Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Young Sheldon season 6.

While Young Sheldon season 6 takes Missy’s story relatively seriously, this causes a pretty major tonal issue for The Big Bang Theory spinoff. Sheldon and Missy have had a pretty tough time throughout Young Sheldon season 6, but the sitcom has taken Missy’s plight significantly more seriously. This is not unusual for Young Sheldon since the trademark flat affect and bluntness of its eponymous hero make him a hard character to shake even when things go disastrously wrong. Since Sheldon frequently overreacts to minor issues and underreacts to major problems, he can often face big issues without feeling too much emotional turmoil.

This explains why Young Sheldon season 6 treated Sheldon worse than the rest of the Cooper clan since the character’s comparative lack of emotional response to his travails makes him an easy target. Viewers will happily watch Sheldon’s grant database idea fall apart since they know that this failure will not really hurt the character outside of acting as a major blow to the child prodigy’s ego. In contrast, it is tougher to see George Sr. risk his job via a petty rivalry with Pastor Rob earlier in Young Sheldon season 6, since viewers know that Sheldon’s father would react to his unemployment much worse than Sheldon reacted to his database’s failure.

Young Sheldon Takes Missy More Seriously Than Sheldon

However, the disparity between Young Sheldon’s tone when depicting Sheldon and Missy’s stories is constantly growing, and this is not necessarily a good thing for The Big Bang Theory spinoff. Where Young Sheldon’s grant database story proved that the show's tone is light and goofy when depicting Sheldon’s misadventures, the tragic story of Missy running away from home in Young Sheldon season 6, episode 16, “A Stolen Truck and Going on the Lam” showed a very different side of the series. Sheldon is a goofier character and Missy is more tuned into/concerned by the breakdown of their George Sr. and Mary's marriage, which makes her story much more dramatic.

Since Missy and Sheldon are twins, it is impossible for Young Sheldon season 6 to draw attention away from the obvious tonal contrast between their stories. Not only that but The Big Bang Theory spinoff is also named after Sheldon, meaning Young Sheldon can’t focus on Missy’s sad storyline while ignoring its title character for a few episodes at a time. This means that Young Sheldon season 6 suffers from a unique tonal problem wherein Missy and Sheldon are both observing the same marital breakdown between their parents, but Sheldon sees this as a mere distraction whereas it is a tragic, life-altering event for Missy.

Why This Is A Problem For Young Sheldon Season 6

While Young Sheldon season 6 wasted some great Sheldon stories to prioritize Missy’s character development, this has meant that lighter, lower-stakes plots like Sheldon’s database jar with the darker tone of Missy’s plot. When episodes cut from Sheldon making harmless jokes to high-stakes melodramatic plot points like Missy leaving home, Young Sheldon season 6 is left with an inconsistent tone. This is a shame, as Missy and Sheldon’s divergent reactions to the breakup between Mary and George Sr. could be a source of drama and humor for Young Sheldon. However, currently, The Big Bang Theory spinoff is doing nothing to bridge the gap between them.

Young Sheldon Can Fix Its Missy Issue

If Young Sheldon season 6 were to make Sheldon and Missy closer confidantes, as the pair were in earlier seasons, the series could bridge the tonal disparity between their stories instead of leaving them feeling like two unrelated shows. Currently, Young Sheldon’s George/Mary breakup can make it feel as if Sheldon and Missy live in two totally separate universes, with Sheldon inhabiting a light-hearted sitcom while Missy lives out a darker teen drama. However, if Young Sheldon season 6 allowed the two to reconnect, their differences might not seem so insurmountable.

If Missy confided in Sheldon that she thought George and Mary were heading toward a divorce, this would likely result in a lot of comedic scenes wherein Sheldon struggled to understand why this would matter. However, once Sheldon cared about the stakes of the issue, his attempts to solve the problem alongside Missy could provide comic relief while still not ignoring the issues plaguing Mary and George Sr. This pairing would work better than the approach currently utilized in Young Sheldon season 6, wherein The Big Bang Theory spinoff keeps Missy and Sheldon’s stories separate.