We’re doing a bit of a rewind today folks! I’m reviewing an episode from mid-way through the first season, “Cape Canaveral, Shrodinger’s Cat, and Cyndi Lauper’s Hair”.
George’s Weekend Plans
This episode welcomes us with George and Mary having, as Sheldon would call it, post-coital discourse. Or for the rest of us, pillow talk. George tells Mary that he wants to take Georgie up to the creek to go fishing. Mary thinks it’s a great idea, although George says he made sure to wait until the ‘end of the night’ to ask Mary about her weekend plans, as long as Sheldon is involved. George balks at this, reminding Mary of the last time they went fishing and Sheldon had a panic attack when he caught a fish. Even so, Mary encourages George to spend time with Sheldon.
The next day George finds Sheldon in the garage playing with his rockets. He asks if Sheldon wants to do something fun this weekend and classically Sheldon, he replies saying that he needs to change the air filter on his air purifier so they could go to Sears. As enticing as that sounds, George suggests they do something more active, like the time they went fishing. Sheldon panics again, screaming “Mom! Dad’s trying to make me go fishing again!” By the end of the conversation, Sheldon says he would like to go see the space shuttle launch in Florida.
Bonding Time
So Sheldon, George and Georgie are off to Florida. It’s at least a 12 hour drive from Texas so it’s a long Cooper boys roadtrip! Mary is a little concerned about George remember all of Sheldon’s little quirks like his strict bathroom schedule and particular food requests. George claims he knows how to take care of his son and so they’re up at the crack of dawn to start their journey. Georgie calls shot gun, but Mary wants Sheldon to sit up front so he can spend time with his dad. George decides to flip for it and tells Georgie to call it. Georgie calls heads and even though it lands on heads he says it’s tails so Sheldon can sit up front.
They make it to Florida and stay at a nice motel. Sleeping arrangements are a bit of an issue as the boys don’t want to share a bed but George flips another coin and lies again so that he gets his own bed. There’s a tender moment that night when Sheldon asks to sleep in his dad’s bed because Georgie is an active sleeper. They fall asleep to the sound of thunder and rain, making Sheldon question if he’ll get to watch the launch. Unfortunately the heavy rain does not pass and they don’t get to watch the shuttle launch. To make him feel better, George asks Sheldon questions about how lightning and thunder work. It’s a great distraction that helps Sheldon feel smart.
A Day At the Salon
While this is all happening with the boys, Mary, Connie and Missy take a trip to the beauty salon. They each have their hair done in curls but Missy asks if she can dye her hair orange. Mary says not a chance and then Connie tells Missy not to worry, her mom is just no fun. This sparks a bit of an argument between Mary and Connie. Mary is upset that Connie makes her parenting sound like she’s the bad guy while Connie claims that freedom didn’t hurt Mary growing up. Mary, on the other hand, tells her that not being around is not the same as being granted freedom. We get a little background information on Mary’s upbringing here, and also hear that Mary is the only one out of her two siblings that still talk to Connie. A strange detail since Connie is very likeable, even if she worked so much when she had her kids.
I love watching these characters connect with each other. It’s also nice seeing Missy and Georgie being a part of family outtings. Hopefully we’ll see more of this in season 2!
