Young Sheldon may have ended but our love for the Cooper Family will live on forever. The finale of the series was heartbreaking, something I did not sign up for when I started watching a show that very clearly belongs to the comedy genre. Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory had barley anything good to say about his father, so I anticipated a similar sentiment towards George when I pressed play on the pilot episode of Young Sheldon. Instead, I ended up loving him and thus spent the entirety of the final two episodes bawling my eyes out.
While the entire cast delivered stellar performances in both episodes, the ending felt rushed and incomplete, something that was exacerbated further by the time jump following “The Funeral”. One might wonder whether the hurried ending can be contributed to the shortened final season (14 instead of 22 episodes), however, this reasoning seems flimsy given the presence of numerous filler episodes throughout the season.
What is particularly disheartening about the ending, is that the show failed to give its remarkable female characters the attention they deserved to wrap up their storylines properly. With George’s passing, Georgie getting his spin-off, and Sheldon heading to California, the fate of Mary, Missy, and Connie is left unresolved. (I’m not even going to mention Paige). All we know is that Mary devotes herself even more to her faith; Missy is angry, and Connie is seriously worried about her daughter’s wellbeing.
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| “A New Home and a Traditional Texas Torture” – YOUNG SHELSON, Pictured: Raegan Revord, Annie Potts and Zoe Perry. CBS ©2024 CBS. All Rights Reserved |
The spin-off likely will shed some light on their destinies, but with Zoey Perry, Raegan Revord, and Annie Potts not slated as series regulars, their presence will presumably be limited to occasional guest appearances. As a result, updates on their characters will likely be sparse and insufficient.
It was certainly lovely to see a glimpse of Sheldon and Amy in the future, but I would have preferred the show to prioritize closure for Mary, Missy, and Connie, who were pivotal figures in the Young Sheldon universe. It is a familiar tale that once again sees women receiving the short end of the stick.
Now that you’ve had time to reflect, what are your thoughts on the series finale? What aspects did you like, and what could have been done differently?
