‘Young Sheldon’ delivers a long-awaited shock as the CBS show nears its finish

Anyone who watched “The Big Bang Theory” with any regularity knew what was coming as its prequel “Young Sheldon” comes to a close, but the knock at the door that ended the most recent episode still felt like a gut punch.

Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers about the May 9 episode of “Young Sheldon.” Anyone who watched “The Big Bang Theory” with any regularity over its 12 seasons knew what was coming as its prequel “Young Sheldon” comes to a close, but the knock at the door that ended the most recent episode still felt like a gut punch. As the young Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) prepared to head off to college, he and his family learned that his father (Lance Barber) has died of a heart attack, the aftermath of which will be addressed in the two-part series finale on May 16. The moment seemed particularly cruel, inasmuch as the father, George Sr., had just been offered a long-sought opportunity to move up from coaching high school football into the college ranks, receiving an offer from Rice in Houston. “We always knew that there were a couple big moments that happened in Sheldon’s life, his father passes away and he goes to Caltech,” executive producer Steve Holland told CNN, adding that the decision was made to have that happen now – as opposed to during the final two episodes – so the characters could deal with its aftermath in the finale. According to Holland, series co-creator Chuck Lorre suggested that schedule of events, saying that after seven seasons of comedy (allowing for the occasional poignant moment), “Maybe we don’t want to leave the audience wallowing in grief at the end.”