Young Sheldon continues to make George (Lance Barber) look like a good man despite what's known about him from The Big Bang Theory. The spin-off prequel is just a couple of weeks away from returning with fresh episodes. After the Young Sheldon season 4 finale cliffhanger, viewers are looking to see what's next for the Coopers.
With its primetime return nearing, CBS released the first look for Young Sheldon season 5, essentially resolving the questions about George and Brenda's (Melissa Peterman) relationship status from last year. For context, after getting into a serious fight with Mary (Zoe Perry) where he admitted to being desperately unhappy in his life, the Cooper patriarch let the steam off at a local pub. He was minding his own business when his newly single neighbor came in and offered to keep him company. That's how Young Sheldon season 4 ended — with an implication that perhaps, Brenda was the woman Sheldon's dad was having an affair with when he caught him. However, it doesn't seem to be the case, at least based on the prequel's latest promo.
As seen in the first teaser for Young Sheldon season 5 premiere, George and Brenda share a drink when she offers that they go elsewhere. Before he could react, George appears to suffer a heart attack, resulting in him being rushed into the hospital where Mary follows. Clearly, nothing happens between George and Brenda, which means that technically, the latter hasn't been unfaithful. The problem with this is, the spin-off continues to stick with the notion that the Cooper patriarch is a good man, despite The Big Bang Theory viewers knowing that he will eventually cheat on his wife. For what it's worth, while it was Brenda who propositioned that they leave the pub together, George didn't really get the chance to answer. Who knows if he's planning to join her, totally disregarding his marriage to Mary?
It's worth noting that by the time Mary greets him in the hospital, she seems to be unaware that her husband has been with their neighbor. Brenda may not have told her, while George has a guilty expression on his face when his wife supposedly found his bar date in the hallway, indicating that he may have thought about being unfaithful to her. The fact that they're not comfortable telling Mary the truth about their previous encounter means that both George and Brenda thought that there was something wrong with their dalliance. Otherwise, they could've easily come clean about it to the Cooper matriarch.
George's health scare could very well be Young Sheldon's latest way to dance around his infidelity plotline. Ultimately, the prequel spin-off needs to tackle this arc — unless they want to, once again, veer away from The Big Bang Theory's established canon and risk additional backlash. Hopefully, this initial encounter with Brenda is a step towards the sitcom properly tackling this matter. While this could temporarily fix the Coopers' marriage, between Mary's stories about his husband in the future and Sheldon's tale about catching his dad cheating, it's safe to say that George is headed down a very dark path.