Blonde Ambition and the Concept of Zero, took a break from the drama that has plagued the Cooper family, and provided a strong comedic half hour that surely had viewers chuckling throughout. The episode begins with Missy coming home from school upset. Mary offers to lend her an ear, and is hurt when Missy decides to go to Meemaw for advice instead. At Meemaw’s, Missy shares that she likes a boy at school named Kevin, but he doesn’t even know she exists. Meemaw tells her to get a friend to ask Kevin if he likes her. Quick witted and simple-minded Missy retorts that if he doesn’t like her back, she will keep being mean to him until he does. Meemaw and Missy agree that boys are dumb, but wonder if girls are even dumber for liking them. Meemaw’s plan ends up backfiring on Missy when the friend she recruited to execute her plan, ends up asking Kevin out herself. In a turn of events, Missy asks Mandy for advice, leaving Meemaw dejected and she goes to commiserate with Mary about it. Missy and Mandy spend time getting to know one another, and Missy is awe struck when Mandy tells her she used to be a weather girl. Missy tells Mandy that is beautiful like Madonna with her blonde hair, and Mandy bashfully states that Madonna wasn’t a real blonde. In classic Missy fashion, she excitedly takes Mandy’s innocent comment too far, and dyes her hair blonde without any thought of how to do it properly, or the potential consequences of her actions. Missy is horrified when she ends up with a skunky blend of bleach blonde and orange hair. Georgie and Mandy try to cover up for her with George and Mary, but when she runs to Meemaw for help, Meemaw happily turns her in to her parents. We haven’t seen the naive, comedic side of Missy in a long time. She has been the wise, level-headed young woman in the Cooper household throughout the struggles that the Coopers are facing. It was nice to see Missy get herself into some trouble and deliver laughs as she did in earlier seasons. It was also great to see Mandy and Missy bond this episode. Mandy is the older sister that Missy always hoped for and their dynamic is proving to be fun to watch.
Elsewhere in the episode, George is enjoying a peaceful day alone in the yard when he hears Brenda yelling at Billy over the fence. She confides in him that Billy is failing Math and may not pass the sixth grade. She asks George if Sheldon will tutor Billy. George quips that helping people isn’t Sheldon’s thing, that pissing people off is more his style. Nevertheless, George talks Sheldon into helping Billy. Sheldon is immediately irked by Billy’s lack of understanding of basic Math skills, but when Billy brings up that zero is not actually a number, the thought that zero doesn't exist blows Sheldon’s mind. Sheldon immediately runs to Dr. Sturgis and demands that he explain the concept of zero. Dr. Sturgis realizes that he can't explain it and when Sheldon argues that zero doesn’t exist, he ends up blowing Dr. Sturgis’ mind. The two call on Dr. Linklatter and ask him to prove that zero exists and when he can’t, it is clear that the three top brains in small-town Texas have been stumped by none other than Billy. Sheldon tells Billy that he was right about the concept of zero, and he develops his own theory that the entire universe was born out of zero and therefore zero created the universe and not God. In a truly comedic moment, Billy and Sheldon get down on their knees and pray to zero. When Billy asks Sheldon if he can pray for zero to help him pass his math test, Sheldon explains that zero isn’t a miracle worker, leading Billy to go back to praying to God. Billy passed his Math test with a 68, and present-day Sheldon narrates that Billy made it to the seventh grade, but spent many years there. It was nice to see Sheldon interacting with Billy again. The imbalance of intellect between them makes for some great comedic moments.
Georgie was present throughout the episode, continuing his quest to prove to Mandy that he is responsible. He also offered his two cents to the other storylines, unintentionally providing the viewers with some good laughs at his expense. Although the writers do a great job with both the dramatic and comedic storylines, this episode was a nice break from the drama-filled episodes that we have become accustomed to since season 4. It was reminiscent of the earlier seasons of the show which was a nice treat.
Did you enjoy tonight’s episode? What was your favourite comedic moment? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and follow me on Twitter @ms_c_almeida.
