Episode Recap
After Sheldon walks into a boardroom where two men and a woman are seated, he introduces himself and thanks them for hearing his proposal. One of the businessmen, Mr. Anderson, asks who he is. Sheldon repeats his name and explains he’s there to pitch a grant database. When Mr. Anderson questions his age, Sheldon assures them that his age will be irrelevant once they hear his idea. “So there's no adult with you?”, Mr. Anderson asks. After Sheldon says his mom drove him there but he told her to stay in the car, Mr. Anderson wonders if this is a joke. Sheldon assures him it's not, saying he always follows his jokes with a “bazinga”. He demonstrates: “Bazinga!”. Cut to Sheldon back in the car with Mary, asking how long it would take to grow a mustache.
In the locker room before a game, George gives a motivational speech, telling the players to go out and “get the W.” He’s surprised when Pastor Rob arrives, saying Coach Wilkins asked him to lead a prayer before the game. George can’t understand why, but Coach Wilkins says it can’t hurt to have a little help from the big man. While Pastor Rob leads the prayer, George asks Coach Wilkins what he's doing. Wilkins insists that many teams do this, but it’s clear George is bothered not just by the praying, but by the person leading it. Wilkins argues that Pastor Rob has been helping him since his marriage broke down. After Pastor Rob finishes his prayer, he does the “team on three” huddle, which offends George.
When George arrives home after the game, Mary asks how it went. George responds with an emotionless “Fine.” Mary points out Pineview is a tough team, but George reveals they actually won. Mary wants to be happy for him, but his glum face confuses her. “We destroyed 'em. It was a blowout,” George says without a hint of excitement, making Mary more confused than ever. George explains Pastor Rob prayed with the team before the game, so everyone thinks he’s the reason they won. “So you're mad he helped you win?” she questions. George insists Pastor Rob did not help. He is the one who coached the team, built them up, and devised the game plans. But who did the team lift on their shoulders after they won? “Well…”, Mary says with a glance down at George’s gut. “What?” he wonders. “Come on,” Mary says with a scoff.
As Missy sits on her bed talking to a boy on the phone, she insists that, unlike most girls, she likes cars. Sheldon knocks on her bedroom door, but Missy ignores him and keeps talking. Sheldon knocks again, saying he needs the phone for something important. After Missy ends her call and hands him the phone, Sheldon says he also needs her help. When Missy joins Sheldon in his room, she holds the phone and says this is stupid. Sheldon asks if she wants the money or not, flashing some cash. Missy puts on a British accent and says on the phone, "Sheldon Cooper calling for Mr. Jennings."
After Sheldon takes the phone, he speaks in a deeper voice, telling Mr. Jennings that even though they have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, there’s been so much interest in the grant database that he thought it’d be better to discuss it over the phone now. When he hears someone else dialing the phone, he says he’s on the line. “Oh. Sorry, baby,” Mary says from the kitchen. As Sheldon tells his mother she can hang up, Mary thinks his voice sounds strange and asks if he’s coming down with a cold. Sheldon insists this is his normal adult voice. "I guess I just miss that sweet little boy voice,” Mary says. “Mom!”, Sheldon shouts before telling Mr. Jennings that it doesn’t matter how old he is because he’s really, really smart. Realizing this is about the database, Mary tells Mr. Jennings that Sheldon was so excited about his idea that she could barely get him to bed last night.
In the teachers' lounge at school, Pastor Rob joins Mr. Givens, Ms. Hutchins, and Coach Wilkins. Givens mentions they've never beaten Pineview during his time at the school. Pastor Rob says, "Gotta give it to the big guy," and clarifies he means the big guy upstairs, not George. When George arrives, he is not pleased to see Pastor Rob. Wilkins explains they’re discussing the game, which the newspaper called the "Medford Miracle." George insists it was no miracle, just good coaching. Pastor Rob points out that the players also played their part. George asks why Rob is there. Rob explains he’s there to talk to some of the kids during their free period. "Talk about what?" George asks. Pastor Rob responds that he’s just there to listen.
