Mandy decides to treat Georgie on his birthday. Mary is angry at Brenda but is unwilling to talk about their situation. Meanwhile, Sheldon and Missy bond over her favorite TV show.
Quote from Missy
Sheldon: While Dad's gone, I'm the man of the house, and the man of the house has to enforce the rules.
Missy: The man of the house is about to get his teeth knocked out.
Sheldon: Puberty's made you mean.
Missy: I need to know what happened on my show.
Sheldon: And you'll find out when your privileges are restored.
Missy: I can't wait that long, each episode builds on the last. Imagine a Star Trek that ends with "to be continued," and you don't get to continue.
Sheldon: That would never happen, because I follow the rules.
Missy: You are this close to a purple nurple.
Sheldon: [covers nipples] You leave my nurples alone.
Quote from George Jr.
George Jr.: [sings] ♪ The stars at night ♪ ♪ Are big and bright ♪ [claps four times] ♪ Deep in the heart of Texas ♪ ♪ The prairie sky ♪ ♪ Is wide and high ♪ [Georgie and Meemaw clap four times] ♪ Deep in the heart of Texas. ♪ Remember, it's always four claps. Never three, always four.
Meemaw: You know who claps three times? Yankees.
George Jr.: And as Texans, we always remember the Alamo.
Meemaw: Otherwise, we might as well just live in Oklahoma. Blech.
Quote from Sheldon
Missy: What happens next?
Sheldon: Well, then she and her brother, David, get into a very heated argument over a banana.
Missy: That doesn't sound right.
Sheldon: Well, in the next scene at school, everyone gets quiet when Kelly walks up. I'm assuming it's because of the banana tiff.
Missy: There's no way the episode was about a banana.
Sheldon: I'm sorry, did you watch it?
Missy: What else happened?
Sheldon: Oh, they're also planning Kelly a surprise birthday party.
Missy: Well, that's why they got quiet. How could you not get that?
Sheldon: Well, no one said it out loud.
Quote from Sheldon
Sheldon: I know a way for you to watch whatever you want.
Missy: How?
Sheldon: Your imagination.
Missy: That's stupid.
Sheldon: Did you know there's a German folk song about it?
Missy: Don't.
Sheldon: [sings] ♪ My thoughts will not cater ♪ ♪ To duke or dictator ♪ ♪ No man can deny ♪ ♪ Die gedanken sind frei. ♪ [talks] Where are you going?
Missy: Mom said no music.
Sheldon: [hums melody]
Quote from Sheldon
Sheldon: Well, it starts off with Kelly working out on an exercise machine.
Missy: Oh, she's dating Dylan, who was dating her best friend.
Sheldon: Mm-hmm. She gets sweatier and sweatier, which I'm assuming is because of the exercise, although it could be the weather. Los Angeles is the land of sun and fun.
Missy: Did she look upset?
Sheldon: Hard to say. She looked sweaty.
In the morning at Meemaw’s, Georgie is singing “Deep in the Heart of Texas” to baby CeeCee. After Georgie playfully explains it’s always four claps, never three, Meemaw adds the only people who clap three times are Yankees. When Mandy comes downstairs, she’s surprised to see Georgie there. He just came over before work to see the baby. Georgie says CeeCee’s fed, changed and educated about “Deep in the Heart of Texas”. Meemaw asks Georgie what he’s doing for his birthday, but Mandy admits she completely forgot. Georgie insists it’s not a big deal, but Meemaw points out it’s his 18th. He’ll legally be able to buy her cigarettes. And Mandy won’t have to awkwardly change the subject whenever anyone asks her about the baby’s father. Georgie insists Mandy doesn’t have to get him anything, CeeCee is more than enough. After Georgie leaves for work, Mandy asks Meemaw if she misses being 18. Meemaw claims to be happy where she is. “Yeah, me too.”, Mandy adds. Meemaw admits she’s lying. “Yeah, me too.”, Mandy repeats.
Adult Sheldon explains that Missy is now facing the repercussions of her recent joyride by being grounded at home. When Missy sits down to watch TV, Mary shouts “No TV”. When Missy goes to her room and turns on the radio, Mary shouts “No music.” When Missy sits at the kitchen table reading a magazine, Mary tells her no magazines but says she can read a book. Missy says she would rather die. When Sheldon comes into the kitchen for breakfast, Adult Sheldon explains he too was being punished. Not by his parents but by society, which insists on him leaving the university for a whole week for Spring Break. When Mary suggests the twins do something together, like go for a walk, Sheldon mirrors Missy's sentiment, declaring he'd "rather die." Mary suggests they make a card for Georgie’s 18th birthday.
