Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage episodes 21 and 22, “Guilt Boots” and “Big Decisions.”
While Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1 changed a lot of its main characters, the Young Sheldon spinoff didn’t explain one major discrepancy from The Big Bang Theory. By Young Sheldon’s finale, there were still a few lingering plot holes left behind that The Big Bang Theory’s prequel hadn’t explained. The Big Bang Theory’s series finale had the same problem, as the sitcom’s ending was unable to address every single unfinished subplot or unexplained mystery from earlier in the series.
One of the most notable issues faced by the sitcom franchise was the mystery of Meemaw’s changing personality. When she was first introduced in The Big Bang Theory season 9, episode 14, “The Meemaw Materialization,” June Squibb’s Cooper matriarch was a stern, sedate elderly woman who acted a lot like Sheldon’s pious mother, Mary. This version of Meemaw was strict, although she had a deadpan sense of humor, and seemed just as self-serious and humorless as Mary. However, Young Sheldon made this characterization confusing as the spinoff revealed Meemaw’s younger self was a wild rebel.
Meemaw’s Character Change Didn’t Happen In Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Season 1
Meemaw Remained Self-Centered And Reckless In The Spinoff
Throughout Young Sheldon’s seven seasons, Meemaw is a genuinely reckless rebel who runs an illegal gambling room and takes part in all manner of risky schemes for the thrill of it. She could not have been less like her sensible, stoic self from The Big Bang Theory, so it naturally seemed as if a major character change must have occurred between shows. Fortunately, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage had the opportunity to fill in this blank.
Since the show takes place between Young Sheldon’s ending and The Big Bang Theory, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage could have explained Meemaw’s apparent off-screen character change. However, although Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 2’s most promising story seems like it will be a lot of fun, it is notable that season 1 didn’t set up Meemaw’s shifting character at all. In fact, not only does Meemaw not become the sedate, sensible Meemaw of The Big Bang Theory in the spinoff, but she is actually even more of a rebel than she was in Young Sheldon.
Meemaw was arrested near the end of Young Sheldon season 7 for her gambling room and narrowly avoided jail time thanks to her advanced age. Her parole officer Rhonda seemingly got through to Meemaw in season 7, episode 10, “Community Service and the Key to a Happy Marriage,” when Meemaw swallowed her pride and finally did her community service after various attempts to scam her way out of it.
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Season 2 Can Still Explain Meemaw’s Character Shift
Another Arrest Would Likely Humble Meemaw
learly, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage season 1 proves that Meemaw’s redemption from Young Sheldon season 7 was short-lived as she soon began a new sports book scheme in this series and broke up with Dale when he advised her against it. While Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’s breakout character Connor won over viewers thanks to his dorky, awkward earnestness, Meemaw only grew more shrewd and cynical as the spinoff progressed. Her unapologetic embrace of this new sports book scheme, which eventually resulted in her blackmailing Mandy’s father over a gambling debt, proved she might have grown even more uncaring since Young Sheldon.
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage seems to be setting up another arrest for Meemaw, and this one may result in a more substantial character shift that introduces the calmer version of the character from The Big Bang Theory. However, this twist risks feeling somewhat repetitive after her apparent redemption in Young Sheldon season 7 didn’t stick. As such, it is hard to tell where Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is going with the Young Sheldon character, and how The Big Bang Theory’s version of Meemaw could ever appear in the show’s future.
