Young Sheldon - An 8-Bit Princess and a Flat Tire Genius - Review: Team Emelda Showmen

This episode shows the birth of one of Sheldon’s most beloved activities: Gaming. Who of you would have thought that it was Meemaw who introduced him to the world of video games? She won a Game Console at the bowling alley and gifts it to her little moonpie. Sheldon however, is not interested. Video games are for children and even though his Meemaw just blew the hot off his SpaghettiOs, he does not consider himself a child.

Meemaw: Fine. I'll just play by myself.

Sheldon: That's amusing.

Meemaw: Why?

Sheldon: I guess it's the juxtaposition of an old person using new technology; it tickles me.

Oh, look at baby Sheldon being an ageist pain in the butt. And still, we all adore him.

Connie eventually convinces him to play the game, however, before that, Sheldon reads every single page of the instruction manual. Everything else would be reckless and irresponsible. When Sheldon finally starts playing he is soon about to lose as his playing style is not “combative” enough. Meemaw takes the controllers out of his hands and starts eliminating the bad guys in the game. They play as a team, their collective name Emelda Showmen – a combination of both their names. Meemaw fights, Sheldon does everything else. Almost immediately both Sheldon and Connie are captivated by the game. They play it whenever they can. Meemaw even pulls Sheldon out of class, using a lie that a family member is about to die, so they can continue playing with the console. Connie is simply a hoot!

When they are about to fight the very last battle of the game Connie offers Sheldon the controller. She wants him to defeat the last boss. Up until now, it has always been her who fought in the game, it's Sheldon's turn now.

“I've fought many digital battles in my life, but none are as memorable as this first one with my Meemaw. By handing me the controller, she was telling me she believed in me. That inside my small, fragile frame beat the heart of a hero.”

Sheldon wins the game. For a moment, they are both over then moon, until they realize that it's over now. They finished the game. What are they supposed to do now? Meemaw knows! Go and buy a new game!

“Since that night, I've battled orcs, zombies, Nazis, Nazi-zombies, a dinosaur in a go-kart, and played Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" on a stringless, plastic guitar. But nothing would ever compare to that first quest with my Meemaw. Although Leonard pulling a groin muscle doing Dance Dance Revolution was a close second.”

I simply adore the relationship Sheldon has with his Meemaw! And how fabulous is Annie Potts?!

The other half of the episode was dedicated to Georgie. When he and George bring their car to their neighbor Herschel’s repair shop to have it fixed, they notice that Georgie seems to know quite a lot about cars. Herschel offers him to help out in his garage whenever he is not at school. Georgie jumps at the chance. When he wants to quit playing football to spend even more time working for Herschel his father is hurt. Only when Herschel tells him that Georgie is extraordinarily talented, especially when it comes to fixing tires, George accepts his son's decision to leave football behind to concentrate on fixing cars instead.

“He's got a sixth sense for tire damage.”

This is the story of how Georgie’s career as Dr. Tire began.

Let's us know in the comments what you thought of the episode!