Top 10 Questions We Have About The Big Bang Theory After Watching Young Sheldon

In season two of “The Big Bang Theory,” Sheldon goes out of his way to learn how to make friends so that he can ask Barry Kripke for a favor. When his current friends prove unhelpful, he goes to a bookshop, where he’s directed to the kids’ section. But hang on, hasn’t he already researched this before? In the second episode of “Young Sheldon,” fueled by his mother’s concern about his lack of friends, Sheldon checks out “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Amazingly, it works! So, you’d think Sheldon would remember the book and its lessons in adulthood rather than starting from scratch with “Stu The Cockatoo.”

In “The Big Bang Theory,” pilot Sheldon shares an anecdote from his youth that landed him in boarding school. Now, if Sheldon says he was about 12 at the time, that very much falls within the “Young Sheldon” timeframe. Yet the closest we see Sheldon sent away for school is when he moves to Dallas to attend a facility for gifted children, but that doesn’t last long, and it happens in season one, so before he’s 12. It’s unusual for Sheldon to misremember things, so maybe the distress of being out of his comfort zone made him convince himself he was sent away as punishment. However, this still doesn’t clarify the age discrepancy.

Sheldon and Mary share a tight bond in both series. However, in “Young Sheldon,” she’s perhaps too overprotective of him and tends to overindulge him. In fact, she showers him with so much love and attention it makes us wonder why he’d ever envy Leonard’s childhood or wish for a mom like Beverly Hofstadter. Don’t get us wrong, Sheldon adores his mom, but he can be a pretty defiant little rascal at times. Yet, somewhere down the line, things shifted. Adult Sheldon is still somewhat inclined to sass his mom, but he’s also far more obedient now. So, we guess what we want to know is when and why their relationship changed.

Adult Sheldon often shares stories about how he was picked on as a kid. One of the most frequently named perpetrators is his neighbor, Billy Sparks. Indeed, when we first meet Billy in the pilot, we’d be inclined to believe Sheldon’s stories. However, for the most part, Billy seems like a good kid, albeit kind of, well, let’s just say he’s one-of-a-kind! So, does Sheldon only remember his elementary school experiences? Or perhaps, given how both kids are, erm, unique in their own ways, does Sheldon assume that Billy’s deliberately trying to irritate him? If you ask us, it’s Sheldon who could stand to be a little kinder!

Okay, so we’ve established that adult Sheldon might not be the most reliable storyteller. For instance, his relationship with siblings, especially Georgie, doesn’t seem quite as hostile as he makes it out to be. Even Missy, who typically loves messing with her twin brother, also has a soft spot for him. Anyway, in “The Big Bang Theory,” Georgie gives Sheldon a reality check about their youth, especially after their dad passed away. However, he seems to skip one key detail—becoming a first-time parent at 17. Perhaps Sheldon would’ve cut him some slack if he’d shared how tough it had been juggling a baby and a grieving family.

In “The Pancake Batter Anomaly,” Sheldon mentions how his mom had to fly home from Germany because their house was having some structural issues. It’s certainly possible that the house’s foundations are built on some sort of cinder blocks, and given the dramatic season six finale, perhaps they had shifted. He also says their house was made of aluminum, which doesn’t seem to be the case. Even if this describes some future home, the timeline still doesn’t work. Sheldon has repeatedly said that his father died when he was 14. Although he mentions that this incident happened when he was 15. Confusing, right? We’ll just chalk this one up to his flu!

One thing Sheldon often shares about his childhood is that he had no friends. However, as we saw earlier, that isn’t strictly true! For one thing, just two episodes into “Young Sheldon,” he befriends Tam, and the two often hang out while Sheldon’s in high school. Of course, we know they eventually lose touch/ fall out, depending on who you ask. So perhaps that’s why Sheldon refuses to count him among his childhood friends. However, he’s not the only one. Paige is, at the very least, an acquaintance. Then there’s Drs. Linkletter and Sturgis. What about his gaming friends from college? Did they all end up on his “Mortal Enemies” list or something?

Sheldon often talks about his Meemaw throughout “The Big Bang Theory.” However, we only meet her about midway through season nine for the first time. She’s a sweet but conservative woman who’s incredibly overprotective of her Moon Pie. Still, we thought nothing of it until “Young Sheldon” premiered the following year, and well, this Meemaw is almost nothing like the one who visited Sheldon in Pasadena. This Connie is fun-loving, feisty, and has enough sass to fill all of Texas. We know that Mary used to be more free-spirited until she had the twins. So perhaps Connie’s transformation was also sparked by some life-altering event. If so, we want to know what happened.

We briefly touched on this earlier, but it strikes us a little odd that over 12 seasons of “The Big Bang Theory,” Sheldon never mentioned some key figures from his youth. Take Dr. Sturgis, for example. Sheldon admires him but never mentions him in adulthood— not even during the couple of years both series crossed over. He also never talked about Paige, his intellectual rival, although you’d think perhaps someone like Dennis Kim may have sparked some flashbacks. To be fair, we didn’t hear about Tam until the final season since Sheldon was mad at him. We know Paige knows exactly how to push Sheldon’s buttons, so perhaps that’s simply the case here, too.

In “The Big Bang Theory,” Sheldon and his mother paint George as apathetic, dumb, and more interested in beer and football than his own family. Yet “Young Sheldon” suggests otherwise. Yes, George enjoys those things, but he’s also a devoted family man who’s made some substantial personal sacrifices. He’s no saint, but he’s also a far cry from the person often described in the original series. While narrating the prequel, adult Sheldon admits he often misunderstood his dad. Still, the question remains: why does “BBT” Sheldon mostly cling to his negative memories? We’re just glad that, at some point, he gained a clearer perspective and learned to forgive his father’s mistakes.

Which “Young Sheldon” moment had you questioning “The Big Bang Theory”? Let us know in the comments.