Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Is Making Young Sheldon’s Missy Crime Worse

Warning! SPOILERS about Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1, episode 20 ahead.

Mother’s Day caused its share of chaos in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, but the character hurt the most, despite her small appearance, turned out to be Missy, worsening Young Sheldon’s crime against Missy. Young Sheldon’s focus on the titular character made its story’s tendency to ignore Missy make sense. This became more difficult to justify after the Big Bang Theory prequel became more of an ensemble TV show. Indeed, if Young Sheldon’s earlier seasons could be faulted for Missy being taken for granted, it became clear that her own family consistently ignored Missy in the TBBT prequel’s later seasons.

While Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage was never supposed to focus on the Cooper side of Georgie’s family, both Mary and Missy appeared a handful of times in the Young Sheldon spinoff. Indeed, with Young Sheldon ending abruptly, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1 needed to show how badly the Coopers had taken George Sr.’s death. Given how TBBT had already established what happened in the aftermath of George Sr.’s death, it would have been odd for First Marriage not to show Missy’s rebellious phase, but one detail in its portrayal of that makes its treatment of Missy worse.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Only Shows Missy’s Mistakes

Every Time Missy Appeared In First Marriage, She Was Shown As Unreasonable

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’s portrayal of Missy has been biased, to put it mildly. The only time the Young Sheldon spinoff showed Missy as more than a troublemaker was when Georgie brought her to George Sr.’s tombstone in First Marriage episode 2, so that she could still feel close to their father, but even that only pushed Missy to be more closed off.

The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon had already established that the aftermath of the Cooper patriarch’s death would entail Missy’s “dumb teenager” phase, making Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’s focus on Missy’s shenanigans partially justifiable, at least for the fact First Marriage started mere weeks after George Sr.’s death. However, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage routinely shows only Missy’s negative sides, focusing on her rebellious misconduct and making other characters comment on her failings, instead of showing Missy’s perspective and what she’s feeling.

Indeed, Missy’s appearances in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage either involve her being angry and referring to Mary viciously, or see her act out. This couldn’t have been more evident than in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage episode 20, during Georgie’s enquiries about Missy’s plans for Mother’s Day, which ended up in cruel name-calling at Mary’s expense. First Marriage episode 20 also revealed that Missy had become the example used when a character wanted to convey what a bad daughter was, and it was evident in how Audrey and Mary’s bickering turned into a fight at the mention of Missy.

How Showing Missy’s Perspective Can Make Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Do Her Justice

Understanding What Motivates Her Rebellion Gives Missy Agency

Custom Image by Ana Dumaraog

The few moments Missy appeared without her conflict with Mary overshadowing her story offered glimpses of her deep-seated hurt. Indeed, Missy’s running away with Todd in First Marriage episode 17 showed she still looked for an adult figure to look up to, having been left virtually alone even after George Sr.’s death, as Mary sought comfort within her church. Even if it can’t focus on Missy, by showing her perspective and where she’s coming from, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage can give Missy back her agency instead of having her described by other characters, with no insight into her reasoning.

Will Missy Ever Be Redeemed?

First Marriage’s Focus On Georgie & The McAllisters Makes It Unlikely

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1 brilliantly established itself as a separate entity from Young Sheldon, and its focus on Georgie and Mandy, as well as the McAllisters as a whole, doesn’t let much time to be spared on Missy or other Young Sheldon characters’ development if it doesn’t serve First Marriage’s story. This makes Missy’s redemption anytime soon highly unlikely.

However, this doesn’t mean Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage should continue to portray Missy so unfairly. After all, Meemaw’s gambling storyline already proved that First Marriage can focus on a Young Sheldon character while preserving their multifacetedness. Showing more than Missy’s rebelliousness in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage can still abide by what was established by The Big Bang Theory, while also portraying Missy as a fully-fledged character instead of just a string of “dumb teenager” mistakes.

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