As Mary leaves for a work, she tells George to keep an eye on Missy. Missy begs her father to let her watch 90210, so she’ll know what’s happening when she returns to school. Missy argues even prisoners get an hour in the yard. George is unmoved. Sheldon tells Missy there’s a way she can watch whatever she wants: her imagination. Missy is unimpressed. Sheldon explains there’s a German folk song about it, which he sings for her.
When Mandy goes downstairs, she tells Meemaw she finally got CeeCee to nap. Meemaw asks what Mandy will do with the 20 minutes of peace she’s about to get. “Sleep, bathe, eat?”, she wonders. Mandy says she had a bath a few days ago, so she’s set. After Mandy explains she wants to do something nice for Georgie’s birthday, Meemaw wonders how nice, saying she’s all good on the great-grandchild front for now. Mandy says since she just gave birth and Georgie is seeing another woman, she was thinking more of a cake and some of Georgie’s favorite food. “That's sweet, you're gonna cook.”, Meemaw says before Mandy shoots pleading eyes at her. Meemaw somewhat reluctantly agrees to cook and let Mandy handle the cake. Mandy wonders if Mary knows how to bake… After Meemaw says yeah, Mandy says perfect.
At the bowling alley, Brenda Sparks gets a frosty reception when she goes to see Mary in her office, bearing two cups of “fancy” coffee for them. After Brenda asks how baby Constance is doing, Mary explains they’re calling her CeeCee. Brenda wants to see pictures, but Mary claims not to have any on her. Undeterred, Brenda says she’d be interested in hearing Mary describe the baby. “She's about yay big and bald. Nothing you ain't seen before.”, Mary responds. Brenda takes the hint and backs out of Mary’s office, asking whether she wants the door open or… “Closed.”, Mary says.
At home, Missy sneaks to the TV and puts a tape in the VCR. The 90210 theme plays as Missy settles in front of the TV. When Sheldon comes to see what she’s doing, he reminds Missy she’s not allowed to watch TV. Sheldon claims he’s the man of the house when their dad’s not home and it’s up to him to enforce the rules. After Missy threatens to knock his teeth out, Sheldon says puberty’s made her mean. Missy tries to reason with Sheldon, explaining 90210 builds on each episode. Missy tells him to imagine Star Trek ended with a “to be continued” and you don’t get to continue. After Sheldon says that wouldn’t happen to him as he follows the rules, Missy threatens to give him purple nurples. Sheldon tells her to leave his nurples alone.
Back at the bowling alley, Brenda sighs before knocking on Mary’s office door and going in. Brenda asks Mary if she’s had a chance to do the checks yet. Mary hasn’t. Brenda says it’s just the suppliers get paid on Tuesdays, and it’s already Thursday. Mary says she knows the days of the week. As Mary starts furiously writing checks to the suppliers, Brenda suggests that if Mary’s upset, she should just talk to her… instead of whatever this is. Mary insists she’s not mad. After Brenda mentions they’re friends, Mary snaps back that they’re not as close as she and George are. Brenda argues they need to resolve this if they’re going to work together, prompting Mary to suggest maybe they shouldn’t work together at all. As they each escalate the situation, with Mary hinting she’s quitting and Brenda implying she’s firing Mary, neither one is willing to back down. “Great, then I'm leaving.”, Mary declares. “Great”, Brenda echoes, before admitting she’s confused about the outcome.
George is surprised to see Mary walk in through the kitchen door as he grabs a beer from the fridge in the middle of the day. He thought she’d be working at the bowling alley. Mary explains she no longer works there because she and Brenda got in a fight. When George ask if Brenda fired her, Mary admits she doesn’t really know whether she was fired or whether she quit. George declares he's on her side regardless, saying, "Screw Brenda.” Mary doesn’t care for his support, saying he doesn’t even know what happened. Mary explains, “Brenda was being overly nice, which really rubbed me the wrong way, so I tore her head off.” George tries to back her up, asking what choice did she have, but this only annoys Mary more. George is confused by her reaction as he is trying to be supportive. Mary has had enough of it, so she storms off as George says “Love you!”.
Sheldon goes to Missy’s bedroom and finds her lying on her bed, bored because she’s grounded. Sheldon explains he was thinking about Missy’s comment about missing an episode of Star Trek. After she asks if he’ll let her watch 90210 then, Sheldon tells her no, but he can offer her the next best thing: “theater of the mind”. Missy is not impressed until Sheldon explains he watched the episode of 90210 and knows what happened. An excited Missy gestures for Sheldon to sit down on her bed and spill the details. Sheldon recounts how in the 90210 episode, Kelly was working out and getting into an argument over a banana with her brother, David. He mentions how everyone goes quiet at the school as Kelly approaches, which Sheldon assumes is due to the banana fight. However, Missy decides the silence was actually because they're planning a surprise birthday party for Kelly. Missy suggests Sheldon pay attention to subtext, body language, and even music, for social cues, which Sheldon completely missed as they weren’t explicitly said out loud.
