"A Secret Letter and a Lowly Disc of Processed Meat" is an episode of Young Sheldon that first aired on April 30, 2020. Directed by Alex Reid. Teleplay by Maria Ferrari, Tara Hernandez and Jeremy Howe, based on a story by Steven Molaro, Steve Holland and Connor Kilpatrick.
As has been abundantly established on The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon loves spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it, he's described the dish as "a real Italian treat." As of this Young Sheldon episode, Sheldon had never prepared this meal for himself, presumably always relying on Mary to make it for him.
So in this episode, he tries to make the spaghetti con hot dogs for himself. Cutting up the hot dogs, one slice rolls off the counter and under the refrigerator, leading Sheldon to discover that Caltech sent his parents an offer letter for the boy genius to attend that university in California.
George Sr. was actually unaware of the letter, and other similar offer letters from other universities. Mary hid each letter from both her husband and Sheldon. George is more open to the idea of Sheldon going to Caltech, finding it more palatable than Sheldon going to an university in Germany (which has also made an offer).
So George convinces Sheldon to record a video titled Why Sheldon Cooper Should Go to College, guest starring Prof. Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) from East Texas Tech University.note
Meanwhile, Connie learns that Dale (Craig T. Nelson) fired Georgie from the sporting goods store. Connie and Dale are currently not on speaking terms, "but we're about to be on yelling terms," Connie says.
Tropes
- Call-Forward: Why Sheldon Cooper Should Go to College is in some ways like the Fun with Flags show on YouTube old Sheldon will host, as well as his future video application to go to Mars in "The Colonization Application".
- Continuity Snarl: In this episode, Brenda invites Mary for a drink in the chicken coop. But in "Jiu-Jitsu, Bubble Wrap, and Yoo-Hoo", Brenda's husband, Herschel (Billy Gardell), said that Brenda's "scared to death of chickens." It could be that Brenda just wanted to give Herschel some space and gave her fear of chickens as an excuse. Or, more likely, the writers of this episode simply forgot about this detail from the earlier episode.
- Egging: In The Tag, Connie and Georgie throw eggs at Dale's store from the parking lot at night as revenge for Dale firing Georgie in the previous episode.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Both George and Sheldon were in the dark that Mary hid a recruitment letter from Caltech University. Worse is that Mary is forced to reveal that there were other letters from schools trying to recruit Sheldon to attend them.
- Loophole Abuse: If Missy opens the letter addressed to George and Mary, and tells Sheldon what the letter says, then technically Sheldon has not committed a federal crime. When confronting Mary about the letter, Sheldon says "Would you care to explain this letter, which I didn't read but legally know the contents of?"
- Later on when Sheldon confronts Mary about the letter, she tells him to go to his room. Sheldon does but notes she didn't tell him to stay there, so he hops out the window to find George and ask him about the Caltech letter.
- Previously on…: We're reminded that Mary suggested Sheldon take a break from his college classes and that Dale fired Georgie from the sporting goods store, and that Connie and Dale are currently not on speaking terms.
- Season Finale: Although this episode was meant to be the penultimate Season 3 episode, it wound up being the Season 3 finale. "Graduation" was supposed to be the Season 3 finale, but the novel coronavirus pandemic delayed its production and forced it to be the Season 4 premiere.
- Shout-Out:
- To Oprah Winfrey and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: As usual, Missy watches the show about the heroes in the half-shell and everything related to that show. Old Sheldon specifically mentions Leonardo (one of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) in his voice-over.
- To Cindy Crawford and Jessica Rabbit: George and his drinking buddy ponder which of those two women is hotter. "One's a person, one's a cartoon. And you couldn't get either one of them."
