Fans have been confused about how Young Sheldon’s Mary turns into the Big Bang Theory version, but Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage has just bridged the gap.
Thanks to the Young Sheldon Season 7 ending, Mary Cooper is officially a widow. We saw her in her rawest stage of grief as the show closed out, and that’s only kicked up a notch in her latest Georgie & Mandy spinoff cameo.
Mary briefly returned in Episode 1, resembling something closer to her past self as she helped Georgie and Mandy settle into their temporary apartment. In Episode 5, everything has changed – and she’s feeling the loss of husband George more than ever.
Initially, she refuses to spend Thanksgiving with Georgie, claiming she needs to put herself first and honor her feelings by blocking the holiday out. Mary later comes around, but we see some real spitefulness against her family before she does.
It’s this moment that allows us to understand exactly how she turned into the Mary we meet in The Big Bang Theory. The two are worlds apart, but her grief ties everything together.
In previous seasons of Young Sheldon, Mary could be annoying, but never nasty. She has been God-fearing since the moment we met her, but was also able to let loose and have a good time with her kids.
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Fast-forward seven seasons, and it almost seems like she wants nothing to do with them. Sheldon is away at Caltech and no longer her problem, while Georgie is obviously raising a young family of his own. Meanwhile, Missy is regularly acting out, revealing she has a tattoo at the end of Episode 5.
With the prospect of her first Thanksgiving without George looming – which was famously his favorite holiday – we see Mary at her most vulnerable. At the same time, this might also be the worst version of herself.
As understandable as it is, fans have never liked the shift in her character, and now we have a fitting explanation for why it happened.
Mary is particularly triggered by a specific argument Jim and Audrey have, with co-creator Steve Holland explaining, “Really, for us, it felt like to talk about Mary, and the things that she was missing – realizing that she was never going to get to fight with [George], or never going to get to be worried that he’s drinking too much again, and that hits her in a weird way – that seemed like a really interesting, specific point of grief to land on.”
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage is airing weekly on CBS. Catch up with our Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4 recaps before you watch the latest episode.