What Is The Best Young Sheldon Episode?

What Is The Best Young Sheldon Episode?

CBS’s The Big Bang Theory prequel has many endearing episodes that make Sheldon and his family shine, but one truly captures Young Sheldon’s essence.

CBS’s Young Sheldon is currently at season 5 and was renewed for season 6, and considering the success it had, one may wonder what’s the best Young Sheldon episode and when it happened in the TV show’s run. The Big Bang Theory’s prequel audience kept increasing in Young Sheldon season 1 to 3, while it slightly decreased with the last two seasons. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean Young Sheldon’s best episodes are far in its past rather than in its more recent past, the audience scores of Young Sheldon seasons 4 and 5 are considerably lower than its previous seasons.

Many Young Sheldon episodes manage to capture the show’s essence, focusing mainly on Sheldon (Iain Armitage) but without losing sight of Young Sheldon’s other shining stars and Cooper family members, such as Sheldon’s sister Missy (Raegan Revord) or his mother Mary (Zoe Perry). Indeed, Sheldon must be at the front and center, being the titular character and the only link between Young Sheldon and its parent series, and when episodes concentrate on the young East Texas genius, they still work, resulting in funny and heartwarming installments. Still, Young Sheldon’s best episodes based on audience scores are those that, albeit never forgetting Sheldon, have special consideration also for his family, especially when they struggle with Sheldon’s exceptionality.

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Although exploring different themes from The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon’s best episode served as the perfect meeting point between the spinoff and its parent series. Young Sheldon season 2 episode 22, “A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast,” not only did an outstanding job on focusing both on Sheldon and other central characters fairly, but it’s also the closest link between Young Sheldon and The Big Bang Theory, even more than Howard’s appearance in Young Sheldon. This makes it the best Young Sheldon episode to date.

Best Young Sheldon Episode A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast

Young Sheldon season 2 episode 22 also has the highest audience score on IMDb among the CBS show’s scores. Even if its outstanding quality wasn’t reflected in the score, though, the episode united Sheldon’s inability to make fast friends and his loneliness that appeared as a theme throughout Young Sheldon but never seemed to bother the East Texas genius. When his Nobel Prize listening party ended up being a failure, all the sadness he felt came crushing down on Sheldon, and it took its toll on him. By showing all The Big Bang Theory’s central characters as kids, Young Sheldon simultaneously proved that Sheldon would not feel “as alone as a neutrino” in the future, despite how sad and alone he felt in the episode, and it excellently uncovered the biggest difference between the two shows, as Young Sheldon’s Sheldon did not have the friendship support system The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon always had.

Young Sheldon’s ability to focus on Sheldon without neglecting other characters’ struggles was another reason this episode was the best. Young Sheldon season 2 episode 22 also showed the toll the Nobel Prize announcement took on Professor John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn), as he too, just like Sheldon, dreamed of winning the Physics Nobel Prize. The episode depicted the return of John Sturgis’s mental health problems and his struggles with them beautifully and tactfully, respectfully paving the way for a storyline that would have been central in the following seasons. These two emotional storylines shone a light on what Young Sheldon does best, making season 2 episode 22 the best Young Sheldon episode to date.

Next: Why There’s No Young Sheldon This Week (When Will Season 5 Ep 14 Release?)

Young Sheldon returns to CBS on February 24.

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About The Author

Antonella Gugliersi
(62 Articles Published)

Antonella Gugliersi has expressed herself through writing for as long as she can remember. While studying for her bachelor’s in a completely unrelated subject, she contributed for a while to The Unconventional Mag, writing about movies and TV shows. After a brief internship at TPI, she decided she wanted to pursue journalism and graduated with a degree in International Journalism. She tends to like blockbuster movies and indie films alike, depending on the mood. For a couple of years, she tried to watch all the films nominated at select industry awards, treating it like a chore and failing miserably. She then decided to watch in her spare time only those she vibed with. Her all-time favorite shows are Sense8 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and she finds sitcoms to be the cure for all ills. Star Wars and the MCU have dominated years of her life. When she’s not writing or working as a barista, she spends time with her cats or eating out.

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