"A Mother, a Child, and a Blue Man's Backside" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American sitcom Young Sheldon. The episode aired on April 12, 2018.
Summary
Mary bans Sheldon from reading a mature comic book and Sheldon decides it's time to stop living under Mary's thumb.[1]
Extended Plot
In Sheldon and Missy's room where Missy is reading a Cosmopolitan magazine which she got from a friend, Mary walks in and sees her reading it and takes it away claiming it's filth and never to bring such material into the house again. Missy says its unfair because Sheldon reads stuff like that all the time and tells Mary to look at the comic book on his desk and when she looks she's disgusted at what's inside and says she'll go to the comic book store to chew out the owner but before that she says she'll call Heather's mom to tell her about the Cosmopolitan. At the comic book store, Sheldon and Tam are reading a comic and discussing superheroes and then Mary comes in and talks to the employee and chews him out for selling the comic to Sheldon and threatens to bring George Sr next time if she catches him selling Sheldon comics like that again until Sheldon walks up to her and says she's embarrassing him to which Mary says she doesn't care and tells Sheldon to come home with her but Sheldon says he came with Tam and Mary asks Tam if he wants to go but he says no and then Mary and Sheldon go home. In the car Mary scolds Sheldon for being interested in that comic to which Sheldon says one of the characters is a scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project and Mary says that its filled with explicit content and that he's done with comics. At home Meemaw and Missy are making a salad for lunch and Georgie walks in asking where Mary is and Meemaw tells him she's at the comic book store chewing him out for the comic Sheldon has and Meemaw tells Georgie that if he had similar content to go find a good hiding spot to which Georgie says he did but Missy already guesses where it was (the air vent) to which Missy comments boys are dumb. At Sheldon and Missy's room, Mary is taking all of Sheldon's comics away and tells him he can have them back when he's 18 to which Sheldon tells her theres another book that belongs there filled with similar content and puts the Bible in and Mary doesn't appreciate his sass and Sheldon says Marys treating him like a child and Mary says that starting now she'll start treating him like an adult and Sheldon asks if he can have his comics back and Mary says that comics are for children and he's an adult.
Sheldon now doing things on his own starts by making himself fried chicken for dinner but finds it difficult, at the dinner table Georgie asks what Sheldon is doing and Mary says he's making his own dinner and wants to be an adult to which Georgie says he'll keep holding off as much as possible and Meemaw who can hear Sheldon dropping stuff in the kitchen starts to worry and wants to go in there but Mary tells her not to and that he can do it by himself and after a second dropping noise Meemaw goes up to check in (with Missy saying if Meemaw goes she goes wanting to see the disaster) but Mary stops them saying if he needs help he can ask and Sheldon from the kitchen says he doesn't need help as he puts lemon dish soap on the chicken, George Sr comments on this saying he's surprised she won't go in the kitchen but Mary says Sheldon really pushed her buttons. Getting in bed Missy asks Sheldon how cooking dinner went to which Sheldon says the lemon dish soap have it a lemony flavor then Mary comes in to tuck Missy in and asks Sheldon if he needs to be tucked in and Sheldon says he can do it himself and asks if he wants a good night kiss and Sheldon says no. In the living room Meemaw asks Mary if she'll back down but Mary stands her ground saying he needs to learn he doesn't know everything and after Georgie asks that since she's treating Sheldon like an adult that he can have Sheldons allowance to which George Sr says it's for doing chores which he doesn't do to which Georgie says he's his favorite but Meemaw chimes in and says he's not even his third favorite.
The next morning Sheldon tries making his school lunch but has can't open the jelly jar then Mary walks in and says morning to Sheldon and Missy but Sheldon addresses her as Mary after saying morning, Georgie walks in asking Mary to sign a consent form so he can go to the planetarium at the science museum and Sheldon says he needs her to sign his too but Mary says he's an adult and doesn't need her to sign the form but Sheldon says the school needs her to sign it, the Mary says that even the school doesn't believe he can make his own decisions which angered Sheldon (adult Sheldon says he was so angry with her he almost opened the jar). At the school Sheldon goes to the guidance counselor to start his college application and says he want to go to a college with a good science program and thats far away from his mother to make her cry herself every night to which the counselor says he applying out of spite, she gives Sheldon a list of colleges and chooses Harvard and the counselor asks if he wants to apply to a safety school in case he doesn't get in to which Sheldon laughs at. At dinner Mary asks about everyone's day and Missy says she cut open a frog today and Mary asks if its for science class to which Missy says sure in a lying tone and George Sr suggests to Mary to put a lock on the knife drawer, then Sheldon walks in with an english muffin with ketchup and spray cheese as his dinner and Georgie and Missy says he's lucky but Mary says she spent an hour making meatloaf and Meemaw asks how adult life is treating him and Sheldon tells everyone he's working on his application to Harvard and that he wants to transfer ASAP then Mary chimes in to tell him he's not going but Sheldon says that he's an adult and she doesn't get a say in what he does, Mary then asks how Sheldon will pay for Harvard then Sheldon says that he's certain he'll get a scholarship, George Sr noticing the tension brewing tells them to calm down and talk about something else to which Georgie asks about the frog but Meemaw says to talk about a different something else, then Mary tells him that college applications are expensive to send it ($50-$60 per application).
