendencies. In an unexpected turn of events, however, The Big Bang Theory prequel has vindicated her and, in turn, cast George in a bad light.
Sheldon’s parents were established in the franchise before Young Sheldon premiered thanks to The Big Bang Theory. Mary appeared on the geek-centric sitcom multiple times and while she can be judgmental and close-minded, she was a devoted mother to the socially-inept genius Sheldon. George, on the other hand, didn’t physically appear on The Big Bang Theory but was described as a negligent parent who didn’t care about his family. Young Sheldon has contradicted both representations of the Cooper parents multiple times in the last five seasons.
Now, however, it seems like Young Sheldon is finally reconciling its version of George and Mary with The Big Bang Theory‘s. In the Young Sheldon season 5 finale titled “A Clogged Pore, a Little Spanish and the Future,” Sheldon’s mother becomes the stand-up matriarch that she is in Big Bang Theory when she immediately picks herself up following getting fired. Knowing full well that they have bills to pay, Mary scours the town for any potential employment until she lands a gig at the grocery store. She even scores a job for George, who has also just lost his employment at Medford High School. Instead of being thankful for the opportunity, however, George shoots down Mary’s offer, essentially saying that supermarket work is beneath him. First, this is extremely offensive considering that working at the grocery is a noble job. Secondly, George doesn’t have the right to be choosy at this point since he rashly quit his job when Medford High School was willing to let him finish the rest of the year.
Throughout Young Sheldon‘s run, it has been careful with how it depicted the Cooper parents, making sure that they fit their own best story in the prequel series rather than The Big Bang Theory‘s description of them. Presenting George exactly as he was described in The Big Bang Theory would have been risky for the sitcom. Instead, Young Sheldon decided to feature flawed but devoted parents. George has been presented as a hardworking man who is taken for granted by his family. And, while Mary gets caught up in her need to please the people at her church, there’s no denying that she cares about her kids. As Young Sheldon progresses, however, it needs to gradually reconcile its version of George and Mary with The Big Bang Theory, and this scene in the Young Sheldon season 5 finale was quite an effective way to start that.
Young Sheldon seasons 6 and 7 are already confirmed, giving the show enough time to continue down this path and complete George and Mary’s transformation. For George, in particular, between his financial problems and Brenda’s (Melissa Peterman) reintroduction in the sitcom, the Cooper patriarch will be subject to more stress moving forward. That could be enough to push him over the edge, finally motivating him to disregard his kids and cheat on his wife before his untimely death.
Young Sheldon will return for season 6 on CBS.
About The Author
