Top 10 Young Sheldon Moments

When Georgie’s old flame decides to take the path of Christ, he makes the decision to do the same so he can continue to spend time with her. This leads to him choosing to be baptized with her, which gives us a great moment between the two. Veronica’s head is dipped in water, but as she comes back up, it’s not so innocent a look for poor Georgie. All he sees is a pretty girl stroking her hair, right out of the countless music videos of the era. Mesmerized by her, he confesses his love and kisses her. She quickly retaliates with a punch to the face, and viewers are left in hysterics.

Despite the show being called “Young Sheldon,” we really like it when the other characters in the family interact with each other, too. In this late Season 1 episode, Missy is struggling with her grammar assignment and enlists Georgie’s help. Resistant at first, he forges ahead not wanting Sheldon to be the only “smart” one in the house. The best moment of this storyline however is when Missy slips her assignment under his door and he sees the 100% mark on top. He tells her it’s not a big deal, but pins it to his corkboard, clearly showing it means a lot more to him than he wants to admit.

Turns out Georgie isn’t the only athletically inclined member of the Cooper family. Missy has a great arm for baseball and wants to try out for the team. When her dad brings her to see Coach Dale, he shoots down any shot she might have because she’s a girl. Defeated, she returns home distraught. As Meemaw drags Missy away to confront the Coach, Sheldon calls her name. Expecting some putdown, he gives a couple of words of encouragement and her face changes from irritation to appreciation. This little moment marks a heartfelt transition from hopelessness to self-confidence.

How do you tell a ten-year-old, even if they are a genius, that their beloved mentor had a mental breakdown? It starts at the end of Season 2 when Dr. Sturgis can’t make Sheldon’s Nobel Prize party. Sheldon is almost brought to tears as Mary tells him Sturgis isn’t feeling well. We love how Zoe Perry somehow manages to convey the mental gymnastics Mary must have been doing to not tell Sheldon the whole truth about why Sturgis is sick. One episode later however, she tells Sheldon the truth, and we’re treated to the second half of this touching story.

As much as brothers and sisters can fight and argue, there’s always some kind of underlying love that exists between them. Never is this more evident than when Sheldon has to spend the night at the hospital. Even after Meemaw tries to assure Missy that Sheldon will be fine, you can tell she’s about to have an uneasy night. As she lies there staring across at Sheldon’s empty bed, both the look on her face and the frame of the scene tell us everything she’s feeling. But the icing on the cake is when she crawls into Sheldon’s bed, just so she can in some way still be close to him. Now that’s how you pull at the heartstrings.

One of the best marks of a TV show is when even the most obnoxious characters are given moments to shine. One of the best examples of this comes in Season 3 when Sheldon’s nemesis Paige is dealing with the fallout of her parents divorce. It leads to Sheldon taking Dr. Sturgis’s advice to just listen to her. Annoyed at first, she opens up and tells him everything. As the tears roll down her face, Sheldon realizes how he’s powerless to help her. It’s a kinder and softer side to him that we’d really only previously seen with his family. Oh and of course, he offers her a hot beverage.

Despite what “The Big Bang Theory” led us to believe, we’d see George Cooper’s softer side towards his son from time to time, including taking Sheldon to NASA. But the first time comes in the pilot episode of “Young Sheldon.” George tells Sheldon an emotional story about being fired as a coach. Hearing how upset his father is, we get a long pause that tells the audience Sheldon sees his dad differently knowing his hardship. This continues on at dinner, when Sheldon takes off his oven mitt so he can actually hold his father’s hand during prayer. Not only does this show affection for his dad, but it tells the audience that Sheldon didn’t always hate his father despite what we may have thought.

Sheldon is about to graduate high school and is feeling nervous about all the things that come next. Coincidently, Missy is feeling the same things about going into middle school. As they both lay in bed, Missy tells Sheldon that it’s okay to be scared, but we sometimes just have to do things anyway. Upon starting his speech at graduation, he dedicates it to his sister and recites her advice to him, for all to hear. The sheer look of glee and surprise on her face immediately tells us it was unexpected and incredibly meaningful to her. It’s a glowing example of how siblings can certainly disagree, but often have far more love between them.

When George decides to take Sheldon and Georgie to see a space shuttle launch, all does not go as planned. With thunderstorms in the air, the takeoff is canceled and Sheldon is left dismayed. George asks Sheldon questions about the lightning and thunder as a means to take his son’s mind off what he missed today. George may not understand much of the science his son loves so much, but he does understand what makes him happy. So when narrator Sheldon tells us this was his favorite trip, it’s easy to recognize why. It’s a great moment for both Sheldon and his dad that he’s held onto forever. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Meemaw’s Garage Sale, “Carbon Dating and a Stuffed Raccoon” Now That’s How You Haggle Meemaw Gives George the Fake Brisket Recipe, “A Brisket, Voodoo, and Cannonball Run” More Secretive Than the KFC Recipe The Relationship Agreement, “Vanilla Ice Cream, Gentleman Callers, and a Dinette Set” The Origins of Leonard’s Worst Nightmare Mary’s Caltech Letter, “A Secret Letter and a Lowly Disc of Processed Meat” Sometimes Parents Just Don’t Understand

As Sheldon sits in the garage listening for the winners of the Nobel Prize, he’s alone and thinking he always will be. Given the time period in which the prequel series takes place, there’s not a lot of opportunities for the original show’s cast to appear on camera. Some have done narration, obviously, and Kaley Cuoco did the voice of the pool in one of Sheldon’s dreams. Still, it’s when we’re treated to a montage of all the other “Big Bang” characters at this point in time, we’re reassured knowing Sheldon will never really be alone. Given how this episode and the original series’ finale aired the same night, it was the perfect way to connect the two shows.