"An Academic Crime and a More Romantic Taco Bell" is an episode of Young Sheldon that first aired on March 5, 2020.
Dr. Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) is furious when Sheldon accuses him of plagiarism. Mary sets out to find a "girl trophy" for Missy's end-of-season baseball ceremony. Georgie has an awkward run-in with Veronica (Isabel May) while on a date with his new girlfriend, Jana (Ava Allan).
Tropes:
- Glory Hound: Sheldon suggested a better format for the calculations Dr. Sturgis was working with, and spends the rest of the episode unsatisfied that he's being mentioned in just the footnotes, believing that he deserves a co-author credit. It reaches the point where Sheldon calls Dr. Sturgis' colleagues to accuse him of academic theft, which upsets Dr. Sturgis enough to call Sheldon and ask him to stop attending his class.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: A snippet of the 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is used when Missy blows up the trophy Mary made for her.
- Shout-Out:
- To Frankenstein: Constance compares Mary to Dr. Frankenstein for trying to make a baseball trophy for Missy.
- To George Michael: Missy wonders how tall the British singer and songwriter is.
