‘Young Sheldon’ Series Premiere Recap with Spoilers

Young Sheldon opens the grown-up version of the character talking about trains, and how much he loved them as a kid. As he continues about his passion for the locomotives, the 9-year-old Sheldon (Iain Armitage) plays with a toy train set that he built.

Instead of using the trains like a normal kid, Sheldon uses them to prove Newton’s first law. The voiceover sets up the show by saying he lives in East Texas in 1989.

Sheldon’s mother calls him to dinner, and he keeps playing with trains. However, when his sister claims that she would lick his toothbrush if he didn’t come to dinner, he sprinted to the table.

At dinner, a typical Texas family prepares to eat, and the kids all take turns picking on one another. Sheldon and his sister are twins, while his brother is a few years older, and going into his freshman year of high school. Since Sheldon has been so successful in school, he’ll be going to high school as well. The young boy is excited about high school, and clearly has no idea what awaits him there.

Sheldon’s dad seems to be an average man, and it’s clear that he doesn’t exactly understand his youngest son. He questions everything Sheldon does, including putting on mittens to hold the hands of his father and brother while they say grace.

Mom asks who’s going to church with her and Dad immediately replies that he can’t. Sheldon’s older brother, George Jr., quickly sides with his dad, as they have to study the playbook for football. Sheldon’s dad is the coach of the team, and George Jr. is trying out.

Sheldon is the only one who says he’ll join his mother in church. Despite the fact that he doesn’t believe in God, he says that he believes in his mom, so he’ll gladly go. Twin sister Missy doesn’t get a choice, and she’s going to church as well.

At church, Missy is picking on Sheldon while the adults are singing along with the organ. The preacher then starts talking about “evil thoughts in your hearts.” Being the curious child he is, Sheldon asks his mother and sister if they have evil thoughts. A lady in the seats in front of them asks what’s wrong with Sheldon, and his mother quickly stands up for him.

Commercial Break

It’s the last day of summer, and Sheldon’s mom wants him to enjoy it while he can. He’s forced to “go outside and play,” despite his protests that he needs to finish reading the student handbook before going to high school in the morning.

Sheldon walks right over to a tire swing, gives it a half-hearted push, and says, “There, I played.”

Before heading back inside, Sheldon is confronted by another boy from the neighborhood. The kid is carrying a chicken around with him, and tries to pick on Sheldon. After a conversation where the boy didn’t understand anything Sheldon said, he put the chicken up in Sheldon’s face, scaring him away.

At night, Sheldon and Missy are laying in their beds, and they can hear their parents arguing about money. When their mom comes into the room to say goodnight, Sheldon asks if they have financial problems. Mom quickly responds, saying that the family is “fine.”

Of course, Missy goes on to tell Sheldon that their mom is lying, but Sheldon won’t accept that. He claims that his mother would never lie.

In the morning, as everyone is getting ready for the first day of school, Mom and Dad talk about Georgie, and Dad says that it’s going to be tough for him to make the team since he’s smaller than other kids.

Sheldon is upset because he can’t find his bow tie and he wants to wear it to school. He and his mom look everywhere for his tie but they can’t find it. Mom eventually learns that Sheldon’s Dad took the tie, hoping to spare him some ridicule when he got to school.

Donning his bow tie, Sheldon rides in the back seat of his mother’s car on the way to school. She tries to explain to him that school will be more difficult than he thinks, but he believes he has things under control. Thankfully, as they get to school, Sheldon’s mom convinces him that he doesn’t need his bow tie, and he agrees to take it off with the promise that they will go to Radio Shack over the weekend.

First Day of School

Inside the school, Sheldon is overwhelmed by everything going on, and he’s understandably grossed-out by the bathrooms. Sheldon’s mom gets him to his home room class and gets choked up saying goodbye.

Sheldon goes into his home room class and immediately starts calling out everyone around him for violating the dress code. This includes the female teacher for having “a bit of a moustache.”

Immediately, Sheldon’s home room teacher, along with other teachers, are in the principals office, complaining about Sheldon being in their classes. His mom and dad are also in attendance, trying to stand up for him and for his need to be in school.

Meanwhile, Sheldon hears a teacher playing in the music room. He jumps in and plays the piano along with her, although he’s never played before. When she tells him that he should pursue music, but declines, saying, “musicians take drugs.”

That Afternoon

At football practice, Georgie goes a little crazy on one of the other kids before running off the field upset. His dad finds him in the locker room and he’s angry because of what’s going on with Sheldon. It’s evident that Sheldon’s dad is frustrated as well.

Back at home, Sheldon’s dad wants to talk about his behavior at school. He tells a story of getting fired from his old job for just trying to do the right thing, and he tells Sheldon that following every rule can sometimes result in being on the wrong end of trouble.

The family eats dinner at the end of the episode, and Sheldon takes one of his mittens off so that he can hold hands with his father for the first time.

After the final commercial break, Sheldon and his mother go into the local Radio Shack.

The End.