Young Sheldon Season 7’s Meemaw Twist Finally Set Up Her Big Bang Theory Personality

Summary Meemaw's arrest in Young Sheldon season 7 explains her character's shift from rebellious to mature in The Big Bang Theory.

The risky decision to expand the gambling room backfires, leading to Meemaw's arrest and a more subdued persona in TBBT.

Young Sheldon's Meemaw change was long overdue, finally linking the two versions of the character and explaining her demeanor shift.

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Young Sheldon season 7, episode 7.

Although Young Sheldon season 7 still has more plot holes to patch up, its latest episode seemingly explained Meemaw’s big character change in The Big Bang Theory. Young Sheldon’s entire cast of characters differs from their earlier incarnations in The Big Bang Theory. Mary is less bitter and judgmental in the spinoff, while Missy is much closer to her twin brother than she was in The Big Bang Theory. Georgie is more carefree than The Big Bang Theory’s version of Sheldon's older brother, while Meemaw is more rebellious and free-spirited. However, the spinoff may have explained this last difference.

After Young Sheldon's season 6 finale saw Meemaw’s house destroyed by a tornado, she doubled down on her attempts to make more money from her illegal gambling room. Even though this was a risky decision, Meemaw opted to add a roulette table and convinced Georgie to help her operate this new attraction. This came back to bite her in season 7, episode 7, “A Proper Wedding and Skeletons in the Closet,” when the police raided the gambling room and caught Meemaw. Meemaw’s risky new plans for the gambling room finally fall apart, which explains her character change.

Meemaw’s Arrest Explains Her Big Bang Theory Personality Change

Young Sheldon’s Meemaw Sets Up Her More Mature Persona

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Getting arrested left the usually rebellious, high-energy Meemaw deflated and defeated when she returned home to pick up her things during the episode’s final scene. Meemaw was much more sedate and self-serious in The Big Bang Theory than she is in Young Sheldon, and this season 7 outing appears to explain why. While Young Sheldon contradicts The Big Bang Theory at times in season 7, the revelation that Meemaw was arrested for running the gambling room was both a much-anticipated conclusion to this long-running subplot and a fitting explanation for her new, less rambunctious personality in the earlier show.

In The Big Bang Theory season 9, episode 14, “The Meemaw Materialization,” Meemaw is portrayed as a stern Southern grandmother who initially doesn’t approve of Amy. This flies in the face of Annie Potts’s portrayal of a reckless, risk-loving version of Meemaw in Young Sheldon. “A Proper Wedding and Skeletons in the Closet” finally links both divergent versions of the character, since Meemaw’s arrest may have humbled her and forced her to keep a low profile. It is not yet whether Meemaw’s calmer attitude was all an act or the result of her being dispirited by the end of her criminal career.

Young Sheldon Season 7’s Meemaw Change Was Overdue

Meemaw’s TBBT and Young Sheldon Personalities Were Too Different

Much like Mary’s Young Sheldon season 7 story set up George Sr’s death, Meemaw’s arrest established the version of the character whom viewers met in The Big Bang Theory. It was fun and unexpected when Meemaw turned out to be a surprisingly fearless rebel early in Young Sheldon, but the spinoff needed to eventually explain what happened that caused her perspective to shift so dramatically between the two shows. The death of her son-in-law, George Sr, would have made sense, but may have been too downbeat. In contrast, Young Sheldon's explanation was a perfect justification for Meemaw’s The Big Bang Theory character shift.

Episode Number Episode Title Air Date 1 "A Weiner Schnitzel and Underwear in a Tree" February 15 2 "A Roulette Wheel and a Piano Playing Dog" February 22 3 "A Strudel and a Hot American Boy Toy" February 29 4 "Ants on a Log and a Cheating Winker" March 7 5 "A Frankenstein's Monster and a Crazy Church Guy" March 14 6 "Baptists, Catholics, and an Attempted Drowning" April 4 7 "A Proper Wedding and Skeletons in the Closet" April 11