Young Sheldon Season 6 Makes Missy's Cameo in TBBT So Much Worse
When Missy Cooper popped along to visit her twin brother towards the end of season 1 of The Big Bang Theory, the scriptwriters clearly had no idea just how big the show was going to get.
And they can't have been expected to predict that there would one day be a prequel show in the shape of Young Sheldon.
But this has left a rather gaping hole in the story arc between the two shows.
When she first appeared in TBBT apart from being drooled over by Sheldon's male friends, Missy went out of her way to tell Sheldon how proud of him she was.
Ok, so she referred to him as a rocket scientist rather than a theoretical physicist but, hey, none of us viewers knew the difference either.
But it wasn't the specific term she used that mattered. It was that she spoke fondly of Sheldon and told her friends how proud she was of him. She acted as one might expect a twin to act. But that's not the whole story.
Young Sheldon has now thrown a whole new perspective on how Missy views her twin brother. While the whole Cooper family is going through a tough time, there is a strong argument for saying that Missy is bearing the brunt of it.
The parents are bringing about many of their own problems and, while that may seem a little dismissive, still find the time to give Sheldon attention. Missy though is largely ignored. That's why she took the decision to run away from home.
And for her to have suffered what is essentially neglect during her formative years while seeing her brother receive the attention she must have craved, only serves to show how mentally strong she was in season 1 of TBBT.
But because the backstory to the family had not yet been thought out in such detail, this side of her character wasn't reflected at the time.
Looking back on it now, it's easy to see how she could have resented Sheldon, not bothered to visit him in Pasadena and simply told her adult friends that he was the favoured child.
The fact that she chose not to act in that way was not highlighted in The Big Bang Theory. The showrunners owe it to the character to make sure it's given appropriate recognition before the end of Young Sheldon.
And they best be quick. Because we're now hurtling towards the show's finale.