Warning! Spoilers ahead for Young Sheldon season 6, episode 18. Sheldon’s new scientific endeavor confirms that there is no way out of Young Sheldon‘s plot hole about George’s cheating incident. Revealed during The Big Bang Theory season 10, Sheldon catching his dad in bed with another woman is possibly his most tragic childhood memory. Not much has been revealed about the incident, however, further piquing the interest of fans. Considering Young Sheldon‘s prequel nature, it has been one of, if not the most anticipated plotline in the show. CBS has danced around the matter, and understandably so, considering how dark of a narrative it is. Despite that, there continues to be an assumption that it will be tackled, until now.
After Sheldon’s heartbreaking confession to Penny about George’s cheating scandal, it was never brought up again in The Big Bang Theory. However, it has haunted its prequel throughout its run. The season 4 finale seemingly set up Sheldon’s dad’s infidelity, but Young Sheldon season 6 effectively debunks Brenda as George’s mistress despite their previous flirtations. Since then, there has been eager anticipation for CBS to debut a new woman in the Cooper patriarch’s life. That being said, after Young Sheldon season 6, episode 18, “Little Green Men and A Fella’s Marriage Proposal,” that may no longer be necessary.
Young Sheldon Officially Contradicts Sheldon’s George Cheating Story
According to Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, he caught his dad in bed with another woman when he was 13 years old. He unexpectedly came home during college spring break when the incident happened. As previously revealed by Paige, and later confirmed by Sheldon, the said spring break takes place in Young Sheldon season 6. However, CBS has opted to quietly fast-track its storytelling, effectively skipping George’s cheating incident, as confirmed in “Little Green Men and A Fella’s Marriage Proposal.” In the Young Sheldon outing, the boy genius is officially back in school, pestering his East Texas Tech mentors about searching for life on other planets.
Why It Is Imperative That Young Sheldon Tackles George’s Cheating
It’s worth noting that CBS hasn’t included any reference to Sheldon’s The Big Bang Theory anecdote in the prequel spin-off. The expectation that the incident will pan out on-screen purely comes from what was established in The Big Bang Theory. Since both shows still supposedly exist in the same reality, there’s an assumption that Young Sheldon remains committed to upholding canon. This is despite creating countless plot holes in the past. Admittedly, narrative inconsistencies between the shows are inevitable. There are certain reveals in The Big Bang Theory that cannot be translated into its offshoot.
However, unlike other inconsequential childhood anecdotes from Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon cannot afford to skip George’s cheating scandal. For starters, it may actually be the only way to explain his and Mary’s disgust toward the Cooper patriarch in the flagship series. It’s worth noting that George’s bad image in The Big Bang Theory was mostly because of their stories about him. Young Sheldon has been contradicting their bad claims about the Cooper patriarch since it began in 2017, and it remains to be the biggest inconsistency between the show until now.
Finally, Sheldon’s story about George’s cheating scandal had a major impact on his life. Aside from kickstarting his three-knock habit in The Big Bang Theory, it also resulted in his falling out with George. Unlike Missy who was able to confront the Cooper patriarch about his cheating tendencies, the boy genius was never given the chance to talk about what he saw. It haunted him until he was a family man as confirmed by adult Sheldon’s narration. George’s infidelity played a big part in the boy genius’ life, it cannot simply be skipped or ignored.
Can Young Sheldon Still Tackle George’s Cheating Arc?
Details about the Young Sheldon season 6 finale have confirmed that George’s cheating scandal will not go down this year. However, just because it isn’t happening anytime soon, doesn’t mean that it will never happen. Since Young Sheldon is already confirmed for season 7, CBS still has time to tackle the incident. By then, the prequel has already significantly contradicted the established canon. Going against the timeline will be worth it if it means that the said anecdote will happen on screen. As previously mentioned, it’s imperative that Young Sheldon shows exactly how Sheldon’s memory went down, especially given the boy genius’ penchant for lying.
Perhaps after Sheldon’s study abroad stint in Germany, he can spend the rest of the summer back in Texas. Per The Big Bang Theory, the socially-inept genius started college when he was 14 years old. This means that after graduating from East Texas Tech, he will soon move to California to start his post-grad studies at Caltech. He will remain there until the events of the nerd-centric sitcom. So if CBS has any plans to tackle George’s cheating narrative, it has a limited window to actually do it.
What’s Next For George In Young Sheldon?
If Young Sheldon sticks with the established canon and still opts to tackle George’s cheating scandal, it means that it could happen sometime in the first half of season 7. After that, things are only going to get worse for the character, at least according to The Big Bang Theory. Just a year after Sheldon catches him in bed with another woman, he will unexpectedly die of a heart attack. Whether Young Sheldon still deals with this massive loss for the Coopers is still unclear at this point.
Following a substantial timeline change, CBS can choose to move things around, so it doesn’t have to address his death. That way, the family comedy can keep its tone light and fun. Before all that, however, Young Sheldon‘s special one-hour season 6 finale will see the Cooper patriarch dealing with a different kind of crisis. As Mary accompanies Sheldon to Germany, George is left home to take care of the house and the family amid a dangerous tornado.
Young Sheldon season 6 airs Thursdays on CBS.