Over at Meemaw’s, Mary complains about how George was trying to be supportive but probably thought she’s acting crazy. After getting an earful, Mandy says she could just make a cake herself. Meanwhile, Meemaw arrives home with lots of unhealthy food for Georgie’s birthday party. When Georgie returns from taking Ceecee for a walk, Mandy explains they’re going to throw him a birthday dinner on Saturday. Georgie reveals he is actually seeing Amber on Saturday, after she called him. Mandy doesn’t want him to cancel his plans so they agree to have the meal on Sunday instead.
When George finds Sheldon watching a TV drama, he asks Sheldon what he’s watching. George is surprised when Sheldon answers “Beverly Hills 90210”, because that’s Missy’s show. Sheldon explains he’s trying to be better at picking up on the characters' emotional states. He demonstrates by saying this scene might appear to be about expired food, as a character throws away food, but it’s actually about Kelly’s eating disorder. Sheldon suggests George try to work out what the next scene is about. George notes that the character with bloodshot eyes is upset, and jokes that it’s because he’s still in high school when he’s 30 years old. Sheldon thought that too, but he now knows the character’s father died in a car explosion. George can see how that would make somebody sad. When a sad score begins playing, Sheldon realizes his father was right about the character being sad. “You're good at this.”, he tells his dad.
As Mary works on the cake in the kitchen, Brenda Sparks knocks loudly on the side door. Mary sighs before answering the door. “What?”, she demands to know. As the pair of them face off, Adult Sheldon explains his mom is sad. “Did you get it?”, Adult Sheldon asks as dramatic music plays.
In the kitchen, as Mary frosts the cake, she insists she and Brenda have nothing to talk about. Brenda agrees, suggesting they yell at each other instead. Mary is not going to yell at her. Brenda points out they are neighbors whose children are friends with eachother, so they’re going to be in each other’s lives. “I am busy. I am making a cake.”, Mary declares. Brenda says she’s busy talking to a pain-in-the-ass who won’t admit she’s mad. When Mary still won’t acknowledge her anger, Brenda runs her finger along the cake and licks the frosting. Mary gasps and says, “Back yard”.
In the back yard, Mary wants to know if Brenda even thinks about how her actions affect others. Brenda, happy that Mary is finally talking it out, tells her to keep going. “You couldn't hang on to your crappy husband, so you tried to move in on my crappy husband.”, Mary claims. Brenda says that’s good - it hurt - but it’s good.
At ChiChi’s for his birthday dinner with Amber, Georgie is excited to have some Chimichangas. Amber jokes he’s a cheap date, but Georgie tells her to wait until she sees how many chimichangas he can put away. After Georgie thanks her for taking him out, Amber says he doesn’t want to be at home with a crying baby on his birthday. Georgie isn’t so sure, saying a baby’s crying doesn’t bother you so much when it’s your own kid. Amber wonders if he’s going to be one of those people who take their babies to restaurants. “You bet”, Georgie says, joking that his kid would fit right in wrapped up like a burrito. Amber insists tonight is all about fun. "I like the sound of that," Georgie says, before adding, "You do mean sex, right?" When Amber replies, "What do you think?", Georgie reconsiders ordering the chimichangas.
In Missy’s bedroom, Sheldon tells her about the latest plot points on 90210, including a female character kissing Dylan on the forehead. After Missy wonders what kind of kiss, Sheldon explains, “Well, it seemed innocent, but the music was mysterious, indicating that their love triangle will totally continue.”. Missy comments that it's juicy, and Sheldon agrees. After Missy tells Sheldon he can watch next week’s episode with her, Sheldon initially declines but then admits he would like to know who killed Dylan's dad.
As Brenda and Mary continue to talk things out in the backyard, Mary asks Brenda, "Do you have any idea what it feels like to have your husband prefer to hang out with your best friend over you?" Brenda points out she knows what it’s like to have her husband leave her. Mary says she understands Brenda is “fun” while she’s just a “churchy stick-in-the-mud”. Brenda argues it wasn’t even about her - George was looking for anyone else he could talk to. Brenda says it’s always easier to talk to someone you’re not married to. And “talk's all it was”, Brenda swears. Brenda points out how Mary found it easier to talk to Pastor Rob. “But shouldn’t George and I want to talk to each other?”, Mary wonders. “Don’t ask me”, Brenda replies, adding, “I couldn't hang on to my "crappy husband." Mary apologizes for her earlier comment and asks if Brenda wants to talk about it. That'd be nice," Brenda says, before inquiring, "George around?" Seeing Mary's expression, Brenda realizes she isn't ready to joke about it yet.