Young Sheldon Season 5 Makes George Sr’s Cheating Scandal Worse

Young Sheldon season 5 premiere makes George’s (Lance Barber) cheating mistake worse. The CBS sitcom has presented a significantly different Cooper patriarch compared to his characterization in The Big Bang Theory. Both grown-up Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and older Mary (Laurie Metcalf) painted George as an ignorant, no-good father, which the prequel spin-off contradicts. However, in order to preserve the established continuity, Young Sheldon doesn’t have any choice but to eventually reconcile their version of the character with how he was originally described in The Big Bang Theory.

It’s no secret that there are a lot of discrepancies in storytelling between the aforementioned sitcoms despite the fact that they exist in the same reality. This is primarily the reason why some fans of The Big Bang Theory don’t like its prequel. But, in recent years, Young Sheldon has made an effort to strengthen its ties to the massively popular show through regular references and Easter eggs. Arguably the biggest disconnect between the shows is the characterization of George, and with Young Sheldon season 4 finale laying the groundwork for his eventual affair, expect this pivotal plotline to be fully tackled in the show’s future.

Obviously, George engaging in an extramarital relationship is heartbreaking; it might even be too dark for a sitcom. But, somehow, the Young Sheldon season 5 premiere was able to make it much worse. Titled “One Bad Night and Chaos of Selfish Desires,” the episode directly picked up from the events of the season 4 finale cliffhanger. While nothing ultimately happened to George and Brenda (Melissa Peterman), their flirtatious encounter made both of them feel guilty about their actions. It’s currently uncertain if they will ever act on their obvious attraction, but regardless, the important thing is that George will eventually cheat as per Sheldon’s story in The Big Bang Theory. This is already a heartbreaking thought, but his conversation with Missy (Regan Revord) in the outing makes it so much more devastating.

When he came home from the hospital, Missy sought his father and apologized for her rude behavior towards him. She was blaming herself for George’s emergency health scare not knowing about what exactly he was doing when he suffered a mini heart attack. They made up, and Missy shared how hurt she was by her middle school boyfriend’s actions. Apparently, he was seen hanging out with another girl behind her back. While this isn’t exactly cheating, this hit a nerve with George since it paralleled his recent interaction with Brenda. Considering the fact that he saw first-hand how devastating it was for Missy to feel betrayed like that, he should’ve known so much better than to subject Mary to presumably more pain and suffering and choose not to cheat instead.

At this point, not much is known regarding what really motivated George to have an affair. Granted that he currently feels miserable in his life, he still seems pretty committed to his wife, exercising some form of self-control in his later interaction with Brenda. Aside from Sheldon, no one else has mentioned the Cooper patriarch’s infidelity. Even Mary, who didn’t hold back in taking shots at his dead husband in The Big Bang Theory never said anything about this. So, it’s curious if there’s anyone else in the family who knew of George’s affair. Depending on how Young Sheldon tackles this plotline, it can reveal how exactly the Cooper patriarch’s behavior affected his whole family.

Don’t expect this to be a central plotline in upcoming episodes, though. While the Young Sheldon season 5 premiere hinted at George giving in to his attraction to Brenda, timeline-wise, Sheldon’s story about catching his father having sexual relations with another woman won’t happen until after a couple of years. For what it’s worth, it’s hard to imagine CBS actively wanting to deal with this scandalous narrative, especially after several years of dancing around it.

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