Young Sheldon: 5 Times Sheldon Was Annoying (& 5 He Was Relatable) - Screen Rant

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Sheldon Cooper has always been a fairly divisive character. Some people really like and connect to him, enjoying his sarcastic, direct sense of humor. Others, however, find him rude and annoying, and can't understand how he has friends in the first place.

The young version of the character, who's the protagonist of Young Sheldon, has moments of both incredible empathy and terrible self-entitlement. Throughout the show's four seasons, he faces some tough situations, and his struggles to connect and understand others greatly humanize him. His annoying tendencies always come back, though, and there are times when it's easy to make excuses for the character's awful behavior.

10 Annoying: Blackmailing Georgie

In the episode "David, Goliath and a Yo-hoo From the Back," Sheldon witnesses Georgie being bullied by another student, Tommy Clarkson. He then strikes a friendship with the bully and uses it to blackmail Georgie into doing things for him.

This is one of those times where Sheldon knows exactly what he's doing, and enjoys it. And for someone who's so passionate about rules and structures, to see him abusing his power is both annoying and unfair. In the end, Sheldon learns his lesson after his big mouth gets Tommy into trouble with an even bigger bully.

9 Relatable: Wishing To Be Big

Over the course of the show's four seasons, Sheldon has a constant desire to be big. He wants to attend high-school, thinking he'll feel more at home there, only to realize his intellect exceeds that institution too. He then sets his sights on college, but Mary does not think he's ready for it.

Nearly everyone can relate to Sheldon's desires. And while not everyone has his genius intellect, almost every kid wants to mature faster and do "grown-up" stuff. The sad thing is, Sheldon grows up to become a man-child, who at times behaves like an actual kid.

8 Annoying: Belittling Others

Both the child and the adult Sheldon have a tendency to be unnecessarily critical, and at times outright mean. They enjoy correcting people, have no filter when it comes to giving their opinions, and are overall quite insensitive.

On his first day of high school, he tells Miss MacElroy that she has a mustache and questions Miss Ingram's credentials. He constantly berates his family, especially his father and siblings, and gets away with it because of his great intellect and poor social skills. Sheldon does have difficulty to relate to others, but it's hard to believe he doesn't realize what he's doing when he's proven, quite a few times, that he does understand the difference between being honest and being mean.

7 Relatable: Being Alone

During the season two finale, Sheldon organizes a listening party for the announcement of the Nobel Prize winners in Physics and invites the whole school. No one attends, both because of the early hour in the morning when the results are announced, and because the idea isn't attractive enough. Crying, Sheldon believes he'll be friendless and alone for the rest of his life.

The feeling of solitude that Sheldon experiences is one a lot of fans can understand. Life can be pretty lonely sometimes, and it's easy to believe things won't improve. Sheldon, however, is wrong, and a montage of his future friends reminds audiences that he will not end up alone, but will have a pretty cool group of true friends in the future.

6 Annoying: His Way Or The Highway

Sheldon has a tendency to get what he wants. Whether he annoys people into doing it, guilts, or blackmails them, he usually gets his way. His parents buy him a computer, take him to California to visit Caltech, and generally compromise everyone else's needs to satisfy Sheldon's.

Mary, in particular, is very biased towards him, both in Young Sheldon and in The Big Bang Theory. Her blatant favoritism is particularly obvious when looking at the characters or Missy and Georgie, who often get the short end of the stick. They're constantly underestimated and even ignored, as Missy confesses in one episode.

5 Relatable: Comforting Paige

Paige Swanson is one of Young Sheldon's most interesting characters. She's just as, if not smarter than Sheldon, but actually has emotional intelligence. At first, she really tries to be his friend, but he rejects any of her attempts to bond.

Paige has a very complicated home life, and after her parent's divorce, she begins to act out. An actually concerned Sheldon, worried that she doesn't want to be smart anymore, takes the time to listen to her. She confesses that everyone she knows is acting "weird," and how she feels alone. Sheldon then offers to make her a hot beverage, something that becomes his go-to way of consoling others.

4 Annoying: Provoking Paige

Then again, Sheldon will always go back to his usual antics. During the season four episode "Bible Camp and a Chariot of Love," he is forced to attend Bible Camp. There, he meets Paige and the two get competitive over Bible trivia, despite their shared dislike for religion. Sheldon tries numerous ways to annoy Paige, and finally succeeds when he tells her she must blame herself for her parent's divorce. Paige then punches him and gives him a black eye.

After the progress he made by listening and comforting Paige, using the intimate things she told him as a way to make her feel about herself is one of the lowest things he ever did.

3 Relatable: Hard Work Pays Off

The season two opener, "A High-Pitched Buzz and Training Wheels" has Sheldon taking his refrigerator apart to try to fix a buzzing sound coming from it. Angry, George Sr. tells him he'll have to get a job to pay back the fridge's reparation. Sheldon complies and becomes a paper delivery boy, only to discover working is harder than he thought.

Sheldon then suffers a meltdown, where he confesses he's exhausted and hates working a job that doesn't even pay that much. This leads to one of the sweetest moments of bonding between father and son, where Sheldon understands the difficulties his father constantly endures. Moments like this, truly speak to the struggles of so many fans and make the show one of a kind.

2 Annoying: Credit Where Credit's Due?

In the season three episode, "An Academic Crime and a More Romantic Taco Bell," Sheldon corrects one of Dr. Sturgis' calculations on his paper. He then becomes angry that he'll only be mentioned in the footnotes, instead of being given a co-author credit, and accuses Dr. Sturgis of plagiarism. This puts the doctor's job and his entire career in jeopardy, and he bans Sheldon from his class in response.

Sheldon's selfishness and immaturity almost cost Dr. Sturgis' his life's work. His brash actions may have ended a good man's career, and the fact he doesn't even see how he's wrong is baffling. Things work out in the end, but this still ranks as one of Sheldon's worst actions.

1 Relatable: I Want To Hold Your Hand

During the pilot episode, Sheldon learns that his father lost his old job after he reported on his colleagues' illegal activities. This left him angry and sad, making Sheldon see him with new eyes. At dinner, during prayer, Sheldon holds his father's hand for the first time and gives him a sweet, understanding smile.

Little moments like this really strike a chord with audiences. After all, in life, it's often the little things that make all the difference. A warm embrace, a shoulder to lean on, a warm smile on a particularly hard day. Sheldon may not always say the right thing or do what's appropriate, but at his best, he has a unique way of showing that he really does care.

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About The Author

David Caballero (89 Articles Published)

David is a twenty-eight-year-old Mexican writer and reader. Having studied Marketng in school, he spent three years working a nine-to-five desk job before deciding to pursue a writing career. He now works as a List Writer in ScreenRant and does some more freelancing job, talking about the entertainment business he so loves. Currently, he's also writing his second novel while actively working to get his first one published.