‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ Season 2: Fans demanded A MAJOR CHANGE

‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ Season 2 Needs To Let Georgie Grow Beyond ‘Young Sheldon’

Throughout the first season of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, the titular couple, Montana Jordan‘s Georgie and Emily Osment‘s Mandy, slowly but surely began to realize just how hard this marriage thing truly can be. Learning to listen to one another. Working with one another. Finding that balance between the things you can let go, and the things that will drive you mad if you let it continue.

Then there’s the real shocker: sex isn’t the answer to fixing things all the time. Even that can be a source of disagreement between a young couple, particularly if one party is looking to grow the family while the other isn’t, as played out in Episode 16, “Baby Fight.” Being the younger of the two, Georgie has done his best, and has had his successes, yet in many ways he’s still the same Georgie from Young Sheldon. Season 2 needs to let him grow, turning this Junior into a Senior.

The ‘Young Sheldon’ Georgie Takes Shortcuts to Adulthood

Georgie started out as a high school student and football player, one that had the unenviable situation of being in the same class as his 10-year-old child prodigy brother, Sheldon (Iain Armitage). He acted like any high schooler would in that scenario: angry, jealous, perturbed, and, deep down, maybe even proud. But we soon learned that Georgie had a tremendous work ethic, and a “never give up” attitude. He also had an innate entrepreneurial spirit, one that successfully sold snow globes to Texans, of all people (“Quirky Eggheads and Texas Snow Globes”), and one that helped Meemaw (Annie Potts) launch her illegal casino.

But his arc on the series saw Georgie take a number of shortcuts into adulthood. He quits school in Season 3’s “Potential Energy and Hooch on a Park Bench,” determining that he’s not cut out for academics or football, and would be better served working longer hours earning money. As we know, he ended up getting Mandy pregnant in Season 5, a big step into adulthood that culminated in the pair getting married in Season 7’s “A Proper Wedding and Skeletons in the Closet.” The unexpected death of the Cooper patriarch, George Sr. (Lance Barber), wasn’t of his own making, of course, but the result is the same, pushing Georgie deeper into adulthood before he’s truly ready for it.

The ‘Young Sheldon’ Georgie Lives On in ‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’

It’s the same Young Sheldon Georgie that has largely been present in Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage‘s first season. It makes sense, and it’s a credit to the creative team that they’re taking time to let Georgie mature. But, it’s a bit tough to watch. He’s still impulsive, right up to the point of buying the tire shop off of his father-in-law, Jim McAllister (Will Sasso), in the season finale. He still has the belief that things will just work out, and while it’s good to know he still has that optimism, Georgie’s now in a position where sheer belief isn’t an option. That belief also prevents Georgie from thinking about the very real consequences that befall such adult decisions.

Georgie also hasn’t learned anything from his experiences. In Young Sheldon‘s Season 3 episode “Body Glitter and a Mall Safety Kit,” Georgie runs afoul of his father when he asserts that, because he’s working, he no longer has to contribute to household chores, and makes it worse by paying Billy (Wyatt McClure) to mow the lawn, disregarding the lesson that George is trying to teach him by throwing money at something he doesn’t want to do. An attempt to smooth things over with Georgie ends badly when Georgie offers to pay to get the AC fixed in the truck, unintentionally offending George by overstepping and disrespecting him. It’s an experience that one would think would sink in, only he does it again by paying off Jim’s gambling debt to Meemaw in “Snitch v. Deadbeat,” overstepping and trying to fix something he has no business interfering in.

‘Young Sheldon’s Georgie Will Kill ‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ Unless He Grows

We know that, at some point, the “first marriage” part of the show’s title will come to pass with the marriage ending, but unless Georgie is allowed to grow in Season 2, that ending is coming sooner than later. What the season finale made clear is just how far Georgie needs to go. The impulsive decision to buy the tire shop is one thing, but the fact that he kept it quiet from Mandy is something else entirely. Big, life-altering decisions like that need to be made with one’s partner, not withheld like it’s a secret mission. It shows an unwillingness to share with Mandy the important things, and it’s especially troubling that he lacks the foresight to realize that it is more than just him, and more than just Mandy. CeeCee’s future is at stake, and he is gambling on an impulsive decision.

But it’s the justification that really shows how very young Georgie still is. He’s not penitent, and he doesn’t acknowledge the position he’s placed the family in. Instead, he harbors a young person’s outlook on it, something that’s not quite spite, but as close as you can get to it. Essentially — and I am paraphrasing somewhat — Georgie tells Mandy that he’s buying the tire shop off of her father “because you blew all that credit card money.” It is, in a word, childish, and on its own enough to drive the relationship off a cliff. The fact that Mandy isn’t really any better (she’s withholding the fact she’s working with her ex) isn’t keeping that car on the road, either.

So, when Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage returns for Season 2, it would be wise to have Georgie and Mandy take an honest look at where they are, together, and not as separate entities trying to fight the same fire from two different sides. Georgie needs to understand — truly understand — what the possible repercussions might be and plan for them, not rely on everything simply working out. And, like his father before him, Georgie needs to embrace the role of being CeeCee’s father, making decisions that aren’t just about him but ones that benefit both her and Mandy, even if it means sacrificing his own wants. Georgie wanted to rush into adulthood, and in Season 2 of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, it’s time that he embraces all that it encompasses.