A Family Tragedy Could Be Coming on ‘Young Sheldon’

While the entrance of Annie Potts as Meemaw brought chuckles to Thursday’s Young Sheldon, the plot of the episode foreshadowed a tragedy that will strike the family in due time.

In “Poker, Faith and Eggs,” Potts made her debut as Sheldon’s idolized grandmother, but she entered the series to watch daughter Mary’s kids while she took George Sr. to the hospital for chest pains.

Throughout the episode, the Cooper kids take the news of their father’s pain hard, especially 14-year-old Georgie. He plots to steal Meemaw’s car to drive to the hospital, and Sheldon and Missy hop in for the mischievous ride.

Up Next: ‘Young Sheldon’ Premiere Included a Couple of Notable ‘Big Bang Theory’ Easter Eggs

At the hospital, Sheldon peeked inside his father’s room and saw his father looking ill, with nurses surrounding him and machines hooked to his body. It was a moment that frightened the adolescent genius enough to abandon his belief in science and adopt a little faith.

Mixing humor into the somber moment, Sheldon sat in the hospital chapel to say a prayer for his dad — in his own unique way. He prayed to French mathematician Blaise Pascal, whose belief in God was based on an “everything to gain if you’re right, nothing to lose if you’re wrong” philosophy.

While the major scare turns out a-okay for the Cooper family, things won’t always end so cheerily, the show implies.

As the sequel series The Big Bang Theory has established, Sheldon’s father dies in 1994 at 50 years old of weight-related issues. In one episode, Sheldon implies that his mother’s fatty Texan cooking lead to his father’s demise.

Since Young Sheldon‘s premiere episode begins in the fall of 1989, it may be a while before we learn more about George’s untimely death.

Still, the serious undertone of Thursday’s third episode reveals that a tragedy will strike the Cooper family down the road.