Young Sheldon Shows He Was Wrong About His Dad In Big Bang Theory

Young Sheldon shows that Sheldon’s perception of his dad was wrong all along in The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) held a lot of resentment toward his late father George Cooper in The Big Bang Theory for cheating on his mother when Sheldon was a child. He always framed George as being a neglectful parent, implying he was an alcoholic redneck, but Young Sheldon sheds new light on the reality of who George was.

The spinoff prequel series Young Sheldon begins with Sheldon (Iain Armitage) attending high school in East Texas at only nine years old. Parsons lends his voice to the series as a narrator reflecting on his childhood, and the show explores what it was like for him to grow up with a family that was very different from himself. Although Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf) makes many appearances as Sheldon’s doting mother in The Big Bang Theory, the original series rarely reveals much about the rest of his family, often relying on throwaway lines from Sheldon to reveal anything about his life growing up in Texas. Concerning his deceased father, Sheldon never had anything kind to say, but his harsh words may have neglected to capture the whole truth.

Young Sheldon portrays George, Sr. (Lance Barber) as a hardworking father striving to support his family, which is a very different light than how he’d been described throughout The Big Bang Theory. He also wasn’t an alcoholic or even a particularly hard drinker, and while he was blue-collar, he was hardly a redneck. The show also reveals that Sheldon wasn’t entirely blameless in his behavior, either. George’s family often treats him poorly, especially Sheldon, his twin sister Missy (Raegan Revord), and their maternal grandmother Meemaw (Annie Potts), who enjoys mocking George’s intellect and doubting his paternal relation to the much smarter Sheldon. Despite this, George has repeatedly supported and defended his son, helping to convince his wife Mary in Young Sheldon (Zoe Perry) to let Sheldon attend college after his sophomore year of high school. George is also the head football coach at his children’s school, which his eldest son Georgie (Montana Jordan) is a part of, further involving him in his family’s lives and illustrating how much he supports his children, despite their regular lack of gratitude.

Of course, this does not forgive or erase George’s cheating, and the series does not seem to be condoning his mistakes either. Yet, it does paint Sheldon’s dad in a more sympathetic light and shows that adult Sheldon is an unreliable narrator when it comes to his father. Regardless of how intelligent Sheldon was at nine years old, he was still a typical child in many ways, and a single betrayal, even if it wasn’t directly against him, can leave a lasting impact. Nor is Sheldon adept at navigating emotions. As The Big Bang Theory showed, Sheldon may have been an intellectual genius, but he is emotionally stunted. Adding the fact that George, Sr. died when Sheldon was just 14 means that Sheldon never got a chance to revisit his feelings on his father as an adult. He’s left with his childhood memories, and those are not always the most dependable.

By letting Sheldon’s dad be more than just a memory, Young Sheldon reveals that the child genius may not have been right about everything. George gets a chance to unveil a different side to his character and be more than just a deadbeat cheater who died too soon. Both The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon have never shied away from Sheldon being in the wrong about something, but this scenario allows for more nuance than either show typically explores. If nothing else, it’s refreshing to see that for all their faults, Sheldon’s family does truly love him, and he loves them in return.

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