At Meemaw's house, she asks Missy what's up. Missy says she was hoping to have a friend over to watch a movie. When Meemaw asks if the friend is a boy, Missy confirms he is. Missy says Dean is so cool, but if she took him to her house, her family would embarrass her. Meemaw tells Missy to relax, she can bring him over. Meemaw has some ground rules, though. They can sit on the couch but on separate cushions. She'll leave them alone but will occasionally cross through unannounced. The movie can be PG-13, but the date must stay G. Missy eagerly agrees, telling her grandmother she’s the best meemaw ever. Missy also points out that even though The Little Mermaid is G-rated, they totally kiss on the lips.
When Sheldon goes to Dr. Sturgis's office, he complains about being discriminated against because he's young. No one ever listens to his ideas. He can't wait to be John's age and be treated with the respect he deserves. John says older people are discriminated against too. "For what?" Sheldon wonders, "Getting smaller and cuter year after year?" John explains that sometimes people assume, because of his age, that he's out of touch. That he doesn't know technology. "Hold on, there's a third one," he insists. Sheldon notes that although he's too young and John's too old, if you took the mean of both their ages, they'd be a formidable 41. Cut to Sheldon and John addressing a conference room of business people. Sheldon says with them, you get both youth and experience. John remembers the third thing from earlier, saying he'll tell Sheldon later.
In the conference room, Sheldon and John present their idea and explain how it could be profitable for the company. After Mr. Lockhart asks how long it would take to develop a prototype, Sheldon estimates it would take about a year, considering his class schedule and sensible bedtime. Lockhart says they would expect a full-time commitment if they funded the idea. Dr. Sturgis offers to take a sabbatical from teaching, though his bedtime is also quite strict. Lockhart emphasizes that building a company is not a part-time endeavor. When Sheldon asks if they want him to drop out of college, Lockhart clarifies that they want to invest in the grant database, so the main question is what Sheldon and Dr. Sturgis want. Sheldon admits he wants that too, but should probably check with his mom. Dr. Sturgis says his mother is long dead, so he's good to go.
Later that day, Sheldon returns home with good news: they found investors to fund the project. Mary is pleased until Sheldon says he wants to drop out of college to work on it full time. Mary says no, but Sheldon explains they won’t fund it unless he works full time. After Mary insists he must finish college, Sheldon points out they let Georgie drop out of high school. “And look how his life turned out,” Mary tells him, offending Georgie. Sheldon argues it doesn’t have to be permanent; he could return to college later. Mary argues people always say that. She wanted to go back to college after Georgie was born but never did. “And look how her life turned out,” Georgie quips. As Sheldon argues this is unfair, Missy asks what's going on. Georgie says Sheldon wants to quit college. “So I'm the only one who's not a dropout? Who saw that coming?” Missy says.
When Pastor Rob goes to George’s office to ask if he has time to talk, George is busy reviewing match tapes of the opposing team. After Pastor Rob says it was a good practice today, George wonders what practice he was watching, accusing his team of being soft as noodles out there. Pastor Rob says he heard George say that a few times. Running out of patience, George asks Rob what he wants. Rob says he’s counseling a few guys on the team, and they think George has been hard on them this week. George wonders who said that, adding they haven't seen "hard" yet. After Rob mentions he believes some kids respond better to encouragement, George says this isn’t Sunday school, it’s sports. The game on Friday is going to be a street fight, and it’s his job to make sure his players are ready. Pastor Rob insists they have the same goal. “Really? You also want to get out of my office?” George asks. Pastor Rob takes the hint and leaves.
As Missy and her friend Dean sit on the couch, Meemaw places a bowl of popcorn between them. Meemaw says she'll be upstairs... unless she's downstairs. She could be anywhere. After Meemaw leaves, Missy apologizes for her behavior, but Dean thinks it's nice how close Missy and her grandmother are. Dean mentions his grandmother died earlier this year. As they start the movie, Dean asks if Meemaw is okay just sitting upstairs. Missy insists she'll be fine, probably knitting, but Dean wonders if Meemaw would want to watch the movie with them. Missy insists her grandmother's fine. With a sigh, Dean says if he had one more chance to watch a movie with his grandmother, he'd hate to pass it up. Missy calls for Meemaw. Cut to Dean staring at Meemaw as she sits on a chair in the living room while the movie plays. As a puzzled Meemaw wonders what’s going on, Missy doesn’t know either.
