While Young Sheldon’s Cooper family are constantly making fun of each other, The Big Bang Theory’s canon made one of Meemaw’s jokes secretly tragic.
Although Young Sheldon season 7’s biggest tragedy has not yet occurred, The Big Bang Theory’s spinoff did hint at this sad twist with one bleak joke. Young Sheldon doesn’t always stick to The Big Bang Theory’s canon, but the prequel does preserve the most important details from its predecessor. Young Sheldon’s cast of characters all differ from their portrayals in The Big Bang Theory, but the spinoff mostly preserves the main events of Sheldon’s childhood and adolescence. Keeping this balance has been increasingly difficult since Young Sheldon’s season 6 finale as the series nears its ending.
Young Sheldon will end with its season 7 finale, but the show needed to clear up a few major canon inconsistencies before that. Season 7, episode 4, “Ants on a Log and a Cheating Winker,” retconned George Sr’s affair by revealing that Sheldon just misinterpreted his parents engaging in role-play. Similarly, episode 7, “A Proper Wedding and Skeletons in the Closet,” saw Young Sheldon explain The Big Bang Theory’s Meemaw and her character shift when Sheldon’s grandmother was arrested for running an illegal gambling room. This arrest and her subsequent trial should justify Meemaw’s less rebellious persona in the earlier show.
Meemaw’s Jokes About George Sr Were Terribly Timed
Sheldon’s Father Will Die Suddenly Before Season 7’s Ending
However, the biggest canon inconsistency between the two shows remains unresolved. The Big Bang Theory canon stated that Sheldon’s father, George Sr, died when he was a teenager, meaning Lance Barber’s character would pass away before Young Sheldon’s series finale. Bizarrely, episode 9, “A Fancy Article and a Scholarship for a Baby,” featured a dinner table scene wherein Meemaw mocked George Sr’s weight mere episodes before he died from a heart attack. Although Meemaw couldn’t have known about the event, viewers are well aware of the impending tragedy. This glib nod to Young Sheldon’s George Sr death was jarringly bleak.
Meemaw saying that George Sr might have earned an A in school if lunch were graded would have been petty at the best of times. However, the comment was particularly barbed since it is reasonable to guess that George Sr’s death was caused by a heart attack. As far back as season 1, episode 3, “Poker, Faith, and Eggs,” Young Sheldon foreshadowed the cause of George Sr’s sudden death. Sheldon’s father suffered a mild heart attack in that earlier outing, leading to the assumption that another heart attack would be the eventual cause of his canonically sudden, unexpected death.
George Sr’s Comments Made This Young Sheldon Moment Worse
Sheldon’s Father Protesting Made The Bleak Moment Sadder
As if this scene weren’t dark enough already, George Sr’s comments only made matters worse. Defending himself to Meemaw, he pointed out that he had recently lost weight. George Sr defending his lifestyle makes his impending death even sadder since it is clear that he didn’t know there was anything wrong with his health. Although Young Sheldon’s version of Meemaw was out of line when she made that mean-spirited joke, it was hardly out of character for the sardonic supporting star. In contrast, George Sr defending his health is something that Young Sheldon has never focused on before.
If George Sr dies in an accident or another event that doesn’t bear any relation to his health, then Meemaw mocking his eating habits and Sheldon’s father defending himself wouldn’t seem so tragic.
There is a chance that Young Sheldon might change the cause of George Sr’s death, which could explain why this scene took place. If George Sr dies in an accident or another event that doesn’t bear any relation to his health, then Meemaw mocking his eating habits and Sheldon’s father defending himself wouldn’t seem so tragic. This is very possible since The Big Bang Theory never directly stated the cause of George Sr’s early death. Young Sheldon season 7 retconned one tragedy from The Big Bang Theory by explaining Sheldon’s absence from Missy’s wedding, so the spinoff may do the same here.
Young Sheldon May Change George Sr’s Cause of Death
The Big Bang Theory’s Canon Never Revealed How He Died
A heart attack seems like the most likely cause of George Sr’s death since he already dealt with a minor one in Young Sheldon, but it is not set in stone. Young Sheldon misdirected viewers before with George Sr and Brenda’s potential affair before revealing that Sheldon’s father never really cheated on his wife. As such, the spinoff has plenty of prior experience with subverting viewer expectations when it comes to the earlier show’s canon events. If George Sr did die via an unexpected accident, then this episode’s dinner table scene might not have been as mean as it seemed.
That said, Young Sheldon may not need to change the cause of George Sr’s death since this moment could be used as foreshadowing. Already, Young Sheldon’s Georgie and Mandy wedding hinted at Georg Sr’s health problems when he found himself winded after running to the courthouse. As mean as Meemaw’s comments were, they may prove prescient if the spinoff does kill off George Sr via a heart attack. This could be disappointing as it would be somewhat predictable, but it would also make a lot of sense since the series has meticulously foreshadowed the event.
Young Sheldon’s George Sr Joke Highlights A Sad Reality
Meemaw and George Sr’s Relationship Is Surprisingly Bad
Although Meemaw’s joke was unpleasant, it wasn’t a major surprise given her troubled relationship with George Sr throughout Young Sheldon. While Mary’s mother and her husband have seen eye to eye on occasion, they still make a lot of cruel jokes at each other’s expense. When he first heard that Meemaw had been arrested, Young Sheldon’s George Sr shared Sheldon’s callousness from The Big Bang Theory as he tried to hold back his laughter. His son was left unemployed with a baby to feed, but Sheldon’s father was so amused by Meemaw’s arrest that this was his first response.
The bickering that Meemaw and George Sr share is often light-hearted, but it obscures some genuine malice at times. Whether it is Meemaw mocking George Sr’s weight in front of his family or George Sr laughing about her arrest over serious criminal charges, the two characters share a level of genuine opprobrium that is easy to forget about. Since neither wants to upset Sheldon’s mother, Mary, the pair are forced to hold their tongues. However, Young Sheldon’s Meemaw and George Sr don’t get along, which could make season 7’s upcoming The Big Bang Theory canon death all the more tragic.
