Warning! SPOILERS for Young Sheldon season 5 finale.
The Young Sheldon season 5 finale features a fun The Big Bang Theory Easter egg, but it doesn’t really make any sense. Despite becoming fairly dramatic since Georgie’s (Montana Jordan) pregnancy news, CBS staged a more lighthearted year-capper for its premier comedy. In light of that, Young Sheldon also shifted its focus back on Sheldon (Iain Armitage) as the season 5 finale.
For several weeks, The Big Bang Theory prequel focused on Georgie and Mandy’s (Emily Osment) situation, effectively sidelining the show’s titular character. That all changed in Young Sheldon season 5 finale titled “A Clogged Pore, a Little Spanish and the Future” when the show tackled Sheldon’s fear of the future after seeing what the adults in the Cooper family have to go through. Thankfully, Missy (Raegan Revord) was there to ease his concerns, giving him a new perspective on embracing the idea of growing up. To celebrate that, Sheldon decided to put on his first Flash shirt — a clear nod to his look on The Big Bang Theory.
As fun as it is seeing Sheldon don his first Flash shirt, the lead-up to it doesn’t really make any sense. In the Young Sheldon season 5 finale, he says that it’s meant to signal his new outlook in life as someone who looks forward to the future as Missy suggested. However, there’s no clear direct link between that and his new choice of clothes. Firstly, Sheldon has already been dressing up as an adult, with a proper shirt and a bow tie. If anything, wearing layered shirts with his favorite superhero’s insignia on them makes him look younger. Secondly, a colorful ensemble isn’t even what teenagers are wearing in the early ’90s. It’s an aesthetic that’s more linked to the ’80s. Instead, young adults are geared towards grungier looks. Between these, it’s difficult to understand the reasoning behind Sheldon’s new sartorial choices.
For what it’s worth, Young Sheldon executive producer Steven Molaro reveals that it isn’t a permanent change. This means that Sheldon will continue to wear his usual get-up in the prequel. So, it’s anybody’s guess when the socially-inept genius will pop back up wearing his Flash or any other superhero get-up again in The Big Bang Theory prequel. It also makes it curious what will ultimately be the reason for him to permanently ditch his shirt and tie combo for it. By the time he moved to Pasadena, he was already sporting his colorful ensemble and that stuck with him, even after he got married and won the Nobel Prize in Physics more than a decade later.
As Young Sheldon transitions into a family drama, expect that the show will have a more diversified storytelling moving forward. This means that the rest of the Cooper family will have their fair share of the spotlight. Nonetheless, it remains interesting to see how The Big Bang Theory prequel will develop Sheldon’s narrative as he inches near Jim Parsons’ adult version of the character.
Young Sheldon will return for season 6 on CBS.