When George joins Principal Petersen for a drink at a bar, Petersen asks how the team looks for Friday. “Good,” George says. Petersen is disappointed to hear just “good,” saying he has a bet with the principal over at Jasper and would hate to end up wearing a pink cowboy hat. George says he'd be doing better if Pastor Rob would stay in his lane. Petersen thought the kids liked having Rob around, but George says that's because he's filling their heads with ideas like they should be treated nicely and not yelled at. “He's one of those, huh?”, Petersen says. When George wonders if he can get rid of him, Petersen says no. The team won by 28 points. Is George really saying God didn’t have some involvement? “Mustache boy stays,” Petersen says, insisting you don't mess with a winning streak.
When George arrives home, Sheldon is waiting to ask him a question. George says it's not a good time, but Sheldon insists it's important. George says “fine” to whatever it is Sheldon’s asking. Sheldon shouts to Mary to say his dad is letting them drop out of college. "What?" a perplexed George wonders. "George!", Mary calls from another room.
In Dr. Sturgis’s office, Sheldon tells John his parents are being unreasonable by not letting him drop out of college, even after he pointed out that both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs dropped out. John argues that Sheldon’s parents have his best interests at heart. Sheldon doesn’t want to give up on the idea. John reminds him the university was willing to fund it, but Sheldon says they wanted control of the whole project. “I want somebody who will just give me the money, let me work on my own schedule, and not expect me to listen to their dumb ideas.”, Sheldon says. John doesn’t think rich people who fund things like being told their ideas are dumb. Sheldon flashes back to his meeting with Gary, where he launched a blistering attack on Gary’s intellect. Sheldon explains to John that Gary found his outburst refreshing and gave the university a lot of money. Sheldon wonders what the chances are they’ll find someone like that again. John looks at Sheldon, waiting for him to come to a realization… “Oh.”
When Missy gets a call from Dean, she feels a little flustered at first. He mentions he enjoyed hanging out the other night and would like to do it again. Missy suggests a few activities, like going to the mall or mini-golfing. Dean, however, suggests they hang out with her grandmother again. After Missy wonders what they would do, Dean mentions he and his grandmother used to love baking cookies. Missy, somewhat unconvinced, says that could be fun. After Dean says it’s a date, Missy clarifies that it's just "you and me." "At your meemaw's," Dean adds. Missy ends the call feeling confused by Dean’s intentions.
When Sheldon and Dr. Sturgis join Gary for dinner at a restaurant, he thanks them for bringing the idea to him. After Sheldon asks if he’s going to fund it, Gary says it’s a lot of money to put up, but his horoscope did tell him to take a risk today. “You're, uh, making a big financial decision based on astrology?” John queries. “I know, I'm such a Gemini, right?” Gary says. After Sheldon tells him the alignment of the planets and stars has no correlation to success or failure, Gary says he loves this “debate”. Sturgis wants to make sure Gary knows they just want a financier, not a partner. “You guys are the parents, I'm just a wet nurse. Just a wealthy, wealthy wet nurse,” Gary insists. He says he just wants to be around the process. “But I'm still in charge, right?” Sheldon asks. “Did NASA fake the moon landing?”, Gary responds. “No,” Sheldon says. Gary says that’s what he thought until a year ago.
On Friday night at the game, Coach Wilkins asks George what play they should run next. George hears Pastor Rob making a comment. “You got something to say, let's hear it,” George tells Pastor Rob. After Rob suggests they catch the other team off guard by faking a field goal, Coach Wilkins argues that type of play doesn’t work at this level. George, however, is open to the idea. After all, he says, Rob got them a win last week on his own. George gives the order, and as the game resumes, he tells Rob it's probably time to start praying. Touchdown. While Rob runs around celebrating, a glum George stands still before two players dump a vat of sports drink on him.
As Missy, Dean, and Meemaw bake cookies in the kitchen, Missy asks Dean if he wants to help her roll out the dough. Dean replies, “One second, I'm just helping Grandma grease the pan.” “Who?”, Meemaw wonders. Dean apologizes, saying Meemaw reminds him of his grandma. After Meemaw suggests that Dean help Missy instead, Dean asks if she could teach him gin rummy while the cookies are baking. “We’re done here,” Missy tells Dean. He wonders if she’s breaking up with him. “Yeah. You can go now,” she says. Dean points out his mom isn’t picking him up until 7:00. “I'll get the cards,” Meemaw says as Dean sighs.
