***SPOILER ALERT***
So much focus on this episode being a tribute to "The Big Bang Theory" has been covered, that it seems the story leading up to that tribute is overlooked. As you read many reviews of the Season 2 finale for "Young Sheldon," you'll hear how the episode is a tribute to the original series which had it's series finale that very night, just before the airing of this episode. But, oh no. It is much more than that.
Sheldon's teacher and childhood mentor, Dr. John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) has just finished setting up an antique world band radio in the Cooper's garage. I'm not sure about the make and model but that had to be a collector's item even back then. The whole reason for him doing this is because Sturgis is an ex-nominee for a Nobel Prize for Physics, and the two can't wait to listen to a radio station in Ottawa receiving transmissions from Stockholm to find out if he won. The trouble is, nobody else in Medford, Texas seems to give a rat's ass. For as older Sheldon once told us in a Season One episode, the "holy trinity" in Medford was God, Football and Barbecue, although not necessarily in that order.
Nevertheless, he tries to invite as many people as he can for a listening party in his garage. He announces the party on the school PA system, talks to his friend Tam (Ryan Phuong) about it, and even talks to total strangers. His sister Missy tries to warn him that he's wasting his time organizing this party, but he seems to have a little more faith in his peers than he should. There's also a B-Story about Georgie Jr. trying to get his father to install cable TV on their television set, and when he refuses, he buys it himself.
Unfortunately, some kind of commotion at East Texas Tech breaks between the Sturgis and the other professors, and Dean Linkletter (Ed Begley Jr.) calls up Meemaw to tell her that he lost his mind, and uses his alleged breakdown to try to hit on her.
Not even Dr. Sturgis comes to the party, and his mother tells him his idol is "not feeling well," but doesn't go into all the details. Poor little Sheldon has to sit there in tears listening to his mentor lose the prize. So much so that it's hard to believe it would even matter if he won. But, alas there is hope on the horizon. And it comes in the form or that widely praised montage of childhood versions of the characters from "The Big Bang Theory," which serves as double duty, reassuring us that Sheldon Cooper's alienation will not last. He will in fact find friends and lovers in his life.
Even more than that, it's fan service. During the first season of this show, I read all over the internet about fans of The Big Bang Theory complaining left and right; Oh, why does it always have to be about Sheldon? Why can't it be about Raj or Penny or Amy, or whoever? Well fans, your wish has come true. Not only that, some of those characters might appear once again.
One aspect of the episode bothered me though. It was the claim that Sheldon's professor and mentor was suffering from a mental illness. On the day the Nobel Prize winner was being announced, he starts practicing Tai-Chi on the roof of his apartment building. Now, I know there have always been parts of the country that are oblivious to other cultures, but even in rural Texas at the time when the 1980's turned into the 1990's, there had to be enough people who know the difference between a form of martial arts and throwing yourself off of the top of a building. Aside from that questionable definition of mental illness, it was a better than average season finale. Maybe not as good as the first season finales of kids shows such as Phineas and Ferb or Liv and Maddie, but still above average and worth your time.
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