The first encounter could have slipped Sheldon’s mind, yet it’s still weird.
Throughout its seven-season run that ended several weeks ago, The Big Bang Theory ’s prequel Young Sheldon has always been the show the return of which was highly anticipated, though it still left some fans disappointed by the series’ disregard for what The Big Bang Theory had once talked about.
For years that Young Sheldon was aired on TV, the original show’s long-standing lovers have been repeatedly pointing out the prequel’s plot holes for which not a single explanation could ever work out. Among all the inconsistencies that have somehow distorted Sheldon Cooper’s life story, one seems especially weird if we take into account the character’s quirky, yet meticulous personality.
In Young Sheldon’s episode 16 of season 3, the titular character goes all the way from Texas to visit CalTech, the university where he later on will study and work, for Stephen Hawking’s lecture. Given that the original show has been constantly stressing that Hawking was Sheldon’s number one idol, it’s not hard to imagine how excited the character’s younger self was to finally see the famous scientist in person, even though Sheldon never got a chance to talk to him.
The whole sequence wouldn’t seem so weird if The Big Bang Theory fans didn’t point out to the fact that Sheldon’s second encounter with Stephen Hawking originally was meant to be very different.
In The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons’ Sheldon also gets to meet his idol when the latter is once again invited to CalTech, where Sheldon now works, for a lecture, and the character’s friend Howard makes sure that Sheldon will be able to talk to Hawking directly.
However, prior to the meeting Sheldon says nothing about his previous encounter with the scientist being as excited as if he got to see Hawking for the first time ever.
Young Sheldon’s another plot hole thus seems to become pretty much obvious, though some may still explain it by Sheldon’s eccentricity that probably resulted in his oblivion about the first meeting with Stephen Hawking, or even by the fact that Sheldon didn’t count that meeting at all given that he wasn’t able to approach the scientist for a talk.
However plausible these suggestions may seem regarding the character’s quirkiness, it still seems unfathomable that someone in their sanity could ever forget meeting their idol for the first time.