Sheldon’s absence was expected in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, but a character who seemed Sheldon’s replacement from the get-go surprisingly became the Young Sheldon spinoff’s breakout star – here’s how. Young Sheldon covering Sheldon’s childhood until he went to Caltech and became his The Big Bang Theory version inevitably meant that Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage couldn’t show the socially inept genius, as he wasn’t in Texas when First Marriage was set. This effectively risked that First Marriage wouldn’t have had a character embodying the comic relief role as Sheldon did at times if it weren’t for its breakout star.
Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory already established why Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage needed a comic relief based on how Georgie’s story would have developed. Between the ongoing feud that Audrey and Mary were often willing to rehash and Mandy and Georgie’s relationship timeline that necessarily included a divorce, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage was always going to have several conflicts, making the existence of a character who mostly provided comic relief necessary. Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’s premiere showed how Mandy’s brother Connor earned that role, and season 1 proved how he handled it better than Sheldon.
Connor & Sheldon Are Both Seen As Odd & Uncompromising, But Connor Isn’t Judgmental
This Makes Connor Inevitably More Likeable Than Sheldon
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage painted Connor just like Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory did Sheldon. Sheldon always adhered to his strict code of conduct, with his habits dictating his days and weeks to a point where he was made fun of and barely tolerated by the gang in Big Bang Theory, whereas his family tried to change him like Mary pushing Sheldon not to wear a bowtie in Young Sheldon’s premiere did. While Connor’s oddities could be perceived as toned down given his not being First Marriage’s protagonist, his family bar Audrey all see him as odd.
Whether due to Connor’s extreme focus on music or his peculiar sense of humor, Mandy and Jim are more often puzzled by him than otherwise. Connor’s inability to compromise was shown in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage episode 14, when he made a big deal about the sound of a pager, almost unveiling Mandy’s side job for Meemaw’s illegal business because he couldn’t let go that it couldn’t have been Georgie’s pager. Simultaneously, Connor is not difficult to deal with, as Jim realized when all it took for him to do his part in the house chores was asking him.
Connor might miss social cues, but he never judges someone based on his set of values, unlike Sheldon, who did it constantly and with everybody in both The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon.
