Why Dale and Connie’s Young Sheldon [SPOILER] Didn’t Work

Warning: Spoilers for Young Sheldon season 5.

Although it was sad to see Dale and Connie break up on The Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon, the show failed to make the moment work thanks to its rushed presentation. Young Sheldon has, at times, struggled to regain the balance between comedy and drama found in its franchise predecessor. Unlike the fellow family sitcom reboot The Conners, which kept Roseanne’s traditional multi-camera setup, Young Sheldon sought to differentiate itself from the earlier hit The Big Bang Theory by dropping that show’s laugh track and adding a period setting.

The fact that the spinoff changed more about its approach made Young Sheldon a more nostalgic, less broad comedy from its pilot onwards. This has enabled the spinoff to touch on some stories (such as the infidelity of Sheldon’s father) that could have been too sad for The Big Bang Theory. However, this approach doesn’t always pay off as the show is, at its heart, a comedy, and can sometimes struggle to muster the gravitas needed for heavier situations.

Young Sheldon season 5, episode 16 provided a great example of this with Dale and Connie’s breakup, which ultimately fell flat because of the way that the comedy-drama handled the end of the Young Sheldon relationship. Dale and Connie’s Young Sheldon breakup was almost inevitable given how divergent their characters are but, unlike The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon failed to make the relationship drama compelling due to the show’s pacing. The root cause of their breakup was a reasonable one—Dale wanted to slow down and retire whereas Connie wanted to continue living fast, underlining the diametrically opposed worldviews that the duo held. However, the abrupt bluntness with which Dale said “we’re done” was too sudden to be a compelling dramatic moment, particularly when his deliberate persona has always been more measured and composed than Connie’s free-spirited flightiness.

While Dale and Connie’s Young Sheldon break up was an effective surprise precisely because Dale is generally slower to act than Connie. And yet, the moment felt disappointing for those who had hoped for a more meaningful end to their relationship. Well before Young Sheldon season 5, Dale and Connie had already weathered myriad issues that could have sunk their relationship. From their disagreements over Connie’s gambling in the laundromat to Dale’s decision to fire George, the Young Sheldon couple have been through the wringer over the years and always worked things out despite their very different characters. As a result, to see Dale break up with Connie so quickly and to see Connie seemingly accept the blow without much in the way of resistance can easily feel disappointing..

YoungSheldon‘s Connie has been established as a strong-willed character who provided Sheldon with some of his bullish qualities later in life. This means that Connie’s quiet, stunned surprise in response to Dale’s announcement of the end of their relationship in Young Sheldon season 5 seemed out-of-character from the Young Sheldon heroine. To be fair to Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory spinoff might be setting up either a reunion or a more acrimonious fight between the duo in later episodes once Connie has gotten over the initial shock of Dale’s blunt breakup. However, for now, The Big Bang Theory followup has proven that Young Sheldon doesn’t always know how best to handle moving moments of relationship drama despite the series arguably being more concerned with emotional conflict as it leans more towards the drama side of a comedy-drama than the earlier, more light-hearted hit.

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Cathal Gunning
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Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

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