Episode Recap
When Sheldon and his parents meet with Principal Petersen to discuss whether Sheldon is ready to graduate school, the principal tells them that Sheldon has enough credits to go to college, even managing to get a good grade in P.E. On top of that, Sheldon is the valedictorian, although Sheldon doesn’t see anything impressive in finishing top of the class in this school.
As Sheldon and Tam go to eat lunch in the library, Sheldon imagines him leaving will be tough for Tam. Tam insists he’ll be fine and won’t be lonely since he’s joined the jazz band. As they sit down to eat, Sheldon realizes he doesn’t have his safety goggles.
After Dale goes to Meemaw’s house with a bouquet of flowers, he apologizes for losing his temper with her and for taking it out on Georgie. Dale says he’s trying to change because he’s fed up with being a cranky old bastard. Meemaw scoffs at the idea that people can change, but she does appreciate the pretty flowers.
After Sheldon fails to find his goggles in his locker, he goes to a classroom to look under the desk, interrupting a test Ms. Ingram is giving. Sheldon then barges into Principal Petersen’s office while he’s talking to a sobbing girl about an “unplanned event” in her life. The girl wails as Sheldon, eager to find his goggles, says nothing is more important than protection. After Sheldon goes to see his father to ask to be driven home, George Sr. tells Sheldon to just use the class goggles. When Sheldon complains the class goggles are too big, George asks Sheldon if this is how he is going to act in college. Sheldon calms down and says no. When George points out Sheldon will need to be able to handle stuff like this on his own, Sheldon insists he can handle it.
As Mary prepares dinner, Sheldon is fretting about his ability to cross the college campus in ten minutes and fit in a bathroom break between his classes. Sheldon says the alternative is scheduling his lab time on Tuesday, but that would mean missing Professor Proton. When Mary suggests taping it instead, Sheldon expresses concern that another kid would spoil the episode for him the next day. When Mary asks if anyone has ever talked to Sheldon about Professor Proton, he admits they have not.
In Dale’s office at the sporting goods store, Georgie thanks Dale for giving him another shot. Dale says it’s no problem and hands Georgie an envelope containing his unpaid wage. After Dale explains he’s trying to be better at forgiving people, Georgie is glad to hear that as he admits he was the one who egged Dale’s store last night. Well, Georgie and his Meemaw.
As the family gets ready to eat dinner, Mary says grace and is thankful for Georgie getting his job back. When George Sr. says it was nice of Dale to do that, Georgie says especially since he admitted egging the store. Mary is disappointed to hear of her son’s behavior, but Georgie insists that since Dale forgave him and God has to, Mary can’t get mad.
When Dale and Meemaw get a table at a Mexican restaurant, Dale pulls out the chair for Meemaw saying, “Your chair, milady”. When the waiter comes to take their order, Meemaw wonders whether they should split a pitcher of margaritas.Dale demurs so Meemaw asks if he would prefer beer. Dale says he’ll stick with water, admitting he doesn't do his best thinking after he’s been drinking. Meemaw questions whether this means she shouldn’t order a drink, but Dale tells her to go ahead. Meemaw doesn’t want things to get weird and will skip the drink, but Dale insists. As they go back and forth on whether she should get a drink, Meemaw concedes it’s getting weird.
Back at the Cooper house, Mary asks Missy if she and Sheldon would like a graduation party. Sheldon is surprised Missy would get a party, but Missy points out she is graduating elementary school. Mary says it’s a big deal Missy is going to a new school with new friends and teachers. When Georgie asks if he really has to sit through two graduations, Mary says he does and insists they are equally proud of Sheldon and Missy. When George Sr. gets off the phone, he says the local news channel wants to do a story on Sheldon graduating from high school.
Back at the restaurant, Meemaw thanks Dale for giving Georgie his job back. Dale insists it was the right thing to do, even after Georgie egged his store. When Meemaw expresses surprise at her grandson’s behavior, Dale says he knows she did it too. After Dale asks Meemaw if she goes to church, she says she does when she’s not hungover. Dale says he’s thinking it might be a good idea for him to go, too, as a little religion might do him some good.
The next day, a local news truck is parked outside the Cooper home. When the interview begins, Sheldon talks about his fear of missing Professor Proton, although he’s hoping his bedtime will be moved to 8:30 when he goes to college. When the reporter asks Sheldon what he will miss about high school, he says nothing - not his teachers or friends. Sheldon admits he only has one friend and he doesn’t think he’ll miss him as he found a new group to have lunch with. Sheldon starts to get stressed as he explains that even though he said he’d be comfortable watching Professor Proton at night, everybody knows he gets overtired. George Sr. wants to turn the cameras off as an emotional Sheldon explains how he freaked out about his lab goggles the other day and, although he told his father he wasn’t going to act like this when he got to college, it probably is because he’s just a little boy.
As Mary tries to comfort Sheldon, he admits he might not be ready to go to college next year. After George Sr. shouts, “Are you kidding me?!”, Mary wants George to calm down. George repeats, in a collected voice, the same question. Mary insists there’s no pressure on Sheldon to go to college. If he wants to stay in high school for another year, that’s fine. Sheldon doesn’t know what to think and asks to be excused.
In their bedroom that night, Missy tells Sheldon she knows why he doesn’t want to go to college. Missy suggests Sheldon is afraid everything will be different and hard, and he’ll miss how it used to be. When Sheldon questions how she knows this, Missy admits it’s how she feels, too. Sheldon is surprised his sister is scared and asks what they do now. Missy says she guesses they will just be scared and do it anyway. Sheldon admits it’s comforting knowing that she feels the same way. Later, Sheldon goes to his parents’ bedroom to tell them he is ready to graduate.
At the graduation ceremony, Principal Petersen introduces the valedictorian with an introduction Sheldon wrote himself. When Sheldon gets up to speak, he tells the crowd he is not comfortable speaking in front of crowds. Sheldon explains he will be adopting a technique of delivering the address to one person in the audience. Sheldon says if it weren’t for that one person, he wouldn’t be there today. They taught him a lot and it’s by their example that he found the courage to move forward into this new and exciting chapter of his life. Sheldon tells Missy this is for her. Sheldon admitschange can be scary but he knows they’re going to be fine because, like Missy said, “It’s okay to be scared. We just have to do it anyway.” Sheldon tells his fellow graduates if they’re nervous about their future, know that they’re not alone. Sheldon suggests they try to be as brave as his twin sister, which is what he’ll be doing.
At the graduation party, Adult Sheldon admits he doesn’t usually care for parties but this one wasn’t too bad. After Mary says grace and Missy tucks into the cake, Adult Sheldon says it was the best graduation party he had ever been to, until the one he had for his son, Leonard Cooper. Adult Sheldon admits he wanted to name his son Leonard “Nimoy” Cooper, but Amy wouldn’t let him. Amy pipes up to say Sheldon should be happy she let him name their son Leonard. After Sheldon concedes the point, the couple both express their love for eachother.