Next day Sheldon goes to Radioshack to apply for a job but even with Sheldon's knowledge of all the products in the store he denies saying its against policy to hire children then Sheldon goes to Meemaws to ask if he can work for money and Meemaw says her garden needs some weeding but Sheldon is hesitant due to not liking outdoor work and her garden gnome and after negotiations about pay Meemaw agrees to pay him $1 an hour. Back in the living room, George Sr is studying plays then Georgie walks in and tells him he cleaned his room, George Sr doesn't believe him so he goes to his room and finds it clean still not believing him he checks his closet and under his bed if he shoved everything there but its all clean leaving him impressed but realizes he forgot to check behind the door and when he checks he looks and closes the door revealing Georgie shoved everything behind the door to which Georgie said he thought it showed ingenuity. Back at Meemaw's she gives Sheldon a shovel, bucket, and some gloves to begin working but before begining Sheldon asks her if she checked the gloves for spiders, Meemaw assures Sheldon she did, back at the Cooper house Missy is watching Loony Tunes but is interrupted by a tornado warning and Mary goes to Meemaws to warn her and Sheldon about the tornado but Sheldon thinking she's only stopping him from getting money for his Harvard application doesn't believe him but after hearing the tornado siren he goes with his mom. The family shelters from the tornado in the bathroom with George Sr getting Georgie's bed from his room to barricade the window, the electricity goes out in the house frightening Missy and Sheldon and Mary to calm down prays that the house and everyone in it will be safe from the tornado. After the tornado everyone goes outside and no one in the neighborhood was hurt or the houses were destroyed (Adult Sheldon says the bad news is that his mother believed she had something to do with it), Meemaw, George Sr, and Georgie go to check Meemaw's house for damage, Mary and Sheldon reconcile for there fight, and Missy goes to the bathroom after needing to pee during the storm.
Credits
- Guest starring:
- Ryan Phuong as Tam Nguyen
- Charlie Hankin as Randall
- Cleo King as Mrs. Costello
- Chris Wylde as Glenn
- Corey Mendell Parker as Customer
- Jonathan Brooks as Radio DJ, VO
- Piort Michael as Emergency Alert, VO
- Teleplay: David Bickel, Damir Konjicija & Dario Konjicija
- Story: Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro & Teagan Wall
Notes
- Title Reference:
- A Mom, A Child: Refers to the conflict between Sheldon and his mother.
- A Blue Man's Backside: The referred backside in a comic sparks the conflict between Mary and Sheldon.
- This episode was watched by xx.x million people with a rating of xx.xx (adults 18–49).
- Total viewers including DVR users xx.x million.
- Young Sheldon was ranked #x for the week ending xx April 2018.
- This episode aired in Canada in April 2018.
- The first Young Sheldon Cooper absent in cold open.
- Probably not the first time the Coopers shelter from a tornado, and certainly not the last time (see "A Tornado, a 10-Hour Flight and a Darn Fine Ring").
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined the producers $272,000 for this episode, not because of the blue man's backside but because the episode's audio track includes an actual tornado alert sound. The FCC worried that the use of real alert sounds in TV shows would lead to alert fatigue.
Vanity Card
Trivia
- Mrs. Costello, Sheldon's school guidance counselor mentions Caltech, MIT, and Harvard as possible schools for Sheldon. Sheldon ends up working at Caltech, along with most of the gang in "The Big Bang Theory." In addition, Sheldon's wife attended Harvard after High School.
- The Looney Tunes episode Missy watches on TV before the tornnado happens is "Rabbit Fire".
Quotes
- Mary: You need to come home with me.
- Sheldon: No. I'm working.
- Mary: There is a tornado watch. Let's go!
- Meemaw: Oh, come on, Mary. We've had a watch every day for 2 months, nothing ever happens.
- Sheldon: I think you're just worried I'm earning the money to send in my college application.
- Mary: I am worried it is not safe out here. Let's go!
- Sheldon: I can worry about my own safety, thank you.
- Mary: I don't care if you think you're an adult. I'm your mother, and you will do as I say.
- [A tornado warning siren sound effect is heard]
- Meemaw: Well, that ain't good.
- Mary: You believe me now? Mom?
- Adult Sheldon: The good news was most of our neighborhood was spared. The bad news: my mother thought she had something to do with it.
- Meemaw: Be careful.
Gallery
References