Tonight’s episode of Young Sheldon ended with a shock — at least for some fans of the show. As you can probably guess, spoilers ahead for tonight’s episode, titled “A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture.” While the most hardcore fans likely saw the end of tonight’s episode coming — it’s been hinted at going all the way back to The Big Bang Theory — it was nevertheless a splash of cold water on both the Cooper family and the audience. In the episode, Sheldon’s father George Cooper was invited to coach at a college football program — a change that would impact the lives of the whole family, with Mary ambivalent, Missy thrilled, and Sheldon deeply upset.
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Meanwhile, there’s a B-plot centering on a family photo, in which Mary demands everyone — from Meemaw to Sheldon George. Jr.’s baby — dresses up in matching outfits for the portrait. And it’s as most of the family is gathered in the living room, waiting for the photographer, that a knock comes at the door: George Sr., Sheldon’s father, died of a heart attack at work.
Fans of The Big Bang Theory have known for years that Sheldon’s dad died before he turned 15, and so there has actually been a lot of conversation around the character and his fate since the start of the season. Tonight’s episode does feel like a little bit of a misdirect, because after the show waited so long, and then revealed an episode that centered on George, it kind of felt like maybe his death would be held off as something only briefly noted in the finale.
Instead, it seems the penultimate episode of Young Sheldon will center on the Cooper family’s loss, and how they plan to pick up after the death of George, Sr.
“We’re aware that there’s at least a portion of the audience that is expecting George’s death,” executive producer Steve Holland told ComicBook. “I don’t know how many. I assume a good portion knows it’s going to happen, and is expecting it. We’re always looking for ways to still be able to surprise people, even if they kind of know what’s coming, so we thought, ‘Maybe we can do the death even earlier, in a way that people might not see coming.’”
While the Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory often derided his father, the spinoff show has put George in a much more sympathetic light.
“I think that was what was important to us, as the show was moving along, that this thought that [the narrator] is an older Sheldon with kids who’s reflecting now on his younger years and especially his parents in a different light, obviously,” Holland told us.
The final two episodes of Young Sheldon air next Thursday beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
