"A Launch Party and a Whole Human Being" is an episode of Young Sheldon that first aired March 2, 2023.
Mandy goes into labor while she is at home alone, and so she calls the Coopers. Georgie is out buying a car seat for the baby, Mary and George Sr. are at work, and Missy is at school. Thus, Sheldon is the only one home. Sheldon comes over to Connie's house wearing dishwashing gloves to deliver the baby, but Mandy quite understandably wants to go to the hospital.
So Sheldon goes and gets Brenda (Melissa Peterman), who drives Mandy and Sheldon to the hospital. Meanwhile, Mary has lunch with Pastor Rob (Dan Byrd), who has been offered a position in Little Rock, Arkansas and wants Mary's advice as to whether he should take it.
George Sr. is the first to get Mandy's messages and show up at the hospital. He and Brenda talk about the last time the two of them were at the hospital because of George's heart attack, and Mary walks in and sees them.
Pastor Rob then walks in, which starts a bout of arguing between Mary and George. Mandy's surprised to see that Connie is already at the hospital, due to hemorrhoids. Mandy's parents Jim (Will Sasso) and Audrey (Rachel Bay Jones) then arrive, and they start arguing with each other.
Sheldon is really excited about the launch of his database and plans a launch party, but now there's no one who will take him from the hospital to the launch party.
Georgie arrives home (after trying in vain to install the car seat), listens to the messages on the answering machine, and rushes to the hospital, but doesn't have the courage to enter. Sheldon finds Georgie outside on a bench, and asks his older brother to drive him home for the launch party. Georgie agrees.
In the car, Sheldon talks about how excited he is for the database launch, and how much he'd regret not being there. Georgie is inspired by this not to miss his daughter's birth, and so turns around and goes back to the hospital; Sheldon ends up helping him with the car seat.
When Georgie arrives at Mandy's hospital room, everyone else is still arguing, so he tells them to leave the room. Georgie ends up staying with Mandy for the entire birth, and everyone is really proud of him. He and Mandy name their daughter "Constance", much to Connie's delight.
Sheldon calls Dr. Sturgis, who says that the database launch was a complete failure. Not a single subscriber. There's no one at the hospital to commiserate with him, they're too happy about the baby.
All this time Missy and Billy (Wyatt McClure) have been waiting at school for their parents to pick them up, unaware that they are at the hospital. Tired of waiting, Missy decides to walk home, and Billy accompanies her.
Tropes
- Continuity Nod to 'One Bad Night and Chaos of Selfish Desires': Brenda and George Sr. recall the last time the two of them were at the Medford Community Hospital at the same time.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Failing to install the baby car seat properly, Georgie resorts to securing it with duct tape.
- It's All About Me: It's no surprise that Sheldon is more concerned with the launch of his database than the birth of Mandy's baby. No one else shares his priorities. George Sr. will not miss the birth of his granddaughter for Sheldon's thing that the soon-to-be-grandfather doesn't even understand. And when Sheldon gets the news that the launch was a failure, he assumes everyone else will be as disappointed as he is, which they are not.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: Mandy names her new daughter Constance after Connie, the one who was most helpful during her pregnancy. Audrey feels insulted and asks if Mandy has decided on a middle name yet.
- New Baby Episode: This episode deals with Mandy going into labor and giving birth.
- Previously on…: We're reminded that Missy knows about her parents' potential extramarital affairs.
- Shout-Out:
- To Alice Cooper: Mandy considers naming her baby Alice. Georgie likes the name, until Mandy explains that she doesn't intend the baby to have Cooper for her last name.
- To A New Hope, Episode IV of Star Wars, in which Princess Leia kisses Luke before they attempt to make a perilous jump. Billy brings this up because he wants to kiss Missy, but if her father and his mother are boyfriend and girlfriend, that would make Billy and Missy brother and sister. Of course, Billy doesn't understand all the subtleties of the analogy, and Sheldon's not around to explain those subtleties.
- Skewed Priorities: Sheldon is more interested in the launch of his database than Mandy's baby being born.
- Something We Forgot: In all the commotion of Mandy giving birth, the Coopers and Brenda forget to pick up Missy and Billy from school. Mary doesn't realize this until the very end of the episode.
- So Proud of You: George and Jim both smile approvingly when Georgie steps up and kicks everyone out of the delivery room.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Mandy's parents are outraged at the Coopers being too busy arguing with each other, Brenda, and Pastor Rob that they aren't by Mandy's side as she is about to give birth, and consider it even worse when they find out they left her with Sheldon of all people.
- Jim gives one to his wife Audrey when they are with Mandy. As he is comforting Mandy and delighted to see the birth of his granddaughter, Audrey argues that he's supposed to be on her side, only for him to snap that he missed Mandy's entire pregnancy because he was on her side.
