Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Young Sheldon season 6, episode 13.While Young Sheldon season 6’s Paige episode was a welcome surprise, the character’s return did highlight a problem with The Big Bang Theory. Like most sitcom spinoffs, Young Sheldon occasionally struggles with its source material. It is hard for Young Sheldon to align its versions of the Cooper family with their earlier depictions in The Big Bang Theory. For example, while Sheldon and his mother referred to his late father, George Sr., as a lazy, cheating drunk in The Big Bang Theory, the character proved to be a likable everyman with plenty of heart in Young Sheldon.
This sort of inconsistency can sometimes be ironed out by Jim Parsons narrating as adult Sheldon, which sees a post-The Big Bang Theory version of the character remember the events of the spinoff. Since an older, more mature version of Sheldon is looking back on his youth in Young Sheldon, it makes sense for the spinoff to present a less downbeat version of events than The Big Bang Theory. After all, Sheldon could be blunt and rude in The Big Bang Theory, but mellowed out by the end of the series, so it makes sense his older self would be more reflective in Young Sheldon’s narration.
Young Sheldon’s Paige Story Causes A TBBT Problem
However, Sheldon’s changing perspective on his memories cannot account for all of the spinoff’s problems, as proven by Young Sheldon season 6, episode 13, “A Frat Party, a Sleepover and the Mother of All Blisters.” After the Dr. Linkletter plot justified the worst Sheldon traits in The Big Bang Theory with a sad twist, this lighter episode saw the return of Sheldon’s old rival/friend/potential love interest Paige. The more Young Sheldon has fleshed out Sheldon’s relationship with Paige, the more invested audiences have become in her story. The more audiences become invested in her story, the weirder it seems that Paige is never mentioned in The Big Bang Theory.
Over Young Sheldon’s six seasons thus far, Sheldon has talked about how Paige was a formative rival, a friend, and, at one point, even a crush. Judging by the closing scene of “A Frat Party, a Sleepover and the Mother of All Blisters,” Paige was also a close friend of Missy’s – something that was already implied in earlier outings. This only makes it weirder that she was never mentioned in The Big Bang Theory. While Young Sheldon proves The Big Bang Theory wasted Missy, she at least appeared in the earlier series and played a role in Sheldon’s adult life, whereas Paige was nowhere to be seen.
Young Sheldon Season 6, Episode 13 Makes The Paige Issue Worse
Sheldon attended his first college party with Paige in “A Frat Party, a Sleepover and the Mother of All Blisters,” and even stopped her from leaving with a much older boy. This was the type of formative experience that once again reinforced how weird it was for Sheldon to never mention Paige’s existence in The Big Bang Theory. While Sheldon and Paige may eventually have a falling out so intense that the pair will never speak throughout their adult lives, this seems unlikely when Sheldon has such fond recollections of the character in his Young Sheldon narrations.
Young Sheldon’s Paige Plot Seems Destined To End Badly
While Young Sheldon foreshadowed Mary having problems with Missy, the spinoff has never offered any explanation for Sheldon forgetting about Paige. This is a problem, as the last few times Paige appeared in the spinoff, her social struggles and rebellious behavior became the defining characteristics of her story. This seemingly points toward her story having a tragic end – a twist that would be a little too dark even for The Big Bang Theory’s more dramatic spinoff. While Young Sheldon has pulled off some sad storylines previously, most of these – like George and Mary’s marital struggles and Mandy’s issues with her parents – have primarily affected older characters.
Paige, unlike Sheldon’s parents and Mandy, is a child. Ending her story tragically goes against the sitcom nature of Young Sheldon. Then again, ending her story without an explanation of how she fell off Sheldon’s radar makes her absence from The Big Bang Theory impossible to justify. This creates a catch-22 for the spinoff, which cannot end Paige’s plot with a sad twist, but also cannot keep her around. It is unclear whether the creators of Young Sheldon will discover a suitable workaround for the Paige issue, but with each appearance the character makes on Sheldon’s The Big Bang Theory spinoff, it becomes clearer that the show must do something.