Forget George's Cheating Arc, Young Sheldon Just Ruined Its Best Character's Story

Summary

• The ninth episode of Young Sheldon Season 7 saw the return of one of the show's most popular characters.
• The episode portrayed him in a rather unflattering light.
• The character redeemed himself in the end, but his reputation with fans was tarnished.

Though Season 7 of Young Sheldon is shorter than the other installments, and much shorter than fans would like, there's actually an upside to that. The seventh season of the hit CBS comedy is packed with events and jokes that make it so much more satisfying to watch. Sheldon's trip to Germany, Georgie and Mandy's wedding, Meemaw's arrest – the list goes on and on.

The most recent ninth episode of Season 7 proved to be eventful in its own right, as it followed Sheldon after the paper he co-authored with his tutor in Germany was published in a prestigious international journal. As a result, Shelly became a hot commodity for the top universities in the United States, all of which were eager to recruit him. But as fun as it was to follow, this storyline nearly destroyed Young Sheldon's ultimate fan-favorite character.

Dumbing Down Dr. Sturgis

In the episode 'A Fancy Article and a Scholarship for a Baby,' Sheldon receives a letter from his tutor informing him that their article revolutionizing string theory has been published internationally. Upset that his family cannot understand the significance of his accomplishment, Shelly shares the news with Dr. Linkletter and Dr. Sturgis, who congratulate him on such a big feat for a fourteen-year-old.

'[We] appreciate it, understand it, and are inspired by it,' Dr. Sturgis tells Sheldon.

But it soon turns out that the brightest physicists at East Texas Tech don't understand a word of Sheldon's article, which ruins Dr. Sturgis for many of the show's fans.

Since Season 1, Dr. Sturgis has been one of Young Sheldon's smartest characters and one of the few who could understand Shelly. He was the boy's mentor throughout the comedy's early seasons. And even though Sheldon helped Dr. Sturgis with some of his papers, John is a genius in his own right who has dreamed of winning the Nobel Prize for most of his life. And now, all of a sudden, he's portrayed as a person who doesn't even care to try to understand Sheldon's work.

Out of Character

However, the biggest problem with Dr. Sturgis' only cameo in Season 7 so far is his behavior. John has always been a decent and serious man who kept his word and cared about others. But in Episode 9, Season 7, he agrees to try to trick Sheldon into staying at East Texas Tech and behaves in a very sleazy and off-putting manner.

To his credit, Dr. Sturgis does decide at the end of the episode to be honest about the situation and recommends that Sheldon go to a better university. But his behavior throughout most of the episode has left an indelible mark on many fans' perceptions of the character.

Hopefully, if Dr. Sturgis appears in the rest of Season 7, he'll be more of himself – an adorable weirdo we've loved since the beginning of the show. Episode 10 of Young Sheldon's seventh season premieres May 2.