We’re back to playing catch up while the show has another break! Today I’m reviewing the sixth episode released in November titled A Patch, a Modem, and a Zantac®.
A Guest Speaker
Dr. Hodges, a NASA representative comes to Sheldon’s school to talk about his work. When mentioning the tax-payer money that is needed to run the space programs, Sheldon asks why NASA doesn’t just land the rockets instead of throwing them in the ocean. (Shout out to Elon Musk!) Dr. Hodges thinks this is an adorable question coming from a nine-year-old and lets Sheldon know that the math is quite complicated. In glorious Sheldon fashion, he offers to help out the NASA representative with the difficult questions but he is not taken seriously.
Sheldon is offended and wants to “prove the nincompoop wrong”. At dinner, he’s distracted and doesn’t even flinch when Meemaw says she’s writing her will. He says he’s trying to figure out the ultimate ratio for building a landable rocket. This leads Sheldon to be up past his bedtime working on the hyperbolic calculations for rocket return. It’s not something that can be figured out by hand though and asks his dad if they can afford a computer, but sadly they cannot.
A Hunt For the Computer
Sheldon wants to buy a computer to figure out the Navier-Stokes equation. It costs more than he can afford so he calls the bank to remortgage his parents’ house. He’s on the phone with the loan officer but she doesn’t take him seriously either. Sheldon claims that this is age discrimination but he’s willing to let it slide until his mom walks in on the call and hangs up the phone.
Since buying the right computer won’t work, Sheldon needs to go to radioshack to get on their computer that will allow him to access thrust to weight ratios on the Johnson Space Centerbut mom won’t let him. He has a temper tantrum and so they decide to ground him by not taking him to radio shack for a month.
All of this anxiety leads him to have a horrible stomach ache that he claims is an ulcer. The doctor confirms this- it’s cause of stress. The doctor says it’s nice trying to help NASA but George claims that Sheldon is just doing it out of spite. The slight eye roll of ‘my son is a genius but maybe an evil genius’ was quite clever.
Image Source: https://www.cbs.com/shows/young-sheldon/
Sheldon manages to jump on the doctor’s computer to figure out the equation. Soon after he has figured out the proper ratios and sends his findings to NASA….but to no avail. Sheldon checks the mailbox constantly and waits tirelessly by the phone. He never gets a reply.
George to the Rescue
George, who sometimes seems a little out of touch with Sheldon, decides he’s just as tired with the NASA monkeys as Sheldon is. So, he takes Sheldon and the rest of the gang to Houston. When Dr. Hodges still won’t give Sheldon the time of day, George storms into his office to give him a piece of his mind. Sheldon’s allowed in right away after that.
Image Source: yts-streaming.org/episodes/young-sheldon-1×6/
After Sheldon lays out the solution to NASA’s problem, Dr. Hodges says that this is groundbreaking work but Sheldon is ahead of his time and asks to be called when NASA catches up. He leaves with the perfect amount of swagger, a type of confidence that is hilariously awesome in a nine-year-old boy but rather rude (and comical) on a thirty-something grown man.
This episode was quite endearing. It showed a rare connection between George and Sheldon that we’ve caught glimpses of before but never has the show been so upfront about it. While the characterization of Georgie and Missy is kind of sad and cliche (I kind of left them out of this review cause their input really wasn’t necessary), it’s nice to see that this family really does support each other.
