Warning! Spoilers ahead for Young Sheldon season 6, episode 14. Because of the failure of Sheldon’s grant database project, Young Sheldon season 6 further cheapens its crossover with The Big Bang Theory. Despite being a spin-off, Young Sheldon‘s prequel nature made it difficult to do any kind of traditional collaboration episode with its parent series. However, CBS found a way to stage a one-time crossover between the show, with young Sheldon, George Sr., and young Georgie making an appearance in the original sitcom. The outing titled “The VCR Illumination” wasn’t just integral to Sheldon’s bid for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but it also highlighted how big of a role his family played in his overall growth.
After sidelining the character in season 5, The Big Bang Theory spin-off has given Sheldon more to do in season 6. Paige’s Young Sheldon season 6 return highlights how well the socially-inept genius is doing compared to his fellow prodigy-turned-troubled child. Sheldon’s primary arc has been his efforts to get the grant database project off the ground. The endeavor has become so much more complicated than it should have because of East Texas Tech’s meddling, but the site has been finally launched the same day Mandy gives birth to Constance. Sadly, things don’t go as planned for the project, causing Sheldon to be understandably distraught.
Young Sheldon’s Failure Cheapens His Nobel Struggles In The Big Bang Theory
In the one-time crossover, Sheldon struggled with the failure of his Nobel Prize in Physics bid. He was so disappointed about it because he supposedly never experienced failure like that before, so he wallowed in his grief until his dad’s old football team pep speech perked him up. In Young Sheldon season 6, he experiences a somewhat similar blow when the grant database project fails. The specifics of why it failed are still unclear, but according to Sheldon, nobody signed for it. Considering how difficult it was to get off the ground, seeing him deal with its failure somehow cheapens the emotional impact of his The Big Bang Theory struggle.
A lot happens in the Young Sheldon episode “A Launch Party and a Whole Human Being.” Aside from Mandy giving birth, it also sees a massive blow-up between Mary and George as they confront each other about their cheating tendencies. Because of this, The Big Bang Theory prequel doesn’t get the chance to delve into Sheldon’s reaction to the failure of his passion project. Based on his initial reaction, however, it doesn’t seem like he’s nearly as distressed as he was when the Super Symmetry paper failed in The Big Bang Theory.
What Sheldon’s Grant Database Failure Means For Young Sheldon
Paige’s Young Sheldon story reveals how dark TBBT could’ve been had Sheldon been forced to navigate adulthood on his own. Additionally, it’s unlikely that Sheldon would have won the Nobel Prize had it not been for the help of the Pasadena gang in The Big Bang Theory. Given his failure in Young Sheldon season 6, expect that the prequel will explore his mindset following his first-ever big setback. So, while the Coopers may be busy with baby Constance, they better also pay attention to the boy genius who will be needing a lot of emotional support from his family as he goes through this rough experience.
Young Sheldon season 6 airs Thursdays on CBS.
