Mary and Sheldon’s Plots Mirrored A Classic Big Bang Theory Story

While The Big Bang Theory saw Sheldon solve many of his flaws, the antihero borrowed one character trait from Young Sheldon‘s heroine that he carried over into his later life. Sheldon Cooper was a flawed character. He was egotistical, arrogant, and thoughtless, often ignoring the achievements of his friends while overestimating his own intelligence. However, The Big Bang Theory’s finale saw him make up for this with an impassioned speech that proved he valued his friends. By the time the show ended, Sheldon was mature enough to acknowledge just how much his friends had helped him achieve his goals.

Similarly, Sheldon’s mother Mary was always a character who had major issues but one who did what she could to improve herself. In The Big Bang Theory, Mary is close-minded and judgmental, using her piety to insult people through a veneer of religiosity. However, Young Sheldon’s version of the character proved there was more to Mary. Sheldon’s mother was ultimately a sweet woman and a caring, supportive figure, even if her husband’s sudden death did make her a bitter, resentful presence by the time The Big Bang Theory began. By the earlier show’s finale, she had even mellowed out somewhat.

Young Sheldon Season 7 Episode 5 Proves Sheldon Inherited Mary’s Worst Trait

However, neither Young Sheldon nor The Big Bang Theory solved Sheldon and Mary’s biggest problem, namely their shared arrogance. There is a reason that Young Sheldon season 6 sent Mary to Germany with Sheldon, and it is because the pair are well-matched when it comes to their inflated sense of self. This was emphasized in “Frankenstein’s Monster and a Crazy Church Guy,” wherein Mary wasted $50 by donating it to a megachurch con artist while Sheldon ruined an algorithm that predated the stock market by overtaxing its abilities. Both Mary and Sheldon’s risky bets didn’t pay off.

Even though both of them paid a high price, Sheldon and Mary didn’t learn from their mistakes. The characters may have eaten crow in this episode, but they were still outrageously overconfident throughout The Big Bang Theory. In one infamous exchange, both Sheldon and Mary refused to acknowledge the other’s view of creation, resulting in Sheldon leaving his mother’s home and moving back in with his friends. While George Sr’s tragic death can be blamed for some of Mary’s character flaws, her obstinacy is something that she and Sheldon shared long before that event.